A U.S. Supreme Court ruling barred the Oakland Cannabis Buyer’s Cooperative from distributing marijuana for medical use on Tuesday, voting 7-1 to endorse an emergency request from the Clinton Administration. The ruling, aimed narrowly at the Oakland clinic, however, does not overturn the legality Proposition 215, nor does it effectively end the distribution of marijuana to patients throughout the state, according to Dale Gierenger, California coordinator for NORMAL – the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws.  

The central question of Proposition 215’s legality remains before a federal appeals court.  

“This law is being misconstrued by the media. It does not have anything to do with the legality of Proposition 215,” Gierenger says. One Berkeley activist at the Berkeley Patient Group, a Berkeley-based medical marijuana club, who declined to give her name, characterized the decision as “not really as big a deal as everyone thinks it is. Everything is actually OK.”  

The decision provoked more questions than answers. 

“We’re still cultivating an opinion” said E. Xeno Rasmusson, health consultant for the First Hemp Bank, a Berkeley-based privately held membership group of patients and care givers dedicated to safe, legal medical marijuana use. “But it seems to be part of the intricate dance between local, state, and federal decision making processes. ” 

While the decision does not necessarily shake the current status quo, it does set an uncomfortable legal precedent for those who support the medical use of marijuana. The case will eventually return to the Supreme Court, which will determine whether cannabis can be used medicinally. 

Many call it a test of representative democracy. At issue is whether the state-approved Compassionate Use Act, allowing marijuana to be distributed to patients with a prescription, will eclipse the federal Controlled Substance Act, which currently lists marijuana as an illegal substance.  

The Oakland Club is being used as a test case which will probably dictate policy for all similar cannabis clubs in California.  

The decisions will also have a long-term effect on cannabis clubs in Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Maine, all of which have approved the use of medical marijuana. 

Locally, however, the Supreme Court decision throws some confusion into how Berkeley police should pursue criminal cases involving medical marijuana. 

Several calls to the Berkeley Police Department for comment were not returned. 

Buzzy Linhart, a local musician who jammed with Jimi Hendrix in the late 60s, recently had his marijuana plants confiscated and seized by the Berkeley police, despite the fact that he was carrying a card showing his right to have medical marijuana. 

Todd Mikuriya, a doctor who often prescribes cannabis for medical use, remembers a “chronic paranoid schizophrenic street person” who “lit up” on the UC Berkeley campus. 

“He was set upon by the UC campus guard. When he showed the guard medical documentation, the cop did not attempt to legitimate its authenticity. The patient was cited and pulled into municipal court.” 

Highly charged situations like this, says Mikuriya, “come from a disgraceful, systematic lack of compliance to the law on the part of police.” 

Don Duncan, director of the Berkeley Patient’s Group agrees. “There is no leadership coming from the top. So the police don’t know how to proceed. We need to at least implement Proposition 215 on a local level here in Berkeley.” 

“You’d think” continues Duncan, “that Berkeley would support this law, and there are a few people, particularly Worthington, Maio, and Spring who do, but the rest of the city has refused to take any leadership on the issue.” 

Polly Armstrong, however, disagrees. 

“The city of Berkeley voted 85 percent in favor of Proposition 215. I’m one hundred percent in favor of medical marijuana. It should be legalized throughout the nation. We just didn’t want to become a magnet for other city’s medical needs. Berkeley doesn’t have to become the Amsterdam of the United States” says Armstrong. 

And despite claims that everything is all right, “Fear is high in the community. We don’t know if the police will use this case and begin to act upon their own volition concerning medical marijuana use,” says Mikuriya. 

The decision ads to the controversy of whose jurisdiction the medical marijuana issue falls under. California voters approved the use of marijuana as a medicine in 1996, passing Proposition 215. When it was challenged in the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals, the court ruled that “medical necessity” is a “legally cognizable defense” to a charge of drug distribution under the Substance Act. Federal lawyers have argued that this decision sets a dangerous precedent and provides a justification for illegal drug trafficking.  

Furthermore, the Berkeley City Council has a policy mandating police to make marijuana-related arrests a low-level priority. 

Such dictates put the Berkeley Police force squarely in the center of confusing legal conundrum. Will clubs similar to the OCBC, of which there are three in Berkeley, be forced to stop distributing marijuana for medicinal purposes as well? 

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington does not think so. 

“If Berkeley police have information that a person is using marijuana for medical purposes, they are instructed to not arrest that person.” 

“If the police use this decision as an excuse to penalize anyone for medical use of marijuana, we will ask that to stop,” continues Worthington. 

For now, what seems to be at stake is the ability for the Oakland club to remain open. 

Jeff Jones, executive director of the OCBC, believes that discussing the Supreme Court’s decision is giving it too much importance. 

“It’s just a small fork in the road in the two and one-half year battle to legalize medical marijuana. The timing just has to do with the election cycle. Can the government allow someone to be exempt from the federal laws? No. Think about it. The government is all about control, and that’s what this decision is about,” says Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyer’s Cooperative. 

Worthington, however, warns that if the timing is tied to November’s national elections, it’s a poor decision that will backfire on the presidential candidates.  

“If it’s being done for political purposes, it’s sort of dumb. The average voter in California voted for 215 overwhelmingly. It’s not just a Berkeley issue,” says Worthington. 

“Once people have had a taste of freedom,” adds Mikuriya, “they won’t want to turn back. There is such a high demand for the medicine by patients, that clubs have been having difficulty keeping up.” 

It will be the patients who suffer if the Supreme Court shuts down the clubs, says Rasmusson. 

“The War on Drugs has been a long-bungled attempt to stem so called illegal drug use. If this draconian impulse continues, and the clubs are shut down, the patients will just have to go back to illegal dealers, where there is no insurance that what they receive will be high quality. This is a drug war against the sick. Closing the clubs won’t do anything to stem actual drug use,” says Rasmusson. 

Says Duncan, “We will continue dispensing medicine to our patients until we are forced to stop.”

Saturday, Sept. 2

Acupuncture for head and  

neck pain 

1-2 p.m. 

Meiji College of Oriental Medicine 

2550 Shattuck Ave. 

This is an opportunity to find out about what acupuncture and Oriental herbal medicine is and how it works. Free. 

666-8248 

Exercise to Music 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Tuesday, Sept. 5

Landmarks Preservaton  

Commission 

7-9 p.m. 

2nd Floor Conference Room, Permit Service Center 

2120 Milvia Street 

The commission will discuss the City Council direction relevant to the management of the west Berkeley Shellmound.  

Wednesday, Sept. 6

Alzheimer’s and dementia  

support group 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Martial arts demonstration 

noon-1 p.m. 

Sproul Hall steps, Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley  

UC Berkeley Martial Arts Program will put on a demonstration to show what martial arts styles are offered at the university. 

beatty@haas.berkeley.edu. 

Thursday, Sept. 7

Growing wise with Betty Goren 

10:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

“Discipline & Citizenship” conference 

6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

Conversation between actor  

Paul Newman and Laura  

D'Andrea Tyson 

5 p.m. 

UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, Arthur Andersen Auditorium 

Gayley Road between Hearst Avenue and Bancroft Way 

The eventinaugurates the business school's annual lecture series Forum on Philanthropy in Business. 

Friday, Sept. 8

“Discipline & Citizenship” 

conference 

9 a.m.-4 p.m. 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

895-4542 

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 9

Open house 

Julia Morgan center for the Arts 

Meet new leaders and artist and learn about future plans for the facility. RSVPs encouraged 

2640 College Ave. Berkeley 

4- 7 p.m. 

845-8542 

Sunday, Sept. 10

“Doors to Madame Marie” 

11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

As part of the Jewish Learning Center’s Authors Series in the Library, Odette Meyers will be available for discussion and booksigning. 

848-0237 

“Next Stop, Greenwich  

Village” 

2-4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center Cinema 

1414 Walnut St.  

Based on filmmaker Paul Mazursky’s own passage from Brooklyn to Greenwich Village, the film is about the dynamics of leaving home and trying to leave home behind. There will be a peer led discussion following the movie. 

848-0237 

Monday, Sept. 11

“12th annual Berkeley YMCA  

Golf Tournament” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 11:00 a.m. 

Entry fee includes cart, lunch on the course and dinner. Proceeds benefit Albany-Berkeley YMCA  

$125 Entry Fee 

549-4525 

Voter workshop 

1 p.m. 

Learn about voting absentee and working a local polling places. North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Tuesday, Sept. 12

Tai Chi Chuan 

11 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Sept. 13

Mid-Autumn Festival 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Last townhall meeting on the  

Berkeley Housing Authority  

Plan 

6-8 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St. 

For information on the plan, call Wanda Remmers. 

548-8776

If there’s one thing Coleen Doucette has seen enough of, it’s wild birds that have swallowed fishhooks or fish line.  

The San Francisco Bay is right on the Pacific Flyway, a major stopover for migrating waterfowl. Through this corridor pass thousands of ducks, grebes, gulls, geese, egrets, and much more.  

Because it’s a popular habitat for humans, too, conflicts inevitably arise.  

“We have seven pelicans brought in this week who swallowed fish line,” says Doucette, the rehabilitation manager at the International Bird Rescue and Research Center, located at Aquatic Park. “If people would just pick up their fish lines … we’d probably go out of business!”  

Actually, the nonprofit IBRRC does much more than tend to Bay Area water birds. It was founded in 1971 in response to a horrific oil spill, when two tankers collided under the Golden Gate Bridge, pouring 800,000 gallons of oil onto the waters in a slick that extended 50 miles along the coastline. There are hundreds of bird rescue centers in the U.S. today, but the Berkeley-based IBRRC is one of only two such organizations (the other is in Delaware) with an international oil spill response team. IBRRC director Jay Holcomb has spent the past two months in South Africa heading an international project to rescue penguins from a huge oil spill off Capetown. 

The Berkeley rehabilitation program was actually a spin-off of the IBRRC’s larger international mission. But it’s become a sizeable program – the center may see up to 80 birds a week during the summer, and Doucette estimates that 1,000 sick or injured birds come through in a year. 

This fall, IBRRC is moving to new quarters. The state has provided funds to build two new bird rescue facilities, one in Los Angeles, the other in Cordelia. Both will have the capacity to hold up to 1,000 birds at a time in case of a major environmental disaster. While the main office will relocate to Cordelia, staff hope they can find enough volunteers to keep the Berkeley facility open and continuing its important work. 

Some bird rescue centers specialize in songbirds; IBRRC is the place for aquatic fowl. The staff is in touch with other rescue centers around the state, exchanging ideas and sometimes trading birds. Coleen is concerned today about an abandoned baby grebe, just a couple of weeks old, which arrived last week. She places a call to a facility in San Rafael. 

“Hi,” she says. “You don’t have any grebes, do you? No? Well, I’d like it, if you get any Westerns or Clarks, if you’d send them down here. We’ve got a baby and he needs to grow up with some of his own kind.” 

She goes out to check on the progress of the grebe chick. This is his first day in the cold-water pool, which he shares with a group of recuperating murres.  

“He’s waterproofing up well!” Doucette says, peering at the downy chick. 

When a bird first arrives at the Rescue Center, it has usually lost its waterproofing, either through trauma or contamination. Preening, or grooming their plumage so the feathers are aligned and watertight, is how waterfowl stay waterproof (not, as is commonly thought, by oiling the feathers). A sick or traumatized bird will not preen; the feathers become disheveled, and that leaves the creature vulnerable to penetration by the cold water. Soon, the bird can die of hypothermia. To prevent that, rehabilitators put the bird first in a warm water pool while it regains its equilibrium. 

The grebe, who has recently graduated to the cold-water pool, is a darling of the staff. This is a bird so ugly that he’s cute. He could star as the Ugly Duckling in Hans Christian Andersen’s tale. Two beady black eyes are set in a round head covered with spiky grey down. He churns the water furiously with little black legs and webbed feet that are set far back on a nearly tailless body, giving him the look of a mutating tadpole. He looks as soft as a kitten, and the temptation to pick him up is strong. 

But that’s not allowed. “They’ll imprint really easily,” Doucette explains. And the whole point is for the grebe to grow up thinking he’s a grebe, not a person. 

A bird’s stay at the IBRRC can range from a few days to a few months. Juvenile birds remain at the rescue facility until they reach maturity. Older birds are released as soon as they are strong enough to fly or swim again.  

Today, two gulls and two murres are ready for release. Doucette and Lois Yuen, a volunteer, load the birds into cardboard carriers and drive to Point Emery. It’s a beautiful day – the sun sparkles on the water and a light breeze lifts the spirits.  

The gulls are first to be released. With a great flapping of wings, they escape into the air and head toward San Francisco. They know where the food is. 

The murres are released into the water. Doucette and Yuen grin in satisfaction as they watch the birds bob out onto the waves, then orient themselves toward the Golden Gate Bridge. These are deep sea birds that will soon be heading north.  

“It always amazes me that they know exactly where to go,” Doucette comments.  

The idyllic moment is soon over. Back at the rescue center, there’s already another casualty. Animal control officer Leslie Tisdale is here with a large pelican.  

It’s tangled in fishline. 

Contact the center at 841-9086.

Kindergartners at Malcolm X Elementary aren’t puzzled when they’re put into classes called yellow, green or blue on the first day of school.  

But some parents may scratch their heads when they receive a colored piece of paper in the mail a few days before school starts telling them that their child will be in the green class for three days. 

“It’s the way we build kindergarten classes here,” said teacher Louise Rosencrantz, who ran with the idea called Gentle Beginnings five years ago when Malcolm X was re-configured as a Kindergarten through fifth-grade school. 

“It’s the best way to get to know all the kids,” she said. 

It works like this: before school starts, the kids are assigned a color group and for three days the three kindergarten teachers each see a different group. This enables the teachers to look at each child’s academic strengths, social strengths and friendship needs, Rosencrantz said. 

And afterward, they build three balanced classes for each teacher for the rest of the year.  

“It’s artistry,” Rosencrantz said of building the diverse classes. “It’s wonderful fun, but it’s very hard. You realize how individual each child is. To build a great class, you need diversity, and not just diverse in demographics only.” 

“We think it’s really important that classes are ethnically, temperamentally and academically diverse,” said teacher Cynthia Allman. 

Moreover, the teachers will begin home visits this month to talk to the families and discuss what the teacher and the parents say are the specific needs of the student. 

It gives parents a chance to talk to the teachers about their kids in their home setting. Later, teachers will be having school-based parent-teacher conferences, talking to parents about the how the child is performing in the school setting. 

“It’s extra work for teachers and parents, but we’re convinced it works,” said Allman. 

Allman, Rosencrantz and Dyantha McDougal also hosted a potluck at the school for the kindergartners and their families before school started to introduce themselves and the program to parents who haven’t experienced it, and to talk about health requirements and other things the students may need. 

Rosencrantz said that Gentle Beginnings lets the kids, the families and the teachers get to know each other, and said she sees it as a way to better meet goals. 

The parents also seem to like it.  

Felicity Bensch, an English teacher at Pinole Valley High School in Pinole whose child went through the program, said she wishes something like this could take off at the high school level.  

“Equity goes on,” she said. “It’s very impressive that they work together as a team so classes are balanced. I get the feeling that the teachers give immediate individual attention.” 

“It’s hard being a kindergartner,” said parent Laurie Senauke. “For the first month, they’re acclimating. This gives everyone a chance to form a real partnership with each other.”

When school opened Wednesday, Berkeley High School students who did not bring their lunch, still had to head for downtown – just as they have for the last decade. 

There was no “food court” on campus to keep the some 3,400 teens on campus. 

Merchants have complained for years about their onslaught, though they appreciate the revenue they bring. Last year the complaints rose to a roar. 

So the school district, working with city government and the Downtown Merchants Association, decided that if merchants provided food on campus, they would not lose the students’ revenue, but would keep the numbers of teens downtown to a minimum. 

The proposed food court could be up and running as soon as next week, Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said. 

He hopes to set the food distribution up in the gallery area of the Berkeley Community Theater. 

Students would then have the option of eating inside at tables the school would provide or taking their lunch outside on the school grounds or at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park.  

McLaughlin said the students would still have the option of leaving campus if they wished. 

The superintendent plans to ask the school board to allocate $5,000 for an implementation plan at Wednesday’s school board meeting. 

He said that they may sell the food provided by downtown Berkeley merchants out of the snack shack on campus if the gallery isn’t available.  

The space to serve the food is just one of the details yet to be worked out, he said. 

The district is working with merchants to price food carts that would be used to deliver food from the Good Food Cafe – a culinary arts program and kitchen classroom on the campus.  

McLaughlin said that he hopes to use the Good Food Cafe as a commissary because it is already meets health department guidelines. 

There is also a question of personnel. McLaughlin said it also falls under health department guidelines that district personnel serve the food, and additional servers may have to be hired. 

McLaughlin said the district is negotiating prices with the merchants. 

“The food cannot be more expensive than the food they would buy at the restaurant,” he said. “So we know there are going to be losses in the beginning, but we’re going to try to make it work by the end of September.” 

McLaughlin and Elsie Szeto, the manager of child nutrition services for the district, say that they have made recommendations that the vendors provide students with as many healthy food choices as possible. 

“But recommendations are quite different from requirements,” Szeto said. “And we will view those with healthy choices more favorably.” 

Caleb Dardick of the Downtown Berkeley Association said that he’s talked with some 15 merchants who are interested in participating in the program, but said that they have not worked out which, or how many, vendors will provide food. 

Dardick said that some of the merchants being considered were: La Cascada Taqueria, EZ Stop Deli, Round Table Pizza, KFC, Cancun Taqueria and Mel’s Diner. 

McLaughlin said he’s been perusing the local eateries to get ideas for an ambiance at the food court.  

“We’ll be meeting with students to find out what they want and what suits their needs,” he said. 

The DBA and the school district began talking about a food court months ago after several downtown merchants complained about groups of students disrupting business during their lunch hour. 

The school has been without a cafeteria since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake caused structural damage to the cafeteria. It was demolished two years later.  

Construction will begin this winter for a new student union and administration building, which will probably house a cafeteria.

Though West Berkeley residents have known for years that trains run through Berkeley – late night blasts that bring to mind Coltrane in his least lucid moments – very few know that it stopped here. 

Hidden beneath the University Avenue I-80 overpass, where concrete pillars cast a cistern-like shadow over the blacktop below, are a few benches where passengers congregate for the morning train to Santa Clara, or the line to Sacramento. 

To raise awareness and increase use, the Redevelopment Agency has plans to upgrade the area, both immediate and long term. For now the city and Amtrak have $40,000 to add more benches, trash cans, lighting and for general maintenance.  

Long term, however, is a revamp of the entire area. A federal Transportation Improvement Program grant for $641,000, and a pending state grant that could amount to $300,000 will be used to revitalize the area. Concrete plans are yet to be made. 

Amalia Lorentz, Associate Planner for

Friday, Sept. 1

Bridge 

1 p.m. 

Live Oak Community Center 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

The games are open to all players 

For partnership and other informa- 

tion, please call Vi Kimoto at (510) 223-6539 

“Daughter of the Regiment” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Lunar Cycle:  

All-women critical mass ride 

Gather 6:30 p.m., ride at 7 p.m. 

Mama Bear's book store and cafe 

6536 Telegraph Ave. (near Alcatraz) 

All-women ride around town. All ages and abilities welcome.  

Saturday, Sept. 2

Lakeside Park on Lake Merritt, Oakland 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Internationally Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh will lead meditation exercises and lectures focusing on ‘mindful living.’ 

(510) 433-9928 

Acupuncture for head  

and neck pain 

1-2 p.m. 

Meiji College of Oriental Medicine 

2550 Shattuck Ave. 

This is an opportunity to find out about what acupuncture and Oriental herbal medicine is and how it works. Free. 

666-8248 

Exercise to Music 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Tuesday, Sept. 5 

Landmarks Preservation  

Commission 

7-9 p.m. 

2nd Floor Conference Room, Permit Service Center 

2120 Milvia Street 

The commission will discuss the City Council direction relevant to the management of the west Berkeley Shellmound.  

Wednesday, Sept. 6

Alzheimer’s and dementia  

support group 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Martial arts demonstration 

noon-1 p.m. 

Sproul Hall steps, Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley  

UC Berkeley Martial Arts Program will put on a demonstration to show what martial arts styles are offered at the university. 

Contact Patrick at beatty@haas.berkeley.edu. 

Thursday, Sept. 7

Growing wise with Betty Goren 

10:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

“Discipline & Citizenship”  

conference 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

6:30 p.m. -8 p.m. 

Friday, Sept. 8

“Discipline & Citizenship”  

conference 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

9 a.m.-4 p.m. 

895-4542 

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 9

Open house 

Julia Morgan center for the Arts 

Meet new leaders and artist and learn about future plans for the facility. RSVPs encouraged 

2640 College Ave. Berkeley 

4- 7 p.m. 

845-8542 

Sunday, Sept. 10

“Doors to Madame Marie” 

11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

As part of the Jewish Learning Center’s Authors Series in the Library, Odette Meyers will be available for discussion and booksigning. 

848-0237 

“Next Stop, Greenwich Village” 

2-4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center Cinema 

1414 Walnut St.  

Based on filmmaker Paul Mazursky’s own passage from Brooklyn to Greenwich Village, the film is about the dynamics of leaving home and trying to leave home behind. There will be a peer led discussion following the movie. 

$2 suggested donation.  

848-0237 

Monday, Sept. 11

“12th annual Berkeley YMCA Golf Tournament” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 11:00 a.m. 

Entry fee includes cart, lunch on the course and dinner. Proceeds benefit Albany-Berkeley YMCA  

$125 Entry Fee 

549-4525 

Voter workshop 

Learn about voting absentee and working a local polling places. 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Tuesday, Sept. 12

Tai Chi Chuan 

11 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Sept. 13

Last town hall meeting on the Berkeley Housing Authority Plan 

6-8 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St. 

For information on the plan, call Wanda Remmers 548-8776 

Mid-Autumn Festival 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Thursday, Sept. 14

Eugene O’Neil House, Mt.  

Diablo State Park Trip  

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

$21 per person 

644-6107 

Pre-business workshop 

Small-business Development Center 

519 17th St. Suite 200, Oakland 

8 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 

$35  

273-6611, www.eastbayscore.org, eastbayscore@yahoo.com 

Yoga class 

2 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Ebony Museum of Arts 

The museum specializes in the art and history of Africa.  

Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.  

30 Jack London Village, Suite 209. (510) 763-0745. 

Habitot Children’s Museum 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

“Back to the Farm.”  

Ongoing 

An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more.  

Cost: $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under.  

Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

647-1111 or www.habitot.org 

Judah L. Magnes Museum 

2911 Russell St.  

549-6950 

Free 

Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” 

Through May 2002.  

An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. Highlights include treasures from Jewish ceremonial and folk art, rare books and manuscripts, contemporary and traditional fine art, video, photography and cultural kitsch. 

“Spring and Summer.”  

Through Nov. 4. 

“Chagall: Master Prints and Posters, Selections from the Magnes Museum Collection.”  

Through Sept. 28. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley 

“Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment,” through Sept. 17.  

An exhibit of rare and exquisite works featuring more than forty mandalas and related objects including sculptures and models of sacred spaces. 

“Doug Aitken/MATRIX 185: Into the Sun,” through Sept. 3.  

An exhibit of works primarily in video and film, using the interplay of art and media to evoke deserted landscapes. 

“Autour de Rodin: Auguste Rodin and His Contemporaries,” through August.  

An exhibit of 11 bronze maquettes on loan from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation in Los Angeles. The bronzes range in style from the artist’s classically inspired “Torso of a Woman” to the anguish of “The Martyr.” Some of the maquettes were cast during Rodin’s lifetime, others have been cast fairly recently under the aegis of the Musee Rodin which alone is authorized to cast his sculptures posthumously.  

“Hans Hoffmann,” open-ended.  

An exhibit of paintings by Hoffmann which emphasizes two experimental methods the artist employed: the introduction of slabs or rectangles of highly saturated colors and the use of large areas of black paint juxtaposed with intense oranges, greens and yellows.  

The Asian Galleries  

“Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery,” open-ended.  

A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection.  

“Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes: The First 3,000 Years,” open-ended. 

“Works on Extended Loan from Warren King,” open-ended. 

“Three Towers of Han,” ongoing.$6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

642-0808. 

UC Berkeley Museum  

of Paleontology 

Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley 

“Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing.  

A 20-foot tall, 40-foot long replica of the fearsome dinosaur. The replica is made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. 

“Pteranodon,” ongoing.  

A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22 to 23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. 

California Fossils Exhibit, ongoing. An exhibit of some of the fossils which have been excavated in California. 

Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

642-1821. 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst  

Museum of Anthropology 

Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College  

Avenue, Berkeley 

“Modern Treasures from Ancient Iran,” through Oct. 29.  

This exhibit explores nomadic and town life in ancient and modern Iran as illustrated in bronze and pottery vessels, and textiles.  

“Approaching a Century of Anthropology: The Phoebe Hearst Museum,” open-ended.  

This new permanent installation will introduce visitors to major topics in the museum’s history, including the role of Phoebe Apperson Hearst as the museum’s patron, as well as the relationship of anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and Robert Lowie to the museum. 

“Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” ongoing. 

This exhibit documents the culture of the Yahi Indians of California as described and demonstrated from 1911 to 1916 by Ishi, the last surviving member of the tribe. 

$2 general; $1 seniors; $.50 children age 17 and under; free on Thursdays. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

643-7648 

Mills College Art Museum 

5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 

“The 100 Languages of Children,” through October.  

An exhibit of art by children from Reggio Emilia, Italy. At Carnegie Building Bender Room. 

Free. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. 430-2164 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

“Experiment Gallery”  

Closing Sept. 10. Step inside a giant laboratory and experiment with concepts surrounding sound, light, mechanics, electricity, and weather. 

“Math Rules!” Ongoing. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge. Make mathematical ice-cream cones, use blocks to build three dimensional structures, make dodecagon pies from a variety of mathematical shapes and stretch mathematical thinking. 

“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning  

experiments. 

Holt Planitarium  

Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. 

“How Big Is the Universe,” through Sept. 3. Learn about various  

ways to determine distances. Through Sept. 3: Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. 

“Moons of the Solar System,” through Dec. 10. Take a tour of the  

fascinating worlds that orbit Earth and other planets out to the edge  

of the Solar System. Through Sept. 3, Saturday and Sunday, 2:15 p.m.;  

Sept. 9 through Oct. 29, 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.; Nov. 4 through Dec. 10;  

2;15 p.m. 

“Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn  

to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the  

planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18;  

$3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m.  

to 5 p.m.; Centennial Drive, University of California,  

Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

The Oakland Museum of  

California 

1000 Oak St., Oakland 

“Helen Nestor: Personal and Political” Through Oct. 15.  

An exhibit of images documenting the Free Speech Movement, the 60s civil rights marches, and women’s issues. 

“California Classic: Realist Paintings by Robert Bechtle” through Oct. 1.  

An exhibit of 18 paintings and drawings by the Bay Area artist dating from 1965 to 1997. 

Special Exhibit – “Meadowsweet Dairy: Wood Sculpture,” through Sept. 15.  

An exhibit of 12 sculptures made with materials found and salvaged to reveal the beauty of the natural object. At the Sculpture Court, City Center, 1111 Broadway. Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students; free children age 5 and under; second Sundays are free to all. Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; first Friday of the month, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

(888) OAK-MUSE or www.museumca.org. 

Music 

Ashkenaz 

1317 San Pablo Ave.  

525-5099 

For all ages 

www.ashkenaz.com 

Today, 9:30 p.m. CD release party with Strictly Roots 

Sept. 3, 9 p.m. Don Carlos & Reggaie Angels 

Sept. 5, 9 p.m. A night of Big Mountain Awareness with Blackfire 

Sept. 6, 8 p.m. lesson and 9 p.m. show Poullard-Thompson Band (Cajun) 

Sept. 8 Fantcha 

Sept. 27, 8 p.m., dance session, 9 p.m., music 

Kate Brislin, Jody Stecher, Heath Curtis, Bluegrass intentions 

Old time, Appalachian music 

525-5099 

924 Gilman St. 

924 Gilman Street is an all-ages, member-run no alcohol, drugs, and violence club. Most shows are $5. Memberships for the year are $2. Shows start at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted.  

Call 525-9926.  

The Albatross Pub 

1822 San Pablo Ave. 

843-2473 

All shows begin at 9 p.m. 

Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet, Sept. 2. 

Dunsmuir Historic Estate 

2960 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland 

End of summer concert: “Caribbean Rhythms” 

Sunday, Sept. 3, noon- 3 p.m. 

$5 adults, $4 seniors; $1 for children under 13 

615-5555, www.dunsmuir.org 

Starry Plough 

3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Noche de Flamenco, 8:30 p.m., Sept. 6 

Featured artists include Cristo Cortes, Monica Bermudez  

and Carola Zertuche, with special guest El Pollito 

$10 

841-2082 

The Greek Theatre 

Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals, Maceo Parker, Sept. 8, 7 p.m. $30.  

Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road, Berkeley. (510) 444-TIXS 

Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center 

Daniela Mercury, Sept. 8, 8 p.m. $35. 

10 10th St., Oakland. (510) 534-6348, (510) 762-BASS 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra 

Nicholas McGegan conducting, Sept. 9 and Sept. 10.  

A performance of Handel's opera-oratorio “Semele.”  

$32 to $46. Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m. First  

Congregational Church, Dana Street and Durant Avenue, Berkeley.  

(415) 392-4400 or www.philharmonia.org 

The Jazzschool 

2375 Shattuck Ave. 

Dick Hindman Trio 

4:30 p.m., Sept. 17 

$12; $10 students/seniors; $6 for Jazzschool students and children under 13 

Classical Concert 

Friday, Sept. 29  

First Lutheran Church at Homer and Webster streets, Palo Alto 

8 p.m. 

(415) 378-4863 

Films 

University of California, Berkeley Art Museum 

Pacific Film Archive 

2575 Bancroft Way 

642-1412 

“Treasures from the George Eastman House” 

Various programs and a 16-film salute to little-known actresses. 

Sept. 1 -Oct. 8 

“MadCat Women’s International Film Festival”  

Sept. 8,9 

Festival showcases women filmmakers from around the world. 

“Paper Tiger Television” 

A look at TV used to promote grassroots political action. PTTV members will appear for discussion with the audiences at screenings. 

Sept. 12,15 

$7 for one film; $8.50 for double bills. UC Berkeley students are $4/$5.50. Seniors and children are $4.50/6.00  

Paramount Movie Classics Summer 2000 Series  

The evening includes a classic movie, walk-in music from the Wurlitzer  

organ, a newsreel, cartoon, movie previews and the Paramount's prize  

give-away game “Dec-O-Win.” 

Sept. 8: The French Connection. 

Sept. 22: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. 

$5. Shows at 8 p.m. 2025 Broadway, Oakland. (510) 465-6400. 

Theater 

“The Green Bird” by Carlo  

Gozzi 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addison St. 

Adapted by Theatre de la Jeune Lune and directed by Dominique Serrand.  

“The Green Bird” runs from September 8 - October 27. For tickets contact the box office at 845-4700 

“The Philanderer”  

by George Bernard Shaw 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Performed by the Aurora Theatre company, “The Philanderer” takes on the challenging and often humorous exploration of gender roles and the separations that exist between the sexes. 

Preview dates are September 8-10 and 13, tickets for preview showings are sold at $26. Opening night is September 14, admission is $35. Showtimes run Wednesday through Saturday through October 15 at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees show at 2 p.m., plus selected Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. Admission for regular performances is $30. Student discounts are available. For tickets and information call 843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org. 

“Endgame” 

Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, through Sept. 2 at La Val’s Subterranean 1834 Euclid Ave. Berkeley. 

Directed by George Charbak.  

524-9327. 

“MIMZABIM!” 

Climate Theatre & Subterranean Shakespeare 

La Vals Subterraniean 1834 Euclid, Berkeley 

Sept.7 -Oct. 14 

Thursday - Saturday 8:00 p.m. 

$12, Students $8 

Exhibits 

The Artistry of Rae Louise  

Hayward 

The Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 

3023 Shattuck Ave. 

548-9286, ext. 307 

Through Sept. 27 

Rae Louise Hayward, one of the founders of The Art of Living Black, Bay Area Black Artist Annual Exhibition and Open Studios Tour. 

Haywards’ art celebrates the beauty of African culture from its people to its music.  

Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday 1-7 p.m., Saturday 12-4 p.m. and by appointment.  

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth St.  

527-1214 

Charles LaBelle 

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

LaBelle’s new series of large-scale color photographs highlight nighttime nature in Hollywood. He recreates trees at night using a hand-held spotlight and playing on the beam across the leaves and branches. The opening reception will be held on September 12 from 6 to 8 p.m.  

Blue Vinyl by Connie Walsh  

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

This multimedia project combines video, sound and printmaking to explore concepts of intimacy and its relation to private space. The opening reception is on September 12 from 6-8 p.m. 

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11-6 p.m. and Sundays 12-5 p.m. 

A.C.C.I. Gallery  

“Paperworks,” Sept. 1 through Oct. 7.  

A group exhibit of works by Carol Brighton, Vannie Keightley, Jean Hearst. 

Opening Reception, Sept. 1, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1652 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-2527 

Berkeley Art Center 

“Ethnic Notions: Black Images in the White Mind,''  

Sept. 10 through Nov. 12. An exhibit by Janette Faulkner exploring racial stereotypes in commercial imagery. Free. Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St., Berkeley. (510) 644-6893 

California College of Arts and Crafts  

“Add/Drop/Add: CCAC Fine Arts Faculty Exhibitions”  

Sept. 5 through Sept. 16. 

Free. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Oliver Art Center, 5212 Broadway, Oakland. 594-3712 

Chi Gallery  

“Alegres Cantos en Mi Ser (Songs of Joy in My Being)” through Sept. 30.  

An exhibit of paintings depicting scenes of Afro-cuban music, by Susan Mathews. Reception, Sept. 9, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Free. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. 912-A Clay St., Oakland. (510) 832-4244. 

Creative Growth 

“Indelible Ink” closing Sept. 1. Selections from the Creative Growth Permanent Collection and new works. 

Free. Monday through Friday, noon to 5:30 p.m. 355 24th St., Oakland. (510) 836-2340 

Kala Institute  

“Layerings: New Work by Four Kala Fellows” through Sept. 28. The 2000 Kala Art Institute Fellowship Awards Exhibitions, Part II of works by Margaret M. Kessler, Barbara Milman, Michele Muennig, and  

David Politzer. Free. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Workshop Media Center  

Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 549-2977  

Readings 

Rhyme & Reason Poetry Series 

Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant 

Second and fourth Sundays of each month. For open reading following featured readers, sign up at 2 p.m., readings begin at 2:30 p.m. 

Sept. 10. Q.R. Hand, Tennessee Reed 

Readings at Cody’s 

2454 Telegraph Ave.  

Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m. Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan discuss their book “Mean Genes – From Sex to Money to Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts.” 

Sept. 7, 7 p.m. Andrea Siegel, “Open and Clothed: For the Passionate Clothes Lover.” At 1730 Fourth St. 

Sept. 7, 7:30 p.m. Diana Spaulding and David Dodd, “The Grateful Dead Reader” 

Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m. Glenn Dickey, “Glenn Dickey's 49ers – the Rise, the Fall and the Future of  

Football's Greatest Dynasty.” 

Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m. Julia Cameron and her book “The Artist's Way.”  

Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place  

843-6812 

Free 

Sept. 3, 3 to 5 p.m. Open House 

Free introduction to Tibetan Buddhist Culture 

6-7 p.m. “Life of the Buddha” 

Instructor Eva Casey relates the lessons of Buddha to the practitioner’s experience.  

Sept. 10, 6-7p.m. “Overcoming Obstacles to Meditation” 

Instructor Abbe Blum talks about meditation troubles and how they can be viewed to unlock the mind’s secrets. 

Sept. 17, 6-7 p.m. “Knowledge of Freedom” 

Buddhist teacher June Rosenberg will demonstrate how “Knowledge of Freedom” teachings can be applied in daily life. 

UC Berkeley’s Poem Reading Series Kickoff Event 

Sept. 7, 12:10 p.m. Robert Hass introduces Berkeley campus figures reading their favorite poems. Free. Morrison Room, Doe Library, Bancroft Way at College Avenue,  

Berkeley. (510) 642-0137 

Tours 

Golden Gate Live Steamers 

Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size, run along a half mile of track in Tilden Regional Park. The small trains are owned and maintained by a non-profit group of railroad buffs who offer rides.  

Free. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley.  

486-0623  

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

Scientists and engineers guide visitors through the research areas of the laboratory, demonstrating emerging technology and discussing the research’s current and potential applications. A Berkeley lab tour usually lasts two hours and includes visits to several research areas. Popular tour sites include the Advanced Light Source, The National Center for Electron Microscopy, the 88-Inch Cyclotron, The Advanced Lighting Laboratory, and The Human Genome Laboratory. Reservations required at least two weeks in advance of tour. 

Free. University of California, Berkeley. 

486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 

Guided tours through Berkeley’s City Club, a landmark building designed by architect Julia Morgan, designer of Hearst Castle. 

$2. The fourth Sunday of every month except December, between noon to 4 p.m.  

2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. 

848-7800 

Dance 

Yoshi’s 

Mark Isham's In A Silent Way Project Sept. 4, $18. 

Ray Brown Trio with Kevin Mahogany, Sept. 5 through Sept. 10. $20 to $24 general; Sunday matinee: $5 children; $10 adult with one child. 

Unless otherwise noted, music at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Sunday 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. (510) 238-9200 or  

(510) 762-BASS 

Luna Kids Dance 

Creative dance for children 

Parent-child class 

Sept. 9, 9-10 a.m. 

Redwood Day School, 3245 Sheffield Ave, Oakland 

Sept. 12, open house 

Ashkenas, 1317 San Pablo, 4:30-5:30 p.m. 

530-4113 

Mark Morris Dance Group 

“Four Saints in Three Acts” and “Dido & Aeneas” 

Sept. 21-24 Zellerbach Hall 

Music by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and American Bach Soloists 

Tickets: $34 - $52 

643-6714 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

“Experiment Gallery”  

Closing Sept. 10. Step inside a giant laboratory and experiment with concepts surrounding sound, light, mechanics, electricity, and weather. 

“Math Rules!” Ongoing. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge. Make mathematical ice-cream cones, use blocks to build three dimensional structures, make dodecagon pies from a variety of mathematical shapes and stretch mathematical thinking. 

“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning  

experiments. 

Holt Planitarium  

Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. 

“How Big Is the Universe,” through Sept. 3. Learn about various  

ways to determine distances. Through Sept. 3: Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. 

“Moons of the Solar System,” through Dec. 10. Take a tour of the  

fascinating worlds that orbit Earth and other planets out to the edge  

of the Solar System. Through Sept. 3, Saturday and Sunday, 2:15 p.m.;  

Sept. 9 through Oct. 29, 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.; Nov. 4 through Dec. 10; 2:15 p.m. 

“Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn  

to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the  

planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18;  

$3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m.  

to 5 p.m.; Centennial Drive, University of California,  

Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

The Oakland Museum  

of California 

1000 Oak St., Oakland 

“Helen Nestor: Personal and Political” Through Oct. 15.  

An exhibit of images documenting the Free Speech Movement, the 60s civil rights marches, and women’s issues. 

“California Classic: Realist Paintings by Robert Bechtle” through Oct. 1.  

An exhibit of 18 paintings and drawings by the Bay Area artist dating from 1965 to 1997. 

Special Exhibit – “Meadowsweet Dairy: Wood Sculpture,” through Sept. 15.  

An exhibit of 12 sculptures made with materials found and salvaged to reveal the beauty of the natural object. At the Sculpture Court, City Center, 1111 Broadway. Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students; free children age 5 and under; second Sundays are free to all. Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; first Friday of the month, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

(888) OAK-MUSE or www.museumca.org. 

Ashkenaz 

1317 San Pablo Ave.  

525-5099 

For all ages 

www.ashkenaz.com 

Today, 9:30 p.m. CD release party with Strictly Roots 

Sept. 3, 9 p.m. Don Carlos & Reggaie Angels 

Sept. 5, 9 p.m. A night of Big Mountain Awareness with Blackfire 

Sept. 6, 8 p.m. lesson and 9 p.m. show Poullard-Thompson Band (Cajun) 

Sept. 8 Fantcha 

Sept. 27, 8 p.m., dance session, 9 p.m., music 

Kate Brislin, Jody Stecher, Heath Curtis, Bluegrass intentions 

Old time, Appalachian music 

525-5099 

924 Gilman St. 

924 Gilman Street is an all-ages, member-run no alcohol, drugs, and violence club. Most shows are $5. Memberships for the year are $2. Shows start at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted.  

Call 525-9926.  

The Albatross Pub 

1822 San Pablo Ave. 

843-2473 

All shows begin at 9 p.m. 

Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet, Sept. 2. 

Dunsmuir Historic Estate 

2960 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland 

End of summer concert: “Caribbean Rhythms” 

Sunday, Sept. 3, noon- 3 p.m. 

$5 adults, $4 seniors; $1 for children under 13 

615-5555, www.dunsmuir.org 

Starry Plough 

3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Noche de Flamenco, 8:30 p.m., Sept. 6 

Featured artists include Cristo Cortes, Monica Bermudez  

and Carola Zertuche, with special guest El Pollito 

$10 841-2082 

The Greek Theatre 

Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals, Maceo Parker, Sept. 8, 7 p.m. $30.  

Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road, Berkeley. (510) 444-TIXS 

Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center 

Daniela Mercury, Sept. 8, 8 p.m. $35. 

10 10th St., Oakland. (510) 534-6348, (510) 762-BASS 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra 

Nicholas McGegan conducting, Sept. 9 and Sept. 10.  

A performance of Handel's opera-oratorio “Semele.”  

$32 to $46. Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m. First  

Congregational Church, Dana Street and Durant Avenue, Berkeley.  

(415) 392-4400 or www.philharmonia.org 

The Jazzschool 

2375 Shattuck Ave. 

Dick Hindman Trio 

4:30 p.m., Sept. 17 

$12; $10 students/seniors; $6 for Jazzschool students and children under 13 

Classical Concert 

Friday, Sept. 29  

First Lutheran Church at Homer and Webster streets, Palo Alto 

8 p.m. 

(415) 378-4863 

Films 

University of California, Berkeley Art Museum 

Pacific Film Archive 

2575 Bancroft Way 

642-1412 

“Treasures from the George Eastman House” 

Various programs and a 16-film salute to little-known actresses. 

Sept. 1 -Oct. 8 

“MadCat Women’s International Film Festival”  

Sept. 8,9 

Festival showcases women filmmakers from around the world. 

“Paper Tiger Television” 

A look at TV used to promote grassroots political action. PTTV members will appear for discussion with the audiences at screenings. 

Sept. 12,15 

$7 for one film; $8.50 for double bills. UC Berkeley students are $4/$5.50. Seniors and children are $4.50/6.00  

Paramount Movie Classics Summer 2000 Series  

The evening includes a classic movie, walk-in music from the Wurlitzer  

organ, a newsreel, cartoon, movie previews and the Paramount's prize  

give-away game “Dec-O-Win.” 

Sept. 8: The French Connection. 

Sept. 22: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. 

$5. Shows at 8 p.m. 2025 Broadway, Oakland. (510) 465-6400. 

Theater 

“The Green Bird” by Carlo  

Gozzi 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addison St. 

Adapted by Theatre de la Jeune Lune and directed by Dominique Serrand.  

“The Green Bird” runs from September 8 - October 27. For tickets contact the box office at 845-4700 

“The Philanderer”  

by George Bernard Shaw 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Performed by the Aurora Theatre company, “The Philanderer” takes on the challenging and often humorous exploration of gender roles and the separations that exist between the sexes. 

Preview dates are September 8-10 and 13, tickets for preview showings are sold at $26. Opening night is September 14, admission is $35. Showtimes run Wednesday through Saturday through October 15 at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees show at 2 p.m., plus selected Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. Admission for regular performances is $30. Student discounts are available. For tickets and information call 843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org. 

“Endgame” 

Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, through Sept. 2 at La Val’s Subterranean 1834 Euclid Ave. Berkeley. 

