Josh Franco

I remember my friend Kendrick and I drove through Los Angeles to either sell or buy something from a person Kendrick connected with on Craigslist. I thought the whole idea was a bit odd at first.

On our drive through Los Angeles, I think we took the 110 Freeway and got stuck in traffic. We stopped and I got the bright idea of jumping out of the car to take a picture of Los Angeles and all its glory. I jumped out and took a picture and Kendrick drove forward about 2 car lengths. I ran up and jumped back into the car. Ah, how I could remember seeing a driver staring at me and probably thinking I was out of my mind. I was just out of Kendrick’s car.

We eventually got through traffic, made it to the home of this Craiglists person, Kendrick bought or sold whatever (I think it was a computer power supply) and continued out our way to Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for some major event (I am almost certain it was the landing of the Mars Rovers) or some lecture about them or something related to robotics/space.

We reached the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) and for the life of me couldn’t find JPL. Come later, I learned that JPL is not next to CalTech like I thought. We drove around for miles and miles, we asked a group of CalTech students who didn’t know what the hell we were talking about and as day turned into the night and the event started and ended, our journey concluded.

I was bummed out by the entire experience. After Kendrick dropped me off at home, I Googled JPL, realized we were in the wrong place and then took a nap in frustration.

Fast forward to today and my spirits our soaring. The Phoenix Mars Mission has landed! In a nutshell: “Launched in August 2007, the Phoenix Mars Mission is the first in NASA’s Scout Program. Phoenix is designed to study the history of water and habitability potential in the Martian arctic’s ice-rich soil.”

I am stoked to see what Phoenix finds! Check out http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/ for the latest information!

I just had a conversation with Juan Carmen, Associated Students of UC Merced Director of Student Advocacy about a recent article in the Merced Sun-Star where he is quoted as saying:

Student Juan Carmen, 20, from Los Angeles, said he wasn’t surprised about the fee increase, mainly because of the state’s budget crisis. “I’m just glad it wasn’t like 10 percent or more,” Carmen said. “It’s still an increase, but it’s not like a major one.”

7.4% is a major increase! $490 is 50+ hours of work. Such fee increases places an additional burden on a students who have to pay for their education, housing and other living expenses.

We cannot continue to believe that moderation is the best approach to the issue of student fee increases.

The time has come where we have to be hard line, always. This continued march to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from 200,000 or so students over the past decade must end.

I drove down to Los Angeles Friday night to be here with my mother.

My younger brother Chris called me and asked if I was going to visit. I said I want it to be a surprise. For some reason, earlier in the week, I incidentally told my mother that I may visit. So, when I asked my brother why he called me to ask, he said because I told mom.

All is well. The weather is nice in LA. Overcast, with clouds burning off by the afternoon.

Yesterday, I was in downtown Burbank at the local union hall for the Los Angeles County Democratic Party Spring 2008 Issues Forum. It was a great forum: great program, speakers and ideas. One light bulb moment was when the pollster described how teachers and voters agreed with each other on almost everything but a single issue. That single issue is hammered away at over and over in advertisements, talking points and forums in order to divide the electorate into “yes” or “no.”

Stronger, more convincing arguments require more information and greater personal impact. For example, a $5.3 billion dollar budget cut to education is a lot, but it does not mean as much to me, you and most people because we do not tend to use billions of dollars in our daily lives and thus the weight of measurement is perceived terms is less.

Thus, we need to break down what this $5.3 billion dollar budget cut means. Without the money, schools will have less money to spend on students’ books, pencils and other class materials. Without the money, teachers will have less time to spend with students and give them individualized and specialized attention and teaching.

All in all, the Issues Forum was a success.

I am here at UC Merced in the Kolligian Library.

The library is named after Leo Kolligian from the fantastic Fresno and former Regent on the UC Board of Regents. Leo passed away recently.

I met Leo when the university community dedicated the library in honor of him and his former wife Dottie. He was a gentle man and delivered a rousing speech on the importance of academic freedom. Serving as Chair of the Regents, he helped build UC Merced by championing the need to build a university in the San Joaquin Valley. My final history paper was about the decision to build UC Merced and the role many played, including Leo.

