In California
At last light we were speeding through barren New Mexico desert. I slept—sort of—until about 6 a.m. No matter how I arranged and rearranged my pillows, arms and head I couldn't find a truly comfortable position laying across the two seats. Finally I tried a more upright position leaning against the headrest of the aisle seat that worked for a couple of hours.
Now the sun hasn't quite broken clear of the mountains to the east and the tall palms and sweeping freeway overpasses say California. Looks like Riverside. Wonder if Austin, the Native American who was heading here to work as an electrician, got through the night in the lounge car without starting a fight. He was drinking freely from a 20-oz bottle of something pretty potent. Probably should have tried it when he offered.
Today my first order of business is to get a rental car and most likely head to Azusa Pacific College. We arrived at Los Angeles' glorious Union Station on time, and there was a Budget Rent-a-Car desk in the station. I thought about calling to check prices, but since I had neither phone numbers nor locations, convenience led me to the Budget desk.
I got a pretty good deal on a Ford Focus, made a phone call to my contact at Azusa Pacific, and headed across the street to Denny's to have breakfast and wait to find out if I'd be driving north to Azusa or south to my sister-in-law's house in Westminster.
After a hefty Denny's breakfast, Azusa it was. I pulled into a parking lot on the bright shiny white campus. It looked prosperous. Other than the mountains in the distance there was little visual similarity with my earlier visit to Santa Fe Community College.
I walked into a nearby building and found both the Art Department and the office of Dave McGill, Associate Professor of Graphic Design. We talked for about an hour.
After winging it on my first couple of interviews I decided to record our conversation this time so I'm left with more than the few snippets that stick in my brain. I'd rather not take notes because it slows the conversation down and makes it feel more stilted. I've been enjoying all of my discussions, and just need to be able to go back and listen to them again.
After we talked, I sat in for an hour on a critique in Dave's Graphic Design class, as I'd done briefly with Deni's class.
I again was reassured to see that students everywhere seem to share many of the same characteristics. Each class seems to have one or two very articulate students and another couple who don't say anything, and whose body language says they'd much rather be doing something else. Another good research topic would be how to conduct a good critique.
After leaving Azusa I drove down to Westminster, thankfully missing most of the traffic. Now I'm in a pleasant little guest room trying to stave off sleep for a few minutes more.
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