Directed by George Charbak.  

524-9327. 

“MIMZABIM!” 

Climate Theatre & Subterranean Shakespeare 

La Vals Subterraniean 1834 Euclid, Berkeley 

Sept.7 -Oct. 14 

Thursday - Saturday 8:00 p.m. 

$12, Students $8 

Exhibits 

The Artistry of Rae Louise  

Hayward 

The Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 

3023 Shattuck Ave. 

548-9286, ext. 307 

Through Sept. 27 

Rae Louise Hayward, one of the founders of The Art of Living Black, Bay Area Black Artist Annual Exhibition and Open Studios Tour. 

Haywards’ art celebrates the beauty of African culture from its people to its music.  

Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday 1-7 p.m., Saturday 12-4 p.m. and by appointment.  

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth St.  

527-1214 

Charles LaBelle 

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

LaBelle’s new series of large-scale color photographs highlight nighttime nature in Hollywood. He recreates trees at night using a hand-held spotlight and playing on the beam across the leaves and branches. The opening reception will be held on September 12 from 6 to 8 p.m.  

Blue Vinyl by Connie Walsh  

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

This multimedia project combines video, sound and printmaking to explore concepts of intimacy and its relation to private space. The opening reception is on September 12 from 6-8 p.m. 

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11-6 p.m. and Sundays 12-5 p.m. 

A.C.C.I. Gallery  

“Paperworks,” Sept. 1 through Oct. 7.  

A group exhibit of works by Carol Brighton, Vannie Keightley, Jean Hearst. 

Opening Reception, Sept. 1, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1652 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-2527 

Berkeley Art Center 

“Ethnic Notions: Black Images in the White Mind,''  

Sept. 10 through Nov. 12. An exhibit by Janette Faulkner exploring racial stereotypes in commercial imagery. Free. Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St., Berkeley. (510) 644-6893 

California College of Arts and Crafts  

“Add/Drop/Add: CCAC Fine Arts Faculty Exhibitions”  

Sept. 5 through Sept. 16. 

Free. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Oliver Art Center, 5212 Broadway, Oakland. 594-3712 

Chi Gallery  

“Alegres Cantos en Mi Ser (Songs of Joy in My Being)” through Sept. 30.  

An exhibit of paintings depicting scenes of Afro-cuban music, by Susan Mathews. Reception, Sept. 9, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Free. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. 912-A Clay St., Oakland. (510) 832-4244. 

Creative Growth 

“Indelible Ink” closing Sept. 1. Selections from the Creative Growth Permanent Collection and new works. 

Free. Monday through Friday, noon to 5:30 p.m. 355 24th St., Oakland. (510) 836-2340 

Kala Institute  

“Layerings: New Work by Four Kala Fellows” through Sept. 28. The 2000 Kala Art Institute Fellowship Awards Exhibitions, Part II of works by Margaret M. Kessler, Barbara Milman, Michele Muennig, and  

David Politzer. Free. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Workshop Media Center  

Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 549-2977  

Readings 

Rhyme & Reason Poetry Series 

Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant 

Second and fourth Sundays of each month. For open reading following featured readers, sign up at 2 p.m., readings begin at 2:30 p.m. 

Sept. 10. Q.R. Hand, Tennessee Reed 

Readings at Cody’s 

2454 Telegraph Ave.  

Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m. Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan discuss their book “Mean Genes – From Sex to Money to Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts.” 

Sept. 7, 7 p.m. Andrea Siegel, “Open and Clothed: For the Passionate Clothes Lover.” At 1730 Fourth St. 

Sept. 7, 7:30 p.m. Diana Spaulding and David Dodd, “The Grateful Dead Reader” 

Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m. Glenn Dickey, “Glenn Dickey's 49ers – the Rise, the Fall and the Future of  

Football's Greatest Dynasty.” 

Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m. Julia Cameron and her book “The Artist's Way.”  

Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place  

843-6812 

Free 

Sept. 3, 3 to 5 p.m. Open House 

Free introduction to Tibetan Buddhist Culture 

6-7 p.m. “Life of the Buddha” 

Instructor Eva Casey relates the lessons of Buddha to the practitioner’s experience.  

Sept. 10, 6-7p.m. “Overcoming Obstacles to Meditation” 

Instructor Abbe Blum talks about meditation troubles and how they can be viewed to unlock the mind’s secrets. 

Sept. 17, 6-7 p.m. “Knowledge of Freedom” 

Buddhist teacher June Rosenberg will demonstrate how “Knowledge of Freedom” teachings can be applied in daily life. 

UC Berkeley’s Poem Reading Series Kickoff Event 

Sept. 7, 12:10 p.m. Robert Hass introduces Berkeley campus figures reading their favorite poems. Free. Morrison Room, Doe Library, Bancroft Way at College Avenue,  

Berkeley. (510) 642-0137 

Tours 

Golden Gate Live Steamers 

Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size, run along a half mile of track in Tilden Regional Park. The small trains are owned and maintained by a non-profit group of railroad buffs who offer rides.  

Free. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley.  

486-0623  

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

Scientists and engineers guide visitors through the research areas of the laboratory, demonstrating emerging technology and discussing the research’s current and potential applications. A Berkeley lab tour usually lasts two hours and includes visits to several research areas. Popular tour sites include the Advanced Light Source, The National Center for Electron Microscopy, the 88-Inch Cyclotron, The Advanced Lighting Laboratory, and The Human Genome Laboratory. Reservations required at least two weeks in advance of tour. 

Free. University of California, Berkeley. 

486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 

Guided tours through Berkeley’s City Club, a landmark building designed by architect Julia Morgan, designer of Hearst Castle. 

$2. The fourth Sunday of every month except December, between noon to 4 p.m.  

2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. 

848-7800 

Dance 

Yoshi’s 

Mark Isham's In A Silent Way Project Sept. 4, $18. 

Ray Brown Trio with Kevin Mahogany, Sept. 5 through Sept. 10. $20 to $24 general; Sunday matinee: $5 children; $10 adult with one child. 

Unless otherwise noted, music at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Sunday 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. (510) 238-9200 or  

(510) 762-BASS 

Luna Kids Dance 

Creative dance for children 

Parent-child class 

Sept. 9, 9-10 a.m. 

Redwood Day School, 3245 Sheffield Ave, Oakland 

Sept. 12, open house 

Ashkenas, 1317 San Pablo, 4:30-5:30 p.m. 

530-4113 

Mark Morris Dance Group 

“Four Saints in Three Acts” and “Dido & Aeneas” 

Sept. 21-24 Zellerbach Hall 

Music by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and American Bach Soloists 

Tickets: $34 - $52 

643-6714 

University of  

California, Berkeley 

Pacific Film Archive 

2575 Bancroft Way 

642-1412 

“Treasures from the George Eastman House” 

Various programs and a 16-film salute to little-known actresses. 

Sept. 1 -Oct. 8 

“MadCat Women’s International Film Festival”  

Sept. 8,9 

Festival showcases women filmmakers from around the world. 

“Paper Tiger Television” 

A look at TV used to promote grassroots political action. PTTV members will appear for discussion with the audiences at screenings. 

Sept. 12,15 

$7 for one film; $8.50 for double bills. UC Berkeley students are $4/$5.50. Seniors and children are $4.50/6.00  

Paramount Movie Classics  

Summer 2000 Series  

The evening includes a classic movie, walk-in music from the Wurlitzer  

organ, a newsreel, cartoon, movie previews and the Paramount's prize  

give-away game “Dec-O-Win.” 

Sept. 8: The French Connection. 

Sept. 22: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. 

$5. Shows at 8 p.m. 2025 Broadway, Oakland. (510) 465-6400. 

“The Green Bird”  

by Carlo Gozzi 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addison St. 

Adapted by Theatre de la Jeune Lune and directed by Dominique Serrand.  

“The Green Bird” runs from September 8 - October 27. For tickets contact the box office at 845-4700 

“The Philanderer”  

by George Bernard Shaw 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Performed by the Aurora Theatre company, “The Philanderer” takes on the challenging and often humorous exploration of gender roles and the separations that exist between the sexes. 

Preview dates are September 8-10 and 13, tickets for preview showings are sold at $26. Opening night is September 14, admission is $35. Showtimes run Wednesday through Saturday through October 15 at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees show at 2 p.m., plus selected Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. Admission for regular performances is $30. Student discounts are available. For tickets and information call 843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org. 

“Endgame” 

Fridays, and Saturdays, through Sept. 2 at La Val’s Subterranean 1834 Euclid Ave. Berkeley. 

Directed by George Charbak.  

524-9327. 

“MIMZABIM!” 

Climate Theatre & Subterranean Shakespeare 

La Vals Subterraniean 1834 Euclid, Berkeley 

Sept.7 -Oct. 14 

Thursday - Saturday 8:00 p.m. 

$12, Students $8 

The Artistry of Rae Louise  

Hayward 

The Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 

3023 Shattuck Ave. 

548-9286, ext. 307 

Through Sept. 27 

Rae Louise Hayward, one of the founders of The Art of Living Black, Bay Area Black Artist Annual Exhibition and Open Studios Tour. 

Haywards’ art celebrates the beauty of African culture from its people to its music.  

Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday 1-7 p.m., Saturday 12-4 p.m. and by appointment.  

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth St.  

527-1214 

Charles LaBelle 

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

LaBelle’s new series of large-scale color photographs highlight nighttime nature in Hollywood. He recreates trees at night using a hand-held spotlight and playing on the beam across the leaves and branches. The opening reception will be held on September 12 from 6 to 8 p.m.  

Blue Vinyl by Connie Walsh  

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

This multimedia project combines video, sound and printmaking to explore concepts of intimacy and its relation to private space. The opening reception is on September 12 from 6-8 p.m. 

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11-6 p.m. and Sundays 12-5 p.m. 

A.C.C.I. Gallery  

“Paperworks,” Sept. 1 through Oct. 7.  

A group exhibit of works by Carol Brighton, Vannie Keightley, Jean Hearst. 

Opening Reception, Sept. 1, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1652 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-2527 

Berkeley Art Center 

“Ethnic Notions: Black Images in the White Mind,''  

Sept. 10 through Nov. 12. An exhibit by Janette Faulkner exploring racial stereotypes in commercial imagery. Free. Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St., Berkeley. (510) 644-6893 

California College of Arts  

and Crafts  

“Add/Drop/Add: CCAC Fine Arts Faculty Exhibitions”  

Sept. 5 through Sept. 16. 

Free. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Oliver Art Center, 5212 Broadway, Oakland. 594-3712 

Chi Gallery  

“Alegres Cantos en Mi Ser (Songs of Joy in My Being)” through Sept. 30.  

An exhibit of paintings depicting scenes of Afro-cuban music, by Susan Mathews. Reception, Sept. 9, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Free. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. 912-A Clay St., Oakland. (510) 832-4244. 

Creative Growth 

“Indelible Ink” closing Sept. 1. Selections from the Creative Growth Permanent Collection and new works. 

Free. Monday through Friday, noon to 5:30 p.m. 355 24th St., Oakland. (510) 836-2340 

Kala Institute  

“Layerings: New Work by Four Kala Fellows” through Sept. 28. The 2000 Kala Art Institute Fellowship Awards Exhibitions, Part II of works by Margaret M. Kessler, Barbara Milman, Michele Muennig, and  

David Politzer. Free. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Workshop Media Center  

Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 549-2977  

Readings 

Rhyme & Reason Poetry Series 

Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant 

Second and fourth Sundays of each month. For open reading following featured readers, sign up at 2 p.m., readings begin at 2:30 p.m. 

Sept. 10. Q.R. Hand, Tennessee Reed 

Readings at Cody’s 

2454 Telegraph Ave.  

Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m. Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan discuss their book “Mean Genes – From Sex to Money to Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts.” 

Sept. 7, 7 p.m. Andrea Siegel, “Open and Clothed: For the Passionate Clothes Lover.” At 1730 Fourth St. 

Sept. 7, 7:30 p.m. Diana Spaulding and David Dodd, “The Grateful Dead Reader” 

Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m. Glenn Dickey, “Glenn Dickey's 49ers – the Rise, the Fall and the Future of  

Football's Greatest Dynasty.” 

Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m. Julia Cameron and her book “The Artist's Way.”  

Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place  

843-6812 

Free 

Sept. 3, 3 to 5 p.m. Open House 

Free introduction to Tibetan Buddhist Culture 

6-7 p.m. “Life of the Buddha” 

Instructor Eva Casey relates the lessons of Buddha to the practitioner’s experience.  

Sept. 10, 6-7p.m. “Overcoming Obstacles to Meditation” 

Instructor Abbe Blum talks about meditation troubles and how they can be viewed to unlock the mind’s secrets. 

Sept. 17, 6-7 p.m. “Knowledge of Freedom” 

Buddhist teacher June Rosenberg will demonstrate how “Knowledge of Freedom” teachings can be applied in daily life. 

UC Berkeley’s Poem Reading Series Kickoff Event 

Sept. 7, 12:10 p.m. Robert Hass introduces Berkeley campus figures reading their favorite poems. Free. Morrison Room, Doe Library, Bancroft Way at College Avenue,  

Berkeley. (510) 642-0137 

Tours 

Golden Gate Live Steamers 

Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size, run along a half mile of track in Tilden Regional Park. The small trains are owned and maintained by a non-profit group of railroad buffs who offer rides.  

Free. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley.  

486-0623  

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

Scientists and engineers guide visitors through the research areas of the laboratory, demonstrating emerging technology and discussing the research’s current and potential applications. A Berkeley lab tour usually lasts two hours and includes visits to several research areas. Popular tour sites include the Advanced Light Source, The National Center for Electron Microscopy, the 88-Inch Cyclotron, The Advanced Lighting Laboratory, and The Human Genome Laboratory. Reservations required at least two weeks in advance of tour. 

Free. University of California, Berkeley. 

486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 

Guided tours through Berkeley’s City Club, a landmark building designed by architect Julia Morgan, designer of Hearst Castle. 

$2. The fourth Sunday of every month except December, between noon to 4 p.m.  

2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. 

848-7800 

Dance 

Yoshi’s 

Mark Isham's In A Silent Way Project Sept. 4, $18. 

Ray Brown Trio with Kevin Mahogany, Sept. 5 through Sept. 10. $20 to $24 general; Sunday matinee: $5 children; $10 adult with one child. 

Unless otherwise noted, music at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Sunday 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. (510) 238-9200 or  

(510) 762-BASS 

Luna Kids Dance 

Creative dance for children 

Parent-child class 

Sept. 9, 9-10 a.m. 

Redwood Day School, 3245 Sheffield Ave, Oakland 

Sept. 12, open house 

Ashkenas, 1317 San Pablo, 4:30-5:30 p.m. 

530-4113 

Mark Morris Dance Group 

“Four Saints in Three Acts” and “Dido & Aeneas” 

Sept. 21-24 Zellerbach Hall 

Music by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and American Bach Soloists 

Tickets: $34 - $52 

643-6714 

Mention the name Deltha O’Neal to just about any football fan and you’ll get a response. 1999 All-American, Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year, first-round NFL pick. O’Neal regularly made highlight films last season, picking off passes for touchdowns, returning kicks for touchdowns, and generally being spectacular on Saturdays. 

Now mention Chidi Iwuoma. Unless you’re talking to a die-hard Cal fan, you’ll likely get a blank stare. Playing across the field from O’Neal, there wasn’t a lot of fanfare for the tiny cornerback with Nigerian roots. He didn’t return either of his interceptions for touchdowns, and his three punt returns didn’t get him into the end zone either. 

But ask Cal head coach Tom Holmoe, and he’ll tell you a different story. 

“He actually graded out better, game by game, than Deltha last year,” Holmoe said. “Deltha was our big-play guy, but Chidi did his job very well last year.” 

Iwouma will fill many roles this year. He is the lone returning starter in the defensive backfield, and will be the Bears’ primary kick and punt return man, entrusted with providing the offense with good field position to start their drives. 

But perhaps his most important role will be as one of the experienced players whom the younger guys look up to. 

“This year, I am playing the role as a leader and inspiration for the younger players, not just for the secondary, but for the whole team,” said Iwuoma. “The coaches want me to step up and be more vocal, and I’m ready to do that. I’m ready in my senior season to do that, not just on the field, but any way possible.” 

Iwuoma’s new partner at cornerback will be sophmore LaShaun Ward, who played in all 11 games last year and has the potential to become an outstanding player. But there is no question that Iwuoma must become an impact player if the Bears are to dominate defensively like last season, when they led the Pac-10 in both scoring and total defense. 

“I’ll get the chance to get the ball in my hands, so hopefully I’ll get to make some plays there,” Iwuoma says. 

Iwuoma says he was sometimes hesitant to go for the big play last year. 

“A lot of times I’d be right there on a pick and I’d secure the tackle. I think this year I’ll work on looking for the ball a little better. I worked on those skills all summer. I’m still going to do my job — I’m not going to be a wild man out there — but I think I’ll have a better sense of where the ball is at.” 

Iwuoma has set high goals for both himself and the team. 

“I want to go to a major bowl game,” he said. “We know that we have to work for it, so a lot of guys are a lot more focused on working towards that goal and that was apparent during spring ball and during the summer... the guys are really more goal oriented towards getting to that bowl game.” 

The fact that most pre-season predictions have the Bears near the bottom of the conference gives him even more motivation. 

“Those ratings just set my goals even higher,” he says. “I pretty much just laugh at those ratings because I know that we are going to do much better, and as long as we play the way we can, we’ll finish much higher in the Pac-10.”

A few obscure cassette tapes and compact discs by easily forgotten artists like “Katrina and the Waves” and “Poco,” along with a handful of old books and magazines – some circa 1979 – dotted the dusty bookshelves at Half Price Books at 2525 Telegraph Ave. about 5 p.m. Thursday afternoon. 

They were the leftovers of a 95 percent markdown. A moving out sale to get rid of all its stuff to avoid warehousing.  

After 16 years at the location along the strip of Telegraph known for its bevy of bookstores, the book and music dealer is closing its doors. 

“It’s sad, we’ll miss Telegraph,” said manager Ellen Foster, who has worked at the store for 13 years. 

“This store is just too small for us,” she said. “It’s the smallest of the 60 some (Half Price Book) stores. It’s just not as profitable as some of the larger stores.” 

No, the store isn’t a victim of a hellish rent increase, nor were they bought out by Starbucks. said. “We just need to be bigger,” she said. 

None of their employees will be forced to panhandle across the street, either. 

“Most of our employees have gone back to school, and some are being transferred to our Solano store,” she said.  

Half Price has another Berkeley location at 1849 Solano Ave. 

And Foster is also staying with the company, too, she said. 

Foster said the 25-year-old chain purchased a larger space for the re-sale books and music chain in Concord. She said they’re set to open in January. 

“I’ll miss them,” said Andy Ross, owner of nearby Cody’s Books. “It’s where I met my wife.” 

Ross said that there isn’t much competition between the handful of bookstores that inhabit the two or three blocks of Telegraph, and said he didn’t think that it would affect his business at all. 

Foster agreed.  

“The more bookstores the better,” she said.  

She added that the landlord asked her to leave the shelves in the store because he’s anticipating another bookstore.

After practicing psychotherapy in the historic building at 1942 University Ave. for more than a dozen years, Karen Rose will be out on the street. 

She was given notice Aug. 15 that she had to be out of her office by Sept. 15. 

And that’s not an easy thing for the blind woman, who insists on wheelchair-accessible space for her clients. 

Rose’s landlord is Reddy Realty, whose owner Lakireddy Bali Reddy made headlines for his alleged role in bringing teenagers from abroad for sex and bringing others to work in his businesses under false pretenses. Reddy’s now confined to his brother’s home in Modesto, out of jail on $10 million bail. 

Sid Lakireddy, Reddy’s nephew, is managing a remodeling project at the building, one of more-than $70 million in properties Reddy owns. 

A fire in December damaged the roof, which he is replacing. He’s also repainting the front of the building and doing some other interior work, he said.  

Lakireddy told the Daily Planet that he expects the work will take about three months and that Rose will be able to move back in if she wants to. 

He added that if she were unable to find a new place for her practice by the Sept. 15 date, he would hold up the work for another two weeks to allow her more time. And he’s trying to find her a suitable place for her practice. 

Moreover, he said if Rose could tolerate the construction noises and danger, she could stay during the work. “If she wants to stay on, she can,” he said. 

Much of this is news to Rose. 

“I was told that I could move back after one year or 18 months,” she said.  

And she said no one told her she could stay.  

“If they’d let me stay through the construction, I would stay,” she said. 

Rose, who is on the faculty of San Francisco State University, said that ever since she got the notice to move, she’s been searching for a place to hold her therapy sessions. 

She said she’s contacted 14 commercial realtors, the Chamber of Commerce, the University Avenue Merchants Association and others.  

All she’s found is space she could use exclusively in the evening – she sees clients during the day, in the evening and on weekends – and a building that is closed evenings and on weekends. 

She’d be willing to see clients in her small Berkeley home, but she’d have to get approval from the Zoning Adjustments Board.  

“They said there are 140 hearings before me,” she said. Approval would take months. 

Rose said a therapist can’t just tell a client, the week before, that she will no longer be seeing clients.  

Preparation for terminating a therapist-client relationship takes some time. 

She said her eviction appears legal, since she has a month-to-month lease.  

Rose, who is a member of the Commission on Disability, said she is proud of her accomplishments in life.  

After earning an undergraduate and graduate degree, she received her license to practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist in 1984.  

She was forced, early on, to go into solo practice, because agencies refused to hire a blind therapist, she said, citing Department of Labor statistics which say that 70 percent of blind adults are unemployed. 

Rose said she’s determined to continue her work and is offering a reward to anyone who can help her find a new office. She can be reached at 486-1188.

A teary-eyed Kaiza Robinson, 5, sat by the door of Jeannie Gee’s kindergarten class about 8:15 a.m. Wednesday morning at Le Conte Elementary School, tugging on her pigtails and wondering just where her mother left her, and when is she coming back. 

“I want my mom,” she said as she sniffled.  

Five-year-old Edward Fong didn’t want to let go of his mom to go to the brave new world called kindergarten. His classmate Watson Berreman, also 5, was doing the same. 

“He didn’t go to preschool first,” said Jennie Fong, Edward’s mother. “So this really is his first day of school.” 

