“We are challenging the memory that Black Panthers were brutal, the memory that they were violent, and the memory that they were criminal,” said UC Berkeley professor Percy Hintzen at a lecture Sunday.  

The challenge is in photographs — taken over a four-month period in 1968 — now on display at the Berkeley Art Museum.  

Hintzen, chair of African American studies, called the exhibit “a project of ‘re-memory.’ ” 

Former Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver spoke at the lecture, praising the series of photographs for focusing on the group’s civic reform efforts in the 1960s, helping temper the violent reputation for which the Bay Area radical liberation group became infamous. 

Husband and wife photographers Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones photographed the Black Panther Party members at a time when the radical organization was reeling from the pending trial of co-founder Huey P. Newton for the alleged murder of Oakland Police Officer John Frey. It was also a time when local, state and federal law enforcement agencies were pressuring the organization after FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover called the Panthers “the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States.” 

According to Cleaver, the Baruch and Jones photos tell a different story. She said they depict a very young, idealistic and organized group intent on making changes in a community that had long suffered the indignities of brutal oppression and little opportunity.  

About 250 people, including 15 ex-Panthers, filed into the museum’s theater Sunday to listen to Cleaver discuss the liberation movement while she flipped through a sampling of photos from the exhibit. She paused for a long time at a portrait of an unidentified young man standing guard outside a Black Panther meeting. 

“He is intense, completely concentrated and prepared to deal with any situation that arises,” she said. “It’s important to remember that most of the Panthers were teenagers. They were young, vulnerable, committed kids who put their lives on the line to better their community.”  

A jail photo of Newton just after he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Frey’s killing captures the youthful resolve of movement, she said. His handsome face is relaxed, his large eyes open and hopeful despite the recent conviction.  

“He seemed to be very much the leader,” wrote Baruch, who passed away in 1997, about the photo. “Sensitive and responsive, Huey’s face was a joy to photograph.” 

One goal of the photo exhibition, running concurrently with a series of documentaries on the Black Panther Party at the Pacific Film Archive, is to change the image of the Black Panthers, said Hintzen. 

He said Newton and Bobby Seale, then students at Merritt College, founded the Black Panther Party in 1966 to challenge a society based on racism, oppression and inequality. 

Hintzen described the Panther’s founding doctrine, known as the 10 Point Program, which sought to establish basic rights for the black community. The program demanded opportunities for housing, education and employment and an end to police brutality. 

Many of the exhibit photos focus on the Black Panther ethics of education and community service. There are several classroom photos of professor George Murray, a Panther who taught at San Francisco State University, as well as reading programs that were offered to the rank and file Panthers.  

Photos of the Panther-sponsored St. Augustine’s Breakfast Program for black children are also included in the exhibit, which runs through June 29. 

“It was an exciting, exhilarating and important time,” Cleaver said. “We were doing to politics what Jimmy Hendrix was doing to music.” 

Former Panther Elder Freeman, a painter who still lives in Oakland, said he was glad to see the photography exhibit highlighting the group’s accomplishments. 

“I very proud to see attention given to the Breakfast Program and the Panther emphasis on education and the voter registration drives,” he said. “We really felt we could make a change.” 

Pirkle Jones, 86, said he and his wife thought a photo essay on the Panthers would be interesting, and they proposed the project to Jack McGregor, then director of the de Young Museum. McGregor agreed to support the project.  

“We had no idea in the world that this would become as important as it did,” Jones said. “This is what we saw and this is what we felt.”

Frank Rich, the longtime New York Times drama critic, couldn’t seem to find anything good to say about Harry Kondoleon’s “The Vampires” when it appeared 14 years ago in New York. Judging by the production of Shotgun Players that opened Saturday night at La Val’s Subterranean, it looks as if Rich was just having a bad night.  

Be that as it may, Shotgun has taken the same play and created an amusing, if largely indescribable, evening’s entertainment which, after a slow start, turns out to be well worth the price of admission. 

The lead vampire of the play’s title is a drama critic, Ian (Patrick Dooley), who has just been fired after writing a review that caused an actor to jump out a hotel window. He has also made the injudicious gesture of publishing an assault on his brother Ed’s (Dave Maier) first play. Perhaps sensibly, Ian decides that he has turned into a vampire before Ed shows up to discuss the review. Ian goes to live in the cellar — appearing from time to time in search of his proper quota of blood. 

The play’s other characters accept Ian’s transformation with rather more equanimity than one would expect — particularly his wife, CC (Beth Donohue). She sums up the situation with, “You’re going through a difficult career transition period.” 

CC, like her sister-in-law, Pat ( Kimberly Wilday), begins as a traditional female stereotype and, as with the other characters, goes off in various ways into a never-never land of such remarkable logic that one really doesn’t care how little sense the narrative makes. The ideas are just too funny. Granted, there are a number of highly loaded and far from funny issues that pop in and out throughout what — for want of a better word — must be referred to as the plot. In this production the darkness fades, and it is the absurdist comedy that remains. 

When Ed storms in to demonstrate his displeasure with Ian’s lousy review, Ian promptly recognizes that there was more merit to the play than he had originally seen, and the two couples unite to produce an edited version. It’s a decision that leads to a second act in which the adult characters all appear clad in various versions of the American flag.  

I mean, why not? 

In the meantime, Ed and Pat’s 13-year-old druggie daughter, Zivia (Nina Auslander), has come on the scene to provide as much torment as she can to her parents. And for further confusion, the founder of the local Ashram, Porter (Robert Martinez), appears, chanting away, with a number of ideas that will certainly prove to be of some quite tangible benefit for himself.  

The ensemble is the strength of the production; the actors play so effectively as a group that it seems inappropriate to linger on any individual performance. There really are no stars in this production. Curiously, Kondoleon wrote a relatively brief opening which is structured quite differently from the rest of the play, focusing lengthily on one actor. It is misleading as well as the weakest part of the production, since the bulk of the play shifts skillfully from one to another of the cast members, giving each about the same amount of time and attention.  

This litany of facts may present an appearance of more coherence to the action on stage than is actually experienced by the audience or, more precisely, by the characters. 

They change quite abruptly from one mood or situation to another with no apparent need to make a bridge or any logical resolution of any particular issue. One couple, for example, raises the issue of divorce, and then never mentions the subject again.  

The curious thing is that that kind of logical dead end doesn’t matter. It is the glitter of the words that carries this play and makes it worth seeing.

