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Monday, June 30, 2003
I won two more awards for Column writing. These are from the California Intercollegiate Press Association. They don't have a website, I know nothing about them, and as far as I know the Daily Cal could be making them up in order to give awards to themselves.
First place for 'newspaper opinion column' and third place for 'newspaper humor column.' Anyone looking to hire a Columnist, I think I've still got the itch to write.Email This Post!
It is a sad day for the Bay Area, as UPN affiliate KBHK has removed Simpsons reruns from the 6 PM slot it had occupied for at least the past four years. The 7:30 and 10 slots will remain for now. Only good news is that the classic Newsradio will return to the 10:30 slot.
The 6 PM Simpsons had always anchored my day, clearly marking the line between afternoon and evening. I knew they would always be there for me, right after dinner, perfect for having tea and eating some ice cream with before working into the night. And it had been there since I started here. 6 PM Simpsons, see you at the crossroads. Email This Post! Sunday, June 29, 2003
Professor Chapela is holding office hours at California Hall. Here's his own words on the subject.Email This
Post!
I never knew Bill and Hillary Clinton lived in Berkeley! But apparently so-- excerpted from Ms. Clinton's biography:
Bill and I shared a small apartment near a big park not far from the University of California at Berkeley campus where the Free Speech Movement started in 1964. I spent most of my time working for Mal Burnstein researching, writing legal motions and briefs for a child custody case. Meanwhile, Bill explored Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco. On weekends, he took me to the places he had scouted, like a restaurant in North Beach or a vintage clothing store on Telegraph Avenue. I tried teaching him tennis, and we both experimented with cooking. I baked him a peach pie, something I associated with Arkansas, although I had yet to visit the state, and together we produced a palatable chicken curry for any and all occasions we hosted. Bill spent most of his time reading and then sharing with me his thoughts about books like To the Finland Station by Edmund Wilson. During our long walks, he often broke into song, frequently crooning one of his Elvis Presley favorites.This is sometime in the early 70's. Where exactly is this? I'd bet that she's talking about the park at Hillegass. It's big, it's closer to campus then any other I could think of, it's walking distance from Telegraph. Interestingly, Patty Hearst was kidnapped from an apartment right next to that park, as well. Email This Post!
Nothing really going on, hence lack of updates.
The most interesting thing would have to be the CalSO kiddies arriving in town. Already some of the brave ones are wandering Piedmont looking for Frat parties-- or more likely, surveying the scene for when they come back in the Fall. They should keep walking. Frat parties have been strangled by the blizzard of regulations and planning required. It's a funny but sad thing to see roaming packs of Freshmen wandering Welcome Week, dressed to the nines in whatever the WB has college students dress like, looking for the three or four parties that are out there. Not to mention shivering. Then, two weeks later, all that has disappeared. We're also still waiting and waiting for something to happen in the Michael Grey case. Or, at least, something to happen that is public. A Berkeley resident won the Miss California pageant, beating out Cal student Zangrilli Email This Post! Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Paul Hogarth writes a strange saga trying to justify the distortions and unfairness that rent control laws cause. He barely addresses the attacks that have been leveled at the Rent Board for ending the option of rent-free bonuses.
Contrary to what was reported in Wednesday's Daily Californian ("Rent Board Revises Law to Close Loophole," Feb. 19), the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board did not respond by outlawing "signing bonuses" for tenants who sign a new lease. Instead, we passed a regulation that prevents landlords from reporting a higher rent ceiling to the Rent Board than what is actually being rented on a monthly basis. (Landlords were doing this so they could later jack up the rent when the market rebounds.)Is that true? If so, it should lead to Daily Cal Corrections. It's not the point of his column, anyway, the majority of it being a broad defense of Rent Control. Is it wrong that students and other new renters pay higher rents than long-term tenants? Absolutely. But it's not because of Berkeley's rent control or pro-tenant politicians. On this one, the landlords only have themselves to blame.Why is it wrong? Students have higher costs then long-term residents: high turnover leading to periods when the apartment is filled being the main one. They're willing to pay a higher premium for apartments closer to campus. In addition, they entered the market when demand was higher then it was for the long-terms. To say that it would be wrong for them to pay higher rent in a higher demand situation is no different then saying it would be wrong for them to pay lower rent then long-terms in a low demand situation. That's because landlords were not allowed to raise the rent when an apartment became vacant. They also had no incentive to leave the apartment empty because unlike today, they could not wait for one wealthier tenant to outbid the rest.They had plenty of incentive to leave it vacant.. those many 'marginal' apartments were taken off the market as inflation and costs of maintenance rose but rents stayed the same. (Unless they got 'permission' to keep profits the same as in the arbitrarily chosen year of 1980.) In any case, the rent situation described most recently is of stable or declining rates, with landlords given the incentive to fill it as soon as possible. In the end, Mr. Hogarth is blatant about seeking economic protection for students and punishing landlords for trying to run a business. The results will be the same as last time: housing units taken off the market, costs inflicted on students through declining maintenance and repairs, and even less housing being built. Econ 1 with Professor Brown uses Rent Control as the classic example of market distortion with unintended negative consequences. It's worth a look.Email This Post! Tuesday, June 24, 2003
Aftermath of the Affirmative Action decision today, with students and Administrators generally beaming about it.
