The University of California today (Sept. 15) announced the creation of UC Ventures, an independent fund to pursue investments in UC research-fueled enterprises, subject to the approval of the UC Regents. The Office of the Chief Investment Officer would make an initial commitment of up to $250 million to the fund. 

UC Ventures will seek to generate attractive, risk-adjusted returns by investing in commercial opportunities arising from the University of California. No tuition or state funding will be used. 

With its 10 campuses, five medical centers and three affiliated national laboratories, as well as more than 20 incubators and accelerators, 233,000 students, 190,000 faculty and staff, and 1.7 million living alumni, the University of California is a rich environment for innovation that is already the target of venture capitalists from around the world. 

The UC Board of Regents will vote on this proposal Sept. 18 during the board’s regular bi-monthly meeting at UC San Francisco’s Mission Bay campus. 

“UC Ventures is the result of careful evaluation of best practices to develop the most effective investment vehicle to capture the economic value the University of California is creating through its pioneering research,” said UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher. “Our goal is to build upon the technology commercialization efforts at UC while carefully managing potential risk exposures. We are confident an independent UC Ventures will achieve this.” 

“In addition to any financial benefits, we see this fund as a potential vehicle for providing resources to support the basic research and talent – among both faculty and students – required to develop innovations that can benefit California and the world,” said UC President Janet Napolitano. 

Recent examples of successful UC startups include Aragon (acquired by Johnson & Johnson in August 2013); Kite Pharma (IPO in June 2014); and Seragon (acquired by Genentech in July 2014). 

UC Ventures will be a stand-alone, independent investment vehicle structured to operate with a long-term, investment horizon. UC’s Office of the Chief Investment Officer will hold certain key governance rights and help UC Ventures develop its own resident expertise to mitigate risks. The UC Ventures team will have day-to-day investment management responsibilities. 

In collaboration with its 10 campuses, UC also intends to create an independent advisory board of leading figures in Silicon Valley and California to provide advice and industry insight to UC Ventures. These advisory board members will be announced in the coming months. 

Subject to approval by the UC Board of Regents, the University of California plans to launch UC Ventures in 2015. 

Related link: 

UC Board of Regents agenda item (PDF)

A 33-year-old man was robbed at the University of California at Berkeley campus on Monday night, campus police said Tuesday. 

Officers responded to a report of a robbery that happened sometime between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m at West Crescent, a campus driveway off of Oxford Street. 

The victim, a University of California employee, was walking in the southwest corner of West Crescent where he was robbed from behind, according to UC police. 

The suspect struck the victim's lower back with a metal object, possibly a gun, before forcibly threatening him and demanding him for money, UC police said. 

The victim followed the order and the suspect fled in an unknown direction, according to UC police. 

The victim did not turn around to face the suspect and only described him as a man standing from 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall. 

Anyone with information on the crime is asked to call UC police at UC police (510) 642-0472 or (510) 642-6760.  

 

 

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Washington, DC – Congresswoman Barbara Lee recently spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives against arming Syrian rebel groups. 

“I am totally disappointed that the debate on something that could have such broad implications on the United States’ national security and the region is being included as an amendment to the Continuing Resolution (CR). 

I am reminded of the failure to have a thorough and robust debate in the wake of 9/11 and the resulting overly broad authorization which I could not vote for because it was a blank check for perpetual war. It is still on the books and is being used to authorize the strikes taking place now. This resolution should be repealed. 

…It is more complex than just an up-or-down vote on arming and training members of the Free Syrian Army. The consequences of this vote, whether it's written in the amendment or not, will be a further expansion of a war currently taking place and our further involvement in a sectarian war. 

No one in this body believes that we should stand by while ISIS wreaks havoc across the region. We must address ISIS. 

The president and his national security experts have stated, repeatedly, that there is no military solution. Yet, here we are today, once again, only discussing more arms and more air strikes. 

There are too many unanswered questions for me to support this amendment. 

How will we ensure that the United States weapons we are providing to Syrian rebels will not get into the wrong hands, as they did with the rebels we supported in Libya? 

How will we ensure that we do not stand here years from now debating on how to stop another ISIS? 

What is missing from this debate is the political, economic, diplomatic and regionally-led solutions that will ultimately be the tools for security in the region and for any potential future threats to the United States. 

We should not act in haste and we must heed the lessons of the past.” 

---

Congresswoman Lee is a member of the Appropriations and Budget Committees, the Steering and Policy Committee, is a Senior Democratic Whip, former chair of both the Congressional Black Caucus and Progressive Caucus. She serves as chair of the newly formed Whip’s Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity.

Two women escaped from a fire in a Berkeley apartment building this morning, a deputy fire chief said.

Shortly after 9 a.m., firefighters received a report of a blaze in an apartment building in the 3100 block of King Street, about three blocks west of the Ashby BART station, Berkeley fire Deputy Chief Avery Webb said.

Reports of people trapped on the top floor of a three-story building, prompted a two-alarm response, Webb said.  

Berkeley police officers were the first to respond to the building, consisting of two residential floors containing four to five units with a carport on the ground level. 

Officers opened the main door of the unit and saw a fire in the hallway, Webb said.  

Firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after police and extinguished the blaze.  

Paramedics transported a woman, who appeared to have jumped from the third floor unit, to the hospital, Webb said. 

According to Webb, the woman was reportedly seen on the balcony of the unit, yelling for help before police and fire officials arrived.  

Branches of a tree outside the balcony were broken and it appears that the woman attempted to jump from the third floor to a nearby tree, but fell to the ground.  

She suffered injuries during the fall, Webb said. 

Firefighters entered the apartment where they located a second woman at the balcony. She was taken from the building via the main entrance by firefighters. She was examined by paramedics and released at the scene. 

The blaze in the hallway was quickly extinguished and did not spread to the structure, Webb said. 

The bedroom and other areas of the apartment sustained smoke damage. To ensure the fire was fully extinguished, firefighters cleared away a part of the wall covering a wall heater in the hallway, Webb said. 

A preliminary investigation revealed that the fire appears to be accidental but the cause remains under investigation, according to Webb.

The BUSD Board of Education received a report at Wednesday night’s board meeting on the completion of the South of Bancroft Project at Berkeley High School. Superintendent Donald Evans was pleased to announce that the project finished approximately two weeks ahead of schedule, and $6,600,000 under budget. 

Combined with the stadium project, this is one of the largest construction projects in the District since the first construction bond passed in 1992. Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the project includes the demolition of the Old Gym and the west bleachers, a new classroom and gym building, a small new facilities building, a softball field, the demolition of a portion of the Donahue Gym and landscape improvements. Phase one was the stadium building that was completed in 2012. Phase 3 is one of the first construction projects funded by Measure I of 2010. 

Board President Josh Daniels, obviously pleased with the good news commented, “On behalf of the Board, I want to acknowledge and thank the work of our staff and the community members who serve on the Construction Bond Oversight Committee. On behalf of the Board, I also want to acknowledge and thank our local taxpayers for supporting our schools and to assure them that we will continue to protect taxpayer funds.” 

The success is especially significant as the project has incurred a number of distinct phases or milestones, including the discovery of asbestos on the site. The asbestos was a hidden condition - we knew we had asbestos, we just didn't know it was between concrete slabs. This delayed the demolition by approximately seven weeks, and this delay pushed the project into the rainy season which also delayed the project. Against all odds, the contractor poured all of his footings before the bulk of the wet weather, avoiding another serious delay. Director of Facilities Lew Jones noted that the project superintendent, the inspector and the architect all worked together on the King seismic project which was also very successful.  

Berkeley High School is planning an open house to show the new space to the community on November 15th, from noon to 3:00 p.m. (please note that this has changed from the original date of November 8). 

Other construction projects that are at or near completion include new classrooms, library and administrative offices at Jefferson Elementary School; new science labs at Berkeley High and Berkeley Technology Academy and landscaping projects at Willard, John Muir and Emerson. The new cafeteria building at Longfellow Middle School is scheduled to begin demolition/construction this fall.

Friday, September 12, 2014 will mark the four year anniversary of the murder of Adolfo Ignacio Celedon Bravo, known to his family as “Fito”. 

Celedon was a Chilean native who moved to Berkeley to be with his fiancé. He was murdered on his 35th birthday.
On the morning of September 12, 2010 at approximately 3:41 a.m., 

Celedon was walking home with his fiancé after attending a party. At the intersection of Adeline and Emerson Streets, the couple was confronted by two male suspects apparently intending to rob them. During the robbery Celedon was shot and his fiancé was punched in the face before the suspects fled in what was described as a “dark older model SUV” (Sport Utility Vehicle.) 

There is currently a $20,000 reward being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects responsible for Celedon’s murder. 

Detectives continue to actively investigate Celedon’s murder and are asking for the community’s help. Even the smallest detail could be critical in solving this crime. 

BPD is urging anyone with information to call the BPD Investigations Division—Homicide Detail at (510) 981-5741 or the 24 hour BPD Non Emergency number of (510) 981-5900. If someone wishes to remain anonymous, he/she is encouraged to call the Bay Area Crimes Stoppers (BACS) at (800)-222-TIPS (8477). All calls to BACS are confidential. Any information may be critical to solving this crime.

Rudolph Hurwich – serial entrepreneur and mentor, international businessman, inventor, philanthropist, investor and a behind-the-scenes supporter of numerous liberal causes and creative endeavors – died peacefully at his Oakland home on August 2, 2014. He was 92. 

The self-effacing, MIT-trained mechanical engineer was the founder and longtime CEO and Chairman of Dymo Industries, best known for its hand-held device that stamped out adhesive strips of embossed labels with a rotating wheel. It was used in homes and businesses in more than 100 countries to label shelves, drawers, possessions and spare parts and was manufactured for use in more than 20 languages. Founded in Berkeley in 1958, with headquarters in San Francisco for many years, the diversified multinational firm was listed on the New York stock exchange until it was bought out in 1978 in a hostile takeover by the Swedish conglomerate Esselte, which sold it to Newell Rubbermaid in 2005. 