TAX REFUND 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I can’t stop thinking about Tom Miller’s “Taxes for Books, Not Bombs” ad in the Berkeley Daily Planet (covered by the San Francisco Chronicle on April 11), which suggests we’d be better off giving our federal taxes directly to local schools. 

By the way, California spends about $7,000 per year per public school student, and approximately $25,000 per prisoner in our huge and ever-increasing corrections system. 

May I suggest that all of us who agree with Mr. Miller donate at least a portion of any refunded federal and state taxes, perhaps to a school or local literacy program? 

Melanie Lawrence 

• 

NO ROLE IN WAR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I want to commend Rabbi Steven Chester (Daily Planet, April 8-10 edition) for his commentary piece “Keep God Card Out Of This War.” The rabbi’s words are a thoughtful and timely reminder for all of us to remember that God should not be made to take part in any conflict, especially where thousands of civilians are being injured, maimed or killed. 

As a Palestinian American, I especially know the consequences of the pseudo-Godspeak from the many Jews and Palestinians who behave like God-appointed ventriloquists and henchmen. It is time to rely on our rich humanity and seek justice and peace instead of war and continuous conflict. 

A. Saba 

• 

PRO-DEMOCRAT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I already like the new Daily Planet because it is encouraging a high-minded Berkeley-type dialogue in our community. 

I wish to support Carol Denney’s strong sentiment in the Letters to the Editor of the April 4-7 edition, when she says the Green Party owes progressive Democrats (and all other sentient beings on this planet) an apology. 

Ralph Nader’s unilateralist, pre-emptive candidacy of 2000 certainly cost this country dearly. There is plenty of blame to go around, from gutless Democrats to those who didn’t even bother to vote. 

I worked as a volunteer with other ordinary people at the Democratic Headquarters in Oakland during the 2000 election, and I found the group to be a beautiful coalition of people of every age, race and economic level, all working together to get out the vote. 

Greens might be interested to know that 86.2 percent of the people of Macon County, Ala., voted for Al Gore. Can all these people in the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement be wrong? If you think Al Gore is a “eunuch,” you should reread his prophetic speech of Sept. 23, 2002, given at the Common Wealth Club in San Francisco. He forcefully argued against war with Iraq, well before any of the current Democratic candidates. 

Greens often say things like he ran a poor race; that Gore lost his home state of Tennessee. Can they acknowledge that despite the massive amounts of money the Republicans poured into Tennessee and Florida he still won by over 500,000 votes? That the Congressional Black Caucus, the conscience of our government, supported him 100 percent? 

We desperately need a Democratic candidate with a commanding understanding of where our foreign policy is going with these Bush moves to shut out all world cooperative organizations like the United Nations and NATO, which Al Gore counseled against. 

As an old Democrat, I often feel like a shame-bound abuse victim when I try to defend Al Gore to a purist Green. What’s up with that? 

I hope we Democrats and Greens can reconcile big time for the 2004 presidential race, because we can’t afford another four years of Bush’s policies. And I hope Gore reconsiders running in 2004. 

Maureen Farrell 

• 

ADHERE TO TERMS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m an artist living at the Durkee building in Berkeley. 

It’s a live-work building for low-income artists. Sculptors, painters, woodworkers, photographers, children’s book illustrators and performance artists all live here. 

It was created 15 years ago when a developer bought the building (a vintage brick structure that originally housed a margarine factory) and tried to kick out the artists and tear down the building. 

The outcome of the lawsuit that followed was that in return for preserving the space for low-income artists in perpetuity, the developer (who owns many of the properties in West Berkeley, including Bayer and Xoma) would get special tax credits for 30 years. This was part of the West Berkeley Mu-Li plan (Mixed Use, Light Industrial) to try to preserve light industry and protect artists in the neighborhood from being forced out. 

At the beginning of March we received notice that Wareham was opting out, and we had one year’s notice. 

All we are asking is that they adhere to the terms of the original use permit. 

Claire B. Cotts

Among Berkeley’s few remaining original downtown residences is the John M. Doyle House, located at 2008 University Avenue. It was built as a duplex with a workshop in 1890; the storefront facade was added in 1947, but the Victorian house has remained in the rear.  

All buildings have a history. This house, however, has the distinction of being built by one of Berkeley’s early pioneers, John M. Doyle (1851-1934). The Feb. 27, 1890, edition of The Berkeley Herald described Doyle as: “The gentleman who took active part in the incorporation of Berkeley.”  

Doyle was part of a group of Berkeley residents, from both the university community and Ocean View (now West Berkeley), who worked diligently for the incorporation of Berkeley in 1878. Before that, Berkeley was a part of Oakland Township. 

Members of the Workingman’s Party, which was a major force in the incorporation movement, became Berkeley’s first elected Board of Trustees (now City Council). Doyle was a leading member of the party and served as it first secretary.  

The presence of the Doyle House in this now unlikely location reflects the complex layers of economic, cultural and political history that influenced Berkeley’s growth and development, and serves as a tangible link to the past. Increased development in this commercial-mixed use district over the past two decades has left the Doyle House a lone remnant of the past on this block of University Avenue. It was designated a Structure of Merit in June 2002. 

But the future of the house is threatened. The Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board last year approved a demolition permit for the house. The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) appealed that decision to City Council, arguing that requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act were not met. 

The council overturned the Structure of Merit designation and upheld the demolition permit. BAHA then filed a complaint against the city with the Superior Court of Alameda County on Dec. 18, 2002, arguing that the demolition permit was premature without an Environmental Impact Report. The complaint hearing will be April 24 in Alameda County Superior Court. 

Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny is the author of the book “Berkeley Landmarks” and writes this column in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.

TUESDAY, APRIL 15 

Career Talk: A Musician’s Way of Work, with Dana Anderson-Williams, from noon to 1 p.m. at the YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way. Cost is $3 at the door. For information call 848-6370. 

Renewable Energy: Policy and Practical Solutions, with Peter Asmus, director, PathFinder Communications, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. For reservations: 981-5435.  

energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 

Community Meeting for Traffic Circle Project at California/Oregon Streets. Join city of Berkeley staff in discussing the proposed construction of a landscaped traffic circle at the intersection of California St. and Oregon St., 7 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center, 1730 Oregon St. For information call Kenneth Emeziem 981-6444. 

THURSDAY, APRIL 17 

LeConte Neighborhood Association Meeting at 7:30 p.m. at LeConte School, Russell St. at Ellsworth. 