The Library is filled with students who are busily preparing for the last leg of their semester journey at the university. A year ago it was when I was in this very building doing the same.

The checking out of a loaner laptop, the finding of a good seat, the inspiring view of Lake Yosemite or the south San Joaquin Valley, the friends, the jammed copy machine, the elusive primary source.

Having replaced the academic with policy and political environment of Sacramento, it’s comforting to return to the university regularly. I miss this place. A university is a relaxing and stimulating, comforting and concerning, busy and quiet.

It’s a place where ideas born, relationships are built and creativity is bred. It’s everything to everyone: a social equalizer, an economic boon, a source of inspiration, a cauldron of controversy, and a consistency of society.

Mayra’s laughter sparked this blog post. She is watching “The Last Lecture” by a Carnegie Mellon University professor who is dying of pancreatic cancer. A sad story, but uplifting lecture to say the least.

Here in Sacramento, it is hot and sticky. I am spent most of the day in the house, cooking lunch for the upcoming week (Mayra helped a lot), participating in 3 conference calls and coping with the weather. Right now, we are cooking a stuffed bell pepper with ground beef and making macaroni salad.

I like to relax on weekends and Sundays in particular. There is something to be said about calm before the week storm. It is also important to be able to find shelter in the form of meditation, exercising or cooking throughout the stormy week. It helps maintain some degree of sanity.

Over the past few days, I have been trying to figure out how I can explain to people my views on representative government. Specifically, how I think we should increase the size of the California state legislature from 120 to something greater (I am shooting for 360 or 480 for the sake of “ranging” the debate).

The National Conference of State Legislatures has a page about this very issue. The size of the state legislature affects just about everything.

I do not believe we can depend on 40 and 80 people (or 120 total) to effectively represent the diverse geographic, political, economic, social and fiscal interests of a 35+ million person state. What has been rattling my brain the past few days is how to construct and deliver a convincing argument for increasing the size of the legislature.

We are facing a crisis of historical proportion: climate change.

Visit: http://www.wecansolveit.org/ and let’s move forward on confronting the challenge.

I think every bit helps. From using environment-friendly soap to taking the bus to/from work once a week, we can all make a difference.

In about 7 days we are set to experience a “watershed” moment in history. In a conversation with the Lt. Governor, we discuss state and national politics and pondered what Tuesday, February 5 would bring.

Change is what next Tuesday is going to bring. A change in our state politics; a change in our national politics and a change in the hearts and minds of people.

On Saturday, Senator Obama rocked the South Carolina Primary. I was in Yosemite at the time. Reception was poor enough so I did not learn of the results until Mayra and I left the snow-covered park and returned to Merced.

I was happy to spend the day with Mayra in the place John Muir called “The Yosemite.” A majestic place of absolute amazement.

Standing with Mayra in the frigid air, looking at the snow-capped Half Dome and basking in the glow of the sun, I was at peace.

“Hope is not blind optimism. It’s not ignoring the enormity of the tasks ahead or the road blocks that stand in our path. It’s not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight, hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.” - Senator Barack Obama the Night of the Iowa Victory

Visit http://www.barackobama.com/, sign up for My.BarackObama.com, and stand for change!

Today, Thursday, January 3, 2008, is the beginning of the time for change. In the state of Iowa, hundreds of thousands of folks will be leaving the warmth and comfort of their homes and walk to a neighbor’s residence, walk through the old doors of their high school gym, walk downstairs into the basement of their church, or meet in the hall of the community center and caucus for change, caucus for a new direction, and caucus for a new America.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 12:00:01PM noon Eastern Standard Time, President Barack Obama will be our nation’s new face, our country’s new leader, and our history’s new visionary who will begin the arduous process of reorganizing our government, redefining our values, reshaping our nation, rebuilding our image around the world.

I look forward to that day, some 382 days from now. And the first step in our journey to that moment begins with tomorrow’s caucus in Iowa.

Go Obama!