Erik Olson
              Multitalented Nigerian-born musician Baba Ken Okulolo embraced his bass guitar for a July 29 profile. See Pages Eight and Nine for a look at other Berkeley people who made the news in 2003.
Erik Olson Multitalented Nigerian-born musician Baba Ken Okulolo embraced his bass guitar for a July 29 profile. See Pages Eight and Nine for a look at other Berkeley people who made the news in 2003.

Page One

Editor’s Note

Tuesday December 30, 2003

Today’s Daily Planet marks a departure from our usual format, in which we have—save for our comics pages and year-end reviews in photographs, editorial cartoons and the BART fare hike notice—turned our pages over to you, our readers. -more-



Staff
Tuesday December 30, 2003

TUESDAY, DEC. 30



Staff
Tuesday December 30, 2003

TUESDAY, DEC. 30



The First Conversation After the Fact

By JULIA ROSS
Tuesday December 30, 2003

“Ma, I wanna talk to you. -more-



Two Inspiring Exhibitions Closing After New Year’s

By ESTELLE JELINEK
Tuesday December 30, 2003

On a cool, sunny afternoon last week, I took a break from the political obscenity choking our country to visit two museums in downtown Oakland, catching a pair of important shows you can only see through New Year’s Eve. -more-



Reflections on a Warbler

By THE TEACHER
Tuesday December 30, 2003

Children, the earth is tilted, and that explains so much. Now in December, the days are short and the sun is low. Most living creatures have biological clocks that adjust to these changes, and I don’t think the seasons would bother us if they didn’t carry the holidays with them. -more-



BART Ups Rates

Matthew Artz
Tuesday December 30, 2003

BART rings in the new year with extended service for holiday celebrants followed by a 10 percent system-wide fare hike—the agency’s second consecutive January price increase, with this year’s boost twice the rate of last year’s. -more-



Features

Last Cash: A True Story

By Cheryl Howe
Tuesday December 30, 2003

The holidays are an unusual time of the year. They invoke many different memories. For many people this is their favorite time of year. Times of Christmas past are remembered fondly. It is a time for family and friends. But for one homeless woman, the memories are bittersweet. -more-


Poem

By PATRICK FENIX
Tuesday December 30, 2003

come and see me on the street corner -more-


A Coffee Shop Encounter Poses Possibilities

By Donna Cummings
Tuesday December 30, 2003

You are just finishing your daily two-mile walk. Along the way you talked to and petted two cats and watched as a third ran up a driveway after spying on you. The three make you smile. Peet’s is just up the way, where you’ll have your first cup of morning coffee. The Berkeley Daily Planets are in a rack in front of the post office, and you grab one before entering the coffee shop. -more-


Security

By Harvey Sherback
Tuesday December 30, 2003

The other day I was feeling a little insecure so I decided to shake off my blues by taking a walk and picking up a few things at the drug store. -more-


Wearing Purple

By RHONDA LEVINSON
Tuesday December 30, 2003

I really know better than to stare at my fellow BART passengers, but the couple diagonally across the aisle riveted by attention. The only thing we had in common was our longevity, but it was our difference in style that triggered a wistfulness in my soul. I felt to white-sliced-bread as I looked at them. -more-


Entertaining Necklace Thoughts

By MAYA ELMER
Tuesday December 30, 2003

I’m not a small and delicate person—never have been; except perhaps once as a 10-year-old in seventh grade when I was described as “tiny Maya Elmer” in some local school paper. Since those years I am now tall enough, sized-large enough, and always daring enough to collect necklaces which are never modest. Rather conservatively flamboyant. That’s why I have never owned that supposedly elegant string of pearls which rests on the bosom of a cashmere sweater or encircles elitists’ and socialites’ necks. In fact, notice that their dress necklines are always rounded just to accommodate such jewels. Barbara Bush isn’t the only one; there is Nancy, and Mamie before her. Does that say something about Republican women? No; I recall Lady Bird Johnson wore pearls years ago, too. Discreet ostentatiousness, if I may coin an oxymoron; “conservatively flamboyant,” doesn’t count. -more-