From the early 1990s until recent health problems slowed him down, he served as the co-founder, initial-round fundraiser and six-day-a-week President, CFO and CEO of Berkeley’s PolyPlus Battery Company, which has developed a versatile breakthrough battery technology with unprecedented energy density that Time magazine selected as one of the 50 Best Inventions of 2011. Rudy, as he was commonly called, was the management genius who transformed the discoveries of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists Lutgard De Jonghe and Steven J. Visco into a promising business. 

He was widely admired by business leaders and fellow entrepreneurs for his expertise as a business officer, partner, counselor, negotiator and advisor and the calm demeanor he brought to all challenges. Rudy’s friend and colleague, Leo B. Helzel, who was instrumental in the founding of Dymo and was initially involved in its executive operations, said, “What made Dymo succeed was Rudy’s brilliance and character … but brilliant people do not always get the affection of their colleagues and employees; Rudy did. People really liked him … everyone from the night watchman to secretaries and executives … they all felt as if Rudy was their friend.” 

Visco, current CEO of PolyPlus as well as CTO and co-founder, relates that the Berkeley startup once engaged in months of due-diligence and hard-nosed negotiations with the major multinational company Monsanto. The contract that emerged from those negotiations contained an unconventional clause demanded by Monsanto: that Rudy tutor their executives in the art of negotiation. 

Rudy and his beloved wife Janet met in 1974 as she was getting off an elevator at the Dymo headquarters in San Francisco. Instead of getting on the elevator, Rudy returned to his office and called the receptionist to ask who the visitor in the long blue suede coat was and whom she was visiting. A short while later he had arranged to have drinks with her that evening. They became inseparable partners in love, family business investments and philanthropy for 40 years.  

He has been profiled in Time magazine, Money magazine and numerous other publications, but among the career highlights that were celebrated by family and friends but weren’t generally listed in official bios, was his bit part as the stern prison warden in the 1973 madcap counterculture comedy “Steelyard Blues,” starring Donald Sutherland, Jane Fonda and Peter Boyle. Rudy came to that role through his support of The Committee, the popular San Francisco improv comedy troupe that was instrumental in the movie’s development. 

The Committee was among many nonprofit social and artistic ventures Rudy supported with management, mentoring or financial assistance. Other beneficiaries of his guidance ranged from late artist and jewelry-maker Laurel Burch and Marin-based Folkwear clothing patterns to the Zen Center of San Francisco. At various times over the past six decades, Rudy was a board member of many organizations that shared his values, among them the Pacifica Foundation and the Fort Mason Foundation. In 1979, he played a key role in founding and bringing to Fort Mason the Zen Center’s celebrated vegetarian restaurant Greens. The New York Times has called Greens “The restaurant that brought vegetarian food out from sprout-infested health food stores and established it as a cuisine in America.” 

Greens was not the only San Francisco eatery in which he played an important role. In the 60s and 70s, he was the owner of the popular Coffee Cantata café and gallery on Union Street that achieved a level of national attention as a backdrop in TV shows and movies, most notably in the legendary 1968 action film “Bullitt,” starring Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn and Jacqueline Bisset. 

Rudy’s business career began as an after-school clerk at his parents’ neighborhood department store in Chicago’s Southside, called Hurwich’s. His parents’ management style was the model for the respect for customers and employees he brought to all his businesses, and he was credited with hiring managers who shared his respect for employees’ well-being, creating a corporate atmosphere of kindness and thoughtfulness. One long-time Dymo employee said, “If CEOs and politicians in this day and age could follow in this man’s footsteps, the world would be a better place.” 

Rudy supported or ran numerous businesses as founder, officer, board member, consultant or principal investor. He was an avid small-plane pilot whose investment ventures included Hibbard Aviation, an airplane brokerage based at Oakland International Airport, and a Short Takeoff and Landing air taxi service that operated between Oakland and Bear Valley, established in 1968. His other business involvements ranged from magazines (Mix Magazine, a Berkeley-based trade publication for the recording and sound technology industry) to furniture (Metropolitan Furniture Company, a high-end San Francisco home and office furniture design and manufacturing company later sold to Steelcase). 

Other companies included R. Hurwich Company, Ion Systems, Interphase Technologies, Optical Sciences Group and International Plant Research Institute. He also owned, managed or invested in commercial real estate properties in the East Bay and elsewhere in Northern California. 

The Abiding Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, Ed Sattizahn, notes that “Rudy exemplified the ideals of a Buddhist life – wisdom and compassion skillfully expressed in the ordinary circumstances of everyday life.” 

He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) for 13 years, during which time he helped the institution overcome financial and management challenges. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the school. CSPP later merged with Alliant International University, and the Hurwich Library, named in Rudy’s honor, was re-established at its San Francisco campus. Rudy and his wife Janet also funded the Hurwich Scholarship at Alliant in memory of their granddaughters Georgette Judith Alouf-Schulman and Basia Mimi Alouf-Schulman. 

Rudy also gave substance to his personal values with financial support for social-advocacy and humanitarian organizations, including – among many others – the ACLU, MoveOn, Planned Parenthood and the Union of Concerned Scientists. He supported the political careers of a number of local and national progressive politicians, among them both influential Representative George Miller III and his father, George Miller Jr. 

For all of his business and philanthropic accomplishments, Rudy used to say that his proudest achievement was his listing on President Nixon’s second “enemies list.” Although the Nixon administration never announced the rationale for this exclusive honor, Rudy’s name likely made the list because of his leadership role in a national organization of business executives opposed to the Vietnam War. 

Asked in an early interview whether he wasn’t afraid of being branded a Communist because of some of his political involvements, he is said to have flashed his trademark wry grin and replied that, as a successful capitalist, it would be hard to label him a Communist. Rudy often said that he made money so that he could give it away to organizations and people of his choosing and improve community where government “wasn’t doing its job.” 

The mentoring so valued by corporate and nonprofit organizations extended to friends and acquaintances to whom he provided level-headed counseling through financial, career and personal difficulties. He was unfailingly generous and polite – but also, when needed, forthright and even blunt – with the untold numbers of people who came to him over the years with ideas, business plans, dreams and troubles. David Schwartz, formerly with Mix Publications wrote, “Working with Rudy was like having a business safety net; he made you want to try your most daring ideas and you knew there was a safe landing below if necessary.” 

Rudy was born in 1921 in Chicago. He graduated high school at the early age of 16 and moved to Boston, earning his engineering degree in 1943 at MIT, where he would later establish a scholarship fund in his name. Following his World War II service in the South Pacific as an officer on the USS Intrepid, he married Cecelia Hurwich, a Navy WAVE he had met in the service. Shortly after their first child was born, Rudy moved his family out west in 1948, settling in Berkeley after a short spell in San Francisco. He later moved to Oakland to share a home with his second wife, Janet Hurwich. 

In addition to his wife Janet, Rudy is survived by his children, Barbara (BJ) Hurwich, Rob Hurwich, Evelyn (Lyn) Hurwich and Nommi Alouf; his grandchildren Jon Nichols, Eliana Hurwich-Reiss and Theodore Schulman; his great-granddaughter Alana Nichols; and his niece and nephew Linda Hurwich Mendelson and Daniel Hurwich and their families. He was predeceased by two younger brothers, David and Saul Hurwich. 

The family is planning a celebration of Rudy’s life on Sunday, October 19, 2014, in Oakland, California. Please email rudymemorial@gmail.com if you wish to attend. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that you consider performing an act of kindness in Rudy’s memory, or memorial donations in his name can be made to the following organizations: 

ACLU Foundation of Northern California 

• Please indicate on checks and online that your gift is “In memory of Rudy Hurwich.” Checks should be made out to “ACLU Foundation of Northern California” and sent to ACLU, 39 Drumm Street, San Francisco, CA 94111.
• Web page for online credit card donations: https://www.aclunc.org/donate/tribute-gifts
• Home page for general ACLU Nor Cal information: aclunc.org

MIT/Rudolph Hurwich (1943) Undergraduate Scholarship Fund 

• Please indicate on checks and online that your gift is “In memory of Rudolph Hurwich ‘43.” Checks should be made out to “MIT/Rudolph Hurwich (1943) Undergraduate Scholarship Fund” and sent to MIT, attn: Bonny Kellermann ‘72, Director of Memorial Gifts, 600 Memorial Drive, W98-500, Cambridge, MA 02139.

• Web page for online credit card donations: http://tinyurl.com/kbug25m
• Home page for general MIT information: mit.edu

San Francisco Zen Center 

• Please indicate on checks and online that your gift is “In memory of Rudy Hurwich.” Checks should be made out to “San Francisco Zen Center” and sent to San Francisco Zen Center, attn: Vice President, 300 Page Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.
• Web page for online credit card donations: http://tinyurl.com/pkwwrhh
• Home page for general SFZC info: sfzc.org

Wolf von dem Bussche, a longtime Berkeley resident whose photographs are in many public and private collections, died in Mission Viejo CA on August 12 at age 80. 

His son, Dr. Nicolas von dem Bussche, said the cause of death was Alzheimer’s. 

Writing in ARTweek magazine in 1982, San Francisco Chronicle art critic Thomas Albright said, “Von dem Bussche is not a radical innovator; his work falls solidly within, or straddles, the classical traditions of 20th century photography:…His originality is not in his forms but in their feeling — a subtle undertow of expressionism bordering on the surreal.” 

Albright put Mr. von dem Bussche in the company of Andre Kertesz, Alfred Stieglitz and Henri-Cartier Bresson. 

Berkeley attorney Bill Goodman, a major collector of photography and a longtime friend of Mr. von dem Bussche said he had a superb eye. 

