Images of a young Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar ablaze flickered across the screen at the UC Berkeley Wheeler Auditorium on Wednesday. The film Berkeley in the ’60s was not just entertainment for the some hundred students from History 7B (American History since 1865)—it was classwork. -more-
Berkeley’s Academic Senate handed a victory to supporters of the proposed half-billion-dollar contract between the former British Petroleum and the university. -more-
A bill that would guarantee single-payer health care coverage to all Californians passed the California State Senate Health Committee Thursday, leaving at least one community advocate optimistic about the bill’s chances of becoming law. -more-
DAPAC members finally adopted recommendations for developing UC Berkeley-owned property in downtown Berkeley Wednesday, but it took more than three hours, and one key element remains to be decided. -more-
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates urged local businesses to help propel Berkeley toward becoming the greenest city in the country at the Sustainable Berkeley Commercial Property Climate Protection Luncheon gathering on Tuesday. -more-
Legislation that would re-open police disciplinary hearings and open up police personnel disciplinary files narrowly passed the Senate Public Safety Committee this week on a partisan 3-2 vote, leading advocates to the conclusion that a compromise will be necessary for the bill to survive both the Legislature and a possible veto from Gov. Schwarzenegger. -more-
The sale of seven Berkeley apartment buildings will make the city richer by $2.1 million in the form of a one-time property transfer tax payment, reports Calvin Fong, an aide to Mayor Tom Bates. -more-
Forty-two school board members from around the country paid a visit to Longfellow Arts and Technology Magnet Middle School Monday to look at what the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) is doing with technology in the middle schools. -more-
The Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board (LPAB) in San Francisco voted 6-1 in favor of the local landmark designation of the UC Berkeley Extension Laguna Street Campus Wednesday. -more-
Intravenous drug use (IDU) is emerging as a significant driver for the “second wave” of the international HIV/AIDS pandemic, according to Dr. Chris Beyrer, a leading authority on the disease. -more-
As Anuradha Biswa Karma waits for her grade-four textbooks in an obscure part of the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal, little does she know that there is someone working in Berkeley to send her the money to buy them. -more-
Single-payer universal health care advocates in California begin their second try in two years to make their cause state law when the state Senate Health Committee holds a hearing in Sacramento this Wednesday afternoon on state Sen. Shirley Kuehl’s (D-Santa Monica) SB 840. -more-
UC Berkeley faculty will cast their ballots Thursday on competing resolutions triggered by the largest corporate grant in the history of the American university. -more-
To Alan P. Rudy, the furor surrounding the developing half-billion-dollar research pact between BP and UC Berkeley is deja vu writ large. -more-
Assemblymember Loni Hancock sponsored her second major public gathering in her assembly district in two months, holding a town hall meeting on global warming at Berkeley City College that attracted several hundred participants and presentations from several local and state agencies. -more-
The Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) will make a second try Wednesday at revising a report on city policies regarding UC Berkeley’s plans for the city center. -more-
Helios in Greek myth was the sun god who drove a chariot daily from east to west across the sky and sailed across the ocean each night in a huge cup. -more-
The Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) set the appeal of an application for an administrative use permit for 933 Keeler Ave. for public hearing at the board meeting Thursday. -more-
Somebody should ask Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (or whoever takes his job) about Petrona Tomas. -more-
How strong is your commitment to the environment? Is it strong enough to make you alter your lifestyle, switch from favored products or seek out and support environmentally conscious businesses? -more-
In 1943 Robert Oppenheimer left the University of California at Berkeley to become director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, where the first atom bomb was built. He maintained a connection with the university for several more years but never really returned. Instead, he became director of Princeton’s Center for Advanced Study and a consultant to the government on issues raised by atomic weapons. After his political “disgrace” for supposed disloyalty in 1954, he devoted himself to writing, producing essays and books, notably Science and the Common Understanding. President Kennedy cleared his name and “rehabilitated” him in 1963. -more-
The picture that emerges from the appearance of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the Senate Judiciary Committee is not one of “high crimes and misdemeanors”—unfortunately. “We should have done a better job of communicating,” he says. “I accept responsibility,” he says, “mistakes were made.” Next thing you know, he’ll be going into rehab. -more-
Ah yes, parking. Glad you asked. Today we’re exercising a little-used editorial prerogative, reading an opinion submission before it’s published and responding in the same paper. -more-
EDITOR’S NOTE: Berkeley resident Jane Stillwater, sponsored by the Lone Star Iconoclast, a Crawford, Texas newspaper, is blogging about her trip to Iraq. Below are her posts of April 12 and 13. To read more, see http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com. -more-
Did you know that Easy Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD), your water company, sets the standard? The trick, which EBMUD seems to do so effortlessly, is to first secure a high-quality water source from the eastern Sierra mountains and the Mokelumne River watershed, transport that water through three 90-mile aqueducts to the East Bay, move it through a 331-square-mile area; from Crockett on the north, southward to San Lorenzo, eastward from San Francisco Bay to Walnut Creek, and south through the San Ramon Valley and through local pipelines to your tap. EBMUD serves 1.3 million water customers and over 650,000 wastewater customers here in the East Bay. The wastewater system covers an 88-square-mile area. -more-