Lets quickly skip over Mr. Cruz and Ms. Felarca's op-ed on the subject, except to note that This victory at the Supreme Court provides the legal basis to launch a challenge to Proposition 209, and we are determined to organize the movement in California and the nation to raze Proposition 209 to the groundis nonsense... the decision allows forms of Affirmative Action but hardly requires it. As before, the only way to return straight-up Aff. Am to California is to vote to overturn 209, something no one in the state has any stomach for. Rhetoric aside, this is a defensive victory, not an extension of Aff. Am. in America. But what really tees me off is Chancellor Berdahl's endorsement of the lame 'Aff. Am. helps whities too' argument. "Students educated in an entirely homogenous environment derive less from their education than do those who learn in a diverse, heterogeneous environment," said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl in a statement.Generally speaking, Cal has made me more cynical about racial unity. What I've learned about other cultures, Asian and Jewish ones aside, is slim. What I've learned about racial politics and self-segregation has been mountains. The ASUC and ASUC Elections practice narrow appeals to not only ethnic groups, but different religious sentiments and majors. Living arrangements are normally segregated on a racial basis. Even God is worshipped by segmented ethnicities. Certainly my personal lack of knowledge is mostly because I've made little effort to learn about other cultures. And if I really wanted to, I could. But almost no one wants to. That's the most depressing part of all. Given the opportunity, the collection of ethnicities that enter Cal don't seek to learn about other cultures. They don't even not care about the subject. Most of them actively seek out self-segregation. I can hardly blame them. But is this supposed to inspire me about diversity? Defenders and the Chancellor could respond that when minority numbers are so tiny and majority numbers so overwhelming, the minority students are besieged by gobs of white people and the majority students barely notice them. So the minority students want to stick together for mutual aid and solidarity and the majority students have few opportunities to even see any around. This is probable, although I'm not sure what level of Affirmative Action would be necessary to stabilize the problem. Probably a lot of it. But if the Chancellor had any idea that was the problem, presumably his deepfelt need for diversity would push him to do something about it. The other solution to low racial understanding, besides heavily upping the numbers of minorities, is to create opportunities for cultural understanding. But the Administration doesn't do jack for racial understanding. About the extent of it is a few speaker series and some African-American step shows, plus the occasional press release when things get tense. Either the Chancellor has no idea how embarassingly self-segregated his campus is, or he doesn't give a damn. And if he doesn't give a damn, he should stop praising the supposed benefits of racial diversity when his status quo is a practical but cynical level of self-segregation and student disinterest in other cultures. Email This Post! Monday, June 23, 2003
Very, very strangely, an old Squelch article I wrote has been used for Rhetorical analysis by some Women's Studies/Art History/English major studying at Northern Arizona University.
This is all bone-dropping hilarious, from the analysis of my incorrigably racially stereotyping ways to the very idea of taking anything written in the Squelch as worthy of academic deconstruction. The article was published in the only intentionally funny journal from UC Berkeley called, “The Heuristic Squelch”. Most students from UC Berkeley read the journal, but anyone can subscribe. It is also published on the web for those who don’t feel they need six issues every year. The purpose of the article is to inform people who have never been to Wyoming how it is, but it’s mostly to entertain.Yes, Berkeley must know about Wyoming! LEARN ABOUT WYOMING NOW! Later she-- almost casually, definitely gracefully-- destroys my credibility with her penetrating logic. Then He does build himself up, but not in a way that would make him more credible- quite the contrary in fact. He tells the reader that he is a weather god because clouds follow him wherever he goes. When someone says something like that, it takes away a lot of their credibility.Touche, ma chou. Presumably the author was out to bullshit a good grade. I wish her the best, if so.Email This Post! Sunday, June 22, 2003
Interesting Gregory Peck fact: he ran for ASUC President.. and lost! There's a future for the Byrnes and Dumans of the world after all... (Thanks to Mr. Frankenstein for the info.)Email This
Post!