“His work was just different enough to be original,’’ Goodman said. “He was meticulous, which was both a blessing and a curse. He would throw out 90 percent of what he printed. If it wasn’t perfect, it did not see the light of day.” 

That drive for perfection, and Mr. von dem Bussche’s prickly nature, meant that relations with galleries were not always serene. 

Among Mr. von dem Bussche's most significant pictures are “Foley Square"; an iconic series on the World Trade Center Towers (from his Manhattan apartment, Mr. von dem Bussche had watched them being built); and the portfolio “Homage to Kertesz.” Not so well known is a photograph of Richard Nixon at Martin Luther King’s funeral. In the photo, Nixon seems to be smirking. 

Mr. von dem Bussche had one-man shows in San Francisco, Paris, New York City and Hanover, Germany. He participated in group exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. His work is in the collections of about a dozen museums. His Point Lobos portfolio was acquired by more than a dozen libraries including the New York Public Library and the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. 

Wolf von dem Bussche was born in 1934 in Pforzheim, Germany, into an aristocratic family that traces its roots to the 12th century. Wolf’s parents were Adolf and Margot von dem Bussche. Wolf’s cousin and godfather, Axel von dem Bussche, was one of the few conspirators against Adolf Hitler to survive. He volunteered to kill Hitler by blowing himself up as he modeled an army uniform for the Fuhrer. Instead, the uniforms were blown up, by Allied bombs, as they waited in a railroad car . 

When Soviet troops took over eastern Germany, Wolf’s family was given a day to get out of their house in Stecklenberg. They fled through fields and forests to the western zone. 

At age 15, sponsored by an uncle, Mr. von dem Bussche came alone to New York City. While working full time, he attended high school and then Columbia University. In 1954, he was drafted into the American army. 

After basic training, a sergeant said, “I see, young man, that you speak Kraut.” As Mr. von dem Bussche told it, he was given the choice of getting emergency U.S. citizenship with top secret clearance to translate documents in Germany, or be sent to Korea. He went to Germany. 

After military service, Mr. von dem Bussche returned to college and painted, although his father had warned him, “Artists eat in the kitchen with the help.” With encouragement from Kertesz, his friend, mentor and neighbor, he became a photographer. 

For Life magazine, he took the photographs for a cover story on the effects of oil production on life in Mexico. He took most of the photographs for the book “Canyons and Mesas," published by Time-Life. Major income came from glossy photography for annual corporate reports. For those, he traveled to all 50 states and many foreign countries. 

Eventually, he left commercial photography and continued art photography. In his later years, he returned to painting. 

Mr. von dem Bussche was a man of great enthusiasms, and baseball was one of them. He and his wife, Judy, having moved to the Bay Area in 1976, were regulars at the Oakland Coliseum. He loved music (classical and jazz), dancing, wine, port, grappa, champagne and food. In all cases, he preferred the best and expected it. 

He was also a collector of vintage posters. All were lost in the Oakland Hills fire of 1991. The von dem Bussches fled with their animals, some negatives, the clothes on their backs, and a suitcase with precious things that Mr. von dem Bussche always had ready because of his experience in Germany. 

In 2009, Wolf and Judy von dem Bussche moved to Irvine, where he is survived by his son Nicolas, daughter-in-law Mary, and grandchildren Elias, Micah and Kyrie. His sister, Sascha von dem Bussche, died in Germany in 2003. Judy von dem Bussche died in 2013. They had been married 51 years. 

A private interment service with military honors was held August 29 at Miramar National Cemetery, near San Diego.

U.C. Berkeley’s Chancellor Nicholas Dirks has been kind enough to spice up the imminent Free Speech Movement reunion which starts next week. You can get all the information about the innumerable talks, movies, panels, dinners and especially the new play about the FSM (by Joan Holden with music by Bruce Barthol and Daniel Savio, Mario’s son) here.

It’s a full plate of reminiscences and inspiration, but the part that the chancellor might enhance is the kickoff happy hour on Friday (for registered attendees only.) According to the published schedule: “the new(ish) Chancellor, Nicholas Dirks… will stop by for a few minutes.”

Why might that be big fun, if he’s not afraid to show up? Well, he’s been catching a fair amount of flack online and in the press since September 5. The focus is a smarmy memo he emailed that day, reprinted here in full: 

 

Dear Campus Community,

This Fall marks the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement, which made the right to free expression of ideas a signature issue for our campus, and indeed for universities around the world. Free speech is the cornerstone of our nation and society – which is precisely why the founders of the country made it the First Amendment to the Constitution. For a half century now, our University has been a symbol and embodiment of that ideal

As we honor this turning point in our history, it is important that we recognize the broader social context required in order for free speech to thrive. For free speech to have meaning it must not just be tolerated, it must also be heard, listened to, engaged and debated. Yet this is easier said than done, for the boundaries between protected and unprotected speech, between free speech and political advocacy, between the campus and the classroom, between debate and demagoguery, between freedom and responsibility, have never been fully settled. As a consequence, when issues are inherently divisive, controversial and capable of arousing strong feelings, the commitment to free speech and expression can lead to division and divisiveness that undermine a community’s foundation. This fall, like every fall, there will be no shortage of issues to animate and engage us all. Our capacity to maintain that delicate balance between communal interests and free expression, between openness of thought and the requirements and disciplines of academic knowledge, will be tested anew.

Specifically, we can only exercise our right to free speech insofar as we feel safe and respected in doing so, and this in turn requires that people treat each other with civility. Simply put, courteousness and respect in words and deeds are basic preconditions to any meaningful exchange of ideas. In this sense, free speech and civility are two sides of a single coin – the coin of open, democratic society.

Insofar as we wish to honor the ideal of Free Speech, therefore, we should do so by exercising it graciously. This is true not just of political speech on Sproul Plaza, but also in our everyday interactions with each other – in the classroom, in the office, and in the lab. Sincerely...  

Researching reaction to this pronouncement on the web has yielded a treasure trove of impassioned defenses of, yes, Free Speech, and a great variety of well-crafted explanations of just exactly how Dirks misses the point. 

The favorite bête noire seems to be this paragraph: 

Specifically, we can only exercise our right to free speech insofar as we feel safe and respected in doing so, and this in turn requires that people treat each other with civility. Simply put, courteousness and respect in words and deeds are basic preconditions to any meaningful exchange of ideas. In this sense, free speech and civility are two sides of a single coin – the coin of open, democratic society. 

 

Well, no. Names that have come up in the discussion run the gamut from Rabelais to June Jordan. My personal fave among all the cited instances of powerful incivility is this one: 

 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

Strong stuff, definitely not courteous, not in the least respectful, is it? 25 extra points toward your final grade if you can identify the ungracious authors. 

Dirks’ email could be used as an example of bad writing in the classes we used to call disrespectfully Dumbbell English, if they still have those any more. The list of false dichotomies alone could provide two weeks of classroom analysis: ” boundaries between protected and unprotected speech, between free speech and political advocacy, between the campus and the classroom, between debate and demagoguery, between freedom and responsibility.” 

What exactly does he mean by a boundary between free speech and political advocacy? What is political advocacy if not protected free speech? What could the boundary between the campus and the classroom signify? And so on. 

But really, the whole thing is so juicy, it’s hard to choose the worst bits. 

And another thread has been added to the discussion, as several critics have noted the suspicious coincidence of various recent appeals from civility from academic bureaucrats like Dirks and a firestorm which has arisen because the chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign summarily discharged newly hired professor Steven Salaita for intemperate tweeting (on his personal account, on his own time during the summer) about Israel’s actions in Gaza. 

Here let it be noted that Salaita is the grandson of Palestinian refugees, but also that the language and tone of some of his tweets would not have been approved by the nuns at my convent school. For a full catalog of what he said and how he said it, see this post on the Mondoweiss blog. 

(There’s controversy over whether Salaita was “fired” or never hired in the first place, because some commentators believe his appointment technically was not final until it was approved by the University’s board of trustees. My own analysis, from dim memories of what I learned in my contracts class thirty years ago in law school, is that he could sue the University for some sort of breach of contract, since duly authorized representatives of the university made him a bonafide offer which he accepted and acted on in good faith, unless their offer was clearly defined as conditional, a claim which I haven’t heard them make.) 

The critics’ online analyses of what’s bad about the Dirks email, plus the extensive unravelling of the Salaita case, could be combined into a rhetoric textbook. Among them are many examples of fine exposition. Here’s a reading list of some of the best, in no particular order, and I urge you to click on every one of them if you’re a fan of free speech: 

http://www.popehat.com/2014/09/06/u-c-berkeley-chancellor-nicholas-dirks-gets-free-speech-very-wrong/ 

http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2014/09/policing-civility.html 

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/reading-salaita-illinois-1#tweet1 

http://blog.historians.org/2014/09/letter-to-university-of-illinois-chancellor-regarding-salaita/ 

http://www.chroniclecareers.com/article/Pleas-for-Civility-Meet/148715/ 

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/9106/uc-berkeleys-new-chancellor-endorses-the-falsehood 

http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2014/09/07/sudden-calls-for-civility-threaten-academic-freedom-after-palestinian-american-professor-fired-for-israel-critiques/ 

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/09/untangling-salaita-case 

http://ucsbfa.org/?p=392 

http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2014/09/from-free-speech-movement-to-reign-of.html 

The last word should go to the Free Speech Movement, whose veterans have weighed in today in a letter which is a model of clarity and purpose: 

 

Dear Chancellor Dirks,

The Free Speech Movement Archives and the Organizing Committee for the FSM 50^th Anniversary would like to thank you for generously supporting our efforts to commemorate the Free Speech Movement, and to keep the memory of those events alive. We look forward to seeing you at our reunion. In the spirit of civil discourse, we would like to bring to your attention some history regarding the question of what the Free Speech Movement was about, what we won, and what it means for the campus today. In your letter to the campus community of Friday, September 5^th you said, “… the boundaries between protected speech and unprotected speech, between free speech and political advocacy, between debate and demagoguery… have never been fully settled.” In fact, these questions were fully settled. On December 8^th, 1964, the Berkeley Academic Senate adopted a resolution stating that: “the content of speech or advocacy shall not be restricted by the University.” This resolution was then reinforced by the Regent’s resolution of December 14^th which stated: “Henceforth University regulations will not go beyond the purview of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.” In celebrating the half century that the UC Berkeley campus has been “a symbol and embodiment” of the idea of free speech, you are proudly and properly referring to the outcome produced by the Free Speech Movement in the fall of 1964. Your statement seems to miss the central point. The struggle of the FSM was all about the right to political advocacy on campus. The UC Administration of that time insisted it would not permit speech on campus advocating student participation in off-campus demonstrations that might lead to arrests. The African-American civil rights movement was then at its height and students rejected these restrictions. This attempt to restrict our rights produced the Free Speech Movement. 

