Features

We want to have locally written columns of all kinds. We’re delighted to announce that Susan Cerny has agreed to continue her very popular columns on Berkeley’s world famous architectural heritage. Click on the “Rediscovering Berkeley” button at the left to read her latest. Other categories which have been suggested so far: local history, food, home maintenance, gardening, travel, health, education, environment, human rights, conflict resolution, landlord-tenant relations, film, books ...and there are many more possibilities. What categories can you suggest? 

In each category, we’ll look for contributions from a variety of writers. These could contain information, advice or opinion. For example: on gardening, one writer has proposed an informational column about U.C.’S sick plant clinic. Another suggests a column on taking care of your street trees, with some pointed criticism of how poorly the city maintains them. No rigid lines between advice and opinion on this topic! (We promise never to run garden filler pieces from national sources on protecting your roses from snow.)  

The new Planet will also look for “foreign correspondents” from all kinds of places, near and far. Berkeleyans would like to hear about how the peace movement is doing in Indiana. They’re interested in how Santa Cruz is handling medical marijuana. They travel a lot, and want reports from people in exotic places, but they also want to know what’s going on in Albany, especially as it affects our shared shoreline. Can you suggest correspondents?