Dr. Phil's Dreamwidth Journal

For The Second Time...

... in just over a year, President Obama came to the heart of conservative Michigan and visited a new technology battery plant in Holland, Michigan on Thursday. Holland has two advanced battery plants, and Michigan has several others, so it's a promising direction as hybrid and all-electric vehicles become part of the practical mix on our roads.

Rather than motorcade across West Michigan, the President traveled by helicopter from Air Force One at the Gerald R. Ford Kent County International Airport in Grand Rapids to the small Tulip City Airport in Holland -- and right next door to Johnson Controls.

Pundits will no doubt talk about the closed invite list -- as if that doesn't happen at Presidential events. Or that Republican lawmakers weren't there -- some weren't invited, others declined. Or that he brought up the divisiveness in Washington -- as if that hasn't been the two-ton bloated hippo crowding the room for the last month. Even when interviewed on the local NPR station, the Holland mayor couldn't bring himself to mention the evil word "stimulus", even though that's why his city has been spotlighted twice in thirteen months by the White House. Sigh.


President Barack Obama shakes hands with plant manager Shelly Maciejewski after speaking at the Johnson Controls-Saft Meadowbrook facility in Holland Thursday. In center of photo is Joe Dalum, president of Odyne Systems in Waukesha, WI.(Cory Morse | The Grand Rapids Press)

Because it's all about the jobs, isn't it?

Dr. Phil

Obama In K-zoo

I was reminded by an Anonymous commenter that in my pieces about Obama's visit to Kalamazoo Central High's graduation (here and here), that I didn't fully detail why the President was there. Yes, KCHS won the video competition sponsored by the White House as part of the Race to the Top educational reform program. But one of the reasons for KCHS's success was due to the Kalamazoo Promise. A pool of anonymous local donors ponied up the money to guarantee that every qualifying KCHS graduate would be able to attend a Michigan college or university -- 100% covered for those who spent K-12 in the KPS system, down to 65% for grades 9-12. Test scores are up since the program was announced in 2005, as are graduation rates and even enrollment. While other cities like Grand Rapids have been losing students, KPS schools are up 16%.

Yes, there are many ways to pay for college if you don't have the money. But think about it -- if you are the first person in your family who might go to college, which would you rather have? A system of forms and hoops and programs to try to qualify for, go through paperwork and deadlines, and wait for weeks or months to find out what aid your college application pool is offering... Or to know that 65-100% (and you'll know how much beforehand) of the cost of going to college is going to be covered. Flat out. All you have to do is graduate from high school and get into the Michigan school you want.

The program has been copied by other cities and Governor Granholm set up a Michigan Promise scholarship to provide some money statewide for students -- only budget cuts and fights with the legislature got that axed in the middle of the 2009-10 school year, leaving a lot of students with sudden extra tuition bills they weren't expecting. Nice.

So yeah, go Kalamazoo. You earned it.

Along the Highways

When you're commuting every day you see incremental changes, especially during the summer construction season. When you're coming down to office hours only once a week, changes sometimes hit you like a brick. M-45, Lake Michigan Drive, from Allendale to Standale, has had a fleet of orange cones along the eight miles or so. Some of it had to do with sidewalk upgrades -- new curbs with cutouts for wheelchairs at the intersections and plates with raised nubs so that the blind can find the corners without stepping into traffic. Between May 26th and June 2nd, they also managed to repave four of the five lanes along some stretches. And from June 2nd to today the 9th, they paved not only the center turn lane, but also did most of the right and left turn lanes along the boulevard section.

It's funny. Since I've traveling to/fro WMU in Kalamazoo for most of the past 18 years, that's a long enough time for some roads and expressways to be into their second major repaving cycle. Some stretches that I think of as "the new pavement" have been worn down by traffic and the brutal free/thaw late winter breakup seasons. If we'd had a kid when we moved down to West Michigan, they'd be graduating high school and starting college by now. That's plenty long enough to wear out a road. Yet the rolling circus of summer repaving projects sometimes feels like it never ends -- and it doesn't, because after many years you do have to go in and do it again.

Damn you, Entropy!

The Cost of Weather

I may have mentioned this, but Bill Steffen at Channel 8's column in the Sunday paper said that 23-30 May 2010 was eight days of weather above 85°F. Last year it took until 3 August 2009 to get to the 8th day of 85°F+ weather. Yeah, it was a coolish summer. Since we had 80s and 90s so often this early, one wonders what the rest of the summer is -- once summer officially gets here. However, this week has seen highs in the 60s, and the lows down to 46-50°F. It's made for some very pleasant days -- and then there have been the cold rainy ones. As we move into the weekend, it's supposed to leap up to 88°F+ and humid again. And thunderstorms.

You take the weather that you can.