It is precisely the right to speech on subjects that are divisive, controversial, and capable of arousing strong feelings that we fought for in 1964. . . From the roof of the police car blockaded in Sproul Plaza, we heard a song written by a UC graduate (BA, MA, PhD) Malvina Reynolds that summed up our feelings toward the UC Administration and others who were then trying to reign-in the civil rights movement. The song was titled, “It Isn’t Nice”. 

“It isn’t nice to block the doorways, it isn’t nice to go to jail!/  

There are nicer ways to do it, but the nice ways always fail./  

It isn’t nice, it isn’t nice, you told us once you told us twice/  

But if that’s freedom’s price, we don’t mind.”  

We note that the charge of “uncivility” was used by Chancellor Phyllis Wise of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to justify the discharge of Professor Steve Salaita. For this reason, many now read the call for civility in your letter as a potential threat. 

We understand you have issued no regulation nor taken any steps to restrict political advocacy or “uncivil” speech on the Berkeley Campus. Nonetheless, we are concerned that your call for “civility” may have a chilling effect on the exercise of free speech by Berkeley faculty and students. We therefore encourage you to clarify the intent of your letter while continuing to uphold and affirm the proud traditions established on the Berkeley Campus fifty years ago. 

Sincerely yours, 

The Board of Directors of the Free Speech Movement Archives, and the50^th Anniversary Organizing Committee: 

Lee Felsenstein, Gar Smith, Anita Medal, Bettina Aptheker, Susan Druding, Barbara Garson, Jackie Goldberg, Lynne Hollander Savio, Jack Radey, Barbara Stack, Steve Lustig, Karen McLellan, Mike Smith, Dana MacDermott, Jack Weinberg, Margy Wilkinson 

 

And a footnote should go to Carol Denney, who is fond of saying that the reason U.C. Berkeley is the traditional home of the Free Speech Movement is that the Cal bureaucracy has so often tried to suppress speech it doesn’t like. From that point of view, we should all thank Chancellor Nicolas Dirks for upholding (so far only in concept) a proud Berkeley tradition. 

 

 

"... in my experience demands for civility almost always come from people who have forfeited the right to the respect they demand."

 

Dan O'Neill

 

Tonight, the External Affairs Committee of the Associated Students of the University of California, Berkeley voted unanimously to indefinitely postpone a bill condemning the academic boycott of Israel. 

Although the Resolution was titled “A Bill in Support of the Free Flow of Ideas and International Academic Collaboration,” in fact the resolution’s content largely denounced professors at UC Berkeley who organize in support of Palestinian academic freedom and attacked associations that have adopted academic boycott measures. The bill also ignored the widespread and systematic denial of the right to education for Palestinians living under Israeli laws. 

Critically, SB 11 mischaracterizes the campaign for academic boycotts as a threat to academic freedom and a boycott of all Israeli scholars on the basis of their nationality. As illustrated in a letter sent by members of the Asian American Studies Association, which has endorsed academic boycott, the campaign “in no way impinges upon the freedom of individual U.S., or Israeli, scholars to engage in intellectual exchange and scholarly collaboration, if this does not entail official sponsorship by Israeli academic institutions that are public institutions complicit with the illegal occupation and violations of human rights laws.”  

Other groups that have endorsed academic boycott, such as American Studies Association, have also explained that the boycott is structured to provide ways for Israeli scholars who resist the occupation to travel and exchange ideas without the aegis of Israeli academic institutions involved in violations of Palestinian rights. Beyond misrepresenting the academic boycott campaign, this bill also attempts to smear and dissuade principled speech in support of Palestinian rights.  

Liz Jackson, UC alumna, and Berkeley-based Staff Attorney with Palestine Solidarity Legal Support, noted that “The ASUC bill supposedly in support of the "Free Flow of Ideas" undermines the academic freedom it disingenuously purports to protect. Regardless of one’s views on the Israeli-Palestinian question,this bill targets core political speech of students and faculty. The bill is part of a concerted repression campaign, driven by right wing Israel advocacy organizations, and designed to intimidate those who advocate for Palestinian rights on campus. Palestine Legal has documented over 150 incidents of repression in 2014 alone. The intimidation campaign includes smear attacks, frivolous legal complaints, and unconstitutional legislative proposals to punish Palestine advocacy. This ASUC bill is the latest attempt to paint advocacy for Palestinians as discriminatory, when in fact, it is principled human rights activism and political debate that adds to the richness of campus life.” 

Finally, it must be noted that the issue of Palestinian rights is one that touches the Berkeley community deeply. One of the main targets of the bill, Dr Hatem Bazian, a senior lecturer at UC Berkeley, recalled, "As a campus community member, my own experience with Israeli dehumanization emerges from witnessing my mother stripped to her undergarment and searched in a room while standing next to her as a metal detector is used all over her body and mine at age 8 when crossing the border from Jordan for summer visit to the West Bank.”  

These experiences were echoed in the public comments and statements by students who highlighted the shocking barriers to educational access experienced by Palestinians.

Below is a response to the coverage on the upcoming Soda Series event mentioned in this post:

Thanks for your coverage of our upcoming Westbrae Biergarten event -- every little bit helps and we hope you can join us for some additional coverage that night. We will be showing several very powerful Youthspeaks videos related to the topic which will be sure to stimulate discussion. With respect to your statement regarding the ironic nature of the location I would like to raise several different points: 

First, as you might have noticed, Measure D was put on the ballot by a broad coalition of Berkeley citizens called the Healthy Child Coalition. The impetus for this ballot initiative was the rising diabetes rates among our children and youth. The target population that we would like the revenues to go towards are Berkeley's youngest residents, ages 0 - 18. 

No one would really argue that beer is responsible for their rising diabetes rates. The issue really is liquid sugar (see the KQED blog post on our first event of the series) 

Alcohol, as you most likely know, is already heavily taxed. And thanks to various public health campaigns, educational programs in schools, and even warning labels the potential detrimental effects of alcohol are well known. We would like the same to be true with sugar sweetened beverages, which are not only readily available and cheaper to buy than bottled water but are also excessively marketed to children and youth. 

You will note that Senator Monning tried to pass a bill getting warning labels added onto sugar sweetened beverage containers. Unfortunately it fell just a few votes short of passing the state's Assembly Health Committee. We see Measure D as one of many needed steps in the campaign to reverse the rising diabetes trend. 

Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, Lynn Ferreira, owner of the Westbrae Biergarten has been living in Berkeley and supporting our schools since 1999. In fact, for many years now she has donated $1.00 per every stein sold of Trumer Pilsner to the district’s cooking and gardening program, which is matched by the distributor (Horizon) at $.33 per stein. She is deeply concerned about children and children's health and it is for that reason that we are partnering with her at this venue to support the ballot measure. All Berkeley businesses should be so supportive of the communities in which they reside! 

Frankly, I think it is great that the Berkeley Federation of Teachers is co-sponsoring this event. In fact, they are co-sponsoring the entire series, if you’ll notice from our posters. Teachers work so hard. They more than almost anyone else deserve some well earned time to relax with good food, good drink, and good neighbors with good causes in mind after their extremely long work weeks. You certainly aren't begrudging teachers their chance to have some fun, are you? 

Thanks again for your coverage. Hope to see you at our events!

Next Thursday, Scottish voters will be voting on whether or not to remain a part of the United Kingdom. That very fact saddens me. As I see it, it marks a dramatic failure of politics, for which my present inclination is to blame the Westminster government.  

As part of the land-mass with England and Wales, Scotland has both made and received contributions to the common culture that has united the citizenry for hundreds of years. Yet the situation has become reduced to a desire to restore old tribal allegiances. To be sure, commentators on the situation are congratulating the people of Scotland and the rest of the British Isles on the civilized manner in which the proposed separation is being handled. However, I see that as nothing more than veneer covering the serious issue at hand.  

For all practical purposes, people living in northern England and in Scotland share the same disaffection for how their views and their needs are treated by Westminster. I applaud the recent decision to provide infrastructure that will join the major cities of northern England and create a nexus of opportunity for that area to thrive without being dominated by London. People living in both the north and south have increasingly suffered from the pressure of centralizing opportunity and governance in southeast England.  

Why attention hasn't been paid to the actual and perceived sense of disenfranchisement experienced by an enormous proportion of Scottish people reflects a dysmal failure of policy. I'm deeply sad that it has come to the point where it might lead to the separation of people whose national history, ancestry, and interrelated personal lives bind them as one people by such an arbitrary physical barrier as Hadrian's Wall.  

The fact is that hundreds of thousands of people born and raised in Scotland now live happily in England, and vice versa. Therefore, one has to wonder whose vote counts in the current election and on what ground those who are entitled to vote can claim a superior right to their neighbours who aren't. Splitting up such a small land mass into three separate areas makes no sense in the modern world.  

