After two years in this position as Guild President I’m feeling something that I haven’t felt in this role yet: optimism.
The hope sprang eternal after Armine Hacopian, our GCC Board of Trustees President, reached out to me back in late January hoping to schedule lunch so that we could not only get better acquainted with one another but share updates about the Board and the Guild. It was a wonderful lunch with her, Trustee Ann Ransford, and Roger Dickes, our Academic Senate President; we shared a great meal at Raffi’s in downtown Glendale. I liked the eggplant salad (caviar) so much that Ann went out of her way to buy me a jar and give it to me later at the BOT meeting that evening. Clearly, small gestures and acts of kindness work magic on me, and, for that I am grateful.
In March, I attended the CFT Leadership Conference, which focused on anti-racism and social justice, Community College Council, and State Council in San Francisco. While yes, it’s still technically work, the ability to connect with my union colleagues was transforming. I’ve only known everyone via small boxes on a Zoom screen, so it was a great opportunity to connect on a more personal level.
Even meeting with the PQE committee members to conduct interviews of Glendale USD and Glendale City Council candidates in April filled me with a newfound hope that I haven’t had in a long time that maybe, finally, things are getting better… for real.
In short, it just feels good to do things that are normal.
Speaking of normal… PLEASE come to our Guild-sponsored End-of-Year Faculty Party after graduation on Wednesday, 6/15. It will be held on the Sierra Vista patio and catered by our wonderful Culinary Arts Program Director Andrew Feldman and his students. If you were at the 2019 party, you know how fantastic the food was. RSVP details are coming soon (if they haven’t by the time this is published).
I want to take a little more of this column to recognize our 2022-2023 slate of Exec members with a special thank you and shout-out to Nare Garibyan, who was an incredible secretary, and Rich Cortes, who was an awesome PIO. I’m looking forward to more normal with another excellent Exec team next year:
Julie Gamberg, 1st VP
Juliann Wolfgram, 2nd VP
David Hassett, Operations Officer
Maite Peterson, Secretary
Cindy Pollack, Grievance Officer
Roger Bowerman, Public Information Officer
Nune Yeganyan, Garfield Steward
Mike Scott, Budget Representative
Caroline DePiro, Chief Negotiator
Please have a restful, relaxing, and rejuvenating summer and we will do it all over again in the fall, strong and resilient, AND hopefully back to a little more normal and feeling optimistic.
In Unity,
Emily
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