California magazine blog

Living Dead

You may have heard about the continued, round-the-clock occupation of Wheeler Hall this week by University students (and probably some non-students as well) upset at the recent fee hike. They've declared it an "open university" and turned dead week (the week before finals) into "live week," featuring things like poetry readings, palm reading lessons, open mic performances, movie screenings, permaculture workshops, etc.. If you want more information about what the protesters are up to, including a schedule of events, visit the website -- that's right, there's a website -- liveweek.net. You can also read more at the Daily Cal and SFGate, which reports that University officials are taking a "wait-and-see approach" to events. Oh blah dee, oh blah dah....

Time for the Nut

It's the holiday season in the Bay Area, which means it's time again for The Hard Nut, choreographer Mark Morris's "hip and heartwarming 're-take' on the Nutcracker" at Zellerbach. For information on the show and to buy tickets, visit Cal Performances.

Read all about it

Looking for a copy of Panorama, the new McSweeney's foray into newsprint? Click here for a map of vendor locations. You can also order copies here. If you've already got a copy, let us know what you think of it.

Ahora en Español

The essay we ran about Andrew Martinez, a.k.a. the Naked Guy, in our May/June issue, has been reprinted in the excellent Peruvian magazine, Etiqueta Negra. See: Etiqueta Negra » El hombre que no quería vestirse. 

You can read the original in English here. 

Behold the Axe

These happy young women stopped in at Alumni House this afternoon bearing the spoils of Cal's 34-28 victory over in Saturday's Big Game. After a few of the staff posed with the trophy in the lobby (one of our folks even celebrated by pressing her lips to the cold glinting steel), the blue- and gold-striped crowd moved on to the steps of Haas Pavilion and other photogenic places around campus from which to gloat. 

And hey, why not? 

Go Bears!

There Was Light

Ran across these quotes and thought they were worth sharing. Both come from "There Was Light" a collection of essays by Cal alumni. This one is from the famed economist John Kenneth Galbraith Ph.D. '34, who wrote:

Not everyone is as restrained as I am about Berkeley. A few weeks ago I shared a seat on an airplane with a young colleague newly recruited, like so many before him, from the University of California. I asked him if he missed it. He replied: "Christ, yes! At Berkeley you worked all morning in the library and then at noon you went out into the sun and there was always a demonstration going on or something. Man, that was living!"

And here is Robert McNamara '37, former Secretary of Defense who was quoted by Irving Stone, editor of "There Was Light." Stone had been telling McNamara, who died this year, about the campus protests of his day. McNamara responded:

The University must learn to roll with the punches, and not take them all on the chin. That is the only way I could have survived in Washington. The University was here a hundred years ago; it will still be here a hundred years from now.

Something's Happening Here

Tense times on campus today and little wonder, what with the Regents' nearly unanimous decision to jack up student fees a whopping 32% (with a 15% increase to come in January). If that didn't cause a ruckus, you'd have to check the student body for a pulse. 

On the other hand, many observers feel that the anger of the students (who are joined by many UC staff) is misplaced and that the real fight is with Sacramento. After all, they say, the fee hikes, furloughs, layoffs and hiring freezes imposed on the system this year have all come in response to the state slashing funding to the UCs by $813 million, or roughly 20 percent. And the outlook for next year looks similarly grim. 

UCLA, where the Board of Regents met yesterday was the scene of early protests. At one point, some of the regents were trapped in their van by protesters and detained for close to an hour. Today, the trouble has arrived at Berkeley, with an undetermined number of students barricaded inside Wheeler Hall. Police have cordoned off the building and the scene as of an hour ago was mostly peaceful, with occasional jostling between police and protesters, many of whom held signs that read "Freeze the Fees" and "No to the Cuts" and "Cut from the Top."

Just Not Right

This just hit the inbox. Had to share. Click the thumbnail for the larger image.

Dear California Magazine,

Having moved the family from Piedmont to Piemonte to live and work in Italy (Turin) for a few years, while taking a break from working on electric cars here, I came across this amusing item in a local department store. Even my 13 year old daughter, reared on seasonal Bears football and basketball games, quickly said "that's just not right!".  Thought you might enjoy this "lost in translation" product.

Best, Steve W. '81

Riding the Wave

Okay, so I'm getting to this almost a month late, but before the opportunity passes entirely, I wanted to point to the Berkeley Seismological Lab's Seismo Blog and, in particular, the October 16th entry remembering the Loma Prieta earthquake on the twenty-year anniversary. Here's how it begins:

It doesn't happen very often that a seismologist actually gets to observe a seismic wave in nature. Sure, we all sit in front of computer screens and look at the digital representation of the wiggles a seismometer produces. And indeed, the seismometer's mass swings with the rhythm of the wave. But these seismograms are far from the real thing. The blogger actually saw a seismic wave 20 years ago today, when the Loma Prieta Earthquake shook the Bay Area. I remember that it was a balmy afternoon. Everybody was excited because the A's and the Giants had lined up in Candlestick Park (as it was then known) for the third game of the 1989 World Series. I was in the car, picking my son up from after-school activities and dropping my daughter off for soccer practice. We were parked in her school's parking lot when the car suddenly began to rumble and then sway. I thought my son was jumping up and down in the back seat, eager to get home and watch the game on TV. But when I looked in the rear view mirror, I saw him sitting there quietly, staring awestruck out the window.

Live Lit

This evening from 5-6 at the Morrison Library, author Daniel Alarcón (War by Candlelight, Lost City Radio) will be reading from an essay he wrote for the journal Granta about book piracy in Peru. (Disclosure: Alarcón is related to this blogger by marriage.) The event is just the latest installment in the excellent series called "Story Hour at the Library," a monthly prose reading hosted by the Berkeley English department's Vikram Chandra and Melanie Abrams. Coming up in December, a reading by Mary Roach, author most recently of Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. She will be followed in February by bestselling author and publishing phenom, Dave Eggers. The whole schedule can be found here, plus webcasting of earlier programs, including readings by Michael Chabon, ZZ Packer, and the late great Oakley Hall, whom we remembered in our pages here.