The newest editions to the some 350 kids at Le Conte Elementary, at 2241 Russell St., were suffering a little separation anxiety and the first-day-of-school blues. 

So were the moms and dads, who hung around in classrooms – sometimes with their little ones fused to their necks – and in the new teacher’s lounge until a little after 9 a.m. 

Things were a little easier for Eric Saddler, 5, because his mom is the principal and right across the hall. 

“I have a little anxiety myself,” said second-year principal Patricia Saddler as she walked into Mrs. Gee’s class taking snapshots of Eric as he made blue and red pancakes from clay. 

By 10 a.m., when Gee’s class lined up to go to the play area, all the tears and fears were gone. And Kaiza, Edward, Watson and Eric all romped around like pint-sized puppies with jump-ropes and bouncy balls. 

With $3,661,659 in measure A funds, Le Conte now has a modernized auditorium, and a new library and office.  

Saddler said construction finished in the spring. 

The first day last year, she said, “didn’t go quite as smoothly.” 

The main hallway was open the first two weeks, but then closed and the kids had to be redirected.  

“The construction went in phases,” she said. “We didn’t have a library, and part of the building was closed off. There’s a lot of excitement that the construction is finished.” 

What’s also exciting is the unique 14-year-old farm and garden science lab program that Le Conte maintains, that invites the kids to get dirty as they study soil and practice composting. Last year the school received part of a $1 million state Nutrition Network Grant, and the school will integrate the teaching in the garden into the school’s core curriculum and will use vegetables grown and cooked by the children into their daily diet. 

Also inhabiting the garden are ducks, rabbits, a turkey, chickens and the newest editions – Aries, the black Irish mountain lamb and Susie the goat. 

The school has also launched a new five-year Spanish dual immersion program that children begin in kindergarten and complete in the fifth grade.  

Kindergartners and first graders spend 90 percent of the day learning Spanish. Second and third graders concentrate on learning English.  

Fourth and fifth graders study both languages. 

Saddler said the goal is that by the fifth grade the students are bilingual and biliterate.  

Half of the children in the class are native Spanish speakers and the other half are native English speakers or speak another native tongue.  

Two of the 16 kindergarten and first grade classes are dual immersion classes, she said. 

Saddler said so many parents want their children in the class that the kids are chosen by lottery. 

“I missed the lottery (for Eric),” she said. 

But that hasn’t kept her from enrolling her son at Le Conte, even though he was originally assigned to Berkeley Arts Magnet. 

“I think I have some of the best kindergarten teachers here,” she said. “And I can keep him here with me.” 

Thursday, August 31

Meeting Life Changes 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With John Hammerman. 

644-6107 

“Life and Death Mishnaic  

Themes of Yom Kippur” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond JCC 

1414 Walnut St. 

Leah Rosental, from Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English, with the corporation with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay.  

The History of California Rock Climbing 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Join Andy Puhvel, director of Yo! Basecamp rock climbing school, for a slide presentation on the history of rock climbing here in California. You’ll find out how creative advancements in technology, combined with boldness and inspiration, made Yosemite Valley climbers the pioneers of this sport.  

527-7377 

“Calming Our Minds” 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley Community Theater 

Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen Master, will be giving a public lecture titled “Calming Our Minds, Opening Our Hearts” at the Berkeley Community Theater. 

Tickets are $20 

433-9928 

The Revelations: A Concert for the Children of Chiapas 

8 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

The Revelations, a Spanish-English reggae band from San Diego, will perform at La Pena Cultural Center to benefit Schools for Chiapas. Schools for Chiapas, a 

nonprofit organization, supports Mayan communities in the Mexican state of Chiapas in their effort to create an autonomous, indigenous education system. $5. 

849-2568 

Friday, Sept. 1

Bridge 

1 p.m. 

Live Oak Community Center 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

The games are open to all players 

For partnership and other informa- 

tion, please call Vi Kimoto at (510) 

223-6539 

“Daughter of the Regiment” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Lunar Cycle: All-women critical mass ride 

Gather 6:30 p.m., ride at 7 p.m. 

Mama Bear's book store and cafe 

6536 Telegraph Ave. (near Alcatraz) 

All-women ride around town. All ages and abilities welcome.  

Saturday, Sept. 2

Lakeside Park on Lake Merritt, Oakland 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Internationally Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh will lead meditation exercises and lectures focusing on ‘mindful living.’ 

(510) 433-9928 

Acupuncture for head and neck pain 

1-2 p.m. 

Meiji College of Oriental Medicine 

2550 Shattuck Ave. 

This is an opportunity to find out about what acupuncture and Oriental herbal medicine is and how it works. Free. 

666-8248 

Exercise to Music 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Tuesday, Sept. 5

Landmarks Preservation  

Commission 

7-9 p.m. 

2nd Floor Conference Room, Permit Service Center 

2120 Milvia Street 

The commission will discuss the City Council direction relevant to the management of the west Berkeley Shellmound.  

Wednesday, Sept. 6

Alzheimer’s and dementia support group 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Thursday, Sept. 7

Growing wise with Betty Goren 

10:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

“Discipline & Citizenship”  

conference 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

6:30 p.m. -8 p.m. 

Friday, Sept. 8

“Discipline & Citizenship” 

conference 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

9 a.m.-4 p.m. 

895-4542 

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 9

Open house 

Julia Morgan center for the Arts 

Meet new leaders and artist and learn about future plans for the facility. RSVPs encouraged 

2640 College Ave. Berkeley 

4- 7 p.m. 

845-8542 

Sunday, Sept. 10

“Doors to Madame Marie” 

11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

As part of the Jewish Learning Center’s Authors Series in the Library, Odette Meyers will be available for discussion and booksigning. 

848-0237 

“Next Stop, Greenwich Village” 

2-4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center Cinema 

1414 Walnut St.  

Based on filmmaker Paul Mazursky’s own passage from Brooklyn to Greenwich Village, the film is about the dynamics of leaving home and trying to leave home behind. There will be a peer led discussion following the movie. 

$2 suggested donation.  

848-0237 

Monday, Sept. 11

“12th annual Berkeley YMCA Golf Tournament” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 11:00 a.m. 

Entry fee includes cart, lunch on the course and dinner. Proceeds benefit Albany-Berkeley YMCA  

$125 Entry Fee 

549-4525 

Voter workshop 

Learn about voting absentee and working a local polling places. 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Tuesday, Sept. 12

Tai Chi Chuan 

11 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Sept. 13

Mid-Autumn Festival 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Thursday, Sept. 14

Eugene O’Neil House, Mt.  

Diablo State Park Trip  

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

$21 per person 

644-6107 

Pre-business workshop 

Small-business Development Center 

519 17th St. Suite 200, Oakland 

8 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 

$35  

273-6611, www.eastbayscore.org, eastbayscore@yahoo.com 

Yoga class 

2 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Friday, Sept. 15

“The Barber of Seville” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 16

Shoreline clean-up walk 

10 a.m. 

Seabreeze Market, on Frontage Road just west of University Avenue 

Friends of Five Creeks leads a walk, talking about  

history, wildlife, and restoration possibilities from Strawberry to Codornices Creeks, as part of Coastal Cleanup 2000.  

Call: 848-9358  

Sunday, September 17

Berkeley Citizen’s Action Endorsement Meeting 

2-5 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

To include local and state endorsements. 

Please place this upcoming event in your listings. 

Contact: BCA Co-chair Linda Olivenbaum at (510) 652-1206 

Call 549-0816 

Saturday, Sept. 19

“Fibromyalgia Support  

Group” 

noon -2:00 p.m. 

“RAP Session” 

Alta Bates Medical Center, Maffly Auditorium-Herrick Campus, 2001 Dwight Way 

601-0550 

Thursday, Sept. 21

Hearing to terminate the  

Conditional Order for  

Abatement for Pacific Steel  

Casting Co. 

Bay Area Air Quality management District 

939 Ellis St. 7th Floor Board Room 

San Francisco 

415-749-4965 

APCO vs. Pacific Steel Casting Company 

Docket No. 832 

9:30 a.m. 

Bay Area Air Quality Management District  

939 Ellis St., 7th Floor Board Room 

San Francisco 

A hearing has been scheduled in connection with the Motion to Terminate the Conditional Order for Abatement filed by the Respondent, Pacific Steel Casting Company. 

(415) 749-4965 

Friday, September 22

Point Reyes Nature Center, Earthquake Trail Trip 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

$18 per person 

644-6107 

Sunday, Sept. 24

“First Steps in Finding your Family History” 

Brunch 10:30 a.m., lecture 11 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Using both story-telling and generational techniques, Dr. Lois Silverstein will offer beginning steps to rediscovering family heritage and traditions.  

$4 for BRJCC members and $5 for all others 

848-0237 

Wednesday, Sept. 27

“Improving your bottom line” 

2-5 p.m. 

Berkeley Yacht Club 

1 Seawall Dr. 

Speakers include, Mayor Shirley Dean, Dr. Drian Nattrass and Mary Altomare Natrass, authors of “The Natural Step for Busines” and two of the world’s leading authorities on providing a strategic business framework romoting sustainabiliity and profitability. 

Monday, October 2

“2nd Annual Berkeley City Championship” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Entries accepted August 1. Entry Fee includes gift, cart and Awards Dinner. Proceeds benefit local organizations and projects. This event determines Berkeley City Champion and Seven other Flight Winners. 

$115 Entry Fee 

841-0972 

Thursday, October 5

“3rd annual Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Association Golf Tournament” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 7:30 a.m. Entry Fee includes cart range balls and Award Luncheon. Proceeds benefit Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Scholarship Fund. 

$99 Entry Fee 

644-6554 

ONGOING EVENTS 

Sundays 

Green Party Consensus Building Meeting 

6 p.m. 

2022 Blake St. 

This is part of an ongoing series of discussions for the Green Party of Alameda County, leading up to endorsements on measures and candidates on the November ballot. This week’s focus will be the countywide new Measure B transportation sales tax. The meeting is open to all, regardless of party affiliation. 

415-789-8418 

Tuesdays 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

531-8664 

Computer literacy course 

6-8 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 Eighth St. 

This free course will cover topics such as running Windows, File Management, connecting to and surfing the web, using Email, creating Web pages, JavaScript and a simple overview of programming. The course is oriented for adults. 

644-8511 

Saturdays 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright 

Thursdays 

The Disability Mural 

4-7 p.m. through September 

Integrated Arts 

933 Parker 

Drop-in Mural Studios will be held for community gatherings and tile-making sessions. This mural will be installed at Ed Roberts campus. 

841-1466 

Fridays 

Ralph Nader for President 

7 p.m.  

Video showings to continue until November. Campaign donations are requested. Admission is free.  

Contact Jack for directions at 524-1784. 

2nd and 4th Sunday 

Rhyme and Reason Open Mike Series 

2:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant Ave. 

The public and students are invited. Sign-ups for the open mike begin at 2 p.m. 

234-0727;642-5168 

Tuesay and Thursday 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Correcting the record 

Editor:  

Again Berkeley Lab would like your readers to receive accurate information regarding the tritium issue. The Lab's record of tritium emissions, and its monitoring and reporting of these emissions from its National Tritium Labeling Facility, is confirmed as safe, verifiable, and far below the allowable regulatory limits established by the U.S. EPA's National Emission Standards for Hazardous Pollutants (NESHAPs). No public health risk has been suggested or determined by the regulators. To correct errors in the Aug. 22 Opinion by Mark McDonald:  

• The Lab captures and recycles nearly all of the tritium used in its research facilities; it does not “dump” tritium.  

• Both of its laboratories involving tritium research are more than 100 meters from Girton Hall on campus or the Lawrence Hall of Science and not “immediately adjacent.”  

• The NTLF is not a nuclear facility; it is a National Institutes of Health national resource center using radiotracers in performing biomedical research in the national interest.  

• The NTLF's treatability study researched combustion techniques in closed systems to eliminate the hazardous component of mixed waste; the Lab does not incinerate mixed waste.  

• Dose calculations for radiation exposure from the Lab's research facilities are conservatively estimated, and these produce a likely overestimated exposure, not an underestimated level.  

I encourage your readers to review the actual text of documents for factual information on this issue. The IFEU report is readily available via the web, at http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/tritium/IFEUReport.htm. The Lab's annual Site Environmental Reports are also available via the web at http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/epg/html/env_protection.htm. The Delisting Petition for tritiated mixed waste residues is available at http://www.lbl.gov/LBL-Programs/tritium/delisting/index.html.  

These and many other Laboratory documents, are also available in hard copy form at UC Berkeley’s Doe Library, second floor.  

Terry Powell  

Community Relations  

Lawrence Berkeley Labs 

National Laboratory

Some might call Willie Phillips a dreamer. He walks along a city block dominated by dot-commerce e-tailer lofts and gets visions of a funky, ethnic street mercado. He considers the Fourth Street boutiques and cafes and imagines some of the millions in yearly sales returning to the Oceanview community that surrounds it. 

As he speaks, he waves his hands as if conjuring up the market, to which he refers with its Spanish name. 

“The mercado would have a stage in the center for music and poetry, and 50 pop-up umbrellas for merchant stands around the edges. They’d sell organic produce, arts and crafts, ethnic foods. There’d be places for kids to play, and people would come from the neighborhoods to be here - to buy and sell high quality, affordable goods.” 

Proposed by the West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation, a non-profit organization, the mercado was originally slated for a May opening. But the West Berkeley market has instead run aground on procedural snags, most based on resident and local business opposition. Some fear that the market will worsen parking. Others don’t want “itinerant traffic” to increase by their homes. 

Owen Maercks, owner of the Vivarium, doesn’t see the need for such a market. “Berkeley has a farmers’ market. We have a flea market. We have an arts and crafts market too. Why do we need another one?” 

But after a three year ride to get to this point, Phillips, who chairs the WBNDC, sees the resistance as mere bollards on the road of progress. He’s more concerned with seeing the project reach fruition. 

It’s admirable dedication for someone who became a board member almost by default. 

“I picked up on it after the former chair of the project, H.S. Zulu, was evicted from his home, and had to deal with his own problems. He’s now homeless. Another founder, Esther Bernal, died last year. It was her idea to give the Latino community a place to come to.” 

It’s a vision fermented of the frustration of many Oceanview residents who feel that the benefits of economic redevelopment in their neighborhood have passed them by.  

When Christine Vida, member of the West Berkeley Project Area Commission, looks at her neighborhood, she sees gentrification. 

“Even though I like a little bit of Beverly Hills, I don’t want a mega shopping zone here in West Berkeley. And I don’t want those interests taking over the neighborhood.” 

Though the West Berkeley market is still in astral form, it’s already polarized the rapidly changing neighborhood of Oceanview. The mercado has been in the works for over three years now, Phillips said. 

Though several sites have been considered, the setting du jour is the block of Fifth Street between University and Hearst avenues. It’s a small block bookended by Spenger’s large, rusted anchor on one side and the slick stucco polish of the Nature Company on the other. 

“It is not a produce market, or a flea market. Nor is it just a minority, hippy operation.” says Phillips, trying to dispel some of the perceptions surrounding the market. 

“What it is, is a market that will provide goods and opportunity to the people of West Berkeley who are not benefiting from the economic boom on Fourth Street. It takes advantage of what is already here, and creates a family-oriented, comfortable environment where local artisans can bring their wares and make a small living from the Fourth Street spillover,” says Phillips. 

Projected to profit perhaps $200,000 per season, which runs only during the warm months, much of the money, claims Phillips, would go toward subsidizing low-income entrepreneurs. 

“Training and development of local entrepreneurs is something that’s really lacking on a grass roots level. That’s something we want to address, not only theoretically, but in practice. Nothing beats giving a beginning entrepreneur a chance to run their own booth at a weekend market.” 

Many on the City Council and the PAC committee are supportive of the project. 

Calvin Fong, aide to District 2 Councilmember Margaret Breland said Breland is “very supportive” of the market. 

“Fourth Street generally caters to people who don’t live in Berkeley,” says Fong. “People who have lived here for years are having difficulty remaining here - to say it’s all due to Fourth Street is unfair - but Fourth Street is just the symptom of a larger problem. Property values are going up and those who can afford to move in come from a different demographic. This new market is neighborhood serving, and if it were at Fifth Street, would be accessible, by foot, by bus, for the people who do live here.” 

Vida agrees. 

“The yuppie element, upwardly mobile white folks for the most part, come here, knowing where they are coming, and then they start to complain about the low income folk who lived here already. I’m like, ‘you know who lived here before you came here, so don’t start acting like it’s suddenly a problem.’” 

Opposition to the market troubles her. 

“On one hand, I feel some sympathy for the residents who will be affected by this market,” she says, “but it really irritates me when business owners who benefit from the traffic suddenly say they don’t want the residents of this neighborhood to benefit from “their” customers. They need to remember, back in the 80’s before any of this development came here, things were never supposed to get this out of control.  

“I’m tired of all the tourist stuff - everyone deserves a little piece of the pie.” 

While figures on just how much money the Fourth Street shopping district generated in the last year were unavailable, WBNDC reports peg 1997 figures at $88 million. 

For now, the existence of such a market hangs in the balance. At the last PAC meeting, overwhelming testimony against the market’s proposed location prompted the commission to postpone any recommendation it would make to the City Council until the WBNDC could come up with a show of support from the community. 

Between now and then, Phillips will be outreaching in the neighborhood to find those people. But he says it won’t be easy. 

“I’m hoping to get people there, over 100 have already signed a petition showing their support. But people around here have become so disenchanted by the process of decision making that they don’t trust the process anymore. They don’t feel comfortable in a meeting just attended by people with vested interests,” say Phillips. 

Citing very few people of color on the PAC committee, he claims that many citizens don’t feel that they will be heard.  

“You get this situation where a few people are trying to represent all of West Berkeley, and that’s very problematic. People need to see some of their own up there, to know that they will be understood.” 

But if Phillips can just conjure up the image strongly enough in the next month, perhaps he will see his dream come into existence. 

“We need to tear down the walls between the perfumed soaps of Fourth Street and the so-called raggedy people who live in Oceanview. This market could start that,” says Vida. “That’s what gritty, historical Berkeley is all about.”

The little guys won and Berkeley led the way. 

AB2412 authored by Assesmblymembers Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley, and Carole Migden D-San Francisco, is designed to create a more level playing field for independent book sellers who charge state sales tax and California-based dot-comers that do not. 

The bill, on its way to the governor’s desk, would “clarify that the processing of orders electronically, by fax, telephone, the Internet, or other electronic ordering process, does not relieve a retailer of responsibility for collection of the tax from purchaser if the retailer is engaged in business in this state.” 

Andy Ross, who owns Cody’s books, first brought the concept of the bill to Aroner and Migden on behalf of the 300 members of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. 

Ross said he and other booksellers are put at a disadvantage by large corporations such as Barnes and Noble and Borders Books and Music that do not charge sales tax on their Internet purchases. 

The Daily Planet was unable to reach either of these corporations for comment. 

Ross argued that, although these giants claim their Internet and in-store businesses are separate, “they extensively cross promote.  

At Barnes and Nobles, on the walls, it says ‘buy on line.’ ” 

“California is the first state to pass a law to do this, despite (the political clout) of Silicon Valley,” Ross said. 

Aroner said the bill adds nothing to present law. “It clarifies and defines” the statues which already exist, that say a retailer doing business in California must pay sales taxes. 

“They’ll pay their fair share,” she said. Passage of the bill is estimated to bring another $14 million in sales taxes to California. 

At least one bookseller, Berkeley’s Gaia Books, may have gone out of business because of Internet competition, Aroner said: “It’s a question of leveling the playing field.” 

While the Assembly vote Wednesday was 42-31 to send the bill to Gov. Gray Davis, his spokeswoman Hilary McLean said Davis has not yet taken a position on it. 

“The governor’s general view on Internet tax is that at this point it is not a good idea,” she said. 

The American Electronics Association of Sacramento lobbied heavily against the bill.  

In an Aug. 1 letter to Aroner and Migden, Ted Casazza, the corporation’s vice president in charge of California public policy, argued that the proposed law in not merely “clarification.” 

“AB2412 adds completely new criteria to the statute – a substantial expansion of existing law.” 

That is because the bill defines the link between two corporate entities as a parent corporation having substantial ownership interest in an affiliate and a “similar name, similar product line, or cross-promotion of in-store and web sales.” 

Under this definition, Barnes and Nobles would not be able to argue that barnesandnoble.com was a separate entity with no “brick and morter” status in the state. 

Further, Casazza argues, the bill does not level the playing field at all. He said that if brick-and-mortar stores and California dot-coms both are subject to sales tax, others are “beyond the reach of California law.” 

“For example, Borders Books and Music may have set up Borders.com as a separate dot-com subsidiary to compete with Amazon,” which is based outside of California.  

The new bill would mean that both Borders and Borders.com must collect sales taxes. “All three are disadvantaged when compared to Amazon,” he said. 

Ross agrees that he continues to be disadvantaged by corporations, such as Amazon.com, which have no brick-and-mortor stores in California. “The total solution has to be done through Congress,” he said. 

AB2412 can be read online at www.sen.ca.gov 

The Associated Press wire services contributed to this story.

UC Berkeley, backed by local fire agencies, is set to begin a $400,000 fire abatement program Sept. 5 that will thin trees and remove overgrown brush in lands owned by the university in the Panoramic Hill area in hopes of avoiding a repeat of the devastating 1991 Oakland Hills fire that destroyed more than 3,200 homes and caused 25 deaths.  

Tuesday morning, high in the Berkeley Hills on the dusty Jordan Trail, officials from the five agency Vegetation Management Consortium, and others in support, introduced the project funded by UC Berkeley, the state Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

Jim Hoerner, UC Berkeley project manager and campus landscape architect said the consortium– made up of UC Berkeley, the Berkeley Fire Department, East Bay Regional Parks District, the California Department of Forestry and the Oakland Fire Department– has been looking at fire management on a regional level since the 1991 fire. 

Hoerner said the crews will create a buffer zone between area homes and the woods by taking out 840 of the approximately 2,400 trees in a 30 acre tract and remove much of the overgrown brush. 

“This is an area of high priority,” he said. “This land is an interface between homes and the wildlands. All of this will contribute to a more defensible area.” 

