Students at Oberlin College complain their dining hall sushi has been "culturally misappropriated," some kudos to our local AAA office and some other good form about town

* ... CAMPUS LIFE: Are you ready for the latest silliness making news on college campuses? Consider the small liberal arts school of Oberlin College where a group of students are complaining that food in the dining hall has been "culturally misappropriated." That's right, the students are demanding changes because,

according to them, sushi recipes have been manipulated and are "disrespectful" to Japanese. As reported in The Atlantic: "The core student grievance, as reported by Clover Lihn Tran at The Oberlin Review: Bon Appétit, the food service vendor, 'has a history of blurring the line between culinary diversity and cultural appropriation by modifying the recipes without respect for certain Asian countries’ cuisines. This uninformed representation of cultural dishes has been noted by a multitude of students, many of who have expressed concern over the gross manipulation of traditional recipes.'” Fredrik deBoer, an academic, posted this on Twitter: "When you’re defending the cultural authenticity of GENERAL TSO’S CHICKEN, you’re a living Portlandia sketch."

* ... GOOD FORM: A bit of good form to start your day. This from Deanna and Wally Haulman: "Disappointed and encouraged at almost the same time. Someone dumped three very tiny baby kittens at Hart Park. They were cold, shaking and scared... (until) a lovely couple from The Cat People scooped them up so they had a second chance. We just wanted to thank them for their willingness to help."

 * ... AUTO CLUB: And speaking of good form, it's hard to beat the service at our local AAA office over off Truxtun. The annual membership fee is a bargain compared to the misery of standing in line at the DMV office, and the AAA customer service reps are always knowledgeable and friendly.

 * ... BAD FORM: And then there was this, compliments of reader Doug Wagner: "I guess the holidays can make some folks really impatient. On Sunday, as I was coming out of the Smart and Final on Rosedale Highway, trying to make a righthand turn onto northbound Calloway Drive. I was waiting for a pedestrian who was using the crosswalk, to make it all the way across. I figured that was the right and legal thing to do. Well, I thought wrong, as the young lady in the white sedan behind me honked her horn for me to start moving, which I couldn't. Well, at least I received a 'thank you' hand wave from the pedestrian. As for the impatient young lady that honked her horn at me for waiting on a pedestrian, I hope she got to were she needed to get to in a hurry. As I don't like to wish bad on anyone, but in the honor of holding the Christmas Spirit, I hope the Grinch steals all her presents and she gets a lump of coal in her stocking hanging over the mantle. Merry Christmas, everyone!"

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "I don't care what your religion is as long as you use your turn signal."

 * ... SPOTTED ON THE ROAD: Linda Welch spotted this bumper sticker about town: "My son was inmate of the month at Lerdo."

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: My good friend Gene Bonas, a Navy and submarine veteran, says you may be a Bakersfield old timer "if you can remember when you pulled into a real service station and got you car windows cleaned, oil checked, tires checked for correct air pressure, and gas pumped all for free. And you got green stamps to boot!"

On the national dialogue on race, political correctness and what it means to be white, and black, in America. And will we ever learn to deal with trash in our town?

 * ... WHITE PEOPLE: During these times of heightened awareness over race and political correctness, here is a sure sign of our times. It looks like MTV is about the launch a new

documentary called "White People," which promoters say "aims to get young caucasian men and women to talk openly and honestly about race." Says the president of MTV Stephen Friedman: “Whiteness often remains unexamined in conversations about race in this country, even as it acts as the implicit norm against which other racial identities are judged."

 * ... BLACK TWITTER: Meanwhile the Los Angeles Times has hired a reporter to cover 'Black Twitter,' the ongoing dialogue of black Americans on Twitter. A few years ago The Times devoted an entire weekly section, and considerable resources, to covering the minority communities in Los Angeles; now it does it by following hash tags on Twitter.