Lawyers in the Library at 6 p.m. at the Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 981-6280. 

City of Berkeley Budget Crisis, a discussion with City Manager Weldon Rucker and City Budget Manager Paul Navazio at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Main Library, Kittredge St., in the third floor conference room. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters. For information call Eloise Bodine 843-8824. http://home.pacbell.net/lwvbae/  

California Botanical Society 

“Giants in the Mist: coastal redwoods and the land-sea interface” a free lecture with Todd Dawson, Department of Integrative Biology, UCB, at 2063 Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Campus, 643-7008. www.calbotsoc.org 

FRIDAY, APRIL 18 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon Series: Robert Haas, Former Poet Laureate of the United States. Luncheon 11:45 a.m. $11.50- $12.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations 526-2925, 665-9020. 

John Zerzan will speak on the Pathology of Civilization in the context of the deepening crisis we face. “Surplus,” a new film by Erik Gandini, will be shown first. It is a 52-minute critique of consumer society and its non-future at 7 p.m. at The Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., near Dwight Way. Cost is $5 - $10 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds. 548-3402.  

SATURDAY, APRIL 19 

Berkeley Earth Day. Live music including Wild Mango; Climbing Wall; Kid’s Eco-Art making area with East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse; Vegetarian food and beer, craft and community booths; Berkeley Farmer’s Market Family Farm Day with bike hayrides, baby goats, wool spinning, observational beehive, Bay Area Seed Interchange Library and much more, at Civic Center Park 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Volunteers needed, call 530-2105. For information call 654-6346. 

Berkeley Association of Neighborhood Associations (BANA) monthly meeting third Saturday of every month. At 9:15 a.m. in the Fireside Room, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave.  

587-3257. www.berkeleycna.com 

Healing Our Community Through Positive Change, a conference sponsored by the Parent Resource Center of Berkeley High. Topics include parent/teen communication, kids and the law, how to pay for college, and depression, among others. Held at Berkeley Alternative High School, 2701 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free admission. For information call the BHS Parent Resource Center at 644-8524. 

UC Berkeley Chinese Martial Arts Tournament in the Haas Pavilion on the UC Campus, beginning at 8:45 a.m. and continuing throughout the day. Admission is $7, children under five free. For information call 642-3268 or www.calwushu.com. 

California Native Plants Sale, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bring cardboard boxes, if possible, to carry purchases, and an umbrella if it rains. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Wildcat Canyon Rd. & South Park Dr., in Tilden Park. Free admission. 841-8732. 

www.nativeplants.org 

Springtime in Tilden Outing. Join the Greenbelt Alliance for a moderately challenging walk to Grizzly and Vollmer peaks in Tilden Park above Berkeley. We will traverse high ridges with panoramic vistas and explore human impacts on native plant systems. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Reservations required. 255-3233.  

Free real estate seminar, hosted by Charles Patton and Eric Jackson, from 10 a.m. to noon. 3362 Adeline. RSVP at 472-0197.  

SUNDAY, APRIL 20 

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk, facilitated by Berkeley singer-songwriter Margie Adam, begins at 2 p.m. at the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club, 1650 Mountain Blvd. Free of charge and open to all. Sponsored by the Avalon Project. 528-8193. 

MONDAY, APRIL 21 

Annual Critique of the American Presidency, The Center on Politics Presents: Bush at War: The Annual Review of the Presidency, from 7 to 9 p.m., 155 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. Panelists include: Eleanor Clift, Newsweek, Richard Berke, The New York Times, Nelson Polsby, UC Berkeley and Dean Michael Nacht, The Goldman School of Public Policy. Cosponsored by The Institute of Governmental Studies and UC Extension. 642-4608. 

www.igs.berkeley.edu 

Meeting of those injured at the Port of Oakland April 7 demonstration, at 499 14th Street, Suite 220, Oakland, Calif. (offices of Siegel & Yee) in Oakland City Center Square; near 12th St. BART station. Discussion will involve a legal response to that day’s police violence, and information will be collected from the injured and witnesses. Also needed: photographs and video of injuries and police behavior from that day. Whether or not you can make the meeting, if you were injured or witnessed specific inappropriate police behavior, call Rachel Lederman, 415-282-9300, or e-mail her at rlederman@2momslaw.com (National Lawyers Guild member). 

TUESDAY, APRIL 22 

We’re Getting There: Transportation and the Environment in Berkeley, with Matt Nichols of the Berkeley Transportation Office, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. For reservations call 981-5435. 

energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

“My Life as an Unabashed Liberal,” a lecture by Stephanie Salter, columnist and reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. She will discuss the role of liberalism in the current climate of American politics at 7:30 p.m., College Preparatory High School at 6100 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $10. Call Bruce H. Feingold at 925-945-1315 for information. 

Lawyers in the Library at 6 p.m. at the West Branch, 1125 University Ave. 981-6270. 

ONGOING EVENTS 

Activist Skill Class: Practical Skills for Difficult Times. Learn tactics and strategies of activism with Karen Pickett and Phil Klasky. Classes offered through Merritt College, Tuesday evenings and Saturdays, from April 29 to May 24. To register call 548-2220, ext. 233. The Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 

Cooking and Baking Classes, offered by The Bread Project in conjunction with Berkeley Adult School. Contact Lucie Buchbinder at 644-1713 for more information. 

A Taste of Judaism, free classes on the basic tenets of Judaism. Sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay. Registration required. March 31 through mid-May. 839-2900, ext. 347. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam, every 

Wednesday with host Charles Ellik. Begins 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. Cash prizes. Cost $7 at the door, $5 with student i.d. 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group 

meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 

1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. Join fellow human rights activists to help promote social justice one individual at a time. 872-0768. 

Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1 FM holds public meetings for all interested people the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 p.m. at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 595-0190. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue. Fridays at noon in Berkeley members of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship hold a Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue. Gather on the grass close to the west entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome. 496-6000, ext. 135. Sponsored the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 

www.bpf.org 

Women in Black Vigil, held Fridays from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310, 845-1143.  

wibberkeley@yahoo.com 

CITY MEETINGS 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/humane/default.htm  

Commission on Aging meets 

Wednesday, April 16 at 1:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Lisa Ploss, 981-5200. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging/default.htm 

Disaster Council Special Meeting on Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/disaster/default.htm  

Design Review Committee meets Thursday, April 17, from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/designreview/default.htm 

Transportation Commission meets Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/transportation/default.htm  

The Berkeley Daily Planet prints listings on a space-available basis. Send information at least two weaks in advance to calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com; fax 841-5695 or phone 841-5600, ext. 102. 