Steve Woodill of the Santa Clara CDF said that the fire breaks are a “very effective” way of dealing with an area like Panoramic Hill. 

“Besides being a preventative measure, it also greatly enables the utilization of aircraft,” he said. “By breaking the canopy, it allows fire retardant and water to get on the ground and cool the fire.” 

Hoerner said that it will make the area “immediately safer,” as they plan to put down a bed of wood chips – recycled from the cut logs – and a bed of herbaceous grasses to prevent erosion. 

The project, which Hoerner said “will still provide an aesthetically appealing area,” is broken into three phases. The first phase, beginning on Sept. 5 and ending in October, will remove 540 trees in a little more than 10 acres East of Panoramic Way around the lower Jordan Trail.  

The later phases will clear the area between the upper Jordan Trail and the Ridgetop Fire Trail, which are farther east. These phases are set to begin in the spring or summer and be completed by fall 2001. 

As project consultant, Hoerner said that he will work with Pacific Meridian Resources, a resource management company specializing in mapping, to put together a logging plan and to consult foresters. 

Besides being chipped and scattered on the hillside, some of the cut timber will be milled for reuse. The rest will be trucked out of town and donated to Protect All Life, a non-profit agency in Half Moon Bay that recycles lumber for artistic projects, Hoerner said. 

“There will be no burning,” he said. 

Hoerner said that many of the trees in the area are not native, and were planted by forestry classes at the university in the 1920s. 

“If you were here 100 years ago you would have seen a grassy hillside,” he said. 

Carol Williams, a UC Berkeley adjunct professor of forestry, said eucalyptus trees and Monterey pines – one of the dominant species in the area – allowed burning embers to jump from treetop to homes during the 1991 fire. 

“The lifespan for Monterey pines is 60 to 80 years,” Williams said. “Many of the Monterey pines in the Panoramic Hill area have reached their lifespan. They’re now in the process of falling apart. With these elderly trees, the area is a fairly high hazard area.” 

Hoener said wind and geographic conditions, combined with the dead or dying trees, makes the area apt for wildfire. 

“When the Diablo winds blow, the people (of Panoramic Hill) become quite alert,” said resident and Panoramic Hill Association member Ann Slaby. 

Richard White of the Panoramic Hill Association was also on hand. 

“I watched from my home during the ’91 fire,” said White, who has lived on Panoramic Hill since 1970. “This buffer zone is needed. I’m happy to see cooperation between the university and the neighbors.” 

White said that after the 1991 fire, about 120 neighbors practiced evacuations by walking off the hill instead of driving.  

Slaby said that she was concerned about dust and noise from the heavy equipment and said she hopes there are no landslides. 

“What they have planned addresses landslides,” Woodill said. “You’re not going to see grass being taken down all the way. It will actually stabilize the soil.” 

Christine Shaff, Communications Manager of Capitol Projects for UC Berkeley, said workers will be watering down the dirt trails to mitigate dust. 

But, she said, “there will be some noise and there will be some dust, as with anything like this.”

WBNDC Fifth Street proposal not a farmers’ market 

Editor: 

Thanks for covering the West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation's proposal for an open air weekend marketplace on Fifth Street at the recent West Berkeley PAC meeting. There are a few things we'd like to clarify for your readers. 

• The Fifth Street Market is not a Farmers Market. It will feature a mix of hand-made arts, crafts, and other locally made goods and services, along with some fresh and prepared foods and entertainment with an international and “green” flavor. 

3) As West Berkeley neighbors, we care about the concerns raised at the PAC meeting. Our management plan addresses litter, noise, and security, and we are working on the parking issues that have plagued the area for years. We have held several community meetings to discuss the Market over the past three years. The PAC meeting was an important part of our outreach, and we expect to follow up with Fifth Street neighbors as soon as possible. 

• Jim Masters is a WBNDC Board Member, and Kevin Crane is a Bay Area-based consultant, who happens to be working with a Public Market in Miami. We also note that it was Commissioner Christine Vida who spoke so favorably about the Fifth Street Market. 

WBNDC is a nonprofit 501c3 membership-based organization, created in 1989. For more information, please see http://www.westberkeley.com. 

Willie Phillips 

Chair, WBNDC 

War on iceplant 

Editor: 

Regarding the opinion expressed by Mary Ann and Bair Whaley in the Daily Planet on August 28, I agree that iceplant provides a beautiful display of color.  

However, I am astonished that anyone, especially from the enlightened community of Berkeley, would ignore the simple fact that iceplant is one of several invasive exotic plants that threaten the remarkable and unique diversity of our native coastal biota. 

Fortunately, thanks to eradication efforts that often use mechanical means rather than herbicides, some coastal habitats are being saved for future Californians to appreciate. 

Dieter Wilken 

Santa Barbara Botanic 

Garden 

More war on iceplant 

Editor: 

I have viewed the proposed USPS stamp at: 

. 

I have entered the following constructive comment on the feedback page: 

Our CA State Flower is the Poppy. 

May we have a Coast Picture with a our Native Flower? 

We may find some folks in the Native Plant society willing to help. 

Thanks for your comment request. 

The USPS “feedback” page is located at: 

. 

Respectfully, Bob Segalla 

Mountain View 

Berkeley labs do not discriminate 

Editor: 

I appreciate having had the opportunity to refute the charges made by union representatives in your recent story about alleged discrimination in hiring practices at Berkeley Lab.  

I wish to point out, first, that they have not filed a “suit” as your headline and story suggest. It is a complaint filed before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which may or may not recommend legal action. 

More importantly, your story references a lawsuit filed by a group of employees five years ago concerning certain medical tests administered by the Laboratory as part of an employment examination. 

Please be clear that the plaintiffs did not win their lawsuit for violation of civil rights, as you report. 

The issue never went to trial; both parties agreed to settle out of court, and negotiations have taken 18 months preparatory to a forthcoming monetary settlement. 

It should also be noted that the federal judge in the case initially 

ruled in favor of the Laboratory and dismissed all charges. The Court of Appeals subsequently returned the case to court, citing the need to resolve issues concerning questions of fact, personal consent, and Title VII statutes. That led to the arbitration process sought by both sides. 

The settlement will come with no admission of liability. In fact, the tests conducted by the laboratory were legal and within departmental policy at the time. The tests, which are no longer required, were given to all employees to promote their health and safety. To suggest that this implies a record of systematic discrimination is ludicrous. 

Ron Kolb 

Public Communications, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

Amid the jungle gyms of Totland, May Chao looks at a 5-year-old Chinese-American girl playing with her long black hair and thinks, “Laos was not this easy.” 

“When I was her age,” said May, a quick-to-smile 31-year-old Mien-American woman, “ I was working in the fields. There were no schools in the hills of Laos.” Instead of Pokemon, pizza and weekends at Lake Anza, she remembers the farm, the village, the river – and the war.  

May is one of seven Mien women who care for Berkeley children at Totland, a small park teeming with kids, parents and international nannies.  

Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Russian, all can be heard above the screams of kids and the sound of tricycle tires over concrete. But while many nannies and caretakers come to the United States on au pair visas, May’s arrival came under radically different circumstances.  

“I came to the United States as a refugee,” says May. After living in two refugee camps along the Thai border, and at another in Bangkok, she boarded a plane for the Bay Area. At age 15, speaking no English, she landed in Richmond, where a large number of Mien had already immigrated. 

“I felt like I was safe, I didn’t have to run away again. Now this is going to be my home.” she said.  

But this wasn’t home yet. 

“The first morning I woke up, I thought, this is real real cold!” she says laughing. “And I had never seen so many white people.” 

The only Caucasians most Mien had seen before that were either Christian missionaries or CIA operatives. Living in the hills of Laos for centuries as farmers and hunters, the Mien were sucked into the Cold War by virtue of their geographical proximity to Vietnam. Though Laos had been declared a neutral country by the Geneva Accords in 1954, The Ho Chi Minh Trail ran directly through it, and the United States brought CIA field operatives to recruit and train the Mien and other hill tribes into guerilla units to fight the North Vietnamese. 

“The United States promised us that if we fight for them, and don’t win back our country, then they’d bring everyone here,” says May. Now, sitting on a bench with the two children crawling over her shoulders, May, calls herself “one of the lucky ones.” 

“Other people died – trying to cross the Mekong River, moving from Laos to Thailand because of the war. I don’t want to think about those times in my life, those were bad times. Terrible. So I don’t even ask people about it,” she says. Nor does she talk about it much. Nor is the history discussed openly even here in the United States. 

The Mien, along with the Hmong, Khmu, Thaidum and Lao, fled Laos in 1975 when the United States withdrew from the Vietnam War. Military arms and food supplies were suddenly cut, leaving the hilltribe guerillas locked in a civil war, but bereft of ammunition or supplies. Thousands fled to refugee camps on the Thai border rather than stay in a nation controlled by their communist adversaries. 

Today, there are over 350,000 Laotians in the United States, of which over 200,000 are from hill tribes. The largest populations of Mien and Khmu in the United States live in Richmond, an industrial city of hilltop tank farms 10 miles north of Berkeley. It’s a far cry from the rural, electricity-free existence in the verdant hills of Laos. 

May, who also speaks Thai, Mien, Hmong, and Lao, learned English in one year. “I was the only Mien girl at El Cerrito High, and it was scary. But my councilor was very kind and helped me.” she says. She graduated in 1987.  

Such facility with language helped her gain her U.S. citizenship a decade later. 

“Citizenship makes you feel like this is your country, that you won’t have to be a refugee anymore.” says May. “Until then, I was not from here, and I wasn’t from Laos either.” 

Part of the citizenship process was an oral exam, where INS officers ask applicants questions in English. 

“If you cannot speak English, you won’t pass,” May said, “and that’s why my husband is still not a citizen.” 

There are other reasons, however, for attaining citizenship. With much of the Laotian community dependent on welfare, their economic well being is tied to citizenship. In 1997, such economic aid was threatened by national welfare reforms, sending the entire community into a tailspin.  

“People were buying livestock grain, picking mushrooms, and fishing from the Bay - which is unsafe to eat from- just to feed their families” says Fam Linh Saechao, a community organizer at Asians and Pacific Islanders for Reproductive Health in Oakland. 

“Welfare was our life preserver,” say Saechao, “and when welfare reforms in 1997 threatened to take it away, many Mien were forced to get their American citizenship to keep their benefits.” 

May’s own family was on welfare. 

“We lived on AFDC and had a two bedroom home that eight of us lived in,” she says. 

And though her husband’s chances for gaining citizenship are low without fluency in English, a window has recently opened that may change all of that. Last May, Congress passed the Hmong Veteran Citizenship Act, which waives the language and civics requirements of the Naturalization Exam. There are two hitches, however – a deadline, and a cap on how many people can use the waiver. Only 45,000 Laotian veterans and family can qualify for the waiver, and they have until Sept. 27, 2001 to do so. 

Furthermore, says Sally Kinoshita, of the Asian Law Caucus, “getting the word out to those who can benefit is difficult. The Mien and other groups didn’t have a written language until a few decades ago. Many of the older generation can’t read or write. So you can’t just mail them some information. And there is no real media network in the Laotian community to pass information through either.” 

While some things have changed for May, others remain the same. Her earliest memories are raising her brothers and sisters. “My parents were working in the fields, growing corn, rice, peppers,” she says, “and I was the oldest, so I had to take care of my brothers and sisters.” 

“Now, I take care of these kids,” she says. 

May calls over to Claire, a radiant child who is “five and three quarters old,” the oldest of two sisters May looks after daily. 

“Where is your sister?” she asks Claire. “Don’t you want to keep an eye on her?” 

She leans over and picks Claire up, wiping sand from her shirt. 

“I was eight years old when my family left Laos,” she says, searching for Claire’s sister Bette with her eyes, who she finds playing nearby in the sand. “I had to carry my brother all the way to Thailand.” 

She lets go of Claire, who runs over to her sister and sits down, picking up a shovel and running it through the sand.  

Then she laughs. 

“If I were in Laos now, I’d be working in a field. I’d rather be in Berkeley.” 

For more information about the Hmong Veterans Citizenship Act, call the Laotian Organizing Project (510) 236-4616.

Wednesday, Aug. 30

“Rav Kuk’s Concepts of  

Repentance” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond JCC 

1414 Walnut St. 

Rabbi Yosef Leitbowitzr, from Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English, with the cooperation with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay. 

Rhythm Magic 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With Mikka. 

644-6107 

Bridge 

1 p.m. 

Live Oak Community Center 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

The games are open to all players 

For partnership and other informa- 

tion, please call Vi Kimoto at (510) 

223-6539. 

Thursday, August 31

Meeting Life Changes 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With John Hammerman. 

644-6107 

“Life and Death Mishnaic  

Themes of Yom Kippur” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond JCC 

1414 Walnut St. 

Leah Rosental, from Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English, with the corporation with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay.  

The History of California Rock Climbing 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Join Andy Puhvel, director of Yo! Basecamp rock climbing school, for a slide presentation on the history of rock climbing in California. You’ll find out how creative advancements in technology, combined with boldness and inspiration, made Yosemite Valley climbers pioneers of this sport.  

527-7377 

“Calming Our Minds” 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley Community Theater 

Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen Master, will be giving a public lecture titled “Calming Our Minds, Opening Our Hearts” at the Berkeley Community Theater. 

Tickets are $20 

433-9928 

The Revelations: A Concert for the Children of Chiapas 

8 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

The Revelations, a Spanish-English reggae band from San Diego, will perform at La Pena Cultural Center to benefit Schools for Chiapas, which supports Mayan communities in the Mexican state of Chiapas in their effort to create an autonomous, indigenous education system. $5. 849-2568 

Friday, Sept. 1

Bridge 

1 p.m. 

Live Oak Community Center 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

The games are open to all players 

For partnership and other informa- 

tion, please call Vi Kimoto at (510) 

223-6539 

“Daughter of the Regiment” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 2

Lakeside Park on  

Lake Merritt, Oakland 

Internationally Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh will lead meditation exercises and lectures focusing on ‘mindful living.’ 

(510) 433-9928 

Acupuncture for head and neck pain 

1-2 p.m. 

Meiji College of Oriental Medicine 

2550 Shattuck Ave. 

This is an opportunity to find out about what acupuncture and Oriental herbal medicine is and how it works. Free. 

666-8248 

Exercise to Music 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 644-6107 

Tuesday, Sept. 5 

Landmarks Preservation  

Commission 

7-9 p.m. 

2nd Floor Conference Room, Permit Service Center 

2120 Milvia Street 

The commission will discuss the City Council direction relevant to the management of the west Berkeley Shellmound.  

Wednesday, Sept. 6

Alzheimer’s and  

dementia support group 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Thursday, Sept. 7

Growing wise with Betty Goren 

10:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

“Discipline & Citizenship”  

conference 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

6:30 p.m. -8 p.m. 

Friday, Sept. 8

“Discipline & Citizenship”  

conference 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

9 a.m.-4 p.m.  

895-4542 

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 9

Julia Morgan center for the Arts 

Open house 

Meet new leaders and artist and learn about future plans for the facility. RSVPs encouraged 

2640 College Ave. Berkeley 

4- 7 p.m. 845-8542 

Sunday, Sept. 10

“Doors to Madame Marie” 

11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

As part of the Jewish Learning Center’s Authors Series in the Library, Odette Meyers will be available for discussion and booksigning. 

848-0237 

“Next Stop, Greenwich Village” 

2-4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center Cinema 

1414 Walnut St.  

Based on filmmaker Paul Mazursky’s own passage from Brooklyn to Greenwich Village, the film is about the dynamics of leaving home and trying to leave home behind. There will be a peer led discussion following the movie. 

$2 suggested donation.  

848-0237 

Monday, Sept. 11 

“12th annual Berkeley YMCA Golf Tournament” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 11:00 a.m. 

Entry fee includes cart, lunch on the course and dinner. Proceeds benefit Albany-Berkeley YMCA  

$125 Entry Fee 

549-4525 

Voter workshop 

Learn about voting absentee and working a local polling places. 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Tuesday, Sept. 12 

Tai Chi Chuan 

11 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Sept. 13

Mid-Autumn Festival 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Thursday, Sept. 14

Eugene O’Neil House, Mt.  

Diablo State Park Trip  

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

$21 per person 

644-6107 

Pre-business workshop 

Small-business Development Center 

519 17th St. Suite 200, Oakland 

8 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 

$35  

273-6611, www.eastbayscore.org, eastbayscore@yahoo.com 

Yoga class 

2 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Friday, Sept. 15

“The Barber of Seville” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 16

 

Shoreline clean-up walk 

10 a.m. 

Seabreeze Market, on Frontage Road just west of University Avenue 

Friends of Five Creeks leads a walk, talking about  

history, wildlife, and restoration possibilities from Strawberry to Codornices Creeks, as part of Coastal Cleanup 2000.  

Call: 848-9358  

 

---

Sunday, September 17

Berkeley Citizen’s Action Endorsement Meeting 

2-5 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

To include local and state endorsements. 

Please place this upcoming event in your listings. 

Contact: BCA Co-chair Linda Olivenbaum at (510) 652-1206 

Call 549-0816 

Saturday, Sept. 19

“Fibromyalgia Support  

Group” 

noon -2:00 p.m. 

“RAP Session” 

Alta Bates Medical Center, Maffly Auditorium-Herrick Campus, 2001 Dwight Way 

601-0550 

Thursday, Sept. 21

Hearing to terminate the  

Conditional Order for  

Abatement for Pacific Steel  

Casting Co. 

Bay Area Air Quality management District 

939 Ellis St. 7th Floor Board Room 

San Francisco 

415-749-4965 

APCO vs. Pacific Steel Casting Company 

Docket No. 832 

9:30 a.m. 

Bay Area Air Quality Management District  

939 Ellis St., 7th Floor Board Room 

San Francisco 

A hearing has been scheduled in connection with the Motion to Terminate the Conditional Order for Abatement filed by the Respondent, Pacific Steel Casting Company. 

(415) 749-4965 

Friday, September 22

Point Reyes Nature Center, Earthquake Trail Trip 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

$18 per person 

644-6107 

Sunday, Sept. 24

“First Steps in Finding your Family History” 

Brunch 10:30 a.m., lecture 11 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Using both story-telling and generational techniques, Dr. Lois Silverstein will offer beginning steps to rediscovering family heritage and traditions.  

$4 for BRJCC members and $5 for all others 

848-0237 

Wednesday, Sept. 27

“Improving your bottom line” 

2-5 p.m. 

Berkeley Yacht Club 

1 Seawall Dr. 

Speakers include, Mayor Shirley Dean, Dr. Drian Nattrass and Mary Altomare Natrass, authors of “The Natural Step for Busines” and two of the world’s leading authorities on providing a strategic business framework romoting sustainabiliity and profitability. 

Monday, October 2

“2nd Annual Berkeley City Championship” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Entries accepted August 1. Entry Fee includes gift, cart and Awards Dinner. Proceeds benefit local organizations and projects. This event determines Berkeley City Champion and Seven other Flight Winners. 

$115 Entry Fee 

841-0972 

Thursday, October 5

“3rd annual Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Association Golf Tournament” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 7:30 a.m. Entry Fee includes cart range balls and Award Luncheon. Proceeds benefit Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Scholarship Fund. 

$99 Entry Fee 

644-6554 

ONGOING EVENTS 

Sundays 

Green Party Consensus Building Meeting 

6 p.m. 

2022 Blake St. 

This is part of an ongoing series of discussions for the Green Party of Alameda County, leading up to endorsements on measures and candidates on the November ballot. This week’s focus will be the countywide new Measure B transportation sales tax. The meeting is open to all, regardless of party affiliation. 

415-789-8418 

Tuesdays 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

531-8664 

Computer literacy course 

6-8 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 Eighth St. 

This free course will cover topics such as running Windows, File Management, connecting to and surfing the web, using Email, creating Web pages, JavaScript and a simple overview of programming. The course is oriented for adults. 

644-8511 

Saturdays 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright 

Thursdays 

The Disability Mural 

4-7 p.m. through September 

Integrated Arts 

933 Parker 

Drop-in Mural Studios will be held for community gatherings and tile-making sessions. This mural will be installed at Ed Roberts campus. 

841-1466 

Fridays 

Ralph Nader for President 

7 p.m.  

Video showings to continue until November. Campaign donations are requested. Admission is free.  

Contact Jack for directions at 524-1784. 

2nd and 4th Sunday 

Rhyme and Reason Open Mike Series 

2:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant Ave. 

The public and students are invited. Sign-ups for the open mike begin at 2 p.m. 

234-0727;642-5168 

Tuesay and Thursday 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Meet Niles Xi ‘An Liechtenstein, the freshly sworn-in student director for the Berkeley Unified School District.  

Choosing the articulate, earring-wearing 4.0 student-transcendentalist for the high-profile student position was surely a no-brainer for the kids at Berkeley High. The poetry-slammer and former football player – he gave up the game to focus on academics – is the embodiment of the diversity one sees at Berkeley High, with a Malaysian-Chinese mother and German-Jewish father.  

The 17-year-old senior is poised and hyped to be a leader in a school that has suffered through difficult times.  

Like the fire-scorched school, Niles has a few scars himself. 

When asked what shaped his engaging and determined personality, he brings up the two years he spent helping his father when he was sick with brain cancer.  

“I was going into ninth grade, and I had to do things like pump food into his stomach, and put needles into his arm...It was tough, I admired him a lot.” 

But Niles persevered. Not only was he a starting middle linebacker his sophomore year for the football team and straight A student, he also embarked on bringing his fellow students together into organizations like the Hapa Club, a multi-cultural club that puts on fund-raisers for his beloved poetry-slams – something he says “could change the world and bring all kinds of people together.” In fact the poetry slams give other clubs at the school a forum to get together. 

“I definitely want to get all the ethnic clubs together,” he said of his plans as member of the school board for the upcoming year.  

“Separated, they can only do so much. I mean, you have the Asian Student Union, the Black Student Union, the La Rassa, the Jewish Student Union, and so on and so forth. 

“Together there’s a lot they can do for the school, community-wise, and they’re just a lot stronger together and they should be on the same page. We did that a little bit last year. We give them an outlet, a voice.” 