It seems to me that the arrogance of government from Westminster created the situation that has led so many Scots to seek separation. No doubt, many people in Wales are sympathetic to the Scottish cause for the same reason. If the people living in Scotland vote to remain in union, Westminster would do well to work intensively on re-forming a union that benefits them as well as people living in other areas of the island. As for me, I sincerely hope that the people of the British Isles will maintain their relationship and thrive together.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks sent this message to the campus community today:

Every fall for the last many years, we have issued statements concerning the virtue of civility on campus. This principle is one of several that Berkeley staff, students, faculty and alumni themselves developed and today regard as “fundamental to our mission of teaching, research and public service.” To quote further from our “principles of community”: “We are committed to ensuring freedom of expression and dialogue that elicits the full spectrum of views held by our varied communities. We respect the differences as well as the commonalities that bring us together and call for civility and respect in our personal interactions.” For a full list of these stated principles, please see http://berkeley.edu/about/principles.shtml. 

With its recent announcement of seizing another 1,000 acres of Palestinian land, Israel has forever dispelled the last lingering doubts that it is serious in allowing a Palestinian State to exist This is another slap in the face of US stated policies which has vigorously opposed the theft of Palestinian land. 

At a news briefing, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, criticized Israel’s announcement and demanded that it reverse its decision. Israeli professor and historian, Ilan Pappé was outraged declaring that “Israel has made a decision that it prefers to be a racist apartheid state and not a democracy." Henry Siegman, the former executive director of the American Jewish Congress and head of the Synagogue Council of America was equally outraged and described the Palestinian struggle for a state, "the mirror image of the Zionist movement" that led to the founding of Israel in 1948. 

The ruling Likud party has worked aggressively to ensure that the Palestinians will never have their own state. Naftali Bennett’s party, the HaBayit HaYehudi, openly declares that there will never be a Palestinian state. These policies will ensure millions of Palestinians will continue to live in this subservient position without rights and without security, without hope and without a future. Sadly, our government has been complicit in this grave injustice diverting billions of our tax money into Israeli coffers which makes a mockery of our claim to support peace and justice.

People who are well placed often look down on those who are needy. Right now we are in the middle of a tense debate over the minimum wage. The Democrats want the minimum wage to rise soon so fewer indigent people will need to depend on government subsidies. But our Republican friends hate this idea.  

They forget that over the past twenty years “real” wages (in terms of purchasing power per dollar of wage) have gone down rather than up. Prices have gone sky high. A worker with a take home of 45 or 50 dollars can no longer feed a family of four.  

It is very easy to say people must learn new skills to get decent jobs. But who will feed their family while they go to school to improve their skills? The wearer knows where the shoe pinches. Those who live in mansions can easily ignore the poverty of others. 

If we really want happiness around us we must provide resources to those who lack basic necessities. Our politicians should not block the higher minimum wage initiative. Without wages adequate to feed the family how can the Constitutional guarantee of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness prevail?

Friday, September 12, 2014 will mark the fourth anniversary of the murder of the Chilean citizen Adolfo Celedon in a crime committed by unknown people. The Consulate General of Chile in San Francisco regrets the tragic death of an innocent young person, which occurred in Berkeley, California, when he was walking home with his fiancee on the day of his 35th birthday. 

Since then the Berkeley Police Department has been carrying out an investigation in order to solve this case, which unfortunately has not concluded yet. The Consulate General of Chile expresses its appreciation to the Berkeley Police for the proceedings that have been conducted in this investigation and will continue collaborating with the police as well as with the family of the Chilean citizen Adolfo Celedon. 

This crime has a high priority and is a sensitive matter of concern for the Consulate General of Chile in San Francisco. We request the community and witnesses of this assassination to provide to the Berkeley Police any piece of information that could be helpful to solve the investigation. 

The Consulate General of Chile supports and encourages an expeditious investigation and prompt solution to this case by the appropriate authorities, so that the family of Adolfo can achieve the peace they deserve. 

The ceasefire comes at a time when the Ukrainian military has suffered a number of humiliating defeats at the hands of the Russian-backed rebels. 2,600 people have been killed and over one million displaced.  

Tim Judah of the New York Review of Books reports of the utter devastation in southeastern Ukraine and the large number of children rendered homeless (50,000 to 70,000). It bears an eerie resemblance to Gaza. The Ukrainian army is fleeing leaving behind much of their heavy equipment and it’s likely that the important city of Mariupol may be lost if the fighting continues.  

The big bad wolf, Putin, is now in a much stronger position to negotiate on his terms. The pro-war hawkish government, the three Baltic States, Poland and Romania, are at odds with the more dovish governments – the Germans, the French and Spanish who want to maintain the trade relationship with Russia.  

There is little doubt that both the United States and Russia have contributed to the destabilization of Ukraine. The root cause of the conflict was precipitated by the overthrow of an elected pro-Russian president and our ill-advised messianic zeal to align Ukraine with Europe and NATO. What makes the situation even worse is government steps being taken to dismantle the pillars of democracy with arbitrary arrests, censorship and banning the Communist party. If Russia is pushed too far they may respond with short-range tactical nuclear weapons which will draw the US and Europe into another world war.

Dear Chancellor Dirks,

The Free Speech Movement Archives and the Organizing Committee for the FSM 50th Anniversary would like to thank you for generously supporting our efforts to commemorate the Free Speech Movement, and to keep the memory of those events alive. We look forward to seeing you at our reunion. In the spirit of civil discourse, we would like to bring to your attention some history regarding the question of what the Free Speech Movement was about, what we won, and what it means for the campus today. 

In your letter to the campus community of Friday, September 5th you said, “… the boundaries between protected speech and unprotected speech, between free speech and political advocacy, between debate and demagoguery… have never been fully settled.” In fact, these questions were fully settled. On December 8th, 1964, the Berkeley Academic Senate adopted a resolution stating that: “the content of speech or advocacy shall not be restricted by the University.” This resolution was then reinforced by the Regent’s resolution of December 14th which stated: “Henceforth University regulations will not go beyond the purview of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.” 

In celebrating the half century that the UC Berkeley campus has been “a symbol and embodiment” of the idea of free speech, you are proudly and properly referring to the outcome produced by the Free Speech Movement in the fall of 1964. Your statement seems to miss the central point. The struggle of the FSM was all about the right to political advocacy on campus. The UC Administration of that time insisted it would not permit speech on campus advocating student participation in off-campus demonstrations that might lead to arrests. The African-American civil rights movement was then at its height and students rejected these restrictions. This attempt to restrict our rights produced the Free Speech Movement. 

It is precisely the right to speech on subjects that are divisive, controversial, and capable of arousing strong feelings that we fought for in 1964. . . From the roof of the police car blockaded in Sproul Plaza, we heard a song written by a UC graduate (BA, MA, PhD) Malvina Reynolds that summed up our feelings toward the UC Administration and others who were then trying to reign-in the civil rights movement. The song was titled, “It Isn’t Nice”. 

“It isn’t nice to block the doorways, it isn’t nice to go to jail!/ 

There are nicer ways to do it, but the nice ways always fail./ 

It isn’t nice, it isn’t nice, you told us once you told us twice/ 

But if that’s freedom’s price, we don’t mind.” 

We note that the charge of “uncivility” was used by Chancellor Phyllis Wise of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to justify the discharge of Professor Steve Salaita. For this reason, many now read the call for civility in your letter as a potential threat. 

We understand you have issued no regulation nor taken any steps to restrict political advocacy or “uncivil” speech on the Berkeley Campus. Nonetheless, we are concerned that your call for “civility” may have a chilling effect on the exercise of free speech by Berkeley faculty and students. We therefore encourage you to clarify the intent of your letter while continuing to uphold and affirm the proud traditions established on the Berkeley Campus fifty years ago. 

Sincerely yours, 

The Board of Directors of the Free Speech Movement Archives, and the 50th Anniversary Organizing Committee: 

Lee Felsenstein, Gar Smith, Anita Medal, Bettina Aptheker, Robert Cohen, Susan Druding, Barbara Garson, Jackie Goldberg, Lynne Hollander Savio, Jack Radey, Barbara Stack, Steve Lustig, Karen McLellan, Mike Smith, Dana MacDermott, Jack Weinberg, Margy Wilkinson

Although negative political ads take a toll, in most elections voters respond to positive messages. 2014 may prove to be an exception to this rule, as Republicans have waged a relentlessly negative campaign. Their strategy is to fire up their base, drag in a few independents, and win based upon voter turnout. Republicans are assuming that most Independents and many Democrats won’t show up because they are turned off by politics. Suppose this strategy works and Republicans control both the Senate and the House of Representatives. What can we expect?

The core Republican message is paradoxical: elect us because we don’t like government. This was Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign pitch: “As President… I will cut marginal tax rates across the board for individuals and corporations... I will repeal burdensome regulations, and prevent the bureaucracy from writing new ones… Instead of growing the federal government, I will shrink it.” Romney’s blanket solution to America’s problems was a reprise of the discredited maxims of Reaganomics: government is the problem; helping the rich get richer will inevitably help everyone else; and markets are inherently self correcting and therefore there’s no need for government regulation – whether the problem is bank fraud or polluted water. Republicans have continued these same themes in 2014. 

Of course, in a midterm election, Republicans can’t elect a new President. But if they control the House and Senate, they believe they can hobble Obama and the Federal government. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explained that if Republicans were in charge of the Senate, “We’re going to pass spending bills, and they’re going to have a lot of restrictions on the activities of the bureaucracy.” McConnell said the President could either sign these Republican-sponsored bills or face a government shutdown. 

But beyond neutering Obama, what are Republicans angling for? Consider the major concerns of the American public and the Republican response. The Gallup Poll just completed a survey that asked about “the Nation’s most important problem.” 38 percent of respondents mentioned the economy as the biggest problem (a decline from previous years). The top four economic concerns were “economy in general”(14 percent), “unemployment/jobs”(12 percent), “Federal Budget Deficit” (3 percent), and “Gap between rich and poor” (3 percent). 