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it’s important to reflect on where we as a Jewish community stand on this issue, especially here in the Bay Area. -more-
A ferry from Berkeley to San Francisco may be a good idea, but such a service should usefully augment the public transit we have. Sure, it’s good to have an alternative if the bridge or BART suffers damage from a quake, but with increasing global warming, we really need to reduce the number of car trips. The ferry is going to rely on cars with parking to achieve any decent ridership; therefore, it is questionable whether it will help in reducing car trips. Even short trips to a ferry terminal can generate as much pollution as a trip of 10 miles, due to the cold start. -more-
In thinking about what I ought to tell you regarding these dark days various clichés come to mind: I see no light at the end of the tunnel. The American dream is a nightmare. The American experiment failed. Pride precedeth the fall. -more-
In 1944 Roosevelt’s call to plant a Victory Garden was answered by 20 million Americans. Amazingly,these gardens in a short time produced 40 percent of all vegetables consumed in this country. (The rest was grown mostly by local farms) Gardens grew in backyards, in empty lots, and on rooftops or public gardens in cities. Even some portion of Golden Gate park was alloted to community gardens.) -more-
We say that global warming is the result of the burning of fossil fuels, but it might also be said that global warming has happened because the human species has not recognized that all systems on the earth are mutually related, alive and sacred. -more-
Some years ago, in a more energetic time in my life, I used to pick up day work unloading banana boats for Chiquita Brands on the docks at Charleston, South Carolina. By that time they had stopped shipping bananas by the stalk, but instead, they were coming up from Central America in 40 pound boxes. These boxes were stacked up to the roof of each deck of the banana boats, and when you first got on the floor in the morning, there was barely enough room for the 10 man crews to stand in the bare space around the hold, much less start working sending the boxes up the single conveyor belt that took them up the hold to the top deck. -more-
As a 50-ish fan of Susan Parker’s column, I am following with keen interest her colorful descriptions of loss and renewal at age 55. I wish her great good fortune in finding or creating the “next right career” for herself. However, I just had to share an anecdote of my own, in case Ms. Parker meant seriously that perhaps she’d apply at Peet’s. -more-
Nobody recognized the commercial value of natural scenery better than Mark Daniels. -more-
I am a total crank. I admit it. I can’t help myself. I think this just the way Lord Shiva made me and there ain’t too darned much I can do about it. Some things just rile me, chafe and get under my pink semi-translucent skin and one of those things is the utter and thorough inability of just about everyone in the building trades to properly strap a water heater. -more-
The latest Gallup Poll indicates that Americans continue to be deeply divided about Iraq. What’s been ignored in this bitter debate is the issue of political stability: How long should the United States stay in Iraq if the elected government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki fails to meet its commitments? Most Americans believe that while the United States should bolster Iraqi security, the government of Iraq must function on its own. The commander of U.S. Forces General David Petraeus acknowledges this: “A military solution to Iraq is not possible;” there has to be a political solution. The key to the future of Iraq is the Bush administration’s willingness to hold the Iraqi government accountable. -more-
March 20, 2007 -more-
I know: another corvid column. But bear with me. Every now and then I trawl the technical literature at the UC library, and this time I found a jay-and-crow story in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology that’s too good to keep. -more-
Kon Ichikawa directed nearly 30 films in his native Japan before anyone took much notice of him. He was a studio director, taking assignments and completing them dutifully if not artfully. It was only when he and his wife/co-scenarist Natto Wada began developing their own projects that Ichikawa received his due recognition. -more-
Composer Carl Orff’s 20th century “scenic cantata,” Carmina Burana, and the 13th century collection of songs that inspired Orff’s “reimagining” will both be performed—probably for the first time ever in this format, “back to back, recto to verso”—by the University Chorus and Chamber Chorus with guest soloists and musicians, under the direction of Marika Kuzma. -more-
Nobody recognized the commercial value of natural scenery better than Mark Daniels. -more-
I am a total crank. I admit it. I can’t help myself. I think this just the way Lord Shiva made me and there ain’t too darned much I can do about it. Some things just rile me, chafe and get under my pink semi-translucent skin and one of those things is the utter and thorough inability of just about everyone in the building trades to properly strap a water heater. -more-
CAHILL, KUBERA PLAY RILEY’S ‘WALTZ’ -more-
After the audience has been seated in Live Oak Theatre to a medley of old hits arranged thematically, like “Prisoner of Love,” “It’s a Man’s World,” “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” and “I’m Glad That You’re Sorry Now” (as well as “Please, Please, Please,” particularly poignant), there’s a drumroll, some commotion behind—and strange glances under the hem of—the draped red curtain, then the entrance of the masked chorus, two young women who toss their masks into the audience with, “Okay, we’re, like, the chorus ... 411—a very bad year to be an Athenian. It’s sucky!” -more-
All serious readers, whether scholarly or general interest, place a special value on first-hand accounts of historical events. Memoirs, autobiographies, interviews of “regular people” who find themselves immersed in historic times bring that history to life as no author can. This is why the new book, Our History Is Still Being Written, has such an important role to play in modern Chinese history. -more-
I know: another corvid column. But bear with me. Every now and then I trawl the technical literature at the UC library, and this time I found a jay-and-crow story in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology that’s too good to keep. -more-