 * ... HOME: I included a 'Bakersfieldism' the other day that dealt with how some folks are actually embarrassed to call Kern County home. It drew this response from Doug Snyder who came here in 1982 from Ventura to work for Shell Oil. "Along the way my heart for ranching, hunting, fishing and horses I acquired from my upbringing as a Kansas farm kid, was a good fit with living here. I've been fortunate to know some of the best folks our area has to offer... eventually had my own little beef cattle ranch and leased a small place around 4,000 acres. So I guess what I'm trying to get to, is you can call me a whole lot of things, but I'd sure take kindly if you wouldn't associate me with that area, I like to refer too as the bowels of the beast, just a little south of Bakersfield. They can have the celebrities and the coast and the pretty and we'll keep the food, water and oil! Will someone please take this soap box!"

* ... TRASH: Go almost anywhere in this town and you will find an appalling amount of trash-on the road, in the alleys, in front of local businesses and in our parks. One of my beefs is how local retailers neglect all the litter in front of their businesses, leaving hundreds of cigarette butts among the shrubbery along with straws and cup lids and whatever else. (Next time you are at Starbucks or Flame and Skewers at 24th and L streets check out the litter in the bushes) So here's hoping that our local retailers begin to take as much pride in the cleanliness of the area outside their businesses as they do inside.

 * ... TWITTER: Spotted this the other day: "If my glass is half full then I start wondering where my bartender is."

 * ... DMV: Tony Malon shared this bit of bad form from his recent trip to the DMV: "A month ago I had to renew my drivers license, which is always a fun day. I made an appointment, so as to not spend a lot of time there. It went pretty smooth as far as the DMV is concerned. About a month later I got my license. Shortly thereafter I received a card from the DMV saying that a form was not signed when I was there. I had to go back and sign something. Waiting in line for about 30 minutes I found out I didn't have to be in line, just go to the window on the card, information I got from someone else in line not from a DMV employee. Waiting in line at the window I was told the person who handles this was at a different location that day and they couldn't find the paper I had to sign. A lady at the window who did the search told another person to get a new form, and have me sign it. That person brought me a two page form to fill out, halfway through filling it out the first lady came back, and said I didn't have to fill it all out just half and sign it. I told her the reason I had made an appointment to begin with was to not have problems, her answer was 'you can give your license back after all you won't have to come back for five years.' I answered are you sure of that, and she reassured me so. A month goes by, and I receive another card just like the first one. Going to the proper window I find a different person, I ask are you the person in charge, no was my answer. I showed the card, and she dug through some files and found the original form I was to sign. I signed it and was gone. I hope I don't get another card in the mail. Being retired and on limited income and with gas at almost four dollars a gallon I don't need anymore trips to the DMV."

Two Bakersfield quarterbacks square off in the USC-Fresno State game, the rash of horrific drunk driving accidents continue and the ride sharing service Uber comes to town

 * … ACCIDENT: The madness of reckless and drunken driving continues, with the latest incident claiming two lives on Rosedale Highway and Verdugo Lane. In that case, early Saturday morning, police with 29-year-old Dontrell Collins was speeding going west on Rosedale when he slammed into a compact white car, causing it to burst into flames. Two passengers were killed and a third was

hospitalized with burns. These kind of tragedies are all too common, and in fact some folks in the Southwest have taken to calling Ming Avenue "blood alley" because of the high number of accidents involving alcohol or simply reckless driving.

 * … HOMETOWN BOYS: How fun was it to watch the USC-Fresno State game this weekend featuring two outstanding quarterbacks from Bakersfield? Cody Kessler, the former Centennial High standout, led the Trojans to victory but former Driller Brian Burrell represented the Bulldogs well in the loss. Two more young men in a long line of great local athletes.

 * … ROLE MODEL: Hats off to Katie Arriaga, a young mother who spent last weekend picking up trash and litter in the Riverlakes area. Katie took along her three daughters - 10-year-old Briony and 7-year-old twins Brevony and Bregan - to give them a lesson in community service. Thanks to Katie's proud mother, Bobbie McWhorter, for passing this along.

* … BAD FORM: Steve McCalley spotted someone driving an ATT Prius the other day, going 35 mph while texting. "Clearly the massage hasn't been received by the cell phone providers," he said.