TUESDAY, APRIL 15  

“Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther” will be introduced by Kathleen Cleaver and screened at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. A pre-film reception will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the BAM Theater Gallery. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Atul Gawande reads from  

“Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science” at 12:15 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Motor Dude Zydeco. Cajun dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m., followed by show at 8:30 at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

Tyrone Hill’s Deep Space Posse, Sun Ra-style experimental jazz with Tyrone Hill on trombone, at the Jazz House, 3192 Adeline St. Doors open 7:30 p.m., show at 8. Cost is $10. 655-9755. 

The Movement, Spring 2003 Showcase. UC Berkeley dance group performs at 7 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets $5 from 925-798-1300. 

www.juliamorgan.org  

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 

Ikiru at 3 p.m. (sold out) and Sympathetic Vibrations at 7:30 p.m., with Paul Klos in person, at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Tamim Ansary reads from 

“West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com 

The Cultural Heritage of Iraq and the Impacts of War.  

Professors David Stronach, Marian Feldman, Niek Veldhuis will speak on the cultural and archaeological resources threatened by the war at 5 p.m. at 2547 Channing Way. Sponsored by the Archaeological Research Facility. 642-6914. conkey@sscl.berkeley.edu 

Noon Concert: Shaw Pong Liu, violin, Jody Redhage, cello, Monica Chew, piano, perform Ravel’s Piano Trio in G. Concert is free, doors open at 11:55 a.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. 

http://music.berkeley.edu 

Novello Quartet, Tekla Cunningham and Cynthia Miller Freivogel, violins, Anthony Martin, viola, and Elisabeth Reed, cello, perform 

Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ on period instruments at 8 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Basilica, 1109 Chestnut, Alameda. Admission by donation. 522-0181.  

Timbuktu Heritage Institute Benefit. Special Malian Workshop with Tartit Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10 - $15 sliding scale. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Damelatones Groove and Riot A Go Go at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph. Cost is $4. 848-0886.  

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Carol Denney, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bob Daley, singer-songwriter, at 7 p.m. at Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. 486-1840. 

THURSDAY, APRIL 17 

UC Jazz at Noon, free concert on Lower Sproul Plaza. 

Grateful Dead DJ Nite at 10 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6. 525-505. www.ashkenaz.com 

Spank, DJs: Solarz from Groove Conflux, an evening of hip hop and R&B house at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Patty Larkin, contemporary singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance and $19.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Redwood Forest Benefit with Darryl Cherney and the Chernobles, Francine Allen at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is sliding scale $5 - $10. 841-2082. 

FRIDAY, APRIL 18 

S.F. International Film Festival: The Century of the Self (Parts 1 and 2) at 4 p.m., Blissfully Yours at 7 p.m. and Internal Affairs at 9:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive.  

Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

The Anarchists, directed by Yu Young-Sik, in Korean with English subtitles. Action film in historical setting of anti-Imperial movement during Japanese occupation. Begins at 8 p.m. at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org 

A. J. Albany reads from “Low Down: Junk, Jazz and Other Fairy tales from Childhood” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. 

www.codysbooks.com 

Noon Concert: Cathy Olsen, flute, Brian Christian, piano, perform works by Dutilleux, Roussel and others at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Concert is free, doors open 11:55 a.m. 642-4864. 

http://music.berkeley.edu 

Friday Afternoon Hang with the Brubeck Institute Quintet from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Jazzschool. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Bernard Gilbert, singer-songwriter of topical and satirical songs, at 7:30 p.m. at the Fellowship Cafe, 1924 Cedar St. A donation of $5 - $10 is requested. 540-0898. 

Djialy Kunda Kouyate, a Senegalese dance and music ensemble, performs at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

The Servants, Autopunch, Alive for Awhile, rock music at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph. Cost $7. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Tres Almas performs at 9:30 p.m. at downtown. 649-3810. www.downtownrestaurant.com 

Patty Larkin, contemporary singer-songwriter, performs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Mingus Amungus with special guest Pete Escovedo, panel at 7:30 p.m., with performance at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Dick Hindman/Seward McCain/Colin Bailey at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12, $15, $18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Henri-Pierre Koubaka performs West African folk music at 7 p.m. at Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. at Center. 486-1840.  

Smelly Kelly’s Plain High Drifters, Yard Sale, Neighborly Deeds perform at  

9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

Groovie Ghoulies, The Apers, Short Round, The Mall Rats, The Minds perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost $5. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, APRIL 19 

Kids on the Block Puppet Show, promoting acceptance and understanding of physical and cultural differences, at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level). Suggested donation $3, children under three free. 549-1564. 

Los Mapaches, a Latin American children’s ensemble, performs at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $3 for children, $4 for adults. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

S.F. International Film Festival: Swing at 2 p.m., The Trilogy I: On the Run at 4:15 p.m., The Trilogy II: An Amazing Couple at 7 p.m. and Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary at 9:15 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

Zero Patience, cult activist surrealistic musical about HIV/AIDS. Presented by NEED, Berkeley’s needle exchange project, at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org 

Let’s Face It: Women explore their aging faces, a documentary featuring seven Berkeley midlife women discussing their ambivalence, vanity, anxiety and joy. At 2:30 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. For more information call 526-5075. 

African Music and Dance Ensemble, directed by C. K. Ladzekpo, performs traditional dances and drumming of West and Central Africa at 8 p.m., Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $2 - $8. 642-9988. 

Reggae Angels, Native Elements, One Groove and DJ Jah Light Music, perform at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Crown City Rockers, Lunar Heights, Feenom Circle, Mavrik perform hip hop at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Post Junk Trio performs at 9:30 p.m. at downtown. 649-3810.  

www.downtownrestaurant.com 

Reilly & Maloney perform  

contemporary folk at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ira Marlowe, singer-songwriter, in a free concert at the Jazz House, 3192 Adeline St. Doors open 7:30 p.m., show at 8. 655-9755.  

www.thejazzhouse.com 

Pr. Rajeev Taranath in concert at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts,  

2640 College Ave. Cost is $22 for adults, $18 for students, seniors. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Collective Soul presents The Basics, Deuce Eclipse and The Attik with special guests ISIS in performance at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

High Water Rising, Noelle Hampton, Meriwether perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost $5. 841-2082. 