The Republican response to these concerns is to paraphrase Mitt Romney. If they control Congress they would shrink the government, cut marginal tax rates, and cut regulations. (Note that Republicans don’t talk about the budget deficit because it has been shrinking under Obama.) 

Republicans won’t discuss specific programs to address unemployment, the “hollowing out” of the middle class,” raising the minimum wage, or anything that lessens the Gap between the rich and poor. (In 2012, candidate Romney was asked about growing concern regarding economic inequality and quipped, “I think [this concern is] about envy. I think it's about class warfare.") 

After the economy, the Gallup Poll respondents mentioned “Dissatisfaction with government” (18 percent), “Immigration” (15 percent), “Healthcare” (9 percent), and “Foreign Policy” (7 percent). It’s apparent that voters are dissatisfied with Washington. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll asked voters, “…Are you inclined to reelect your representative in Congress, or are you inclined to look around for someone else to vote for?” 67 percent responded that they would look around for someone else to vote for. 

Nonetheless, in most precincts, voters are stuck with the choices the two parties give them. And there is a difference between the two parties. For example, on immigration, Republican Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell voted no on comprehensive immigration reform. In a July 14, 2013 interview, McConnell said, “We need to seriously beef up the border security part. I think that's the key to getting a final outcome.” 

Americans continue to be divided over Obamacare with Democrats for it and Republicans opposed. On October 20, 2013, Republican McConnell described Obamacare as a “train wreck” adding “We’re going to do everything we can in the future to repeal it.” 

Since President Obama’s speech on confronting the ISIL terrorists the difference between Republicans and Democrats has narrowed. However, there are stark differences on most other issues such as global climate change. On March 7, 2010, Republican Mitch McConnell said, “I don’t buy that climate is changing.” Recently, McConnell was more circumspect. “Each side has their scientists and they can all go in and argue.” (Nonetheless, it’s clear that McConnell opposes EPA regulations that would cut pollution from coal-fed power plants.) 

When we examine the policy positions of 2014 Republican candidates, such as Mitch McConnell, we see is that underlying Republican hatred of government is a fear of change. They embrace the status quo. Republicans don’t want to break up big banks, or raise the minimum wage, or shutdown polluting industries, or provide women with access to health services, or close military bases, or feed and educate our children, because that would change the social order. Republicans like things the way they are: with rich white men calling all the shots. 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer. He can be reached at bburnett@sonic.net

What’s a crone? I’m referring to the word variously used in the contexts of religion, spirituality, and witches. Ye olde Oxford English Dictionary (OED) informs that ca 1386 Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) first considered crone, and that it is rarely applied to an old man. By 1844, crone was applied contemptuously when used about an old woman. 

Time marches on. People over age 75 used to be called ‘old old,’ but that term now refers to those over 85, because the 75 to 84 group stays healthier and lives more independently than previously.  

Feminist theologian and educator Mary Daly (1928- 2010) spoke admiringly of Crones as strong women with powers of endurance. Her Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism (first published in 1978) is available from Amazon and in many public libraries via The Link. It is Dr. Daly’s synthesis of theology, mythology, philosophy, history and medicine. 

“Crones can well be suspicious of dictionaries which, in listing possible etymologies for crone, suggest that it is ‘derived from a term meaning carrion. The OED discusses this possibility, but also suggests that crone is probably from carogne, meaning ‘a cantankerous or mischievous woman.’ This meaning seems somewhat appropriate. It is noteworthy that Merriam-Webster gives as the etymology of crony the Greek cronos, meaning long-lasting, which in turn is from chronos, meaning time. It would seem eminently logical to think that crone is rooted in the word for ‘long-lasting,’ for this is what Crones are.” 

In The Church & the Second Sex, her focus was on spirituality. She wrote “Women who are committed to achieving liberation and equality often turn away from organized religion, seeing it either as irrelevant or as a stubborn and powerful enemy, placing obstacles to all they seek to attain. Having been turned off by institutional religion, they choose to leave it behind and forget it, except when it really shows muscle – as in the struggle over abortion laws. Some, on the other hand, have opted to continue their relationship with church or synagogue in the hopes of changing sexist beliefs, laws, and customs in these institutions. The second choice is based upon a conviction that there are important values transmitted through these institutions that make it worth the pain and effort of staying in and fighting the system.”  

Barbara G. Walker’s 1985 book, The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom, and Power, is the history of “the key issues of the grass roots movement of elder women and the women’s spirituality movement” and the historic role of female elders until their displacement by patriarchal religion are traced. The transition from ancient goddess to witch has led to the archetypal elder woman—invisible or superfluous. But she also represents wisdom, teaching and healing. Walker presents myths from many cultures, documents past roles of female elders, and includes consideration of the prepatriarchal goddess, religious aspects of matriarchy and patriarchy, and a final chapter devoted to “The future crone.”  

Rosalie Maggio’s Nonsexist Word Finer; A Dictionary of Gender-Free Usage (1987, long out of print, alas) and her Dictionary of Bias-Free Usage; A Guide to Nondiscriminatory Language (1991) advise crone-wise, “avoid the pejorative use. In other times, the Crone was a wise, balanced, powerful elder honored by her society. Although this role is generally unacknowledged today, some women are reclaiming it, asking why we do not have some of our many wise older women alongside our wise older men at public events, in newspaper columns, on speaker podiums, at society’s head tables.”  

In 2001, psychiatrist, Jungian analyst and activist Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D, in her Goddesses In Older Women; Archetypes in Women Over Fifty, predicted “As the baby-boomer generation of women pass into this third crone phase, I anticipate that the connotation of the word ‘crone’ itself will shift to help women recognize the archetypes that become accessible as sources of energy and direction at this time.”  

In 2003, in her Crones Don’t Whine; Concentrated Wisdom for Juicy Women, she identifies qualities to cultivate: Crones don’t whine. They’re juicy, and they trust their own instincts. They don’t grovel. They do meditate. They choose the path with heart. Crones are fierce about what matters most to them. They speak the truth with compassion. They listen to their bodies, reinvent themselves as needed, and savor the good in their lives. Bolen is the initiator and the leading advocate for a United Nations 5th World Conference on Women (www.5wcw.org), which was supported by the Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly in 2012.  

Today, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language’s crone noun refers to an ugly, withered old woman, a hag. That’s progress in an ageist-sexist society? Optical illusion websites usually include at least one old crone/young lady. 

The Golden Girls American sitcom, created by Susan Harris, originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985 to May 9, 1992. Estelle Getty was one year younger than her TV daughter, Bea Arthur. During the first season, it took the makeup department 45 minutes to transform her into Sophia.  

The two-part episode titled “Sick and Tired” was based on Harris’ real-life struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Dorothy’s struggle to find a doctor who would take her symptoms seriously is still relevant today for many women. A 2011 study showed that 62% of doctors referred men to cardiologists when they complained of chest pain and shortness of breath, while less than 30% did so for their female patients—instead, they counseled them to “take it easy” and prescribed anti-anxiety medications. 

Golden Girls was hailed by some as a media breakthrough, while it reminded others of the old saying that the most oppressed people are those who do not recognize their oppression. The characters did have a sense of humor, shared housing, were sexual beings, and the mother of one of the “girls” lived with them… all good things. But… there were also sexist/ageist aspects damaging older women, and thus all women. It was a putdown of aging, especially as it pertained to looking older, and the Girls spent most of their time arguing or insulting each other. Blanche’s portrayal of a middle aged southern belle nympho seemed to be an obsession. (San Francisco, Minneapolis and several other large cities Gray Panthers protested.) 

In 2011, Harry’s Law appeared on NBC with a strong female lead, Kathy Bates in the character of Harriet “Harry” Korn, an attorney running her own firm. I am reminded of the Vermont girls’ summer camp vintage 1937 in which the director required each camper to adjust her first name to the male equivalent. I too became a Harry.  

The show attracted millions of viewers, mostly over age 50. Korn was a mature woman with strong “male” and “female” traits: smart, self-confident, independent, unconventional, purposeful and clear-sighted, but also caring and compassionate. She saw the good in people, even when they were guilty of wrongdoing. She could be abrasive in getting others to admit the truth, but her sharp tongue was often tempered by dry wit. Bates was the closest thing to a “crone” to appear on national television since Bea Arthur’s Golden Girls Dorothy Zbornak character.  

When Harry’s Law was cancelled the following year, a network official explained that, even though it averaged 8.8 million viewers and was the second most-watched television drama, “its audience skewed very old, and it is hard to monetize that.” The Kathy Bates crone character was not profitable. 

Activating the crone image at this time in history, as Golden Girls and Harry’s Law did a la Hollywood would benefit society, says Bolen. When the crone archetype is activated, the old woman is valued, her image is widely circulated and actual women of crone age become more visible and influential. When the crone archetype is feared and suppressed, as it has been in Western culture for centuries, the image of the old woman becomes ugly; she is a witch or hag. Actual old women are trivialized, ignored, and made fun of; they hold little social value, and they are regarded as “burdens” on society. 

It takes courage to grow old in an ageist culture that diminishes old people. Lacking media images that promote the value of old women and men, Americans will need to activate the crone archetype by other means. We could start with our own lives, challenging negative stereotypes and refusing to buy into a consumer culture that tells us we need anti-aging products and expensive procedures when our bodies show signs of aging. We could focus more on the potential advantages (to ourselves and others) of growing old — competence in many areas, greater self-knowledge and acceptance, emotional maturity, coping skills and resilience. The Golden Girls character Rose Nylund, played by Betty White, learned a valuable lesson from a crone in her own life: “My mother always used to say, ‘The older you get the better you get — unless you’re a banana.’” 