 * … UBER: Über, the San Francisco-based ride sharing service that compete directly with local taxi cabs, is now servicing the Bakersfield area. Uber is wildly popular among consumers because no cash is exchanged (the transaction is completed via a cell phone app) and Uber is much cheaper than conventional taxis. To use the service, download the Uber app and when ready for a car, simply use the app to have one pick you up wherever you are.

* … DMV: Ruth Fee wrote to share how government bureaucracy: "I was heartened by your experience with an 'appointment' with DMV and I hoped I would have the same quick result. I needed a California ID and not knowing about appointments, I first waited in line for two hours, presented my paperwork and was told I needed my marriage certificate. I had not been told that when I called the DMV initially. A little more savvy, I made an appointment via internet and arrived with the required certificate. I was told by the clerk that I needed a 'certificated' marriage document. I was more than a little miffed as that was not specified by the first clerk. I was then given a number to call in California to get the required form and told to make another appointment. I called that number and was told I needed to call a number in the county I had been married in. (  didn't see the point as my husband was deceased.)  Calling the San Francisco number, I was given yet another number to call.
Rather than doing something uncivil, I threw up my hands and decided to try another day. To be continued - or not."

 * … HISTORY: Navy veteran Gene M. Bonas asked me to remind everyone that Tuesday will mark the 69th anniversary of the Japanese surrender of World War II aboard the USS Missouri.

 * … NOTE: I received a beautifully written letter, in cursive, from a woman who wanted to be known only as "Grandma." She only wanted to thank several women who came to her aid when she took a tumble. In her words: "I found that day there are some good caring people in Bakersfield. That's one of the reasons my late husband and I moved here. I have never seen any other town where people come to your aid like in Bakersfield."

Celebrating a good samaritan and lamenting the trashing of our parks after a summer weekend

  

* ... GOOD SAMARITAN: From readers Gene and Shirley Takach, the story of a local good samaritan: "Recently while walking our pug Otto, we were attacked by a loose pit bull in the intersection of Old Farm Road and Palm Drive. A good samaritan stopped in the middle of the intersection, ran over and quickly got the pit bull to stop the attack and to turn tail and leave. Thankfully, due to this stranger's willingness to intercede in a vicious attack where he also could have been severely injured, Otto and I had only minor bites. It is heartwarming to know that there are people in Bakersfield who practice The Golden Rule, 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'  Our good samaritan, Steve, wished to be anonymous but we will be forever grateful for his bravery."
                             
 * ... WHAT WORKS: I spend a lot of time lamenting bureaucracy and unresponsive public agencies, so it's a treat when you run into things that actually do work. And it happened at the California DMV office on F Street downtown. Imagine that. A trip to the DMV is normally akin to undergoing a colonoscopy without anesthesia, but apparently no longer. The DMV now allows you to make an appointment online for a specific time and purpose. Mine was for 9:20 a.m. on Friday for a new driver's license. I arrived at 9:15 a.m. and was called precisely at 9:23 a.m. The process took two minutes and I was out the door at 9:25 a.m. Now that is something to celebrate.

 * ... FIGHT ON: Looks like another local kid is heading to Los Angeles to attend school at the University of Southern California. This according to former Kern High School District trustee Bob Hampton, himself a proud USC alum. His granddaughter, Stockdale High graduate Emily Bernstein, will soon be off to "Figueroa Tech" and four years of chanting "Fight on!" Her parents are Dan and Karen Bernstein.  The Bernsteins own a large engineering firm in town called Processes Unlimited, International. Emily will major in chemical engineering.

 * ... BAD FORM: Would whoever left the two used diapers, the Bud Light cans and the Doritos bag  down by the river at Beach Park please return to discard them?

 * ... OVERHEARD: Lots of buzz among downtown residents that a new grocery store may be headed for the area. There hasn't been a downtown grocery since Fike's closed some years ago, forcing residents of Westchester, Riviera Westchester and Oleander to either head to the Southwest or to the East side of town up Highway 178.

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: From reader Terry Willey: You know you're from Bakersfield "when you know the Grapevine isn't where you get your wine from."