Why I Won't Be Serving on the Redistricting Commission

I now completely understand why so many qualified individuals never get involved in public service.

Having passed the preliminary screening (along with over 25,000 other Californians), I've learned what is required to continue applying to be on the new redistricting commission. I could certainly write answers to the essay questions and provide a resume. They want to know all about me, which is understandable. But they also want me to include information about my parents, siblings and children. I wouldn't want my relatives providing information about me, so why should I be willing to provide it about them? And if I become a finalist, I have to make a detailed financial disclosure, which would affect not just me as an individual, but my husband, and, by extension, his business partner, and which will become part of the public record. Anyone with a normal sense of privacy and respect for others would not want to do this.

I've carefully read the job description and the list of qualifications, and I believe I'm highly qualified to do this. I realize that it involves being "in the spotlight" because it is controversial, requires public hearings, etc. I don't have a problem with that. But I do have a problem with exposing people who aren't applying for the job to undue loss of privacy. Perhaps all this information is legitimately needed to avoid any conflict of interest or wrongdoing. But at the same time, this is why only a certain type of person (whether they are good, bad, or mediocre) will do public work. And I believe that is why we have the kinds of problems we have.

What the #&*! is CSUN Thinking?

Today I was on the Cal State Northridge campus to take a test. One of the administrators proudly pointed out that the classroom was filled with lovely, newly-purchased desks. Every single one of them was a RIGHT-HANDED desk!

There is absolutely no excuse for this. Two-sided desks have been available for decades. Other schools purchase them. Why in the 21st century would a public institution be permitted to continue discriminating against 15% of the population? This is simply unbelievable.

CSUN's Oviatt Library Discriminates Against Lefties

Last week I attended a class in the Cal State Northridge Library. I moved the mouse to the left-hand side and then attempted to reverse the mouse buttons. Normally I simply use control Panel to change the mouse settings. But Control Panel was not visible on the library’s computer. There was an “Accessibility” menu, but none of the things listed there had anything to do with making the computer accessible to lefties. I asked the librarian in charge of the class how to switch the mouse buttons. She didn’t know how and went to get someone else. She came back with a guy who told me that there was no way to switch the buttons because Control Panel had been disabled for security reasons. He claimed that I was the first person who had ever asked for this. I told him I wouldn’t be the last. He said it would probably be another twelve years before that happened. Wow! My right handed friends agreed with me that his response was inappropriate. And, seriously, if we were talking about accessibility for people who speak Japanese (which was available on that computer) would it matter how many or how often? Would the library refuse to meet the needs of all the various ethnic and religious groups, deaf people, or people with disabilities who are on campus, simply because they haven’t often made these requests? I don’t think so.

Reversing the mouse button is a simple thing that has been easy to do on PCs for many, many years. Not every lefty reverses the mouse buttons, but many do. In fact, even some righties do this, so they can use the mouse in the left hand while taking notes with the right. The point is, those of us who need to use the mouse in this perfectly normal way should not be placed at a disadvantage.

So here’s my request. Whether or not you are left-handed, and whether or not you prefer to switch the mouse buttons, if you are a CSUN student (or anyone who has business on campus) please go to the library and ask for help reversing the mouse buttons for left-handed use. Be polite but firm. In your conversation with the librarian, make sure you use the word “accessible”. For example, “It’s hard to use the library when the computers aren’t accessible.” Or, “How do you plan to address this accessibility problem?” You might also want to use the word “discrimination”, as in, “I’m very surprised to find this kind of discrimination going on here.”

Still Here

I have been on "hiatus" for a while, but will return to blogging when things settle down a little.