Lassen Community College is a great place to start
I’m not ashamed to say I’m a proud supporter of the California Community College system in general and Lassen Community College in particular, and I’m not likely to change my mind about that.
OK, I admit my community college history is somewhat checkered. Not going to college was not an option in my house, so when I graduated from high school in 1968 I promptly enrolled at Fresno City College. But I was playing guitar, making money in the coffee houses, and I simply was there for the wrong reason — to appease my parents.
So I guess I wasn’t too surprised when my teachers dropped me from my classes or gave me failing grades. That’s exactly what I deserved. After a couple of semesters of this, even my parents recognized the futility of insisting I continue my education. I promised my disappointed mom if I wasn’t rich and famous by the time I turned 30, I would go back to school.
Time passes, as it always does, and frankly I was more than a little tired and bored of being an organic juke box playing music for people who were too busy drinking and socializing to listen. I’d had a cup of coffee (to steal a sports metaphor) with some of the record company folks in Hollywood, and I didn’t seem to have a future there, either.
So in the fall of 1980 I honored my promise to my mother and enrolled at FCC again. The first thing I had to do was prove my worthiness and get myself off academic probation, based upon my previous efforts.
I discovered that wasn’t too difficult because my attitude had changed. I didn’t see going to school as a disruption but a means to an end.
I stumbled a bit at first, but FCC gave me an opportunity to explore. I had taken some music theory classes during my previous incarnation, but I figured I had given up that life and needed something new.
At first I wanted to be an accounting major, but after a couple of classes I decided that involved way too many numbers.
OK, how about criminal justice? Nah, that wasn’t really me either. Same conclusion with psychology.
Then on a whim, I took a poetry writing class. I’d written more than 100 songs, so I thought this would be easy. I discovered song lyrics, for the most part, are not poetry, and I had much to learn. I found out I loved to write and that lead me to classes in journalism and literature.
Of course, if I had been a little bit smarter, I might have known it all along. I came across an old yearbook of sorts from junior high school where we all listed our ambition for the future. I said I wanted to be a novelist.
For those of you who feel that little bug gnawing in your brain telling you an education should be in your future, now is the time to start and Lassen Community College is the place to set your dreams in motion.
Registration is underway right now up the hill and classes start Monday, Jan. 14. Register early, and you have better choices of class times and instructors.
If you need more information about any aspect of your college career, the staff at LCC can answer all your questions and tell you how to meet any requirements or prerequisites. For more information, you can go to lassencollege.edu, call the admissions and records office at 251-8808 or call the college switchboard at 257-6181.
Don’t delay — now’s the time to begin your future.