Don’t call him a figure-head. The young man has plans of bringing a sense of community to the 3,200 students.  

“I have a free period, fifth period, so one of the things I’m going to do is to personally visit each class and talk to kids, get to know kids, make sure that they know I’m there for them, and really, be able to get a lot of perspectives. I grew up playing ball in South Berkeley, and I played football, but I’m friends with kids in the hills. So I think I have the ability to, kind of, relate to a lot of different kids at Berkeley High.”  

Bridging the achievement gap is the daunting task he’s focusing on. He’s worked with youths in a couple of different programs. Although they are described as “high risk,” he says he’s seen the potential. It’s a matter of getting them involved and giving them an outlet. 

“There are a lot of people in the cuts and the shadows. They’re the ones that the school is affecting a lot. 

“I hope to outreach to more kids, I want to give them an outlet to the authority and the bureaucracy. I’m a Pacific Islander, and a lot of my friends are Southeast Asians who aren’t doing so well. I want kids to get serious about issues, and maybe come to a school board meeting and talk about it.” 

He says one project he’s mulled over is publishing poetry for everyone, so students who may not be studying Dylan Thomas and poetry theory in their regular English classes can “come and publish something and tell themselves, ‘Yea, I’m good enough to have my voice heard by the whole school,’” he says. 

Poetry, he says, can be a rallying cry for the Berkeley High students.  

“I’ve seen kids who are getting F’s in their English classes turn out incredible poetry,” he said 

And organizing kids to be involved in poetry slams, like the one he and other students from the school were involved in last year that drew 2,000 people to “hear what kids have to say,” is something that can bring the school together, he said.  

He plans on organizing campus slams early on in the year. 

“I think poetry crosses and infuses all lines,” he said. “It’s getting people to express and to listen. It’s a revolution of words and culture.” 

“Poetry slam isn’t something that you have to sit down and analyze, it’s something that you feel,” he said. “ I’ve seen it change people’s lives, because it brings together people and it brings together community.” 

Niles said that he’s learning to juggle his idealistic side and his practical side. Besides bringing together his schoolmates for things such as poetry slams, he’s quick to say that the school simply needs more structure. 

Everyone has their own idea of what Berkeley High should be like,” he said.  

“I’ve had students, even parents, come to me saying that the principal doesn’t know what he’s in for. It really has to be a community thing. There’s too much apathy, an ‘I’ll get mine and you get yours’ attitude.”  

Niles said that the students need to live by what he’s dubbed the three C’s: Communication, community and cohesiveness.  

“Last year, you got a bad feeling just walking down the halls,” he said. “Just being a student there, it seemed that there was no communication between the levels... the administration, teachers, students. There was a lot of miscommunication and no support.” 

“It was the culmination of counseling problems, no communication and a sense of apathy. We need more structure, and to get to know who the principals are. Last year, people didn’t know who they could turn to.” 

He also hopes to break down the walls between school security and the kids.  

“Rules and regulations need to be enforced without bias. I think there needs to be a step-by-step process on how security officers should approach students, and how students should respond so kids can really know how the system works.” 

Forgive him if he’s not terribly familiar with school board issues, he’s only spent one week on the board because he’s been in a mountain village in Nepal building houses and schools on a scholarship with the Berkeley-based Global Roots.  

“It was an incredible experience,” he said.  

“ I was able to learn to meditate, and to deal with my situation better. I was able to take myself out of the context of this life and give myself a new perspective.” 

All of this and he doesn’t even know where he wants to go to college, or what he wants to study. 

“I kind of want to stay here because of my little brother,” he said. “I really don’t know at this point... I’m too busy getting myself ready for this school year.”

Tuesday, Aug. 29

Golden Age Party Celebration 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

Celebration honoring seniors over 90 years of ages. 

644-6107 

“The Akedah: To Be a Servant of God” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond JCC 

1414 Walnut St. 

Rabbi Yosef Leitbowitzr, fron Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English with the cooperation of the JFewish Federation of the Gresater East Bay. 

Wednesday, Aug. 30

“Rav Kuk’s Concepts  

of Repentance” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond JCC 

1414 Walnut St. 

Rabbi Yosef Leitbowitzr, from Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English, with the cooperation with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay. 

Rhythm Magic 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With Mikka. 

644-6107 

Bridge 

1 p.m. 

Live Oak Community Center 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

The games are open to all players 

For partnership and other informa- 

tion, please call Vi Kimoto at (510) 223-6539 

Thursday, August 31

Meeting Life Changes 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With John Hammerman. 

644-6107 

“Life and Death Mishnaic  

Themes of Yom Kippur” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond JCC 

1414 Walnut St. 

Leah Rosental, from Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English, with the corporation with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay.  

The History of California Rock Climbing 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Join Andy Puhvel, director of Yo! Basecamp rock climbing school, for a slide presentation on the history of rock climbing here in California. You’ll find out how creative advancements in technology, combined with boldness and inspiration, made Yosemite Valley climbers the pioneers of this sport.  

527-7377 

“Calming Our Minds” 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley Community Theater 

Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen Master, will be giving a public lecture titled “Calming Our Minds, Opening Our Hearts” at the Berkeley Community Theater. 

Tickets are $20 

433-9928 

The Revelations: A Concert for the Children of Chiapas 

8 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

The Revelations, a Spanish-English reggae band from San Diego, will perform at La Pena Cultural Center to benefit Schools for Chiapas. Schools for Chiapas, a 

nonprofit organization, supports Mayan communities in the Mexican state of Chiapas in their effort to create an autonomous, indigenous education system. $5. 

849-2568 

Friday, Sept. 1

Bridge 

1 p.m. 

Live Oak Community Center 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

The games are open to all players 

For partnership and other informa- 

tion, please call Vi Kimoto at (510) 

223-6539 

“Daughter of the Regiment” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 2

Lakeside Park on Lake Merritt, Oakland 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Internationally Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh will lead meditation exercises and lectures focusing on ‘mindful living.’ 

(510) 433-9928 

Acupuncture for head  

and neck pain 

1-2 p.m. 

Meiji College of Oriental Medicine 

2550 Shattuck Ave. 

This is an opportunity to find out about what acupuncture and Oriental herbal medicine is and how it works. Free. 

666-8248 

Exercise to Music 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Sept. 6

Alzheimer’s and dementia  

support group 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 644-6107 

Thursday, Sept. 7

Growing wise with Betty Goren 

10:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 644-6107 

“Discipline & Citizenship”  

conference 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 

6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. 

Friday, Sept. 8

“Discipline & Citizenship”  

conference 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

9 a.m.-4 p.m. 895-4542 

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 9 

Open house 

Julia Morgan center for the Arts 

Meet new leaders and artist and learn about future plans for the facility. RSVPs encouraged 

2640 College Ave. Berkeley 

4- 7 p.m. 845-8542 

Sunday, Sept. 10 

“Doors to Madame Marie” 

11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

As part of the Jewish Learning Center’s Authors Series in the Library, Odette Meyers will be available for discussion and booksigning. 848-0237 

“Next Stop, Greenwich Village” 

2-4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center Cinema 

1414 Walnut St.  

Based on filmmaker Paul Mazursky’s own passage from Brooklyn to Greenwich Village, the film is about the dynamics of leaving home and trying to leave home behind. There will be a peer led discussion following the movie. $2 suggested donation.  

848-0237 

Monday, Sept. 11

12th annual Berkeley YMCA Golf Tournament 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun start at 11:00 a.m. 

$125 Entry fee includes cart, lunch on the course and dinner. Proceeds benefit Albany-Berkeley YMCA. 549-4525 

Voter workshop 

Learn about voting absentee and working a local polling places. 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 644-6107 

Tuesday, Sept. 12 

Tai Chi Chuan 

11 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 644-6107 

Wednesday, Sept. 13

Mid-Autumn Festival 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 644-6107 

Thursday, Sept. 14

Eugene O’Neil House, Mt.  

Diablo State Park Trip  

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

$21 per person, 644-6107 

Pre-business workshop 

Small-business Development Center 

519 17th St. Suite 200, Oakland 

8 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 

$35  

273-6611, www.eastbayscore.org, eastbayscore@yahoo.com 

Yoga class 

2 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Friday, Sept. 15

“The Barber of Seville” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 16

Shoreline clean-up walk 

10 a.m. 

Seabreeze Market, on Frontage Road just west of University Avenue 

Friends of Five Creeks leads a walk, talking about  

history, wildlife, and restoration possibilities from Strawberry to Codornices Creeks, as part of Coastal Cleanup 2000.  

Call: 848-9358  

Saturday, Sept. 19

“Fibromyalgia Support  

Group” 

noon -2:00 p.m. 

“RAP Session” 

Alta Bates Medical Center, Maffly Auditorium-Herrick Campus, 2001 Dwight Way 

601-0550 

Thursday, Sept. 21

Hearing to terminate the  

Conditional Order for  

Abatement for Pacific Steel  

Casting Co. 

Bay Area Air Quality management District 

939 Ellis St. 7th Floor Board Room 

San Francisco 

415-749-4965 

APCO vs. Pacific Steel Casting Company 

Docket No. 832 

9:30 a.m. 

Bay Area Air Quality Management District  

939 Ellis St., 7th Floor Board Room 

San Francisco 

A hearing has been scheduled in connection with the Motion to Terminate the Conditional Order for Abatement filed by the Respondent, Pacific Steel Casting Company. 

(415) 749-4965 

Friday, September 22

Point Reyes Nature Center, Earthquake Trail Trip 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

$18 per person 

644-6107 

Sunday, Sept. 24

“First Steps in Finding your Family History” 

Brunch 10:30 a.m., lecture 11 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Using both story-telling and generational techniques, Dr. Lois Silverstein will offer beginning steps to rediscovering family heritage and traditions.  

$4 for BRJCC members and $5 for all others 

848-0237 

Wednesday, Sept. 27

“Improving your bottom line” 

2-5 p.m. 

Berkeley Yacht Club 

1 Seawall Dr. 

Speakers include, Mayor Shirley Dean, Dr. Drian Nattrass and Mary Altomare Natrass, authors of “The Natural Step for Busines” and two of the world’s leading authorities on providing a strategic business framework romoting sustainabiliity and profitability. 

Monday, October 2

“2nd Annual Berkeley City Championship” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Entries accepted August 1. Entry Fee includes gift, cart and Awards Dinner. Proceeds benefit local organizations and projects. This event determines Berkeley City Champion and Seven other Flight Winners. 

$115 Entry Fee 

841-0972 

Thursday, October 5

“3rd annual Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Association Golf Tournament” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 7:30 a.m. Entry Fee includes cart range balls and Award Luncheon. Proceeds benefit Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Scholarship Fund. 

$99 Entry Fee 

644-6554 

ONGOING EVENTS 

Sundays 

Green Party Consensus Building Meeting 

6 p.m. 

2022 Blake St. 

This is part of an ongoing series of discussions for the Green Party of Alameda County, leading up to endorsements on measures and candidates on the November ballot. This week’s focus will be the countywide new Measure B transportation sales tax. The meeting is open to all, regardless of party affiliation. 

415-789-8418 

Tuesdays 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

531-8664 

Computer literacy course 

6-8 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 Eighth St. 

This free course will cover topics such as running Windows, File Management, connecting to and surfing the web, using Email, creating Web pages, JavaScript and a simple overview of programming. The course is oriented for adults. 

644-8511 

Saturdays 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright 

Thursdays 

The Disability Mural 

4-7 p.m. through September 

Integrated Arts 

933 Parker 

Drop-in Mural Studios will be held for community gatherings and tile-making sessions. This mural will be installed at Ed Roberts campus. 

841-1466 

Fridays 

Ralph Nader for President 

7 p.m.  

Video showings to continue until November. Campaign donations are requested. Admission is free.  

Contact Jack for directions at 524-1784. 

2nd and 4th Sunday 

Rhyme and Reason Open Mike Series 

2:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant Ave. 

The public and students are invited. Sign-ups for the open mike begin at 2 p.m. 

234-0727;642-5168 

Tuesay and Thursday 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Much work still needed to ease traffic 

Dear Editor:  

Thank you for informing your readers about the almost-completed repaving job on College Avenue and for sending your reporter to the neighborhood traffic meeting on August 22. The meeting, called by the city's Public Works Department, was the first to bring neighbors from District 7 and District 8, people from both east and west of College, together in one room.  

The meeting may have started out a bit on the “raucous” side, but it was well run and soon settled into a civil exchange of neighborhood traffic problems and ideas on how to solve them. Your reporter mistakenly ascribes to District 8 Councilmember Polly Armstrong a very well received statement that was actually made by Connie Stroud, a former member of the Transportation Commission and the Zoning Adjustments Board.  

While she did not express it in her statement, the speaker lives on a residential city street that has considerably more traffic than College Avenue (roughly 14,000 cars/day) and even exceeds by several thousand the number of vehicles on four-lane Telegraph (roughly 18,000 cars/day).  

Ms. Stroud made the following points:  

• Attempts to solve neighborhood traffic problems should not occur on a street by street basis but with a view to the larger picture.  

• The City should be more diligent in administering its Residential Parking Permit program, both the annual and the 14-day versions, through greater vigilance in issuance and enforcement.  

• She cited a change in street configuration that neighbors on heavily traffic-afflicted streets in southeast Berkeley have asked the city to make for decades: reversing the directions of Dwight and Haste or returning them to two-way traffic. 

Either measure would offer drivers more options and provide better access to and use of Telegraph Avenue and the freeway system, thus unburdening neighborhood streets.  

As stated in your report, at the end of her remarks Ms. Stroud asked why this measure had not been undertaken and added that the city would have to give residents a sound explanation if it were not implemented.  

Awaiting action or a satisfactory response from Traffic Engineering along with Ms. Stroud and hundreds of affected residents,  

Doris Willingham  

Berkeley 

Grow up: buy a building 

Regarding Aug. 26 perspective piece: “Boomtown with no room, by Andrew Lam of Pacific News Service:  

Editor: 

No room for who? 

There is plenty of room in San Francisco and Berkeley and Oakland. The question is, Who is privileged enough to stay? 

By privileged, I do not mean those Dot-comers (a euphemism for the hated white male) but that protected class of people who are government assisted. 

They typically have not taken advantage of the free education afforded them and do little to add to the rich fabric of the Bay Area. That is unless garbage on the streets, filthy language polluting the air, and the need to lock up everything you own during daylight hours and fear of venturing out after dark is why one considers a comfortable living condition.  

The cost of housing is high because of supply and demand, Why use that valuable and limited supply on dead beats. 

To be on welfare or Section 8 in the Bay area is taking up valuable space and driving up the cost to those artists, writers, performers, etc. who do indeed add a needed flavor to the rich fabric of life. 

I would rather have two dot-comers on scooters cruising down my block than two high school drop-outs on bicycles with hooded sweatshirts and a bad attitude. 

The other protected class is the renter. Andrew, if you and your friend the artist and perhaps a few more friends could have gotten together and bought a building with a couple of flats to share you would not even be allowed to move into your own building under current rent control laws. If you own, nobody can tell you to move.  

Twenty five years in the city and you are not allowed to grow up and become a home owner because you have been made comfortable by the government protecting you through rent control.  

Now you are terrified as your friends must leave and you are secure in your rent controlled apartment. You should have thought of the future and not depended on the government to protect you.  

Rent control has caused much of the current housing problem.  

Michael Larrick  

Berkeley 

How many more will have to die by automobiles? 

Wednesday, Sept. 13 marks the 101st anniversary of the first automobile fatality in North America. Since then, four times as many U.S. residents have been killed in motor vehicle accidents as were slain in all our nation’s wars since the 1776 Revolution. 

Are we so incentive to violence that we’ll accept it to such an extreme degree in order to have independent mobility? 

Among the rights we all enjoy in the United States is (or should be) the right to equal access to all public accommodations without having to rely on modes of transportation so dangerous that they require eat belts, air bags or crash helmets. 

Land-use decisions (consistently ignoring public transit and other alternatives to the auto as necessary infrastructure) leave increasing numbers of us faced with a choice of driving illegally or being disenfranchised. 

All planning codes should prohibit any development that is not at least as accessible and functional for non-motorists as it is for those who drive. 

We have a serious civil rights issue here: development that accommodates motorists only violates the equal protections provision of our constitution. 

What kind of fools would build the biggest public works project in human history – our interstate highway system – for national defense and then force themselves into dependence on a mode of transportation that’s deadlier than war? 

Our land use decisions are a greater threat to our well-being than any allegedly hostile elements outside our borders. 

Art Weber 

Transportation Chair,  

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

Museums 

Ebony Museum of Arts 

The museum specializes in the art and history of Africa.  

Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.  

30 Jack London Village, Suite 209. (510) 763-0745. 

Habitot Children’s Museum 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

“Back to the Farm.”  

Ongoing 

An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more.  

Cost: $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under.  

Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

647-1111 or www.habitot.org 

Judah L. Magnes Museum 

2911 Russell St.  

549-6950 

Free 

Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” 

Through May 2002.  

An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. Highlights include treasures from Jewish ceremonial and folk art, rare books and manuscripts, contemporary and traditional fine art, video, photography and cultural kitsch. 

“Spring and Summer.”  

Through Nov. 4.  

“Chagall: Master Prints and Posters, Selections from the Magnes Museum Collection.”  

Through Sept. 28. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley 

“Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment,” through Sept. 17.  

An exhibit of rare and exquisite works featuring more than forty mandalas and related objects including sculptures and models of sacred spaces. 

“Doug Aitken/MATRIX 185: Into the Sun,” through Sept. 3.  

An exhibit of works primarily in video and film, using the interplay of art and media to evoke deserted landscapes. 

“Autour de Rodin: Auguste Rodin and His Contemporaries,” through August.  

An exhibit of 11 bronze maquettes on loan from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation in Los Angeles. The bronzes range in style from the artist’s classically inspired “Torso of a Woman” to the anguish of “The Martyr” Some of the maquettes were cast during Rodin’s lifetime, others have been cast fairly recently under the aegis of the Musee Rodin which alone is authorized to cast his sculptures posthumously.  

“Hans Hoffmann” open-ended.  

An exhibit of paintings by Hoffmann which emphasizes two experimental methods the artist employed: the introduction of slabs or rectangles of highly saturated colors and the use of large areas of black paint juxtaposed with intense oranges, greens and yellows.  

The Asian Galleries  

“Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery,” open-ended.  

A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection.  

“Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes: The First 3,000 Years,” open-ended. 

“Works on Extended Loan from Warren King,” open-ended. 

“Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 642-0808. 

UC Berkeley Museum of  

Paleontology 

Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley 

“Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing.  

A 20-foot tall, 40-foot long replica of the fearsome dinosaur. The replica is made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. 

“Pteranodon,” ongoing.  

A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22 to 23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. 

California Fossils Exhibit, ongoing. An exhibit of some of the fossils which have been excavated in California. 

Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

642-1821. 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst  

Museum of Anthropology 

Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College Avenue, Berkeley 

“Modern Treasures from Ancient Iran,” through Oct. 29.  

This exhibit explores nomadic and town life in ancient and modern Iran as illustrated in bronze and pottery vessels, and textiles.  

“Approaching a Century of Anthropology: The Phoebe Hearst Museum,” open-ended.  

This new permanent installation will introduce visitors to major topics in the museum’s history, including the role of Phoebe Apperson Hearst as the museum’s patron, as well as the relationship of anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and Robert Lowie to the museum. 

“Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” ongoing. 

This exhibit documents the culture of the Yahi Indians of California as described and demonstrated from 1911 to 1916 by Ishi, the last surviving member of the tribe. 

$2 general; $1 seniors; $.50 children age 17 and under; free on Thursdays. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

643-7648 

Mills College Art Museum 

5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 

“The 100 Languages of Children,” through October.  

An exhibit of art by children from Reggio Emilia, Italy. At Carnegie Building Bender Room. 

Free. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. 430-2164 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

“Experiment Gallery”  

Closing Sept. 10. Step inside a giant laboratory and experiment with concepts surrounding sound, light, mechanics, electricity, and weather. 

“Math Rules!” Ongoing. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge. Make mathematical ice-cream cones, use blocks to build three dimensional structures, make dodecagon pies from a variety of mathematical shapes and stretch mathematical thinking. 

“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning  

experiments. 

“Laser: The Light Fantastic” Ongoing. Make a laser light  

show, work a supermarket-style laser, examine holograms and stop a  

laser beam barehanded. 

“1492: Two Worlds of Science” Ongoing. Explore European and Native American science and technology at the time of Columbus' voyage, through activities with number systems, navigation tools, map making, computer games and a replica of the rocking deck of the Nina. 

Family Workshops – Registration is required and each child must be accompanied by an adult. (510) 642-5134 

Holt Planitarium  

Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. 

“How Big Is the Universe,” through Sept. 3. Learn about various  

ways to determine distances. Through Sept. 3: Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. 

“Moons of the Solar System,” through Dec. 10. Take a tour of the  

fascinating worlds that orbit Earth and other planets out to the edge  

of the Solar System. Through Sept. 3, Saturday and Sunday, 2:15 p.m.;  

Sept. 9 through Oct. 29, 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.; Nov. 4 through Dec. 10;  

2;15 p.m. 

“Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn  

to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the  

planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18;  

$3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m.  

to 5 p.m.; Centennial Drive, University of California,  

Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

The Oakland Museum of  

California 

1000 Oak St., Oakland 

“Helen Nestor: Personal and Political” Aug. 17 through Oct. 15.  

An exhibit of images documenting the Free Speech Movement, the 60s civil rights marches, and women’s issues. 

“California Classic: Realist Paintings by Robert Bechtle” through Oct. 1.  

An exhibit of 18 paintings and drawings by the Bay Area artist dating from 1965 to 1997. 

Special Exhibit – “Meadowsweet Dairy: Wood Sculpture,” through Sept. 15.  

An exhibit of 12 sculptures made with materials found and salvaged to reveal the beauty of the natural object. At the Sculpture Court, City Center, 1111 Broadway. Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students; free children age 5 and under; second Sundays are free to all. Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; first Friday of the month, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

(888) OAK-MUSE or www.museumca.org. 

