Evan walks the not-so-tight rope on the Boulder Mall and directs the Voting by Phone Foundation. He moved here 13 years ago from Taos, NM, from which he got his stage name, Evan from Heaven. San Luis is close by.
Published in the Colorado Daily 4/15/92
THE TIGHTROPE by Evan Ravitz
Our fearless editor Clint Talbott noted Feb 13 that what's good
for the goose (former CU President E. Gordon Gee) isn't always
good for the gander (CU football coach Bill McCartney). And certainly
slick salesman Gee got away with using his office for political
campaigns in '88 & '90 while foot-in-the-mouth fundamentalist
McCartney has been (rightly) condemned for the same recently.
What's good for the Gees, and the elite who run our universities
and world from their ivory towers? One didn't hear much about
Elizabeth Gee until she died recently of a long bout with cancer.
Remember Trygve Bauge? He's the 12-year resident of Boulder from
Norway known as the founder of the Boulder Polar Bear Club. He
stopped by the Gees' mansion-on-the-range to suggest a way for
Mrs. Gee to beat the Reaper- Gersen detoxification therapy. (Incidentally
this therapy is illegal here thanks to the US cancer industry,
although, with studies showing much cancer is caused by environmental
factors, cleaning up your internal environment sounds like something
to try before chemotherapy.)
Finding nobody at the guard house he went to the door and knocked,
then the window. She called the police and they hauled the elfin
long-haired good samaritan off to jail. His lawsuit is pending.
Might Mrs. Gee be alive today if she'd greeted Mr. Bauge in the
spirit he approached her? Trygve at least could have cheered her
up.
How about E. Gordon? What good could the West do for this bow-tied
Eastern dandy who gave secret deferred pay bonuses to an array
of VPs and a 'lifetime' contract to Big Mac? (A 'lifetime' for
fundamentalists like Ronald Reagan and Mac means until Armageddon,
soon, like the year 2000.) Let's journey to San Luis, the oldest
town in Colorado, sometimes the coldest town in Colorado, The
Northernmost outpost of the former empire of New Spain.
Gee and entourage came to San Luis twice to showcase what CU could
do for this little 'third world' burg- study the local historic
and religious vernacular architecture, create a town plan and
promote tourism, not to mention public relations for CU.
My old friends Arnie and Maria Valdez discovered that although
they were CU Architecture and Planning grad students, bilingual
San Luis eighth-generation natives, and had a national reputation
for expertise in building and restoring local architecture (and
keeping poor people warm), CU was applying to NEA for a grant
to study "culture and religious architectural form in the
San Luis Valley" without including them and benefitting another
student without roots or experience there, or 4 hungry kids to
feed.
There were other problems with the application, which promised
to "enable local people to understand their culture and take
pride in it." Locals like the Monsignor were not involved,
perhaps too stupid to understand their culture without outside
assistance. The proposal to print 50,000 brochures to encourage
tourism to fragile historic buildings or private 'Moradas' (Penitente
churches) was not popular either.
They filed a discrimination suit with the Colorado Department
of Education, but were convinced by a professor to also apply
for a similar grant, which they did without help, but with the
endorsement of CU. They won the grant, while CU's own proposal
was turned down. In retaliation, the department refused to give
them matching funds they had promised in writing. "No way
in hell you'll ever get those Kellogg funds!" Bob Horn, the
department's service director, told them.
When Gee came on his cheerleading mission, Maria's dad, Charles
Mondragon sat next to one of Gee's handlers and told her he could
embarrass Gee by asking why the University stiffed the natives,
but would prefer a private audience at his office. Gee came to
the office.
Maria tried to be christian about it and not accuse people of
discrimination. At some point San Luis experienced one of their
common power brown-outs and the lights dimmed and buzzed. Gee
became paranoid exclaiming: "What's happening here, what's
going on?", suddenly fearful in this town of brown people.
On another project, Maria did a historical overview for a Town
Plan of San Luis and submitted family photos with a hand-written
note asking that they not be published. Lo, they were published-
Maria's work with Bob Horn's name!
Corruption is rampant in the School of Planning and Architecture-
see the endless story in Westword 6/7-13/89. Arnie & Maria
often saw cases of liquor being sent up to the head honchos.
The upshot is that Arnie & Maria left CU penniless (having
counted on CU's promised matching funds) and are finishing up
at UNM, along with many others. Their Valdez Associates recently
beat out CU for a Colorado Historical Society grant. Maria, as
outspoken as Arnie is quietly competent, says: "CU manipulates
public policy under the guise of education, and has divided our
community with its money."
What's good for the Gees, the Goose and the Gander? A priority
on education, not public relations- clearly an expensive failure
at CU. Educators listen as well as teach, PR only blusters and
marginalizes those who dare to dialogue. Maybe what the Gees
needed was Mr. Bauge's and the Valdez's feedback to get them back
on track. Big Mac's getting some serious feedback. America's
ruling elites are out of touch. All natural and man-made systems
need feedback to be healthy. That's why we started the Voting
by Phone foundation- to make it possible for Americans to have
a regular voice in their government.
Evan walks the not-so-tight rope on the Boulder Mall and directs
the Voting by Phone Foundation. He moved here 13 years ago from
Taos, NM, from which he got his stage name, Evan from Heaven.
San Luis is close by.