Oh, THAT'S Who That Is

Yesterday I posted a review of the Alembical 2 SF/F novella anthology and talked about writer David D. Levine davidlevine. I noted that he'd won a second place finish in WOTF XVIII in 2002. Well, when I started spelunking around his website, I discovered that I'd already discovered David D. Levine years ago. His blog postings on attending Clarion West in 2000 and WOTF in 2002 had been crucial in providing his experiences and links to others which got me involved in applying to Clarion and to keep on submitting to WOTF. Oh, that David D. Levine. Actually, I wouldn't have paid attention to try to remembering the name back then -- I am very bad with names -- so his narratives would've been links and cut-and-paste bits stored in my working files. I'd even read his article "How the Future Predicts Science Fiction" in the last IROSF. (grin)

So I'm pleased to note that this writer whose story "Second Chance" had intrigued me so much was someone whom I had a passing Internet page acquaintance. There are times when I am so amazed at how small the SF writing community is and how amazing it is that I am a part of it. (grin)

Oh, and another reason to be jealous of David's successes? He spent two weeks on Mars this year. No, really.

How cool is that?

One More Thing

It was over a month ago on 2 May 2009 that I ranted about the BP oil spill. I wasn't optimistic then about BP closing that gusher off -- and sadly I was all too right. I'm sure I'll post more about that later.

Dr. Phil

Sunday Evening

It is 66°F, blue skies with only a hint of a breeze right now. Perfect. This in contrast to the gray and winds this morning -- or the heavy rains, winds and tornado watches 'n hail on Saturday night. We got rain, but Kalamazoo to Battle Creek got pummeled and a bit flooded. Lots of damage.

Why the concern about Kalamazoo? Because of Monday.

For The First Time...

... a sitting U.S. President is going to give a high school commencement address. Huh. I would've assumed that this has happened before -- certainly in the era before College became as big a game as it is today -- or even a President going back home. But, assuming my information is correct, apparently not.

Kalamazoo Central High School managed to win a national competition with a student produced video connected with the President's Race to the Top program. The Prize? They get President Barrack Obama as their commencement speaker! In order to fit the President's schedule, Kalamazoo Central agreed to move their commencement to Monday 7 June 2010 at 7pm. Then Western Michigan University offered them the use of their Field House, which is a much bigger space. In what I think is a classy move, in addition to the tickets issued to each graduate for their family -- seven? -- with the added space they also were able to give one ticket to every graduate of the other two Kalamazoo high schools. There were no "public" tickets given. This is, at its heart, a high school graduation. One with tons of national attention and press. (grin) But it has to be a thrill for the students -- my Greensboro (NC) Grimsley Senior High band was honored to play Ruffles and Flourishes and Hail to the Chief for a sitting President, so I know.

I'm Not Going Out On Monday

I'd thought that maybe the WMU College of Aviation would get to have a big thrill and be able to welcome Air Force One on their home turf at the Battle Creek airport. Something like the March 1998 event where a British Airways Concorde flew into Battle Creek bearing the first class of BA cadets for the WMU Aviation program.

But no, the President's plane is to fly into Grand Rapids. And I thought I saw footage on the news of the arrival of HMX-1 with the Marine helicopters needed for the transport to/from Kalamazoo. So I'll stay away from the southeast corner of G.R., as well as US-131 in case the weather requires them to go overland.

Of course we knew that Air Force One could land at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids MI (GRR), since Special Air Mission 29000 came here in January 2007 bearing the remains of President Ford home. (Actually there have been other times when Air Force One was here with President Bush.)

On WMU's campus, they announced:

As you know, Kalamazoo Central is holding its commencement ceremony in University Arena Monday, June 7, with President Obama as the principal speaker. This is the first time a seated U.S. President has spoken at a high school graduation, and we are proud to have this historic event take place at Western Michigan University.

K-Central students and guests will begin arriving on our campus at 3:30 p.m. Monday. To help alleviate traffic congestion around the West Campus, all employees not engaged in specific, scheduled duties will be dismissed at 3 p.m. Monday. Regular employees will not be required to use leave time for this early dismissal.

No activities have been canceled. Staff and faculty with scheduled responsibilities for orientation and other activities are expected to meet those specifically scheduled responsibilities.

No classes are canceled, except the few in the Student Recreation Center, as previously announced. Faculty members and graduate assistants with classes and other scheduled duties are expected to meet those scheduled responsibilities.

All other faculty and staff are asked to leave campus at 3 p.m. Monday, and those on the West Campus are encouraged to leave via Howard Street and avoid Oliver Street and the area around University Arena.

Yeah, I don't have to be on campus Monday. But there'll be live coverage 7-9pm on the local CBS station Channel 3.

Dr. Phil