Music 

Ashkenaz 

1317 San Pablo Ave.  

525-5099 

For all ages 

www.ashkenaz.com 

Sept. 1, 9:30 p.m. CD release party with Strictly Roots 

Sept. 3, 9 p.m. Don Carlos & Reggaie Angels 

Sept. 5, 9 p.m. A night of Big Mountain Awareness with Blackfire 

Sept. 6, 8 p.m. lesson and 9 p.m. show Poullard-Thompson Band (Cajun) 

Sept. 8 Fantcha 

Sept. 27, 8 p.m., dance session, 9 p.m., music 

Kate Brislin, Jody Stecher, Heath Curtis, Bluegrass intentions 

Old time, Appalachian music 

525-5099 

924 Gilman St. 

924 Gilman Street is an all-ages, member-run no alcohol, drugs, and violence club. Most shows are $5. Memberships for the year are $2. Shows start at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted.  

Call 525-9926.  

La Pena Cultural Center 

Benefit concert  

3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Thursday, Aug. 31 

Concert begins at 8 p.m.  

$5  

www.lapena.org 

The Albatross Pub 

1822 San Pablo Ave. 

843-2473 

All shows begin at 9 p.m. 

Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet, Sept. 2. 

Dunsmuir Historic Estate 

2960 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland 

End of summer concert: “Caribbean Rhythms” 

Sunday, Sept. 3, noon- 3 p.m. 

$5 adults, $4 seniors; $1 for children under 13 

615-5555, www.dunsmuir.org 

Starry Plough 

3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Noche de Flamenco, 8:30 p.m., Sept. 6 

Featured artists include Cristo Cortes, Monica Bermudez  

and Carola Zertuche, with special guest El Pollito 

$10 

841-2082 

The Greek Theatre 

Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals, Maceo Parker, Sept. 8, 7 p.m. $30.  

Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road, Berkeley. (510) 444-TIXS 

Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center 

Daniela Mercury, Sept. 8, 8 p.m. $35. 

10 10th St., Oakland. (510) 534-6348, (510) 762-BASS 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra 

Nicholas McGegan conducting, Sept. 9 and Sept. 10.  

A performance of Handel's opera-oratorio “Semele.”  

$32 to $46. Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m. First  

Congregational Church, Dana Street and Durant Avenue, Berkeley.  

(415) 392-4400 or www.philharmonia.org 

The Jazzschool 

2375 Shattuck Ave. 

Dick Hindman Trio 

4:30 p.m., Sept. 17 

$12; $10 students/seniors; $6 for Jazzschool students and children under 13 

Classical Concert 

Friday, Sept. 29  

First Lutheran Church at Homer and Webster streets, Palo Alto 

8 p.m. 

(415) 378-4863 

Films 

University of California, Berkeley Art Museum 

Pacific Film Archive 

2575 Bancroft Way 

642-1412 

“Treasures from the George Eastman House” 

Various programs and a 16-film salute to little-known actresses. 

Sept. 1 -Oct. 8 

“MadCat Women’s International Film Festival”  

Sept. 8,9 

Festival showcases women filmmakers from around the world. 

“Paper Tiger Television” 

A look at TV used to promote grassroots political action. PTTV members will appear for discussion with the audiences at screenings. 

Sept. 12,15 

$7 for one film; $8.50 for double bills. UC Berkeley students are $4/$5.50. Seniors and children are $4.50/6.00  

Paramount Movie Classics Summer 2000 Series  

The evening includes a classic movie, walk-in music from the Wurlitzer  

organ, a newsreel, cartoon, movie previews and the Paramount's prize  

give-away game “Dec-O-Win.” 

Sept. 8: The French Connection. 

Sept. 22: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. 

$5. Shows at 8 p.m. 2025 Broadway, Oakland. (510) 465-6400. 

Theater 

“The Green Bird” by Carlo  

Gozzi 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addison St. 

Adapted by Theatre de la Jeune Lune and directed by Dominique Serrand.  

“The Green Bird” runs from September 8 - October 27. For tickets contact the box office at 845-4700 

“The Philanderer”  

by George Bernard Shaw 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Performed by the Aurora Theatre company, “The Philanderer” takes on the challenging and often humorous exploration of gender roles and the separations that exist between the sexes. 

Preview dates are September 8-10 and 13, tickets for preview showings are sold at $26. Opening night is September 14, admission is $35. Showtimes run Wednesday through Saturday through October 15 at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees show at 2 p.m., plus selected Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. Admission for regular performances is $30. Student discounts are available. For tickets and information call 843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org. 

“Endgame” 

Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, through Sept. 2 at La Val’s Subterranean 1834 Euclid Ave. Berkeley. 

Directed by George Charbak.  

524-9327. 

“Antigone” 

1:30 p.m., Aug. 26 

Fellowship of Humanity 

411 28th St. Oakland 

655-7962 

This staged reading of Sophocles’ “Antigone” is adapted by Walter Springer and features Ranier Hunt and Al Paltin. Performance is free, contributions are accepted. 

“MIMZABIM!” 

Climate Theatre & Subterranean Shakespeare 

La Vals Subterraniean 1834 Euclid, Berkeley 

Sept.7 -Oct. 14 

Thursday - Saturday 8:00 p.m. 

$12, Students $8 

Exhibits 

The Artistry of Rae Louise  

Hayward 

The Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 

3023 Shattuck Ave. 

548-9286, ext. 307 

Aug. 12 - Sept. 27 

Rae Louise Hayward, one of the founders of The Art of Living Black, Bay Area Black Artist Annual Exhibition and Open Studios Tour. 

Haywards’ art celebrates the beauty of African culture from its people to its music. The opening reception with the artist will be held Aug. 26 noon-3 p.m.  

Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday 1-7 p.m., Saturday 12-4 p.m. and by appointment.  

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth St.  

527-1214 

Charles LaBelle 

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

LaBelle’s new series of large-scale color photographs highlight nighttime nature in Hollywood. He recreates trees at night using a hand-held spotlight and playing on the beam across the leaves and branches. The opening reception will be held on September 12 from 6 to 8 p.m.  

Blue Vinyl by Connie Walsh  

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

This multimedia project combines video, sound and printmaking to explore concepts of intimacy and its relation to private space. The opening reception is on September 12 from 6-8 p.m. 

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11-6 p.m. and Sundays 12-5 p.m. 

A.C.C.I. Gallery  

“Paperworks,” Sept. 1 through Oct. 7.  

A group exhibit of works by Carol Brighton, Vannie Keightley, Jean Hearst. 

Opening Reception, Sept. 1, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1652 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-2527 

Berkeley Art Center 

“Ethnic Notions: Black Images in the White Mind,''  

Sept. 10 through Nov. 12. An exhibit by Janette Faulkner exploring racial stereotypes in commercial imagery. Free. Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St., Berkeley. (510) 644-6893 

California College of Arts and Crafts  

“Add/Drop/Add: CCAC Fine Arts Faculty Exhibitions”  

Sept. 5 through Sept. 16. 

Free. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Oliver Art Center, 5212 Broadway, Oakland. 594-3712 

Chi Gallery  

“Alegres Cantos en Mi Ser (Songs of Joy in My Being)” through Sept. 30.  

An exhibit of paintings depicting scenes of Afro-cuban music, by Susan Mathews. Reception, Sept. 9, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Free. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. 912-A Clay St., Oakland. (510) 832-4244. 

Creative Growth 

“Indelible Ink” closing Sept. 1. Selections from the Creative Growth Permanent Collection and new works. 

Free. Monday through Friday, noon to 5:30 p.m. 355 24th St., Oakland. (510) 836-2340 

Kala Institute  

“Layerings: New Work by Four Kala Fellows” through Sept. 28. The 2000 Kala Art Institute Fellowship Awards Exhibitions, Part II of works by Margaret M. Kessler, Barbara Milman, Michele Muennig, and  

David Politzer. Free. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Workshop Media Center  

Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 549-2977  

Readings 

Rhyme & Reason Poetry Series 

Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant 

Second and fourth Sundays of each month. For open reading following featured readers, sign up at 2 p.m., readings begin at 2:30 p.m. 

Sept. 10. Q.R. Hand, Tennessee Reed 

Readings at Cody’s 

2454 Telegraph Ave.  

Aug, 29, 7:30 p.m., Karl Schoenberger 

Discussion of Levi's Children: Coming to Terms with Human Rights in the Global Marketplace. Allegations of corporate complicity in human rights violations have exploded into one of the most controversial issues today. Levi's Children offers a desperately needed perspective on the challenges faced by businesses and activists alike.  

Aug. 30, Poetry: 7:30 p.m. Joe Todaro and Celia White 

Aug. 31, 7:30 p.m. John McWhorter, discussion of Losing the Race: Anti-Intellectualism in Black America. UC Berkeley linguistics professor McWhorter, author of Word on the Street, paints a painful portrait in an explosive books that will shock many, enrage others, and offer points for serious thought and discussion.  

845-7852  

Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m. Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan discuss their book “Mean Genes – From Sex to Money to Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts.” 

Sept. 7, 7 p.m. Andrea Siegel, “Open and Clothed: For the Passionate Clothes Lover.” At 1730 Fourth St. 

Sept. 7, 7:30 p.m. Diana Spaulding and David Dodd, “The Grateful Dead Reader” 

Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m. Glenn Dickey, “Glenn Dickey's 49ers – the Rise, the Fall and the Future of  

Football's Greatest Dynasty.” 

Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m. Julia Cameron and her book “The Artist's Way.”  

Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place  

843-6812 

Free 

Aug. 27, 6 - 7 p.m. “Bringing the Light of Knowledge to Work” 

Dan Jones, Nyingma Institute project leader and instructor, discusses how to integrate human energies while activation understanding and generating positive attitudes in work and life.  

Sept. 3, 3 to 5 p.m. Open House 

Free introduction to Tibetan Buddhist Culture 

6-7 p.m. “Life of the Buddha” 

Instructor Eva Casey relates the lessons of Buddha to the practitioner’s experience.  

Sept. 10, 6-7p.m. “Overcoming Obstacles to Meditation” 

Instructor Abbe Blum talks about meditation troubles and how they can be viewed to unlock the mind’s secrets. 

Sept. 17, 6-7 p.m. “Knowledge of Freedom” 

Buddhist teacher June Rosenberg will demonstrate how “Knowledge of Freedom” teachings can be applied in daily life. 

UC Berkeley’s Poem Reading Series Kickoff Event 

Sept. 7, 12:10 p.m. Robert Hass introduces Berkeley campus figures reading their favorite poems. Free. Morrison Room, Doe Library, Bancroft Way at College Avenue,  

Berkeley. (510) 642-0137 

Tours 

Golden Gate Live Steamers 

Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size, run along a half mile of track in Tilden Regional Park. The small trains are owned and maintained by a non-profit group of railroad buffs who offer rides.  

Free. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley.  

486-0623  

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

Scientists and engineers guide visitors through the research areas of the laboratory, demonstrating emerging technology and discussing the research’s current and potential applications. A Berkeley lab tour usually lasts two hours and includes visits to several research areas. Popular tour sites include the Advanced Light Source, The National Center for Electron Microscopy, the 88-Inch Cyclotron, The Advanced Lighting Laboratory, and The Human Genome Laboratory. Reservations required at least two weeks in advance of tour. 

Free. University of California, Berkeley. 

486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 

Guided tours through Berkeley’s City Club, a landmark building designed by architect Julia Morgan, designer of Hearst Castle. 

$2. The fourth Sunday of every month except December, between noon and 4 p.m.  

2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. 

848-7800 

Dance 

Yoshi’s 

Mark Isham's In A Silent Way Project Sept. 4, $18. 

Ray Brown Trio with Kevin Mahogany, Sept. 5 through Sept. 10. $20 to $24 general; Sunday matinee: $5 children; $10 adult with one child. 

Unless otherwise noted, music at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Sunday 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. (510) 238-9200 or  

(510) 762-BASS 

Luna Kids Dance 

Creative dance for children 

Parent-child class 

Sept. 9, 9-10 a.m. 

Redwood Day School, 3245 Sheffield Ave, Oakland 

Sept. 12, open house 

Ashkenas, 1317 San Pablo, 4:30-5:30 p.m. 

530-4113 

Mark Morris Dance Group 

“Four Saints in Three Acts” and “Dido & Aeneas” 

Sept. 21-24 Zellerbach Hall 

Music by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and American Bach Soloists 

Tickets: $34 - $52 

643-6714 

The class of 2003 at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Law School has finally enrolled. Minority numbers, which plummeted after the UC Board of Regents banned affirmative action from admission decisions in 1997, rose slightly from 22 percent to 29 percent. The small increase was due primarily to a rise in students of Asian and Pacific Islander descent.  

However, the small rise still falls much lower than pre-1997 numbers when 37 percent of enrolled students were of non-white heritage. 

According to Kevin Nguyen, spokesperson for UC Regent Ward Connerly, the small increase demonstrates that changed admission standards have spurred academic excellence in the K-12 school systems. Connerly, a controversial figure, chaired the California Civil Rights Initiative, which campaigned for the passage of Proposition 209 banning what proponents call “racial preferences.”  

“Race preferences padded admissions.” says Nguyen. “Before the race ban, it was much easier for policy makers to grant a preference as opposed to investing in our K-12 programs and allowing students to compete naturally. Once we got away from automatic preference based on the presumption of social disadvantage, all students were able to compete vigorously in the new academic environment,” says Nguyen. 

According to statistics provided by the university’s Public Affairs Office, in the four years since Prop. 209 passed, Native American enrolled students dropped 74 percent, African-Americans experienced a 72 percent drop, Latinos a 45 percent drop, while Asians gained 8 percent and whites 1 percent, when compared to affirmative action-era numbers. Specifically, blacks accounted for 7.75 percent of enrolled students at Boalt in the two years before Prop. 209 passed. In the four years since the passage of Prop. 209, blacks dropped to 2.15 percent of the student population. Native Americans, who were at 1.7 percent of enrolled students pre-209, tumbled to 0.45 percent and Latinos fell from 12.05 percent to 6.6 percent of enrollees. 

At the same time, Asians grew from 15.5 percent to 16.8 percent, and whites from 52.55 percent to 53.15 percent of total enrolled students. 

Bernida Reagan, executive director of the East Bay Community Law Center, the community-based component of Boalt’s program, claims that the drastic drops resulted from changed admission standards that left the unlevel playing field of education completely out of the equation. 

“Prop 209 encourages wealth disparity and digital divide issues because it closes the door to people who don’t already have access to opportunity. When all you consider is GPA and LSAT scores in the admission process, those are factors which people of color don’t have opportunities to succeed in at the same level as whites,” says Reagan. “The result is fewer blacks and Latinos getting into Boalt these days.” 

Nguyen disagrees. “The steep drops were indicative of the admission scale that was used for many years. It created artificial levels of admission not based on merit.” 

Regardless, the consequences of fewer black and Latino law students is felt every day at Reagan’s clinic. Before Prop. 209, more students of color would come to her clinic to work with underserved communities. Now, she claims, “public work seems to be considered less important as students of color feel they have to compete for the corporate jobs, and the more mainstream issues that have little to do with their race.” 

And as fewer students opt for social justice work, the issues of the under-represented get  

left behind. 

“With less students to do the work,” says Reagan, “living wage, rent control, minority contracting, and immigration issues fall to the wayside.” 

She characterizes Prop. 209 as a harsh expression of hostility to the gains that people of color made during the Civil Rights Era. 

“It feels like things we took for granted in the ’70s and ’80s, all the gains of the civil rights era, people have become hostile to. It’s very possible that the largest number of civil rights cases have become reverse discrimination suits,” says Reagan.  

“Think about it,” she said. “Schools should represent the populations they serve. If that’s not happening, we have to take a look at their admission policies and ask why that’s not the case. We’re at a point where we’re just trying to hold into the things that we have, and that’s a tough situation.” 

The case of wealthy landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy accused of bringing minors into the country for sex and for bringing workers to the country under false pretenses is plodding ahead, with Reddy’s attorney attempting to get some of the charges against his client dropped and the U.S. Attorney’s Office is arguing that the charges are valid. 

In a motion to dismiss several charges filed with the court two weeks ago, Reddy’s attorney, Ted Cassman, argued that the laws under which Reddy is charged are obsolete and vague. 

“The term ‘immoral purposes’ is a boundless and essentially meaningless concept,” Cassman wrote, arguing that the law is not clear about what conduct it forbids. Many references in the criminal code to “immoral purposes” were long ago replaced with more precise language forbidding prostitution and sex with minors, he said. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kennedy, in a response filed just before midnight on Friday, argued that the statute in question had been challenged and upheld by the Supreme Court.  

“He utterly fails to address the fact that the Supreme Court has expressly held that the “immoral purposes” language...does in fact constitutionally apply to a variety of factual scenarios,” Kennedy wrote. 

These scenarios include polygamy and concubinage and lower courts have said immoral purposes applies to rape. 

The U.S. attorney has charged Reddy with violations of law stemming from allegations that he brought at least two young women – both said to be minors – to the U.S. for the purpose of having sexual relations with them and that, in complicity with his adult son Vijay Lakireddy, also charged in the case, brought other people to the U.S. under false pretenses to work in his businesses. 

Reddy, whose properties are worth more than $70 million, is free on a $10 million bond. Lakireddy is free on a $500,000 bond. 

Also in his brief, Reddy’s attorney argued that sex between Reddy and the young women was consensual, therefore not rape. 

“There is no suggestion that any alleged sexual contact was forced or non-consensual,” Cassman wrote, further arguing that the law, was invalid because of its vagueness. 

Quoting a U.S. Supreme Court case, Cassman wrote in his brief that “vague laws may trap the innocent by not providing fair warning.”  

Kennedy argued sexual contact between adults and minors is well-founded as statutory rape.  

“Statutory rape has long been outlawed in our society,” Kennedy wrote. “Virtually every state in the country outlaws sexual relations between an adult and a minor. The defendant, who has lived in the United States for over 30 years, can hardly claim he had no idea that his conduct was against the laws of the United States.” 

The parties will be in Judge Sandra Armstrong Brown’s courtroom Sept. 12 to hear her ruling on the motion to dismiss some of the charges. Kennedy has said that he plans to file additional charges against Reddy. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said it is not known at this time whether those charges will be filed on that day.

You can’t have too much good karma. 

Volunteers from three non-profit organizations: Dharma Publishing, the Yeshe De project and the Tibetan Aid Fund get much good karma by working year-round at Dharma Publishing, at 2910 San Pablo Ave. There they transcribe, preserve and print Buddhist texts, as well as raise funds to help and encourage the progress of Tibetans living in their homeland and in exile. 

Saturday, the 29-year-old publisher, founded by Buddhist Llama Tarthang Tulku, opened its doors for an open house tour of the showroom and press, and a taste of the art, tradition and food of the Tibetan culture that the staff works hard to help preserve. “We have about 100 full-time volunteers here and in our other press (Dharmacakra Press) in Sonoma County,” said Erin Clark, who volunteers at the Tibetan Aid Fund. “It’s very meritorious, it’s good charm. We’re making offerings to people and helping ourselves.” 

The volunteers, some who come from around the world to study at the Nyingma Institute – also founded by Tulku – at 1815 Highland Place, do everything from stuffing envelopes for Tibetan Aid Fund, to manning a giant printing press for the publishing company. 

Those who stayed after the tour and volunteered their Saturday afternoon were treated to a Tibetan vegetarian dinner. 

Clark said the ancient texts and prayers that they print – some 60,000 are in the building now – are donated to Tibetan monks, nuns and monasteries. Most will go to the World Peace Ceremony later this year in Bodh Gaya, India. Their goal is to send 150,000 printed prayers to the ceremony, she said. 

The texts are typeset, proof-read, printed, folded and cut at the Dharmacakra Press, then they are trucked to Berkeley where the staff at Dharma complete the edge-dying and wrapping.  

Clark explained that while the Tibetan Aid Fund’s primary goal is raising money for exiled Tibetans, the Yeshe De project is dedicated to preserving the ancient texts and prayers. 

After printing, the sacred Tibetan prayers are cut into 3-foot long strips and are rolled up to be put in hand-held prayer wheels. Monks and nuns chant the prayers and spin the wheel to release the blessing of the prayer. 

“If you turn the wheel clockwise it’s said to also have a healing effect,” said Kirk Grissom, tour guide and volunteer for Dharma. 

The man behind it all, the Buddhist lama Tarthang Tulku, came to Berkeley in 1969 and established the Nyingma Institute.  

The Institute brings students of Buddhism from around the world to hear the teachings of Tulku, known to his students as Rinpoche – a title bestowed to exceptional Tibetan lamas. Many of the students, like Magdalena Duran from Spain, volunteer at Dharma. 

Duran said that when she isn’t studying the teachings of Rinpoche, or working a regular job, she volunteers in the showroom at Dharma. 

Grissom said the lama began Dharma Publishing to preserve Tibetan texts and art, to publish Buddhist works in Western languages that communicate the meaning and value of the Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha) and to distribute the texts to his fellow monks and scholars in Tibet and India. 

Monday, Aug. 28

City of Berkeley Loan  

Administration Board special meeting 

7 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

Conference Room, 2nd floor 

2939 Ellis Street 

Agenda items include the Odyssia Cafe and Cafe Caracas 

“The Universal, the Particular  

and the Personal in Liturgy” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Rabbi Ben Hollander, from Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English, with the cooperation with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay. 

Tai Chi Chih 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With Ben Levitan. 

644-6107 

Tuesday, Aug. 29

Golden Age Party Celebration 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

Celebration honoring seniors over 90 years of age. 

644-6107 

“The Akedah: To Be a Servant  

of God” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond JCC 

1414 Walnut St. 

Rabbi Yosef Leitbowitzr, from Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English, with the cooperation with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay. 

Wednesday, Aug. 30

“Rav Kuk’s Concepts of  

Repentance” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond JCC 

1414 Walnut St. 

Rabbi Yosef Leitbowitzr, from Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English, with the cooperation with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay. 

Rhythm Magic 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With Mikka. 

644-6107 

Bridge 

1 p.m. 

Live Oak Community Center 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

The games are open to all players 

For partnership and other informa- 

tion, please call Vi Kimoto at (510) 

223-6539. 

Thursday, Aug. 31

Meeting Life Changes 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With John Hammerman. 

644-6107 

“Life and Death Mishnaic  

Themes of Yom Kippur” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond JCC 

1414 Walnut St. 

Leah Rosental, from Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English, with the corporation with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay.  