Plan 9 (fifth anniversary), Lo Fi Neisans, Punk Rock Orchestra, Find Him & Kill Him, Doppleganger perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, APRIL 20 

S.F. International Film Festival: He Who Must Die at 1:30 p.m., The Day I Will Never Forget at 4 p.m., Untouched by the West at 6:15 p.m. and The Trilogy III: After Life at 8:45 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Lama Palzang and Pema Gellek speak on “Visualization and the Tibetan Tradition” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Place. 843-6812. 

www.NyingmaInstitute.com 

World Drum Clinic, hands-on African drumming clinic, at the Jazz House, 3192 Adeline St., at 10:45 a.m. Beginners 11 a.m.; experienced 12:30 p.m. Cost $15 - $25. Preregistration encouraged. Contact Matthew Winkelstein at 415-356-8593 or 510-533-5111.  

www.thejazzhouse.com 

Mitch Marcus Quintet performs at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12, $15, $18. 845-5373.  

www.jazzschool.com 

Wake the Dead performs dance music, mixing traditional Celtic jigs and reels with Grateful Dead songs, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $14. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Nigerian Brothers perform traditional folk music from West Africa at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Gail Brand with Morgan Gunerman from London and Biggi Vinkeloe from Sweden perform improvisation and avant garde jazz at the Jazz House, 3192 Adeline St. Doors open 7:45 p.m., show at 8:15. Minimum $10. 655-9755. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Berkeley High School Jazz Combo performs at 2 p.m. at 

Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. 486-1840. 

MONDAY, APRIL 21 

S.F. International Film Festival: The Death of Klinghoffer at 7 p.m. and Eat, Sleep, No Woman at 9:45 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive.  

Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Robert W. Fuller reads from “Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Wes “Scoop” Nisker reads from “The Big Bang, the Buddha and the Baby Boom” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com 

All Star Jam, featuring The Steve Gannon Band and Mz. Dee, 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph. Cost $4. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

TUESDAY, APRIL 22 

S.F. International Film Festival: The Decay of Fiction at 7 p.m. and Comandante at 9:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“28 Very Short Scenes About Love,” an ensemble performance conceived and directed by Linda Carr, Berkeley High School Performing Arts Chair. Through April 26, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Cost is $15. 

Noh Space, 2840 Mariposa St., S.F. 415-621-7078. 

www.28shortscenes.com 

www.theaterofyugen.org 

Aurora Theater Company presents “Partition,” written by Ira Hauptman, directed by Barbara Oliver. Runs from April 17 to May 18. Performance Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets $32 - $34. 2081 Addison St. 843-4822. 

www.auroratheater.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater 

presents “Surface Transit,” 

written and performed by Sarah Jones, directed by Tony Taccone. Runs from April 18 to May 18. Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949, (888) 4BRTTIX.  

www.berkeleyrep.org 

Black Repertory Group presents “Mulatto,” by Langston Hughes. Runs through April 27. Performance Friday at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 and 5 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance, $17 at the door. 3201 Adeline St.  

652-2120.  

www.berkeleyrepertorygroup.org 

Shotgun Players present 

“Vampires,” by Harry Kondoleon, directed by Joanie McBrien. Runs through May 10. La Val’s Subterranean, 

1834 Euclid at Hearst. 

www.shotgunplayers.com 

The Berkeley Daily Planet prints listings on a space-available basis. Send information at least two weeks in advance to calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com; fax 841-5695, or phone 841-5600, ext. 102. 

City Council’s effort to rename a major Berkeley street in honor of labor leader Cesar Chavez may be headed for a bump in the road.  

At its meeting April 8, the council unanimously approved the creation of a council subcommittee to study which major street, or streets, would be a good candidate for a possible name change. 

So far, possibilities include Ashby and University avenues and Gilman and Sacramento streets. One proposal would change two streets — Gilman and Sacramento, which nearly connect in northwest Berkeley — into one continuous Cesar Chavez Street, which would give the street a prized freeway sign. 

Depending on which street, or streets, is chosen, the proposal will likely meet with some opposition because of the potentially high cost to tax payers for changing the name during a budget crunch. It also might upset small business owners who would have to pay for new stationery and possibly lose business because of customer confusion. 

Once a street is chosen, the Council will vote on the proposal and the name change would likely occur within a few years. 

Sacramento Street appears to have the most support for the name change. The street has few businesses and connects with Market Street in Oakland, which is also being considered for a change to Cesar Chavez Street, according to Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

Frederico Chavez, a nephew of Cesar Chavez who lives in Berkeley, said Sacramento Street is an excellent choice because it was the unofficial color barrier in Berkeley from the 1930s through the 1950s. “People of color in Berkeley knew not to go east of Sacramento Street,” he said. 

Worthington said there is a symbolic advantage to Sacramento Street.  

“It runs parallel with Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, which seems appropriate,” he said.  

The last major street to have its name changed in Berkeley was Grove Street, which is now Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. The change, which occurred in the mid-1980s, was also controversial. 

The cost to change a street name runs anywhere from $15,000 to $50,000, according to a public works spokesman. He said changing the name of a street that intersects with a freeway, such as Ashby and University avenues and Gilman Street, could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more because of the expense of changing freeway signs. 

Worthington argued that Cesar Chavez had a huge and lasting impact on the labor movement and deserves to be honored with a street in the city.  

“We would like to honor the Latino community and Cesar Chavez for his fight to establish social justice and labor reform,” said Worthington, who sponsored the recommendation. “Besides that, he spent a lot of time in Berkeley. He came here often to raise money, organize and also relax.” 

Business owners and managers said they have nothing against Cesar Chavez, but are concerned because they will have to spend money to change stationery, business cards, advertising and Web sites. They will also have to take time to notify vendors, clients and customers.  

“I’m sure the owner would be opposed,” said Gerald Acree, manager of Westbrae Nursery. “The nursery has been here since 1911 and we’re known as Westbrae on Gilman.” 

Toots Sweets Fine Desserts manager Catherine Avila said the bakery, located at 1277 Gilman St., has also long been associated with Gilman Street, and a change could cause confusion for new customers not familiar with the area.  

“It would be a big hassle,” Avila said. “Right now we are getting ready to send out a $700 mailer that will be useless if the street name is changed.” 