Open Borders

By BRENDA REVSEN
Tuesday December 30, 2003

Inspired by the Anti-War movement -more-


A Little Toot of the Horn

By R. Sorenson
Tuesday December 30, 2003

Ten minutes into my drive on the Richmond Parkway, on a day with promise in spite of the faint drizzle, I slow down for a traffic light and stop behind a dark dented sedan. The light turns green but the sedan doesn’t move. The back window is opaque, and I can see no one inside. Is the driver ill, I wonder? I hesitate, then tap my horn just once. The driver creeps forward, and I swing around him, barely registering the dark stocking hat and the scowl as I pass. Happy to be unimpeded in the light traffic, I focus on the road until I notice something zooming up behind me. The dark sedan is veering into my lane, nearly kissing my gas cap with the handle of the driver’s door. -more-


The Sky is Different

By G. P. Skratz
Tuesday December 30, 2003

After the season finale of Friends, -more-


Old Man

By ALAN BERN
Tuesday December 30, 2003

old old man -more-


Farewell, My Love

By JANE STRONG
Tuesday December 30, 2003

May it all go well with you -more-


The Junk Park

By ESTHER STONE
Tuesday December 30, 2003

My grandson Aaron is 12 now, almost a teenager, and very nearly out of my grandmotherly reach. But I still have wistful memories of when he was very young, and we started to go off together on private adventures—just the two of us. -more-


The Frog Prince

By Myrna Sokolinsky
Tuesday December 30, 2003

A lovely young princess was walking about -more-


Editorial

Wednesdays At La Farine

By Irene Sardanis
Tuesday December 30, 2003

If I were blind, there’s one place I’d easily find by following the seductive smells of bread and desserts emanating from their ovens. I’m talking about my favorite bakery, La Farine. Every Wednesday morning I frequent the store on my way to the office. I’m hungry when I arrive, eager to bite into a buttery croissant or scone. -more-


Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Wednesdays At La Farine 12-30-2003

Under Currents: Saddam Offers Dubya a Chance to Eclipse Poppy 12-26-2003

News

Editor’s Note 12-30-2003

Staff 12-30-2003

Staff 12-30-2003

The First Conversation After the Fact By JULIA ROSS 12-30-2003

Two Inspiring Exhibitions Closing After New Year’s By ESTELLE JELINEK 12-30-2003

Reflections on a Warbler By THE TEACHER 12-30-2003

BART Ups Rates Matthew Artz 12-30-2003

Last Cash: A True Story By Cheryl Howe 12-30-2003

Poem By PATRICK FENIX 12-30-2003

A Coffee Shop Encounter Poses Possibilities By Donna Cummings 12-30-2003

Security By Harvey Sherback 12-30-2003

Wearing Purple By RHONDA LEVINSON 12-30-2003

Entertaining Necklace Thoughts By MAYA ELMER 12-30-2003

Open Borders By BRENDA REVSEN 12-30-2003

A Little Toot of the Horn By R. Sorenson 12-30-2003

The Sky is Different By G. P. Skratz 12-30-2003

Old Man By ALAN BERN 12-30-2003

Farewell, My Love By JANE STRONG 12-30-2003

The Junk Park By ESTHER STONE 12-30-2003

The Frog Prince By Myrna Sokolinsky 12-30-2003

Academy Awaits the Wrecking Ball By Steven Finacom Special to the Planet 12-26-2003

Staff 12-26-2003

Letters to the Editor 12-26-2003

Staff 12-26-2003

Townsend’s Warbler Serves as Seasonal Harbinger By JOE EATON Special to the Planet 12-26-2003

Gun Suit Deadlock Results in Mistrial By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 12-26-2003

The Twelve Days of Halliburtonmas 12-26-2003

Notes From The Underground: Festive Alternatives for Ringing in the New Year By C. Suprynowicz 12-26-2003

Berkeley’s Homeless Get Good, Bad News By MATTHEW ARTZ 12-26-2003

Feeding Junk Food to the Poor By Shana White Pacific News Service 12-26-2003

Berkeley High Library Will Reopen in January By MATTHEW ARTZ 12-26-2003

Rush to IRV Ballots Raises Troubling Questions By Gordon Wozniak 12-26-2003

Berkeley Store Slammed for Peddling Stereotypes By Jakob Schiller 12-26-2003

UC Enrollment Holds Steady by Matthew Artz 12-26-2003

Police Blotter By MATTHEW ARTZ 12-26-2003