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Issue #12 August | 2014
Community Education's Premiere Online Magazine
In This Issue:
- Enhance Your Career, Enrich Your Life
- What's New: Our SMC MindSpace Blog
- First Look: Upcoming Art Exhibit!
- John Anderson: Fishing with the Bears
Enhance Your Career, Enrich Your Life
Michelle King, DirectorCareer & Contract Ed.
We’re excited about the lineup of 150 classes for fall, including some new Professional Development courses and leisure classes that will enhance your career and enrich your life. The fall session begins Tuesday, Sept. 2.
As always, we provide a rich selection of courses in many disciplines – from the arts and writing to fitness to professional training – but we are working with a keener eye to design new courses that meet our community’s needs.
For example, we are offering for the first time Property Management and The Business of Photography, both of which can launch you on new careers or give you an edge in your current business or freelance pursuits.
Of course, we also have a diverse selection of non-career-related classes that can improve your health, cultivate your artistic talents, make your life more fun and open up personal development opportunities. For example, our new “Candy’s Bridge Club” is being offered for the first time because of the dearth of local opportunities to play the popular card game.
And aside from certificate programs, classes and workshops, we offer tours – not to mention online classes, all at reasonable prices. And don’t forget, we have free and plentiful parking.
One final note: Not all our classes made it into the printed Fall Schedule, so be sure to check out our website, http://commed.smc.edu.
Warm regards,
Michelle King
Director of Career & Contract Education
What's New: Our SMC MindSpace Blog.
Alice Meyering,Program Coordinator
Community & Contract Education
After months of working and planning, I’m happy to announce the launch of our very own Community Education blog, MindSpace. This blog is our latest enterprise to complement our promotional efforts in social media, and it also provides an additional platform for our students and instructors to share class experiences as well as achievements.
Readers may remember that we created a visual exhibition of our student works at Bundy earlier this year, which received a great deal of positive feedback from the community. The success of our student exhibition prompted me to look into creating another platform to showcase other student bodies of work, such as those produced in our very robust writing program.
MindSpace is modeled on the multi-author blogs (MABs), where many contributors participate in the content creation of the blog. At this early stage, the nature of this blog is fluid, and what I would like to see is where our Community Education members will take it. As individuals continue to nurture and contribute to it, its personality will emerge, and I can’t wait to see what this blog will grow up to be.
If you are reading this, MindSpace is for you, and we would like to hear from you. Our submission guideline is very simple: participants need to be part of the Community Education program, and all anecdotes or written works should have originated in, or be associated with, Community Education classes, with a limit of 500 words, give or take. This is a space committed to a meeting of minds through sharing, and by sharing we hope to form a strong sense of community that all can rely on for joy, support, and aspiration.
To me, this blog is like a newborn babe, fresh and bright-eyed, full of possibilities, and only sky is the limit – but it takes a village. Let’s use this space to share the work you are proud of, little exchanges that warmed your heart in class, or funny happenstances on campus in general.
Whatever it is, your piece, along with so many others, will form a picture of what Community Education is all about, and you might just be surprised how delighted you’ll be by that picture. I look forward to your input and encourage you to visit www.smcmindspace.com today and be part of it – all you have to do is email your submission* to CommEd@smc.edu and include "SMC MindSpace submission" in the subject line.
*We reserve the right to edit all submitted content before posting.
First Look: Upcoming Art Exhibit!
Community Ed is excited to unveil a “First Look” at its newest student art exhibit, featuring beautiful works of printmaking, glass sculpture and photography. The exhibit will officially open Tuesday, Sept. 2, the first day of the fall semester classes.
Last spring, Community Ed turned a dark, dust-filled display case in the lobby of the Bundy Building into a light-filled mini-gallery that showcases beautiful works created by art students.
“The feedback from students, instructors and others who pass through the lobby has been wonderful,” says Alice Meyering, Program Coordinator of Community & Contract Education. “I’m happy that we will soon open our fall exhibit, and others will follow, at least once a semester.”
The printmaking portion of the exhibit not only displays prints but also shows the method of taking woodblock to silk screening and some of the tools that are used for the art form. (The next Printmaking class will be offered by Charlotte Chen in the Winter Session.)
All the photos are by the very talented student Andy House, a semi-retired TV industry executive who has supervised dozens of TV projects ranging from “Mad About You” to “Breaking Bad.” A world traveler, he has captured images that include stunning shots taken in such countries as Myanmar.
“And as always, we continue to be dazzled by the beautifully luminous glass works that our students create,” Meyering says.
Meyering said she is particularly grateful to photographyinstructor Ed Mangus for his painstaking work to help hang the
show in the display case.
John Anderson: Fishing with the Bears
John AndersonReal estate instructor John F. Anderson is the founder and principal of Los Angeles-based JFA Real Estate, Inc., which he has operated since 1998.
He was also Vice President of Real Estate for News America, Inc., where he was responsible for all real estate operations of News America and its subsidiaries, including Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Broadcasting Company, and the Fox Television Stations Group.
A Pacific Palisades resident, Anderson studied real estate and finance at the University of Texas at Arlington and at California State University, Northridge. John is an active licensed Real Estate Broker in the States of California, Florida and Texas.
What was the best and worst thing about being Vice President of Real Estate for News America Inc.?
Best: Knowledge and experience I gained transacting real property around the world. I was able to see how other cultures view real estate and its function in their native countries.
Worst: The corporate culture of News America (Fox) was an emphasis on revenue centers vs. cost centers. In other words Fox was more interested in production than facilities. Even though facilities is a vital part of any operation, most all resources were directed towards promoting media, and real estate took a “back seat” to production.
What’s been the highlight of your real estate career?
The highlight was probably working for my Dad early on in my career. Although it did not last long (I was always trying to tell him how to run his business), I learned the values of trying my best, being honest at all costs, and never giving up.
Tell us one to three things that most people don’t know about you.
John Anderson says the craziest thing he’s ever done is fly fished with bears in Alaska with no communication with civilization.I am a minimalist wilderness fisherman and camper, loving God’s nature and the great outdoors. I am the proud father of five children (two sons and three daughters) from the same marriage.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
Fly fishing with bears in Alaska with no communication with civilization.
What are the rewards of teaching at Community Ed?
I love sharing my real estate knowledge with others, with the greatest reward being the knowledge I gain from my students at SMC.
What turns you on most about real estate?
Real estate is the greatest of all career challenges. I love it with a passion. It is constantly changing, never standing still. You must learn to adapt to the surrounding economic market conditions, stay informed with new financial and legal changes, learn to deal with many different personalities, but most importantly be honest and trustworthy.
What do you predict will happen to L.A.’s residential, commercial and industrial real estate markets in the next year?
A market is never stagnant, especially Los Angeles. We have just experienced the worst business cycle in history. I am cautiously optimistic as to the residential and commercial real estate markets that they will slowly trend upward. Provided we continue with sustained economic growth and create more jobs, LA will still be a bellwether community. As I share with students, whether in good or bad economic times, there are always opportunities for great real estate deals.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
The love of my family and friends.