The possibly-landmark U Michigan Affirmative Action ruling comes down this week. As usual, Berkeley's experience is used as a textbook example of declining minority enrollment.
Before California banned the use of race in 1995, 222 black students had enrolled out of 3,405 freshman at the University of California-Berkeley. That compares with 141 blacks out of 3,655 freshman in 2002 enrolled under a top 4-percent plan.Strange how relevant this ruling seems to Berkeley. Certainly the Daily Cal thought so, sending reporters at expense to cover the case hearing + the antics surrounding it. And yet not only has California been operating under Prop 209 for ages, but it's pioneered a wide blaze of semi-race-neutral policies. Race preferences are dead, buried, and gone.Email This Post! Thursday, June 19, 2003
OSL Publications Advisor Reynolds commented on the Squelch in the latest issue of the Californians.
The "mildly risqué" cartoon that Rube Goldberg '04 drew for the 60th anniversary issue of the Pelican ("Calzone," February) would hardly raise an eyebrow in today's student publications scene. The campus humor magazine since 1991, the Heuristic Squelch, is totally uncensored. Continuing in the tradition of the Pelican, but with far more freedom, the Squelch roasts the chancellor and the administration, uses profanity freely, and specializes in explicit sexual spoofs.I never knew my Squelch was so smutty! Or so anti-administration... Searching back, I can find this this this and this, plus the paper doll Chancellors of awhile back. We mock Chancellor Berdahl about three times a year, more in the top tens. And lately, it's been me doing most of the Chancellor-mocking. Using profanity freely? We used the word 'fuck' in six pieces in the last issue, 3 times in issue 5, 4 times in issue 4, and so on. About normal for College usage, and probably not a defining part of the humor, unlike many college humor magazines I could name. (Among other things, we've never written a piece mocking Islam called 'Jizzlam.' ) Porn-wise, we've only had a few naked girls, to my knowledge, and they were used in the context of subtlely mocking Supreme Court decisions. Everything else has been drawn, and we've had more testicles then freely-hanging nipples. I'm not sure what an 'explicit sexual spoof' is. What part is explicit? The sexual part or the spoof part? Or both? An 'explicit sexual spoof' sounds like a description of a lighthearted French comedy being shown at Sundance. Honestly, most Squelch material is PG-13 these days. And this runs contrary to what has typically been popular with college readers. As former Editor Roscoe once noted, Another problem is that nobody reads anything in the Squelch which exceeds fifty words in length, unless the first fifty words contain multiple references to sodomy, bestiality, the human penis, boobies, sex toys, skullfucking, the Hegelian Dialectic, or scrotumsWord. Email This Post! Wednesday, June 18, 2003
The last issue of the Patriot for the year basically fell off the radar due to a slow printer... but here's the PDF version.Email This
Post!
UC is changing their Academic Freedom rules to allow political expression but to safeguard freedom of thought. Or something like that. It's nuanced.
The new policy, drafted by UC Berkeley law Professor Robert Post, an expert on the First Amendment, says that UC is committed to upholding and preserving principles of academic freedom that "guarantee freedom of inquiry and research, freedom of teaching, and freedom of expression and publication."The idea is that you can present an opinion, but have to allow freedom to dissent and freedom of expression. The example given is the faculty conduct code protected students from propaganda in the classroom, such as a chemistry professor spending a week talking about the war in Iraq.I don't see that in the general rule above. Seems more like the Chemistry Professor can spend all the time he wants on Iraq, so long as his students can complain about it. And I'd say protecting against that is the more important safeguard. The Snehal class, as brazen as it was, was a 25 person class that clearly explained in advance exactly what would be the correct mode of thinking. It was going to self-select for students who enjoy that sort of groupthink, and no one would care. Same with Professor Nader's infamous Controlling Processes class: you know what you're getting into. It's Professors that stray from important subject matter to bitch about their voting preferences that are the most dangerous. Or the Professors that cancel class 'To let us all protest the war.' It's uncommon, but it's the biggest abuse and the most difficult to stop. That being said, a rule that actually applies, rather then a dead-letter, is much more useful.Email This Post!
Here's Ms. Mika's column.