Councilmember Betty Olds said she has doubts about changing Gilman Street’s name because of the hardship it would work on small businesses.  

“I don’t think Mr. Chavez would want to hurt small businesses. They have a tough enough time as it is,” she said. “I think Sacramento Street would be better, but the best thing would be to put the name change on the ballot. Why should the council decide this?” 

Frederico Chavez said there have been negotiations with several print shops that are willing to help small businesses with price breaks. “We are sensitive to the concerns of small businesses and we understand that there should be a reasonable amount of time that the new name is present along with the old for a transition period,” he said. 

In 1995 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously changed Army Street to Cesar Chavez Street, touching off a citywide controversy.  

The supervisors didn’t take into account the attachment longtime city residents had to the name Army Street, and more important, they didn’t consider the cost of changing the freeway signage where Cesar Chavez Street intersects with Highway 101. 

Within weeks of their decision, the board was hit with a petition with over 18,000 signatures calling for a ballot measure and a Caltrans estimate of just under $1 million to change the freeway signs. The measure was finally approved by voters and the street name was changed. But resentment lingers in some Mission District neighborhoods nearly eight years later. 

Worthington said the council is aware of what happened in San Francisco and intends to avoid a similar situation.  

“Instead, we want to meet and have community input so it’s not a surprise to people like it was in San Francisco,” he said.

Pinball machines, beer and pizza stand guard while below, in the dungeon of La Val’s Pizza Parlor on Euclid Avenue, Berkeley’s 10-year-old phenomenon, The Shotgun Players, launch their latest theatrical offering: Harry Kondoleon’s “The Vampires.” 

Just a few days earlier this repertory troop closed Oedipus Rex at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts on College Avenue. Later this summer these same actors will perform Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage And Her Children” for free at the John Hinckle Park. Last year more than 3,000 people came to see the Shotgun Player’s annual free show in the park. 

“We go 18 straight weeks without a break. We produce six main stage productions, plus four experimental pieces every year,” Shotgun Players founder Pat Dooley said. 

Despite the rootless and penurious lifestyle he’s chosen, Dooley, 35, is charming, quick to laugh and easily engaged. He speaks enthusiastically about the burden that Shotgun’s 12 members bear in pursuit of their muse. 

“Everybody does one thing to help support the structure of the company,” said Dooley, “and they are either actors or designers or directors in addition to the other tasks they do, like administrative or technical, to support the company.” 

Dooley drifted into Berkeley more than 10 years ago to visit his brother, then a student at UC. Shortly after arriving Dooley started the Shotgun Players company. 

“One thing that’s so great about Berkeley is it has such a vibrant theater community,” he said. “People are doing relevant theater here. The Berkeley Rep, Aurora, Transparent, they’re all doing new plays and they’re all doing interesting things with older plays, the classics. 

“We do that as well. There’s an audience to support new work and there’s an audience to support seeing MacBeth. A lot of other towns wouldn’t support that kind of risk. In this town those things aren’t even risky.” 

Dooley earns $12,000 a year as one of only three paid members of The Shotgun Players. Brought up of modest means on an isolated farm in Pungo, Va., the price of theater tickets concerns him.  

“Being affordable is really important for me,” he said. “I started out without any money. Most people are not going to spend $40 per ticket to go see a play. That makes a date $100. They’re not going to do it and I’m not going to do it. Our tickets are from $10 to $18, and we have several ‘Pay What You Can’ nights.” 

Dooley said the company needs more space, but is making the most of the cozy confines at La Val’s, which holds 50 seats. 

“We try to get places where we can seat more people,” Dooley said. “It’s really challenging to find spaces that are legal to perform in.” 

When “The Vampires” first premiered in New York some 14 years ago, it was not well received. 

“A lot of good plays get bad reviews,” Dooley said. “The Village Voice loved it. [Kondoleon] was the darling of the East Village. I think the Berkeley audience is more akin to that audience. The people who come to see our plays want to hear that kind of voice. 

“For me there’s a lot going on in that play. It’s very bizarre but the things that happen in those relationships are very real. The Times trashed it as another family drama, but I feel like there’s hope at the end of the play. There’s an opportunity for redemption that’s not cornball. There are some things that are funny and there are some things that are really gut wrenching. I really love that the play has this really wide arc of emotional possibilities.” 

Dooley said “The Vampires” is the right kind of play for a company like The Shotgun Players. 

“I really want to do in-your-face theater. At La Val’s we’re literally in your face,” he said. 

“People, especially today, we’re numbed. Entertainment on television is so stripped away from anything real that we see happening in the world. We want to do plays that are going to really touch somebody. In the way that the world is touching them. So when they go to experience art, art is not separate from the world, it’s a part of the world.” 

“The Vampires,” by Harry Kondoleon, directed by Joanie McBrien, runs through May 10 at La Val’s Subterranean at 1834 Euclid Avenue at Hearst Avenue. Call 704-8210 for ticket information and show times, or visit the web site at www.shotgunplayers.com.

The following letter was sent to Chancellor Robert Berdahl in response to a protest held April 9 at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza: 

Dear Chancellor Berdahl, 

I am an infrequent visitor to your lovely campus, but yesterday I felt that I really needed to come to the demonstration and commemoration in memory of the 1948 massacre of the village of Deir Yassin. I was proud to stand with the demonstrators, but utterly grieved and dismayed by the behavior of some of the counter-demonstrators, who are ostensibly UC Berkeley students. 

I support the right of counter-demonstrators to protest peacefully, and quite a few did. But there were several students whose behavior was reprehensible by any standard. 

They were disrupting the demonstration at every turn, as they circulated among the crowd chanting “free Palestine” loudly, dressed with suicide belts on their waists and misinforming slogans on their backs. They worked to convince the bystanders that the Palestinians are all terrorists. They couldn’t even let those assembled peacefully commemorate this incredibly dark day in the history of Palestine. Really, it would be like showing up at someone’s funeral and mocking the dead person. That is what they did gleefully. 

At one point, the assembled Deir Yassin demonstrators lay down on the plaza in a “die in” to symbolize the fallen villagers and, indeed, the hundreds of thousands of fallen Palestinians since 1948. These same disruptive students then walked through the fallen bodies, stepping on many of them. Utterly reprehensible and even evil behavior. At one point, a young man with a large Israeli flag thought to move into the “fallen” and plant his flag firmly among them. He was discouraged from this at the last minute by another counter-demonstrator — I must say, I almost wish he had done it. I had my camera at the ready. What a photograph it would have been. 