The History of California Rock Climbing 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Join Andy Puhvel, director of Yo! Basecamp rock climbing school, for a slide presentation on the history of rock climbing here in California. You’ll find out how creative advancements in technology, combined with boldness and inspiration, made Yosemite Valley climbers the pioneers of this sport.  

527-7377 

“Calming Our Minds” 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley Community Theater 

Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen Master, will be giving a public lecture titled “Calming Our Minds, Opening Our Hearts” at the Berkeley Community Theater. 

Tickets are $20 

433-9928 

The Revelations: A Concert for the Children of Chiapas 

8 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

The Revelations, a Spanish-English reggae band from San Diego, will perform at La Pena Cultural Center to benefit Schools for Chiapas. Schools for Chiapas, a 

nonprofit organization, supports Mayan communities in the Mexican state of Chiapas in their effort to create an autonomous, indigenous education system. $5. 

849-2568 

Friday, Sept. 1

Bridge 

1 p.m. 

Live Oak Community Center 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

The games are open to all players 

For partnership and other informa- 

tion, please call Vi Kimoto at (510) 

223-6539 

“Daughter of the Regiment” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 2

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Lakeside Park on Lake Merritt, Oakland 

Internationally Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh will lead meditation exercises and lectures focusing on ‘mindful living.’ 

(510) 433-9928 

Acupuncture for head and neck pain 

1-2 p.m. 

Meiji College of Oriental Medicine 

2550 Shattuck Ave. 

This is an opportunity to find out about what acupuncture and Oriental herbal medicine is and how it works. Free. 

666-8248 

Exercise to Music 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Sept. 6

Alzheimer’s and dementia support group 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Thursday, Sept. 7

Growing wise with Betty Goren 

10:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

“Discipline & Citizenship” conference 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

6:30 p.m. -8 p.m. 

Friday, Sept. 8

“Discipline & Citizenship” conference 

Graduate Theological Union 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave. 

9 a.m.-4 p.m. 

895-4542 

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 9

Open house 

Julia Morgan center for the Arts 

Meet new leaders and artist and learn about future plans for the facility. RSVPs encouraged 

2640 College Ave. Berkeley 

4- 7 p.m. 

845-8542 

Sunday, Sept. 10

“Doors to Madame Marie” 

11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

As part of the Jewish Learning Center’s Authors Series in the Library, Odette Meyers will be available for discussion and booksigning. 

848-0237 

“Next Stop, Greenwich Village” 

2-4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center Cinema 

1414 Walnut St.  

Based on filmmaker Paul Mazursky’s own passage from Brooklyn to Greenwich Village, the film is about the dynamics of leaving home and trying to leave home behind. There will be a peer led discussion following the movie. 

$2 suggested donation.  

848-0237 

Monday, Sept. 11

“12th annual Berkeley YMCA Golf Tournament” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 11:00 a.m. 

Entry fee includes cart, lunch on the course and dinner. Proceeds benefit Albany-Berkeley YMCA  

$125 Entry Fee 

549-4525 

Voter workshop 

Learn about voting absentee and working a local polling places. 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Tuesday, Sept. 12

Tai Chi Chuan 

11 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Sept. 13

Mid-Autumn Festival 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Thursday, Sept. 14

Eugene O’Neil House, Mt.  

Diablo State Park Trip  

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

$21 per person 

644-6107 

Pre-business workshop 

Small-business Development Center 

519 17th St. Suite 200, Oakland 

8 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 

$35  

273-6611, www.eastbayscore.org, eastbayscore@yahoo.com 

Yoga class 

2 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Friday, Sept. 15

“The Barber of Seville” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 16

Shoreline clean-up walk 

10 a.m. 

Seabreeze Market, on Frontage Road just west of University Avenue 

Friends of Five Creeks leads a walk, talking about  

history, wildlife, and restoration possibilities from Strawberry to Codornices Creeks, as part of Coastal Cleanup 2000.  

Call: 848-9358  

Saturday, Sept. 19

“Fibromyalgia Support  

Group” 

noon -2:00 p.m. 

“RAP Session” 

Alta Bates Medical Center, Maffly Auditorium-Herrick Campus, 2001 Dwight Way 

601-0550 

Thursday, Sept. 21

Hearing to terminate the  

Conditional Order for  

Abatement for Pacific Steel  

Casting Co. 

Bay Area Air Quality management District 

939 Ellis St. 7th Floor Board Room 

San Francisco 

415-749-4965 

APCO vs. Pacific Steel Casting Company 

Docket No. 832 

9:30 a.m. 

Bay Area Air Quality Management District  

939 Ellis St., 7th Floor Board Room 

San Francisco 

A hearing has been scheduled in connection with the Motion to Terminate the Conditional Order for Abatement filed by the Respondent, Pacific Steel Casting Company. 

(415) 749-4965 

Friday, September 22

Point Reyes Nature Center, Earthquake Trail Trip 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

$18 per person 

644-6107 

Sunday, Sept. 24

“First Steps in Finding your Family History” 

Brunch 10:30 a.m., lecture 11 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Using both story-telling and generational techniques, Dr. Lois Silverstein will offer beginning steps to rediscovering family heritage and traditions.  

$4 for BRJCC members and $5 for all others 

848-0237 

Wednesday, Sept. 27

“Improving your bottom line” 

2-5 p.m. 

Berkeley Yacht Club 

1 Seawall Dr. 

Speakers include, Mayor Shirley Dean, Dr. Drian Nattrass and Mary Altomare Natrass, authors of “The Natural Step for Busines” and two of the world’s leading authorities on providing a strategic business framework romoting sustainabiliity and profitability. 

Monday, October 2

“2nd Annual Berkeley City Championship” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Entries accepted August 1. Entry Fee includes gift, cart and Awards Dinner. Proceeds benefit local organizations and projects. This event determines Berkeley City Champion and Seven other Flight Winners. 

$115 Entry Fee 

841-0972 

Thursday, October 5

“3rd annual Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Association Golf Tournament” 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

Shotgun Start at 7:30 a.m. Entry Fee includes cart range balls and Award Luncheon. Proceeds benefit Berkeley Black Police Officers’ Scholarship Fund. 

$99 Entry Fee 

644-6554 

ONGOING EVENTS 

Sundays 

Green Party Consensus Building Meeting 

6 p.m. 

2022 Blake St. 

This is part of an ongoing series of discussions for the Green Party of Alameda County, leading up to endorsements on measures and candidates on the November ballot. This week’s focus will be the countywide new Measure B transportation sales tax. The meeting is open to all, regardless of party affiliation. 

415-789-8418 

Tuesdays 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

531-8664 

Computer literacy course 

6-8 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 Eighth St. 

This free course will cover topics such as running Windows, File Management, connecting to and surfing the web, using Email, creating Web pages, JavaScript and a simple overview of programming. The course is oriented for adults. 

644-8511 

Saturdays 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright 

Thursdays 

The Disability Mural 

4-7 p.m. through September 

Integrated Arts 

933 Parker 

Drop-in Mural Studios will be held for community gatherings and tile-making sessions. This mural will be installed at Ed Roberts campus. 

841-1466 

Fridays 

Ralph Nader for President 

7 p.m.  

Video showings to continue until November. Campaign donations are requested. Admission is free.  

Contact Jack for directions at 524-1784. 

2nd and 4th Sunday 

Rhyme and Reason Open Mike Series 

2:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant Ave. 

The public and students are invited. Sign-ups for the open mike begin at 2 p.m. 

234-0727;642-5168 

Tuesay and Thursday 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Kudos to city 

Editor: 

Thank you, thank you...College is open and smooth! I have waited 15 years for the street to be repaved.  

No longer is it necessary to own a SUV in Berkeley...we can go back to the Volvo Station Wagons! 

Kudos to the politicians, construction crews, planners, what a success! 

Steve KoneffKlatt 

Berkeley 

Poor bus service isolates elders 

The Berkeley Daily Planet received this petition addressed to Rick Fernandez, AC Transit general manager and the AC Transit Board of Directors: 

The signatures herewith represent the over 200 residents of the HUD-subsidized low-income, elderly and disabled, housed at Redwood Gardens, 29051 Derby St.: 

(We) charge the above officials with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and the United States Constitution by discriminating against the undersigned because of age, sex, race, ethnic origin and failure to extend equal treatment to the undersigned as American citizens. 

The effects of the unfair schedule of AC Transit Bus line #7 departing its last run from the Berkeley BART Station each weekday at 9:12 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday at 6:36 p.m., only running every hour, causes the isolation of the inhabitants of Redwood Gardens from participating in the life of the community and our inability to actively become involved in the duties of citizenship. We would like the immediate restoration of the schedule which permitted us to engage in evening activities in the community. 

200 signatures 

Another view on iceplant 

Editor: 

Apropos Tony Morosco’s “Perspective” about iceplant, here is a contrary view: 

We think there is nothing more beautiful than a large area of iceplant, with red and green leaves and exquisite pink and yellow flowers, spilling down a beige sandstone cliff, with the white-flecked blue ocean in the background. 

Contrast this with the weed-patch collection of mangy-looking “native plants” which appears where iceplant has been destroyed with toxic herbicides (shame on you Native Plant Society), and which grow up to obscure the ocean view. 

So cheers for iceplant, long may it prosper, and cheers for the Postal Service e for producing a stamp which sows its beauty. 

Mary Ann and Bair Whaley 

Berkeley 

Wednesday, Sept. 13 marks the 101st anniversary of the first automobile fatality in North America. Since then, four times as many U.S. residents have been killed in motor vehicle accidents as were slain in all our nation’s wars since the 1776 Revolution. 

Are we so incentive to violence that we’ll accept it to such an extreme degree in order to have independent mobility? 

Among the rights we all enjoy in the United States is (or should be) the right to equal access to all public accommodations without having to rely on modes of transportation so dangerous that they require eat belts, air bags or crash helmets. 

Land-use decisions (consistently ignoring public transit and other alternatives to the auto as necessary infrastructure) leave increasing numbers of us faced with a choice of driving illegally or being disenfranchised. 

All planning codes should prohibit any development that is not at least as accessible and functional for non-motorists as it is for those who drive. We have a serious civil rights issue here: development that accommodates motorists only violates the equal protections provision of our constitution. 

What kind of fools would build the biggest public works project in human history – our interstate highway system – for national defense and then force themselves into dependence on a mode of transportation that’s deadlier than war? Our land use decisions are a greater threat to our well-being than any allegedly hostile elements outside our borders. 

Art Weber 

Transportation Chair, Berkeley Gray Panthers 

When Mark Covington applied for a clerical position at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory eight years ago, he unknowingly underwent a battery of genetic tests.  

“The Lab ran urine and blood tests for sickle cell anemia and syphilis,” said Covington, an African American. “They didn’t tell me about it, and they even re-tested me later, after I was hired.” 

Covington and seven others claimed that tests performed on minority workers were not done on Caucasians. They sued the labs for violation of their civil rights and won. 

Now an organizer with CUE, the Coalition of University Employees, Covington and his union are leveling new charges of racial discrimination against the Labs. The union represents 240 clerics in the labs. 

Claiming that people of color receive no training programs, that advancement is based on arbitrary and undefined standards, and that new hires are given higher wages than employees who have been there for years, CUE filed a discrimination suit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Program on Aug. 22. 

“Seventy-five percent of the lowest level clerics at the Labs are ethnic minorities. At the higher levels, they number only 28 percent.” said Covington. 

Clerics are “the glue of the lab” said Alyce Herrera, spokesperson for CUE. “They do scientific reports, power point presentations, they keep the offices going.” 

Ron Kolb, spokesperson for LBNL, defended the lab and dismissed the union’s charges as a negotiating tool. 

“The suit is a surprise to us,” Kolb said. “But the charges are nothing new. We’ve been at the negotiating table with CUE for two and a half years now. It’s just a bargaining tactic.” 

Kolb said the heart of negotiations is the pay system, which is “based on market rates and is merit based.” 

“CUE wants built-in raises based on seniority. The implication is that we are not paying at market rates, but the fact is that we pay 10 percent higher than what the UC schools pay already. Raises are based upon personal performance levels, not seniority,” Kolb said. 

Covington disagrees. 

“Raises are not based on any kinds of standards at all,” he said. “The different classifications of administrative assistant are vague, arbitrary, and there is no step system to get a promotion.  

Because of that, you see people who have been employees the longest clustered at the bottom of the wage scale and responsibility scale. New hires are getting between a dollar and a half to three dollars more per hour.” 

Kolb blames that on the lengthy negotiations between the labs and CUE. 

“There have been no raises in the last two and a half years for those already employed because there is no deal brokered,” he said.  

“In the meantime, we’ve had to hire new people, and we’ve hired at market rates, which have increased. 

“After the deal is done, all of the older employees represented by CUE will receive eight to 10 percent in back pay, and whatever the contract allows for raises.” 

Covington is still concerned with the issue of people of color bumping their heads on the glass ceiling.  

“Why are the stats so different at different levels of responsibility and pay? I don’t think that it’s because minorities are less capable. It speaks to the management of the labs. Opportunities for advancement aren’t available to minorities here. There is no training that’s been outlined – to advance, minorities often have to leave the department.”  

“Those stats are probably right,” Kolb said. “But of themselves they don’t prove any discrimination. 

“We would deny that advances people make in the labs have any basis in their ethnicity. These numbers are no different than numbers which pervade the entire UC system.” 

But Covington calls such words an admission of a bigger problem rather than a justification of the lab conditions.  

“The labs are just a small part of a larger problem. As diverse as this area is, we still see these good ol’ boy networks.” 

The EEOC suit comes on the heels of Wen Ho Lee’s release from a New Mexico prison. 

The university has managed security and personnel decisions at a troika of nuclear laboratories across the nation since the Cold War, including Los Alamos National Laboratory, where the Atomic bomb was created.  

It was there that Dr. Wen Ho Lee was arrested on secret evidence for allegedly passing national secrets to an unidentified foreign nation.  

In solitary confinement for the last eight months in a New Mexico prison, critics of Lee’s arrest claimed that the Los Alamos Labs, also administered by the UC system, singled Lee out because of his race.  

With no evidence to hold him, Lee finally returned home after posting $1 million in bail. 

Covington said he thinks the advances made by people of color in America since the Civil Rights Era have rapidly deteriorated. 

“Its just another national lab managed by the university where these kinds of issues keep rearing their ugly heads,” Covington said.  

“Diversity issues are no longer in fashion, and people here in Berkeley think that it’s not like that here, that it could never be that way here. But you just have to ask yourself, why is all ‘the diversity’ stuck at the bottom?” 

Spokesperson Linda Li said the EEOC will conduct a 180 day investigation, after which it will either recommend that the Department of Justice take a case up against the university, or dismiss the suit if it finds no evidence of discrimination.  

Kolb said, “We welcome any EEOC investigation. We have proof that we are not discriminating.”

Few images are cozier than that of friends and family snuggled around the hearth on a rainy winter’s eve. 

And few images are as frightening as the desperate mom dialing 911 when her child, with a severe asthma attack, is gasping for air. 

There could be a link between the two images.  

“Studies by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District suggest that between 20 and 50 percent of air polluting particulate matter comes from home fireplaces and wood stoves,” says a report issued last week by the city’s Community Environmental Advisory Commission. 

Because of the possible danger to health, the advisory commission is considering recommending restrictions on wood-burning fireplaces.  

They have outlined a panoply of proposals, from educating people to the potential harm from the particulates to the more drastic step of banning wood-burning stoves when homes are sold.  

The commission is asking for community input. 

Interim Planning Director Wendy Cosin said the city has no data on the specifics of how or where wood-burning stoves affect residents.  

The city recently had a consultant conduct a one-day study in the city to study particulates and emissions in the air, but Cosin said the study wasn’t sophisticated enough to separate out the residue from wood-burning stoves from other kinds of air pollutants. 

The CEAC began to look at the question in January after receiving a letter from Bay Area Air Quality Management District Executive Officer Ellen Garvey which said, in part: “The Air District is concerned with wood burning because fireplaces and wood stoves generate 40 percent of the particulate matter in the Bay Area during the winter months. Of greatest concern are the fine particles, which can lodge deep in the lungs causing permanent lung damage and increasing mortality.”  

Particulates are associated with aggravated asthma, aggravated coughing, chronic bronchitis, and even premature death, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.  

Wood smoke contains lead cadmium and arsenic. “Wood smoke can damage sperm and cause birth defects,” says the group Burning Issues, a Point Arena-based organization dedicated to clean energy research and education. 

The smoke also generates carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and toxic air pollutants, Garvey said. 

Realtors are among those who have questioned restrictions on wood-burning stoves when homes are sold. Earlier in the year, the Berkeley Association of Realtors passed a resolution in opposition. 

Lois Kadosh. association president, pointed to some of the beautiful old Berkeley homes – craftsmen houses and Maybecks – whose fireplaces are the “centerpiece” of the home. “People have an emotional attachment to fireplaces,” she said. 

She said it would be unfair for someone who bought such a home, not to be allowed to use “a beautiful part of the house.” 

Kadosh said the realtors, however, have open minds on the question. “We’d like to see the actual statistics,” she said. “Where are they getting their facts?”

Following extensive discussions about health impacts from wood burning, the Community Environmental Advisory Commission concluded that exposure to wood-smoke particles may result in acute and chronic health problems.  

CEAC has prepared 10 actions for consideration to reduce the adverse health effects from smoke generated by wood burning and are requesting public comment on them.  

They include: 

• Promote an area-wide public awareness campaign  

under the auspices of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District; 

• Adopt an ordinance banning old-fashioned wood stoves and open space fireplaces in new residential construction, and set standards for appropriate choice of fuels; 

• Ban new commercial installations of fireplaces and wood ovens or require that smoke-control measures be employed;  

• Adopt an ordinance requiring before the sale of a house that open fireplaces and old-fashioned wood stoves shall be either removed or replaced with gas logs, closed low-polluting fireplaces, or modern low-polluting wood stoves;  

• Adopt an ordinance requiring that a fireplace or wood-stove conversion shall be performed whenever a major house remodeling is proposed; 

• Enact a transfer-tax credit to help cover the cost of fireplace or wood-stove conversions before the house sale;  

• Establish a telephone hotline for complaints to Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which already has the authority to control excessive household chimney smoke emissions; 

• Adopt an ordinance prohibiting the use of fireplaces and wood stoves during “spare the air” days, and allowing a waiver for homes with no other sources of heat; 

• Enlist the support of the Berkeley Dispute Resolution Service to help resolve wood-smoke problems concerning specific houses; 

• Develop a plan to further study the magnitude of air pollution by wood-smoke, using technologically advanced air-sampling devices at multiple locations throughout Berkeley.  

Comments can be e-mailed to toxins@ci.berkeley.ca.us, faxed to 540-5672 or mailed to: Toxins Management Division, 2118 Milvia Street, 2nd Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704;  

The CEAC may discuss this at its Sept. 7 meeting, 7 p.m. on Sept. 7 at 2118 Milvia Street, Conference Room A.

by John Angell Grant 

Daily Planet Correspondent 

Word for Word opened a theatrical staging of novelist Annie Proulx’s short story “The Bunchgrass Edge of the World” on Thursday at the Magic Theater in San Francisco.  

Proulx is probably best known for her wonderful 1994 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Shipping News.” 

Word for Word is an unusual and interesting theater company. The group’s mandate is to present on stage works of fiction, not drama, and to stick rigidly to the writer’s exact text. 

Thus, in Word for Word productions, the actors speak not only the story's dialogue, but also its narration, exposition and description. When the group is on target, these stagings are very powerful. 

The current production, however, struggles to find an appropriate performance framework for Proulx’s story, and doesn’t solve that problem until more than half-way through the show. 

“The Bunchgrass Edge of the World” is a quirky and episodic story of three generations of a dysfunctional Wyoming ranching family. 

Humorous and poignant, Proulx’s saga is similar in flavor and tone to other contemporary American novelists of the west, such as Jim Harrison, Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy. Running about 90 minutes without an intermission, “Bunchgrass” tells a rambling family story of poverty and wealth, hard-nosed patriarchs, incest, prodigal children, alcohol and drugs, and other family conflicts. 

Performed by seven actors, several of them playing multiple roles, much of the show appears to be an ensemble story in which all the family members have moments of story importance. 

The play’s final third, however, focuses on lonely and obese daughter Ottoline, and makes it her story. Ottoline’s startling conversations with an abandoned tractor eventually verge on the sexual. A sudden positive turn of events in Ottoline's life gives “Bunchgrass” a wistfully happy ending. 

Director Sandra Langsner Crew’s staging has several problems. For one, Proulx’s story narrative is broken into tiny fragments that are divided among the seven performers. The series of quick cues that this requires distracts from the content of Proulx’s text. 

In addition, the foot noise of the actors, who move on and off the stage quickly again and again through their many short narrative scenes, also distracts from the lyricism of Proulx’s prose. 

Third, the fast pacing of the show’s early scenes lends itself to a satirical, and at times buffoonish interpretation of the quirky characters by the actors–but this does not reflect the compassion Proulx feels for her troubled family members. 

Word for Word’s production doesn’t settle down until its final third, when Ottoline (Amy Kossow) begins to have encounters with a talking tractor (Brian Keith Russell). This part of Crews’ staging proves to be quite clever and powerful. 

B. Chico Purdiman's cattle dealer Flyby, appearing also in this final segment, is one of the evening's stronger performances. 

The play’s final third is strong for one reason – the actors get away from satirical performance and play the characters for real. 

Novelist and short story writer Proulx did not come to fiction writing until she was in her 50s. In a 1997 interview she wisely advised aspiring writers, “Spend some time living before you start writing.” 

Proulx then went on to skewer a platitude found in creative writing programs far and wide, by adding, “What I find to be very bad advice is the snappy little sentence, ‘Write what you know.’ It is the most tiresome and stupid advice that could possibly be given. If we write about what we know we never grow.” 

“The Bunchgrass Edge of the World,” presented by Word for Word at the Magic Theater, Building D, Fort Mason, San Francisco, through Sept. 17. For tickets and information, call (415) 437-6775. 

For information about Word for Word's school and library tours of classic and contemporary fiction, call (415) 364-1616, or visit the website (www.zspace.org).