Education to Elegance with a Sprit of Tradition

 
The now famous UC Merced Valentine campaign to invite First Lady Michelle Obama to speak at the May 16 commencement exercises featured the following legend, found at this link:
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-story_images/story/684187.html
Education to Elegance with a Sprit of Tradition
UC Merced Commencment May 16, 2009
Since, as we say in the press, this message had pass through many sets of eyes, we wondered if "sprit" had an academic meaning that has escaped us all these years. However, the only definition we could find was:
sprit: a spar that crosses a fore-and-aft sail diagonally. (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary)
Some have voiced suspicions that the campaign to get Mme. Obama to speak at UC Merced was not perhaps as innocent and student-led as it has been presented in the article below and many others in Sonny Star, Merced's own gigolo press. With finance, insurance and real estate in the wastewaster facility, Sonny Star's only got one wealthy dame left to escort, UC Merced. But, the "sprit" is evidence that UC Merced Bobcatflak Central probably didn't have much to do with the illiterate valentine. Larry Salinas, bobcatflak honcho, knows the difference between "spirit" and "sprit" and would not, as it can be speculated the students did, rely wholly on his computer's spell checker for electronic verification.
Blaming a printer for a spelling error ranks up there in the hierarchy of futile pursuits along with trying to discipline a "chiewawa."
Well-mannered Sonny Star did its best to conceal the "sprit" by not displaying it on the page, but it did provide the link cited above. Sonny Star limited its coverage, beyond the obligatory quotes, to oogling about the invitation as if it were a fashion gown the First Lady might wear to rural events.

"...and First Lady Michelle Obama dazzled the audience by appearing in an elegant but understated rustic sprit."

The price for this visit is $700,000 according to Sonny Star, $800,000 according to local TV, and can be counted on to rise toward the Magic Million-Dollar Mark as we, with true sprit, count down the last 13 days.
Plutocracy is becoming a stranger form of government every day, here in the national capital of foreclosure rates with 21-percent unemployment.
Badlands Journal editorial board

2-11-09
Merced Sun-Star
UC Merced students invite First Lady Michelle Obama to speak at graduation
Hundreds on campus enlisted in Valentine's card campaign...DANIELLE GAINES
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/684187.html
The blue of the background is just a shade or two off from the dress she wore at the August Democratic National Convention.
The pearl necklace on the front of the Valentine's Day card is draped in the shape of a heart -- classic and elegant.
The drawing of the graduation cap in the middle of the string of white pearls may strike the only dissonant note on the glossy card cover.
But does it stand out more than a vision of first lady Michelle Obama speaking at UC Merced?
These students hope not. A group of nearly 100 student leaders at the college campus have been working diligently on a campaign to bring the first lady to Merced for the 2009 graduation ceremony.
They printed 2,000 Valentine's Day cards with the pearl-and-heart design. All of them will be addressed by hand "to incorporate as many personal touches as possible," student body president Yaasha Sabba said. They have collected nearly 700 signed cards so far.
Two other students, Sam Fong and Efferman Ezell, have spent hours crafting personalized letters to big players in the Obamas' lives. People such as Michelle Obama's brother and Charles Ogletree, Merced native and mentor to both Obamas at Harvard Law School. (Ogletree delivered the keynote address at the campus' opening ceremony in 2005.)
All three of the activists are among the 415 students of the class of 2009, the first group of students to attend UC Merced for all four years of their undergraduate educations.
A speech by Obama would, for the three men and several hundred others on campus, be the perfect sendoff, they said.
The Associated Students on campus passed a resolution at its meeting last week to court Michelle Obama as commencement speaker.
"First lady Michelle Obama is uniquely able to prepare the graduating inaugural class to face the severe economic, health care, and educational crises in both the San Joaquin Valley and America because of her successes and experiences on making an impact in the community," Fong and Sabba wrote in the resolution.
"Michelle Obama is the ideal choice to inspire passion and service from students and San Joaquin Valley residents alike to create the foundation for the future successes of the Valley."
Sabba said the goal in bringing Obama to Merced is much broader than hearing a memorable keynote address at his graduation.
He and others said there were dozens of compelling reasons to bring Obama to campus, not the least being the economic crisis.
"Here we are, we have our inaugural graduating class, and they are going into a job market where they aren't necessarily going to be employed," Sabba said. "Bringing the first lady here is about benefiting the university and benefiting the community."
Ezell, another student leader behind the project, said Obama's appearance at commencement would shine a light on issues in the Valley. "If she comes here, then all eyes will be on us," Ezell said. "All eyes will be on the Central Valley."
Ezell said an Obama appearance would lure lawmakers from across the state who would see the issues and progress of the campus and the community.
Students also said the first family represents a precedent-setting culture of change -- as do the students at UC Merced, some of whom enrolled before the college was much of anything at all. "All of the students here are pioneers in one way or the other," Sabba said.
James Barnes, the university's coordinator of orientation and learning assistance, took the time to write a long and sincere note.
Barnes, who has for the past two years handed each and every diploma over to the deans at commencement, said he thought of the graduating students when he wrote the note.
"Many of these first four-year graduates represent our country's immigrant and first-generation families," Barnes wrote. "It would be a fitting tribute to these students given your own achievements of firsts."
Barnes said he had confidence the student movement could bring Obama to town.
"Why not shoot for the moon?" Barnes said after he wrote the note. "I think the (Obama) administration would be benefited to see our university. I would hope that they would maybe spend a day here, tour around a little bit, to see the needs of our community."
Uriel Ramirez, a 21-year-old senior from Yuba City, added that the diversity of UC Merced -- often touted as the most diverse campus in the University of California system -- mirrors the diversity of the members of the Obama administration.
Making that point won't be hard.
"If she just looks at the names on the envelopes, she will see our diversity," Ramirez said.
Ramirez also said the progress at UC Merced is the living, breathing example of President Obama's plans for regeneration of the higher education system.
"I think we represent her husband's goals," Ramirez said. "He wants to build more universities with advanced technologies and create more environmental protections. It would be an honor for Michelle Obama to come here as keynote speaker."
Fong said the Valentine's card is just one event in a larger "Dear Michelle" campaign. In addition to sending the letters to Obama family members and friends, Fong said the students are planning to find world records to conquer, dedicating their feat to Michelle Obama.
Ezell said community members can also come to a booth outside the library building on campus to sign the cards, which will be mailed out today.
"We can do big things, even though we are a small community," Sabba said. "Small communities are the infrastructure of the United States."
The commencement of the first four-year class at UC Merced will be held May 16 on the campus quad. Calls to the office of the first lady to check her availability on that date weren't immediately returned Tuesday.
Reporter Danielle Gaines can be reached at (209) 385-2407 or dgaines@mercedsun-star.com.