Read more: 

Bolen, Jean Shinoda, M.D. Crones Don’t Whine; Concentrated Wisdom for Juicy Women 

Bolen, Jean Shinoda, M.D. Goddesses In Older Women; Archetypes in Women Over Fifty 

Conway, D. J. Maiden, Mother, Crone 

Crone Chronicles, published from 1989-2001, succeeded by Crone Magazine 

Daly, Mary. The Church & the Second Sex 

Daly, Mary. Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism 

Eller, Cynthia. The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory 

Karpen, Ruth Ray. Golden Girls: Rediscovering the Crone. Research, December 16,2013.  

Maggio, Rosalie. Nonsexist Word Finer; A Dictionary of Gender-Free Usage 

Maggio, Rosalie. Dictionary of Bias-Free Usage; A Guide to Nondiscriminatory Language  

Walker, Barbara G. The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom, and Power 

Wilshire, Donna. Virgin Mother Crone 

xxxx 

CALIFORNIA NEWS 

Databank USA Emergency Care rankings for access to emergency are (with 1 as the best) are: California: 42^nd. Washington, D.C.:1. New Mexico: 51. Nevada: 51. [AARP Bulletin Sept 2014 p 36] 

"Demand, costs on the rise for long-term elder care," by Tim Sheehan (Fresno Bee, September 13, 2014). 

NEWS 

Chickenpox, shingles, herpes zoster…Oy vey. In a Harris poll, 88% of respondents 69+ years of age supported vaccines for children for such diseases as measles, mumps and whooping cough. 99% of people age 40+ in the U.S. have had chickenpox and are therefore vulnerable to shingles, and 10,000 people are turning 65 every day. Shingles risk rises sharply at age 50 and then increases. For 20% of patients, there are potential complications—postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) can last a lifetime. Yet only 20% have had the shingles vaccine, which is now available via one’s Medicare Part D. Read more: "A Vaccine Mystery Hits Older Americans," by Virginia Postrel (Bloomberg News, Sept. 4, 2014). 

U.S. Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee spent last week in Geneva, Switzerland at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) moderating a workshop on Elder Abuse and Violence Against Older Women. She was joined by Keith Harper, U.S. Ambassador to the HRC, who opened the event, and by four experts on elder abuse and the rights of older adults. This was the first time a panel on elder abuse was convened at the HRC. ASA Greenlee said in her blog, "I am proud to continue to work with advocates in U.S. and abroad who share my passion about combating abuse... We must tackle the complex problems of abuse at every opportunity. We have friends around the world who stand with us in this fight." 

 

If you have chronic mental illness, as I do, and if it includes low-level psychosis that persists despite taking plenty of medication, it helps to periodically do cognitive exercises in which you recognize, identify, and dismiss delusions. 

Clinical depression, some of which I have also had, can include illusions that things are far worse than they actually are. Thus, depression is more similar to psychosis than you might think. 

Giving air to your thoughts is one way of clearing up the cobwebs. Delusional thoughts can be partly resolved by talking about them. It is important to use as a sounding board someone who is not subject to having their own delusions, since you could create shared delusions that actually get worse. 

It is not always easy to relinquish a delusion. Some delusions are pleasurable while others bring forth fear or pain. When a delusion has any type of emotional charge connected to it, it is harder to release. 

If you can learn to accept the disappointment that goes along with acknowledging that something you hoped for was a delusion, you are in a better stance to resolve that delusion. If you can learn to ignore fear or apprehension connected to a frightening delusion, it will be easier to get free of that aberrant thought. 

Low-level delusions that are relegated to peripheral consciousness or to the subconscious can create ongoing anxiety, angst, anger, or bad moods. When a delusion is in the background or when it is subtle, it is a lot harder to detect. When a delusion, just by chance, coincides with a truth (the same belief but generated differently), it could reinforce the rest of a person's delusional system. 

A delusion isn't merely an incorrect belief. Plenty of people believe things that aren't true and they are not considered mentally ill. The belief must accompany some difficulty in functioning in society, and it must be considered bizarre, paranoid, or grandiose by most people. 

To qualify as a psychotic delusion, an incorrect belief must be generated by a different type of brain activity compared to a "normal" but mistaken belief. However, since we can't know exactly what transpires inside someone's cranium, psychiatrists are forced to do guesswork, surmising what is happening for a patient by analyzing their speech and behavior. 

Most psychiatrists are smart people, although they do not know everything. If you are having a symptom, or perhaps a disturbance, the psychiatrist will have no way of knowing that unless they are told about it. It is important not to lie or hide things from a psychiatrist, since they can't help you if you do that. 

If a psychiatrist seems to be treating you badly, ask to be referred to another one. Some psychiatrists either have a bad or abrasive manner to them, or assume that you are intellectually inferior. Some psychiatrists don't believe in the potential and prospects of the patients they are treating. Others are more empowering and have a better "bedside manner." 

A psychiatrist or psychologist, if you open up to him or her, can help in identifying delusional thoughts. Once they have told you that by their perspective a particular belief is a delusion, it is largely up to you to "hear that" and to consider that they are likely to be right. 

On the other hand, at some point, it is time to begin trusting your own opinion. Mental health practitioners are not accurate in their assessments one hundred percent of the time. If you accept someone's assessment that you don't have potential and will never be able to work (or do something) then you will probably not even bother trying, and you may be depriving yourself out of a better outcome.

Vincenzo Bellini’s bel canto NORMA occupies a special place in my heart, for on May 21, 1965, as a very young man I heard Maria Callas sing this role at the Paris Opera in what was Callas’s last good performance of this or any operatic role. Eight days later, her voice strained to the limit, Callas had to withdraw after the scene with Adalgisa that concludes with the duet, “Mira, Norma,” (which closes Act III when NORMA is played in four acts). Callas then canceled the final Paris performance. Weeks later she retired, and never sang in live opera again, although some years later she made a concert tour with tenor Giuseppe DiStefano. In any case, to have heard Maria Callas sing “Casta diva” live onstage in relatively good voice remains one of my most treasured opera experiences. 

On Wednesday, September 10, 2014, San Francisco Opera presented Sondra Radvanovsky as Norma in the second of seven performances at the War Memorial Opera House. Radvanovsky, who sang a sensational Leonora in Verdi’s IL TROVATORE in 2009, topped even that auspicious debut with a glorious bel canto rendition of the Druid priestess Norma. Radvanovsky’s “Casta diva” in Act I was impeccably sung, building from resonant chest tones and arching ever higher with perfect pitch and breath control in Bellini’s long melodic lines, without a trace of vocal wobble. Apart from Callas’s famous version, Radvanovsky’s was the finest “Casta diva” I’ve ever heard, and that includes Joan Sutherland’s two performances here of the role of Norma in 1972 and 1982, neither of which won my unconditional favor. 

In San Francisco, Music Director Nicola Luisotti conducted, and he skillfully handled the changing dynamics of NORMA’s famous overture, which swings back and forth from a military march to moments of tender lyricism and back again. Tenor Marco Berti, who was heard here in 2006 as Don José in CARMEN, sang the role of the Roman proconsul Pollione, who has secretly fathered two young sons with Norma. Berti’s voice in the opening scene and throughout Act I was appropriately blustery, with strong high notes. Later, near the end of Act II, in an intimate and poignant scene with Norma, Berti sweetly sang mezza voce and removed all bluster from his vocal interpretation. This was a wise choice, and it made Pollione a sympathetic character for the first time in the opera, which is how it should be. 

Until then, Pollione has been an opportunistic man on-the-make, abandoning his secret lover Norma for another young Druid, Adalgisa, whom he ardently tries to persuade to go off with him to Rome. Fresh from her recent success in the role of Adalgisa at the Metropolitan Opera, American mezzo soprano Jamie Barton made a sensational debut here as Adalgisa, exhibiting a dark timbre that remained vibrant over an extended range. The scene in which Adalgisa confesses to Norma her in-fatuation with a nameless lover, paralleled with Norma’s reminiscences of her own first experience of love for Pollione, was beautifully sung and acted by both Radvanovsky and Barton. Then, when Pollione suddenly shows up, and Adalgisa reveals that he’s her lover, Norma immediately switches from sweetly com-passionate mentor to vengeful woman scorned. 

Norma’s fury knows no bounds; and as Act II begins she even contemplates killing her children to save them from the ignominy of life without a loving father. She relents and summons Adalgisa, advising her to marry Pollione and take the children to Rome and raise them as her own. Adalgisa, now fully aware of Pollione’s 

treachery, refuses and declares her loyalty to Norma. Together, Norma and Adalgisa sing the famous duet, ”Mira, Norma,” their voices sublimely intertwining in long, arching melodic lines. Adalgisa volunteers to persuade Pollione to reconcile with Norma. Her efforts, however, are to no avail. Now enraged against Pollione and the Romans, Norma sounds the war gong of the Druids’ god Irminsul. Oroveso, Norma’s father, ably sung by bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, gathers the Druid warriors and asks who will be the human sacrifice demanded by Druid custom. Norma points to Pollione, who has been captured sneaking into the Druid temple. 

There now occurs the intimate scene mentioned earlier, where Norma and Pollione discuss, both singing mezza voce, what will happen next. Offered freedom if he abandons Adalgisa, Pollione refuses. Norma insinuates that she might substitute Adalgisa for Pollione as the sacrificial victim, and Pollione pleads with Norma to spare Adalgisa. When it becomes clear that Norma herself intends to be the sacrificial victim, Pollione, moved by her nobility of character, reconciles with her and asks to share her fate. Norma then confesses to her father, Oroveso, that she is the mother of two sons by Pollione, and she begs him to look after her children. At this moment, there occurred a rare vocal mis-step by Sondra Radvanovsky. Perhaps wearied by the non-stop singing required of Norma, (the most strenuous soprano role in all opera), Radvanovsky’s voice suddenly seemed on the brink of cracking. She adapted by switching in mid-note from full voice to mezza voce in a graceful recovery. Norma herself then lighted the sacrificial pyre, a war machine now burned as an effigy, as she and Pollione went arm-in-arm to their death. 