I left the demonstration after an hour or so, in disbelief and dismay. I thought to drown my sorrows with a latte at the well-known Cafe Strada across from the university’s Bancroft fountain entrance.  

I was just sitting there quietly, when to my further dismay a procession of these counter-demonstrators (including the most disruptive students) went proudly and jubilantly by. Where could they be going, I wondered. Intrigued, I decided to follow them discreetly. 

They marched up the hill to a very lavish and prominent building. Was it a university building? It turned out to be the Hillel House. Quite a nice clubhouse from which to operate, I thought. 

My question to you, Chancellor Berdahl, is this: What is the university’s relationship to Hillel? Do you provide funding to them? Do they rent the building or the land on which it sits from UC Berkeley?  

It is one thing to peacefully counter-demonstrate, but quite another to attempt to disrupt a peaceful Deir Yassin commemoration in the most vicious and vulgar way. Surely you, Chancellor, or your great university cannot sanction this kind of behavior. But is this what you are doing indirectly by your support of Hillel? I must ask you this. 

If you are concerned then, please, investigate and sanction these students personally. Contact the rabbis and other adults who run the Hillel House and let them know about these vicious and reprehensible acts by their young charges. 

Let’s see a respectful environment thrive here in the East Bay and especially at the university. 

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. 

Henry Hart 

Oakland

As the world watched, spellbound, the spectacle of massive looting in the cities of Iraq, the tragedy proved particularly wrenching for those whose lives have been devoted to the study of the ancient land considered the cradle of Western culture. Hardest to bear were scenes of looting at Baghdad’s Iraqi National Museum, until Friday home to one of the world’s greatest collections of antiquities.  

In response, David Stronach, a UC Berkeley professor of Near Eastern studies, has called a public meeting for Wednesday to address the war’s impact on Iraq’s rich archaeological heritage. He and two colleagues will discuss topics ranging from artifacts lost in the last Gulf War to the more recent thefts and other sites still in danger.  

Stronach called the loss a tragedy. “It was one of the great museums of the world,” he said. Before arriving in Berkeley in 1981, Stronach served as director of the British Institute of Persian Studies in Tehran, Iran. 

The tragedy strikes closer to home for Abbas Kadhim, a UC Berkeley instructor in American history and a doctoral student in Islamic studies, a native of Mosul who first visited the Baghdad museum on a school field trip and returned each time he returned to his homeland. 

“They say it isn’t about oil, but of all the sites in Iraq, the two places in Baghdad [American] military commanders chose to protect with troops and tanks were the Ministry of Oil and the Al-dowra oil refinery,” Kadhim said. 

“Was it too much to ask to send one tank and a few soldiers to protect the Museum of Antiquities? Now 7,000 years of history have been scattered across the country and I wouldn’t be surprised if it starts turning up on the black market.” 

Stronach said ancient cuneiform tablets appeared on the international art market after the first Gulf War, and he expects more of the same in the wake of last week’s looting. 

Though American law bars the import of artifacts looted from Iraqi museums and archaeological sites, well-connected lobbyists for art dealers and museums have been pushing the Bush administration to relax both U.S. law and the Iraqi regulations banning the export of that nation’s antiquities. 

A group calling itself the American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP) met with State and Defense Department officials shortly before the war, and the changes they urge would be “absolutely monstrous,” Cambridge University professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn told the Glasgow Herald. 

Patty Gerstenblith, president of the Archaeological Institute of America, concurred, telling the Scottish paper the ACCP’s proposals would have a disastrous impact on the world’s archaeological heritage. 

The session begins Wednesday at 5 p.m. at 2547 Channing Way. Stronach will discuss Iraq’s archaeological heritage and the impact of recent events.  

Marian Feldman, professor of archaeology and art history, will discuss endangered sites in Southern Iraq and artifacts lost in the museum looting. 

Neik Veldhuis, professor of Assyriology, will talk about looted artifacts from the last Gulf War and the impact of the loss of written records from the Baghdad museum.

Nothing could be more indicative of America’s innocence abroad than the outraged statement by one of the officers in Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

“We were attacked by militias who were not even wearing uniform,” he complained. “They were in civilian clothes.” Really? Civilian clothes? Shock and horror! Did the Iraqis forget to do their laundry during the bombings? Did they forget to polish their boots before strolling out to face the B-52s? 

After all, when the forces of “good” are trying hard to defeat the forces of “evil,” the least the forces of evil can do is be well-dressed. American naiveté would be funny if it weren’t so worrying. 

If America wants to be a good imperialist, perhaps it might turn its attention to the lives and careers of the Great Gamers of the British empire, who, exploitative colonialists as they were, still brought detailed knowledge and human engagement to the imperialist project. “The Great Game” is the name given to the period of intense competition between Britain and Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries, for control of the interiors of Asia. 

Charles Napier, Francis Younghusband, Charles “Chinese” Gordon among others were all imperialist adventurers of the time of the Great Game. And how different they were from the hard-faced techno-warriors of the United States. For the Great Gamers foreign adventures became journeys of personal transformation. 

Sir Charles Napier conquered the tribes of Sindh but he laid down formidable systems of civic administration and produced a voluminous collection of personal letters giving insights into the lives of the emirs. Durand, British agent at Gilgit from 1889 to 1894, set out in the quest for a “natural border” for India and established the Durand Line. Durand has left a painstaking memoir where he has described the horses, wild flowers, rope bridges, polo matches and hunting dogs of the area. 

By contrast, Tommy Franks can barely pronounce Umm Qasar, CNN anchors often say “Kuwait” instead of Baghdad and have only recently discovered the phenomenon of the suicide bomber. 

The commissioner sahibs of the British civil service were also imperialists. They quelled riots with a glare and silenced subordinates with a word and held down an empire for 200 years. 

The sahibs measured the mountains, carried out linguistic surveys, wrote directories of castes and tribes and produced gazettes and censuses. By contrast, what do the Americans have? A robot-like Donald Rumsfeld who utters the word “Iraqi” as if it means an alien species. Colin Powell who promises to “travel more” to find out about the world. Bush, who has traveled out of America only twice in his entire life. 

