Chaparral 2019-2020: 28.1 Milestones

Mike Serot’s (CalWORKs) sister, Carolyn (Serot) Wright, had her first child on Monday 9/16/19. His niece, Maisie Rae Wright, is 7lbs 10oz and 20 inches. She is the first grandchild of his father, former VP Larry Serot.

Rory Cohen (Journalism) published a children’s book in late August, an endeavor that was truly a joy (and challenge).

The book, Natalie Goes to the Museum (ISBN: 978-0578491073), is about a shy and unique girl who dreams of an adventure in the city’s museum with her Auntie. The book seeks to showcase a non-traditional family – the aunt raises her niece – and subtly presents a multi-ethnic family dynamic not unlike that of many Los Angeles families. The stimulus for the literature’s art was international museums, though discerning readers will see glimpses inspired from the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and the Getty Villa in Malibu. Readers also get to flip through pages of pictures based on some of the world’s most beloved artists that are painstakingly recreated and interpreted for a young audience.

As many at Glendale College know, Rory teaches lower- and upper-division newswriting and news production coursework. On part-time basis, she teaches at Cal State University, Northridge in the same discipline. Art plays a role in her coursework, as part of her curriculum focuses on feature reporting and examines art restitution reporting as an example of covering human interest stories that students relate to on deeply emotional levels (they focus on “Lady in Gold” by Anne-Marie O’Connor). She is a big believer in field trips and takes her students to one museum every semester. This book, in many ways, reflects who she is as an educator, albeit to a younger audience.

Natalie Goes to the Museum is ideal for readers between the ages of 5 to 8.  

It is available through this link that redirects to Amazon: http://bit.ly/RCohenBook

A video promo is available at: http://bit.ly/RCohenPromo

Joanna Parypinski (English) celebrated the publication of her novel Dark Carnival this summer and recently had three stories listed as honorable mentions in Best Horror of the Year Volume 11. She also sold her next novel, It Will Just Be Us (written as Jo Kaplan), to Crooked Lane Books for publication in fall 2020. 
This summer Joanna also adopted two kittens, litter-mates Oliver and Cleopatra, who have absolutely lit up her life (and her camera roll).

Erin Calderone (Kinesiology) was featured in Ask the Professor in Oxygen Magazine! Check it out: https://www.oxygenmag.com/ask-the-professor

Mark Maier’s (Economics) son, Sam Maier, married Shiksha Modi this summer in a combined Hindi and informal ceremony. The couple are now volunteering in Indian schools for a year before settling in the U.S.

Casey Jones (Language Arts) had the opportunity to participate in the Kansas State Fair in her hometown of Hutchinson, KS. Her favorite exhibit at The Fair is the butter sculpture, and this year they had the first ever amateur butter sculpture contest. She had to do it! So she flew home, made one of her brothers compete with her in matching t-shirts, no less, and she walked away with a red ribbon! It was hilarious and so much fun. Next year, she’s going for blue!

Read the story her hometown newspaper did on her big moment: https://www.hutchnews.com/news/20190908/fair-hosts-first-ever-butter-sculpting-competition

This summer, Brian Reff (Culinary Arts) rode his bicycle from Council Bluffs, Iowa to Keokuk, Iowa on RAGBRAI XLVII from July 21 – 27, 2019. The ride was over 500 miles and he camped out the entire way. RAGBRAI is the acronym for Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.

The first picture shows a sign with his name on it, and the second shows Brian standing at the edge of the Mississippi River in Keokuk, Iowa.

Fatema Baldiwala’s (English) composition classes were featured in NACCE Magazine. Her feature was included in the previous journal (Spring/Summer), and you can check it out online at this link: https://www.nacce.com/quarterly-journal

Rachel Ridgeway (Oceanography & Geology) just completed her first Classic distance Triathlon.