We real cool
All words evolve, as it has been with “cool.” The hipster who coined it, presumably long in the grave, must be spinning a bit now that the word is finding more employment in its original context: referring to something that is neither hot nor cold.
The global warming movement, not renowned for its cool-ness, has co-opted the word as a handy dual-purpose adjective. There are some 600 “cool mayors” committed to shrinking their cities’ greenhouse gas footprints, according to the coolmayors.com Web site. Included are mayors from Atherton, Menlo Park and Portola Valley.
These three localities plus Woodside are among 753 cool U.S. cities with similar commitments, according to coolcities.us.
One of the newest entries is “cool counties,” and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed on Oct. 16 to have the county join the group. Who knows? Before long, they may be calling themselves cool supervisors.
An OK Joe
We don’t want to tell tales out of school, but trustees of the Portola Valley School District ventured beyond their boundaries recently to unanimously nominate state Sen. Joe Simitian as their choice for the California School Boards’ Association “Outstanding Legislator of the Year.”
In the nomination’s eight paragraphs, they cited: his tireless work to assure public school students receive the best education California has to offer; encouraging students to participate in the legislative process through his “There Ought Be a Law” contest; and serving as chair of the Senate Select Committee on the Master Plan and Senate Education Committee.
And you can’t have a resolution without a “whereas.” The district’s whereas says, “Senator Simitian has a deep understanding of California school finance and realizes that it must be changed if it is to truly serve the needs of California’s public school students.”
Amen.
