Escape from City College – Eternal students share thoughts on the radio
By Nick Palm
The Guardsman
While contemplating my future in higher learning, I decided to chat with some fellow “eternal” students.
The most interesting interview, by far, was local celebrity and longtime City College staple “Diamond” Dave Whitaker.
To be honest, before I met “Diamond” Dave two years ago, I excitedly thought I was about to meet the former lead singer of Van Halen. In preparation, I pulled my multicolored unitard out of storage and practiced scissor-kicks for hours.
But even when I met the local “Diamond” Dave, I was not disappointed—quite the opposite actually. His upbeat energy and positive outlook on life is an inspiration to all people he comes in contact with.
On a recent Friday afternoon, I met Whitaker at Pirate Cat Cafe in the Mission, where he co-hosts his weekly radio show, “Common Threads,” with DJ Pamtastic.
All eyes turned towards Whitaker as he walked in, as if a medieval fan fare announced his arrival with trumpets, dancing jesters and flying doves.
As he sat across from me and sipped his coffee, his piercing blue eyes showed a life overflowing with worldliness; a soul that has seen more than most have, of San Francisco in its prime—from the beat movement through the hippie revolution.
We spoke about his experience at City College, where he has been on the Academic Senate four years. One of many adults who decided to return to school later in life, Whitaker also plans to leave City College at some point; he’s considering a transfer into SF State’s Mature Learner’s Program.
After researching the program, it looks as if it might be easier for me to wear prosthetics and makeup in order to appear to be in my seventies and transfer to SF State rather than applying the “fair” and “legitimate” way.
Whitaker spends time protesting for students’ rights and against budget cuts. He tells me of his latest showdown with Chancellor Don Griffin, where Whitaker said of the spending plan, “You can tighten your belt so much that your head explodes!”
It’s an interesting picture that Whitaker paints, which leads me to question: But who, then, will run the school if our leader has no head? Redundancies aside, he makes a good point. There will be a tipping point if the school—and the state, for that matter—continue their excessive frugality.
Alas, Oct. 1 has come and passed, which means I have less than two months to apply to transfer to a CSU. In other words, I will most likely be filling out and sending in my application and writing my essay at 11:56 p.m. on Nov. 30.
This, like most hurdles I pass over, always seems to end like the scene in “Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc,” when Indy narrowly slides under the lowering wall of stone, only to leave his hat on the other side. Of course, he has just enough time to manage to grab the hat before the gate closes.
My life is that hat.
Back at Pirate Cat, Whitaker invites me to join him on his show. Over the course of an hour, we talk about the state of journalism as a whole—which is molding, not dying. We tell our stories and experiences in college, which proved I am not the only one struggling through this.
Pamtastic tells me of her current stint as a grad student in the broadcasting program at SF State, which she describes as “a cold place.”
After the show, Loo Lin, who hosts her own show at Pirate Cat and already has a degree, tells me she has returned to City College to hone her skills in broadcasting.
To Whitaker, City College is his self-described “microcosm,” part of his much larger macrocosm encompassing the globe. “At City, in the City, on the planet, and on the street,” is how Whitaker describes his wild journey as a creature of marvel.
Needless to say, I left Pirate Cat Cafe that day inspired to push ahead relentlessly with my goals.