She brings up an interesting point on what is preventing all-out armageddon in the Blogging world: Google! I don't want my name plastered across page 1 of a "Kevin Deenihan" google search as 'That fat, arrogant bastard Deenihan.' But that's what's going to happen when you're doing something in the public realm: the criticism and praise becomes part of your google rankings. Do a search for "salam rafeedie" to see what I mean. Email This Post! Monday, June 16, 2003
UC may have to drop their Admission Guarantees. Given budget cuts but rising enrollment, there's really no way to continue adding students without too-difficult cuts in per-student spending.
President-designate Dynes would rather cut admissions then quality. Kudos to him-- it's easy to let more students in when the budget improves, but very hard to rebuild an infrastructure shattered by too-fast admissions growth. "We are under severe budget pressure right now," Dynes told reporters Wednesday, the day the regents approved his appointment, "and the one thing I will not compromise is the quality of the university. If we need to adjust the growth, we will do that."Email This Post!
Ms. Mika ominously e-mails
kevin--Presumably she's writing about Calstuff or me, and not in a pleased way. (I savaged her column last week.) Well, Any publicity is good publicity, and I've never managed to get Calstuff's URL into the Daily Cal. I'm overdue for a good savaging of my own. I've never really received one, but criticism helps me improve. Email This Post! Friday, June 13, 2003
Cal Alumnus Gregory Peck-- possibly THE most prominent Cal Alumnus-- died yesterday. Here's obits from the Daily Cal, the Chron, and the NY Times.Email This
Post!
The DA's decision not to prosecute the two paper thieves has weird reasoning. Something else must be going on.
The possibility of the students being suspended or expelled is far more serious than what the criminal justice system could offer, Adams said.But that hinges on the University actually punishing the students! And it's unclear if this is going to happen. Dean of Students Karen Kenney said the university is investigating the matter, but declined to comment further for reasons of confidentiality.So the question here is if the DA knows something we don't: did he coordinate with Ms. Kenney? How could he not have, if he knows what the punishment scale is like and is so seemingly confident that they'll be charged with something? Ms. Kenney would have every reason to play this one close to the vest. It's a politically charged issue, exactly the kind that requires careful planning and discretion. It's also a huge headache for the Administration yet again if SJA goes ahead with prosecution, especially with the Michael Grey case hanging over their heads. (That's another possible reason for delay: uncertainity regarding the Grey case.) Kudos to EIC Schewe for taking a hard line on thefts of his paper. "It is disappointing that the DA has dropped these charges," Schewe said. "We need to establish a precedent that the theft of free newspapers on any scale is a crime and that UC disciplinary action alone will not uphold the universality of the right to free speech."He could still file a civil action, presumably.Email This Post!
This visit smacks heavily of Potemkin Village. Reviewing old seismic plans and the happy new buildings is the least productive thing the Regents can do on this campus; those plans were decided ages ago and implementation is the only step remaining.
Here's what I'd have them do: start the day walking down Telegraph. Dress a few up as young Freshman girls so they can get harassed. From there, walk through Eshleman Hall and watch the building sway in the breeze, then stand in Lower Sproul and play football in the lonely, windy expanse. After Lower Sproul it's up to Evans, where the Chancellor can show where our high suicide rate got started, then over to Campbell Hall to see some of those hugely long Advising lines for themselves. Circle up and around to Memorial Stadium, where they can take turns epoxying over the cracks caused by drift. End the tour in a Unit 3 triple, where they can study up on housing issues while loud music blares from rooms on either sides.Email This Post! Wednesday, June 11, 2003
The new UC President-designate is Robert Dynes, UCSD's Chancellor. He was apparently the front-runner. The meeting today must've been a formality, unless the UC website can really put up a multi-slide life history of the guy within a few hours.
He promised three priorities: shifting R&D research to filter quickly into practical usage, partnerships with the CSUs, and a high-quality undergraduate experience. Email This Post! Tuesday, June 10, 2003
A new UC President will be named tomorrow. I'm surprised at how widely the net was cast.
After a search that included more than 200 candidates and spanned more than six monthsI figured that the pick would be another Chancellor from a UC campus that isn't Berkeley or LA. I'll try and get out who won on Wednesday afternoon.Email This Post!
Marissa Mika has written the equivalent of a Column about writing a Column. All the aspects are there. The humiliating admission that she has no more ideas that can work out to 700 words. The sad attempts to cover this up with humor. Then 500 filler words. Even worse this time, since the filler is a series of semi-stream-of-consciousness 'bits-o-life' that would make James Joyce cringe, along with a reference to 'Choose your own Adventure.'