A word must be said about this production’s staging. 

Designer David Korens opted for a unitary set that served as a storehouse for the Druids’ various shields, weapons, and war machines, with doors opening to a stylized grove of trees and a night sky dominated in Act I by a rising crescent moon. A small house was wheeled onstage to serve as Norma’s home where she and her confidante Clotilde, ably sung by soprano Jacqueline Piccolino, care for Norma’s two young sons. 

Costume Designer Jessica Jahn appropriately clothed the men in animal skins and furs, but she incongruously dressed the women in what looked like 19^th century ball gowns. To make matters worse, Norma wore a blonde wig in chignon that, combined with her ball gowns, made her look more like the Marschallin in DER ROSENKAVALIER’s Vienna than a Druid priestess in a forest glade in Roman Gaul nearly 1700 years earlier. For his part, Chorus Director Ian Robertson had the Opera Chorus singing beautifully. Director Kevin Newberry made little effort to move his principals, much less this opera’s large chorus, within his unitary stage set. Thus, the staging seemed quite static. In the end, however, with a NORMA filled with glorious vocalism, as was certainly the case here, who cavils about staging? NORMA continues with the same cast for five more performances through September 30. 

Note: On Friday, September 12, San Francisco Opera announced a previously unscheduled cast change.
Marco Berti, who sang Pollione in the first two performances of NORMA, withdrew "for personal reasons,"
and will be replaced for all remaining performances by American tenor Russell Thomas.

Barbara Dane: folk singer, blues singer, jazz singer, social activist, wife, mother, world traveler, feminist, record producer, chronic truant, maverick and general troublemaker. She sang with all the greats, from Pete Seeger to Lightning Hopkins to the Chambers Brothers to Louis Armstrong and more, and travelled the world as an independent woman and musician. The radio documentary A Wild Woman Sings the Blues takes the listener on a journey through this amazing life, from a childhood in Detroit to an eighty-fifth birthday concert at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. Join us to pay tribute to the legendary Barbara Dane! 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave Berkeley, CA 94705 

Sunday, September 14 @ 8:00 pm $12 Adv, $15 Door 

This event, celebrating the release of the 2014 radio documentary A Wild Woman Sings the Blues, will feature a couple of songs by Barbara, about 30 minutes of excerpts from the program and a Q&A with Barbara and the producer Ian Ruskin. 

http://theharrybridgesproject.org/wwdoc.html  

http://www.barbaradane.net/Home.html

If you like MTV videos, God Help the Girl is your treat – a feature-length, head-nodding toe-tapper drenched in popsicle colors and punched up with hip-hop editing that blends evocative background shots of Glasgow (looking like Hogwarts-by-the-Clyde) with loving, kissably large close-ups of Emily Browning as a terminally cute Glasgow indie-popper. 

 

God Help the Girl has a bit of a weak script but boasts a terrific backstory. (More about that below.) But who needs a strong story when a film has Emily Browning and enough great music to fill three albums? If you like MTV videos, this is your treat – a feature-length, head-nodding toe-tapper drenched in popsicle colors and punched up with hip-hop editing that blends evocative background shots of Glasgow (looking like Hogwarts-by-the-Clyde) with loving, kissably large close-ups of the three adorable lead actors. 

GHTG is a winning testament to the musical genius of writer/director Stuart Murdock, who penned all of the songs. (The credits at the end of the film assign all of the film's music -- at least 24 original songs – to Murdoch, in addition to crediting "additional music by S. Murdoch.") 

The slimmest of pretexts supports this musical carnival-ride of Ringling proportions. As a dramatic vehicle, you might say GHTG is facile-fueled and could have benefited from some soul-arc energy. 

When we first meet Eve (Emily Browning), she's plunged in darkness, listening to the late-night radio ramblings of two notorious BBC 6 pop music mavens who cover the independent music scene like American sportscasters cover the NFL. Slipping out a window, she drops to the pavement, slinks down a dark alley and breaks into a song about how she's "bored out of my mind." 

Eve has escaped from a nut house but it's not exactly clear why she has been institutionalized (Tragic loss of parents? Sexual abuse? Genetically predisposed to depression?) It's clear that Eve is in a sorry state – a borderline passive-aggressive-autistic who breathes pills like most people swallow air. 

When she is caught and returned to confinement, a sympathetic shrink suggests (somewhat belatedly, you might think) "Why don't you start keeping a diary and write about the things that concern you?" Next thing you know, the kid is gushing lyrics like a pop-music fire hydrant. 

Suddenly Eve has a goal in life. Pop stardom. Driven by her dream, she takes flight and finds refuge in the pop underground of modern Glasgow's pubs, bars and ballrooms. Soon, she's sharing a small flat with James (Olly Alexander) and Cassie (Hannah Murray), a pair of indie-pop wannabees. 

The culturally clueless (like this reviewer) may be surprised to discover that Browning is also a singer of great persuasion. Her voice is pure, nimble and riveting in its emotional phrasing. No question: Emily Browning can sell a song. Cass and James also do a good job of laying down their licks. 

What does it take to write a song? Not much, apparently. The once-closeted Eve has become a song-writing savant who can whip out a tune without a moment's thought. 

"What did you do this morning?" Eve asks her song-writers-blocked friend Cassie. "Well," Cassie replies, "I got up, took a shower, got dressed, had breakfast." Zam! Suddenly Eve has a new song and our three musical stars are jamming onscreen while a studio orchestra swells invisibly in the background. 

And you can forget about the usual screen story about the nuts-and-bolts drudgery of perfecting songs and starting a band. Nobody is seen rehearsing the music. Eve's band doesn't develop as much as it materializes – on stage and on cue. They just hop on a stage -- pre-stocked with drummers, guitarists and violinists ready to play Eve's newest tunes -- and suddenly everyone is dancing and grinning like a roomful of chemically enhanced Lottery winners. This is a film that is very pleased with itself – filled with lots of back-and-forth grins, winks and nods between all involved. 

Fortunately, the songs are as irresistibly listenable as Browning is watchable. It's hard to believe this Australia-born actress is 25. Barely topping 5 feet, she looks like she would tip the scales at 80 pounds. She has the skinny build of a post-adolescent still trying to make it through teenhood. 

Browning remains terminally cute and the film is buoyed by backup faces that are high-calorie screen-candy but there are believability problems aplenty. How about a plot-twist that relies on dog-teengirl telepathy? And somehow, despite Eve's status as a jobless runaway who is never seen toting a purse, let alone a suitcase, she keeps popping up in the most fetching outfits. 

(Go with it! Like an MTV video, GHTG inhabits a fantasy world. And one with a great soundtrack.) 

 

"Come Monday Night" from the album, God Help the Girl

The Backstory 

Before it was a movie, GHTG was a chart-busting album. And before there was an album, there was Stuart Murdoch, the song-writing front man for the Scottish indie-pop band Belle & Sebastian. 

In 2003, as the story goes, Murdoch was out for a morning run when a tune popped into his head. He hurried back to his Glasgow apartment where the song, "God Help the Girl," simply jumped onto the page. Other songs quickly followed but none of them. Murdoch realized, were "Belle & Sebastian tunes." As the songs spilled forth, a number of characters -- Eve, James and Cassie -- began to take shape in Murdoch's notebooks as well. Three years later, during a break from touring, Murdoch sat down to turn his notes into a screenplay. He also decided to turn his growing songbook into an album. When he posted an open call for singers on the Internet, 30 singers sent performance videos and 400 others auditioned. 

The open call from Glawgow caught the attention of Barry Mendel, a film producer in LA and a long-time Belle & Sebastian fan. Mendel loved the idea of an album and, in a email to Murdoch, he made an offer: "I'm a fan and I work in movies." 

By the time the two hooked up, Murdoch had a partially completed screenplay that ran 240 pages. Mendel told Murdoch to submit a second draft and then essentially told Murdoch to toss it all in the dumpster and start over. That was 2008. 

In 2009, Murdoch busied himself producing an album of his orphan songs. It was released to critical acclaim. 

Murdoch flew to LA to meet with Mendel. Working in a hotel room and buoyed by boxes of chocolate and bottles of whiskey, they transferred Murdock's latest script into stacks of color-coded index cards and went to work rearranging them on the floor. Many songs and scenes didn't survive the shuffle. Those that did became the basis of the film's final screenplay. 

But now it was 2010 and time for Murdoch to write and record a new Belle & Sebastian album (Write About Love) before undertaking a world concert tour. 

With the tour over and the screenplay in hand, now it was time to look for financing. BBC Films and the British Film Institute gave the project the cold shoulder. Even support from Scotland's government arts agency wasn't sufficient so, in December 2012, Murdoch turned to a Kickstarter campaign. In 30 days, Belle & Sebastian fans from 51 countries contributed $121,000 to finance the film. 

A casting call drew applications from more than 2,000 actors. (All of the three leads in the final film are die-hard Belle & Sebastian fans. In addition to being an actor, Olly Alesxander is a singer and guitarist with his own band, Years and Years.) 

Once the film was shot, it had to be edited. A process that usually takes three months, max, for an independent film wound up consuming eight months. Most of the work was conducted in "a mid-sized coat closet in Glasgow's West End" where a bucket had to be set on the floor to catch the water dripping from a leaking roof. The editors had to down "burly coats" to work in the unheated room. The editing was finished in the spring of 2013. At the end of the film's ten-year gestation, the GHTG crew was justifiably proud to boast that the entire film had been "written, shot, edited, scored and mixed in Glasgow." 

 

Belle & Sebastian - I Want The World To Stop (October 2010)