We've received some very nice compliments about the latest issue, but one gentleman wrote in to complain that it was a little "gay" for his tastes. Too many male butts. Honestly, I couldn't agree more. So, here are some female butts we found in the Blue and Gold, circa 1969 and 1970.
Happy now, Mister? (Oh yeah, click on the thumbnails for the larger images. You cheeky devil, you.)
If recent goings-on are any indication, our Naked Issue was well-timed.
WNBR stands for World Naked Bike Ride, which seems to have transpired on June 20th here in Berkeley, but on the 15th across the Bay. See: "Critical Ass" in the Snitch blog at SF Weekly.
The Berkeley riders convened in People's Park (natch) and pedaled down Bancroft. I missed the spectacle, but my barber, Rynae Singh over at World Cuts, told me about it, jabbing her scissors at the window they pedaled past and smiling a little ruefully at the memory.
Seems the first day of Summer (June 21) is also celebrated by certain folks worldwide as Naked Hiking Day. The pastime is reportedly quite popular in Europe, particularly with Germans, who ditch the lederhausen for nothing but boots and socks. If you're tempted to try it, just remember the sunscreen. Der sonnenfilter. Yodel lay hee hoo!
The Naked and the Nude
Robert Graves
For me, the naked and the nude
(By lexicographers construed
As synonyms that should express
The same deficiency of dress
Or shelter) stand as wide apart
As love from lies, or truth from art.
In the latest issue, Wendy Miller meditated on the different shades of meaning in the words "naked" and "nude" for her Editor's Note. She quoted such high-falutin' thinkers as Kenneth Clark and John Berger. The upshot is that while "nude" intimates a certain idealized form, "naked" suggests something base and even shameful. It was a distinction Jane Sather cited in defense of the nudes that appeared on her commission, Sather Gate. In 1910, after students put oak leaves over the sculptures' private parts, she wrote a letter to then-president Wheeler to say that the students were of an "uncultivated" class and didn't appreciate the difference between nudity and nakedness. The benefactress was indignant that the Regents were even considering moving the panels.
According to local historian Ken Stein: "Sather stuck to her guns - until she saw a photo of the panels in situ, where she noted that below was the carved inscription 'Erected By Jane K Sather 1909.' She quickly changed her tune, calling the panels "extremely indecent" and "disgusting." You see, some folks thought the male nudes appeared slightly, how shall we say, ... aroused, or "ithyphallic," as one of the uncultivated put it. Writes Ken Stein, "In fact, the joke had already spread like wildfire across the campus. She and her panels had become an overnight laughingstock (or sensation, depending on your point of view). Angry and humiliated, she ordered them removed: 'Immediately!'"
So much for the high road.
Never mind finches and their endlessly varied beaks; according to Eric Simons, M.J. '08, author of the book Darwin Slept Here, (see the excerpt in the most recent issue), when Charles Darwin went to the Galapagos, he was “all about iguanas” -- in particular, marine iguanas, which the father of Evolution spent some time chucking into the ocean to see how well they’d swim. Simons, who retraced Darwin’s steps for his book, did some iguana chucking of his own and has video to prove it.
Eric swears that no iguanas were hurt in the making of that video, but we're not so sure.
If you liked Eric’s story in the magazine, you may also be interested to see the promotional video for “La Aventura del Beagle,” the musical version of Darwin’s travels as staged by the Centro Beagle in Ushuaia, Argentina. Es un espactaculo.
The scale chart and photographs that accompanied Tim Lesle's story of architecture professor Charles Bentons’ experiments with kite photography ("The view from above") may have recalled for many readers the short documentary film, “Powers of Ten,” which took viewers on a logarithmic journey from the atomic level to the cosmic level and back again. Coincidentally, it was a flipbook version of the 1977 film that inspired the developers of Google Earth, the digital, zoomable version of the globe you can download to your computer.
Click below to watch the film.
Mattias Tarnopolsky has been named the new director of Cal Performances. As readers of the magazine are aware, Robert Cole is stepping down after 23 years at the helm of what the Wall Street Journal has called "the most adventurous high-quality performing arts organization in the country." The 39-year-old Tarnopolsky comes to Berkeley from the Big Apple where he served as Vice-President for Artistic Planning at the New York Philharmonic. Go here to learn more about him.
Our first-ever Naked Issue is now online and on newsstands in mailboxes. Inside, you'll find stories on nakedness and nudity, both literal and metaphorical.
In the latter category, we've got stories on subjects as varied as school lunches and virgin soil, another on the documentary photography of the late Cal economist (and husband of Dorothea Lange), Paul S. Taylor, and yet another about the commercial disappointment of Viagra.
For honest-to-God nakedness, there's a peek inside a Cal figure drawing class, an interview with a Playboy model (only available in print), and an essay on the short, tragic life of Andrew Martinez, a.k.a. the Naked Guy.
It's not the normal alumni fare, we grant you, but we hope our readers will appreciate the mix all the same and see in it something that is, after all, very Berkeley in spirit. In any case, your feedback is always actively sought.
Drop us a line at californiamag(at)alumni.berkeley.edu or send letters to California, 1 Alumni House, Berkeley, CA 94720.
The Western Publishing Association (WPA) announced the 2009 Maggie Awards at its annual banquet in Los Angeles. The WPA calls it "the most prestigious publishing event in the West" and who are we to argue? Managing editor Kate McKinley was in attendance for the affair. Good thing too, as we won in the Special Interest/Consumer category for our July/August issue -- the Summer Sports edition, edging out, among other finalists, George Lucas's Edutopia and IDG's PC World.
Go Bears!
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