This week, I have a lot of great moments incubating that could easily be extended into something mordantly offensive, funny or poignant.I'm not sure how poignant a gripping tale of driving to San Jose can be. Resource extraction: My parents only live an hour away from Berkeley, but it might as well be 10 hours, given how different the South and East bays are. Still, I try to get home every month or so to remind me just how strange Berkeley is. Not only have I perfected the art of looking up BART schedules and hopping on the Caltrain, but I've also perfected the art of the weekend trip home. The critical factor? The free food, of course.No disrespect to Ms. Mika, who did a fine job during the year, but it's hard to escape the Curse of Summer Mediocrity. Email This Post!
Student Advocate Schulman sends word. He says he's taken office, and that all the staff minus Ms. Rafeedie and Mr. Yang are working for him. He's met with the head of SJA to iron out a plan to give students their 'quasi-Miranda rights' when contacted for a Judicial Affairs action.
No word yet on who'll replace him in the Fall, although word on the street is that CalSERVE has found a few potential nominees.Email This Post! Sunday, June 08, 2003
It's summer, so the entire young adult population of Ireland has descended on Berkeley yet again.
For those of us who don't live on Frat Row, scads of Irish college students start knocking on doors at the start of June. They pack 4-6 people in a cheap room, try and get jobs in the City, and generally party for a whole semester. There's an interesting story in the Express waiting to be written exploring how this annual migration got started. This is especially bad if you're the only Fraternity in Berkeley with a swimming pool. It attracts them like a pot of gold. Email This Post!
The LA Times has a long feature on new Berkeley Grad Duane Dewitt-- frequently homeless, a veteran, 48 years old. It's a nice piece and a good story.
He was also apparently a Daily Cal stringer-- here's some stories he wrote.Email This Post! Thursday, June 05, 2003
This year's Summer Reading List is out. The theme is 'War and Peace,' what with all this war going on lately.
This year, with international conflict much on people’s minds, campus librarians, faculty, and staff were asked to offer suggestions on the theme of war and peace.The results are all over the place; I've only heard of maybe one or two. This is probably a good thing, especially compared to last year's trite 'censored books' list, which looked like High School Junior English. Not Honors English, either. This means a crop of books tangential to any concept of war, and a few of the post-colonialist dialogue thingies that make Professors do little happy leaps. But there's also what looks like a John le Carre-esque International Spy Thriller book and-- good choice!-- Starship Troopers. The (inevitable?) Holocaust accounts seem well-chosen, and many of the accounts-of-war books look well-researched. So, good show, Berkeley. Email This Post!
Cal student Mallory Moser received a stiff sentence for her Sunnyvale protest and subsequent prison stay.
Judge Jerald Infantino sentenced Moser to three years' probation, including 50 hours of volunteer work and $25 a month until she had paid off her share of $15,000-plus that Lockheed Martin officials estimated they spent dealing with a day of human roadblocks.Ms. Moser pledged to ignore the court order. Fool. She faces serious jail time if that's her move. Ms. Moser is out of her depth-- the only way proceeding would make sense is if she was getting significant media attention for her actions. Which she isn't. (10 people attended her sentencing.) Email This Post! Monday, June 02, 2003
Once again it's summer, and hits are in the toilet.
I'm still-- always-- looking for qualified Cal students who want to join Calstuff as an Associate Poster. You have to be literate and promise to only write about Cal-related things. Only one more year of Calstuff unless I get a replacement, remember. I'm still waiting for the first mention of Calstuff in some sort of media outlet. It will never be, I fear.Email This Post!
CalWatch transcribed an interview with Mayor Bates. Once again the Interviewer fails to ask the only important question: who else knew about your paper thefts before you admitted it to the police, and did you ask them to keep it quiet?Email This
Post!
The CC Times has a long but largely uninteresting overview of race at Berkeley. (Uninteresting to experienced Cal students, that is.) It overviews the usual suspects: the Patriot, the Recruitment Centers, the rise of Asians, etc. There's the minority student from a white High School now embracing their ethnicity. There's the angry minority person who likes hanging out with his own culture. And there's the Asian student who doesn't get what all the fuss is about.
No quotes from white people, which isn't unusual. Excepting Patriot members, there's no 'white quote' on race on these things. Is that a good thing? It must mean that there's no accepted 'typical White view on race,' which is probably good. But the counterpoint is that it's still acceptable to quote minorities as 'typical minority member,' which is probably bad. Email This Post! |
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