In fact, the wealth of American intellectual life in its universities stands in sharp contrast to the provincial insularity of its leadership. Morris Berman, professor at MIT, writes in “Twilight of American Culture” that America has fallen into an irretrievable dark age. The “dumbest” president in the history of the United States presides over a society where the number of people reading a daily newspaper has halved since 1965. In Berman’s survey, 40 percent of Americans couldn’t name the United States’ World War II enemies and 120 million Americans had the cognition of an 11-year-old. 

Victoria’s loyal officers ruled a formal empire and the sahibs sat in seats of administrative power for three-and-a-half centuries. American dominance is hardly direct or formal. Yet inbuilt in the British imperial project was a broadening of the mind for the imperialists, an exploration of new vistas. By contrast, the Americans seem only interested in imposing the “Middle America mentality” on the world. Listen to the expressionless assistant secretary of defense, Victoria Clarke, with her sterile phrases like “models” of “upscaling” and “downscaling” and her “flow of force” and “area denials” and it doesn’t seem as if there are human beings involved in this war, only an avalanche of strategic-speak and a chilling disinterest in other cultures. 

Compare Colin Powell to Francis Younghusband. The latter was an agent of empire who traveled to Lhasa to force the treaty of Tibet on the ruler and weld Tibet to British dominions. 

Yet Younghusband underwent a religious transformation and also became a supporter of Indian independence. T.E. Lawrence or “Lawrence of Arabia” also served British expansion, but ended up becoming deeply emotionally attached to Prince Faisal. Although Lawrence is today criticized for his paternalistic civilizing mission, he immersed himself in Arab culture and thought. Can you imagine Powell ever admitting that he is drawn to any part of the world other than the United States? 

The difference between the Great Gamers of the 19th century and the Americans today is the explosion of technology and information. But it seems that excessive information has torn people further apart than it has brought them closer. The American foreign project is imprisoned in antiseptic strategic-speak and think-tank theorizing. 

The Great Gamers, by contrast, were grassroots travelers who tried to learn as many languages as they could. Perhaps Gen. Tommy Franks might learn a bit of Arabic and Rumsfeld could cast off his gray suit and try on a jalabeya. 

A version of this article appeared April 2 in The Indian Express, an on-line publication based in Bombay, India.

TUESDAY, APRIL 15  

“Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther” will be introduced by Kathleen Cleaver and screened at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. A pre-film reception will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the BAM Theater Gallery. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Atul Gawande reads from  

“Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science” at 12:15 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Motor Dude Zydeco. Cajun dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m., followed by show at 8:30 at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

Tyrone Hill’s Deep Space Posse, Sun Ra-style experimental jazz with Tyrone Hill on trombone, at the Jazz House, 3192 Adeline St. Doors open 7:30 p.m., show at 8. Cost is $10. 655-9755. 

The Movement, Spring 2003 Showcase. UC Berkeley dance group performs at 7 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets $5 from 925-798-1300. 

www.juliamorgan.org  

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 

Ikiru at 3 p.m. (sold out) and Sympathetic Vibrations at 7:30 p.m., with Paul Klos in person, at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Tamim Ansary reads from 

“West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com 

The Cultural Heritage of Iraq and the Impacts of War.  

Professors David Stronach, Marian Feldman, Niek Veldhuis will speak on the cultural and archaeological resources threatened by the war at 5 p.m. at 2547 Channing Way. Sponsored by the Archaeological Research Facility. 642-6914. conkey@sscl.berkeley.edu 

Noon Concert: Shaw Pong Liu, violin, Jody Redhage, cello, Monica Chew, piano, perform Ravel’s Piano Trio in G. Concert is free, doors open at 11:55 a.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. 

http://music.berkeley.edu 

Novello Quartet, Tekla Cunningham and Cynthia Miller Freivogel, violins, Anthony Martin, viola, and Elisabeth Reed, cello, perform 

Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ on period instruments at 8 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Basilica, 1109 Chestnut, Alameda. Admission by donation. 522-0181.  

Timbuktu Heritage Institute Benefit. Special Malian Workshop with Tartit Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10 - $15 sliding scale. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Damelatones Groove and Riot A Go Go at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph. Cost is $4. 848-0886.  

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Carol Denney, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bob Daley, singer-songwriter, at 7 p.m. at Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. 486-1840. 

THURSDAY, APRIL 17 

UC Jazz at Noon, free concert on Lower Sproul Plaza. 

Grateful Dead DJ Nite at 10 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6. 525-505. www.ashkenaz.com 

Spank, DJs: Solarz from Groove Conflux, an evening of hip hop and R&B house at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Patty Larkin, contemporary singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance and $19.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Redwood Forest Benefit with Darryl Cherney and the Chernobles, Francine Allen at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is sliding scale $5 - $10. 841-2082. 

FRIDAY, APRIL 18 

S.F. International Film Festival: The Century of the Self (Parts 1 and 2) at 4 p.m., Blissfully Yours at 7 p.m. and Internal Affairs at 9:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive.  

Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

The Anarchists, directed by Yu Young-Sik, in Korean with English subtitles. Action film in historical setting of anti-Imperial movement during Japanese occupation. Begins at 8 p.m. at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org 

A. J. Albany reads from “Low Down: Junk, Jazz and Other Fairy tales from Childhood” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. 

www.codysbooks.com 

Noon Concert: Cathy Olsen, flute, Brian Christian, piano, perform works by Dutilleux, Roussel and others at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Concert is free, doors open 11:55 a.m. 642-4864. 

http://music.berkeley.edu 

Friday Afternoon Hang with the Brubeck Institute Quintet from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Jazzschool. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Bernard Gilbert, singer-songwriter of topical and satirical songs, at 7:30 p.m. at the Fellowship Cafe, 1924 Cedar St. A donation of $5 - $10 is requested. 540-0898. 

Djialy Kunda Kouyate, a Senegalese dance and music ensemble, performs at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

The Servants, Autopunch, Alive for Awhile, rock music at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph. Cost $7. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Tres Almas performs at 9:30 p.m. at downtown. 649-3810. www.downtownrestaurant.com 

Patty Larkin, contemporary singer-songwriter, performs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Mingus Amungus with special guest Pete Escovedo, panel at 7:30 p.m., with performance at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Dick Hindman/Seward McCain/Colin Bailey at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12, $15, $18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Henri-Pierre Koubaka performs West African folk music at 7 p.m. at Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. at Center. 486-1840.  

Smelly Kelly’s Plain High Drifters, Yard Sale, Neighborly Deeds perform at  

9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

Groovie Ghoulies, The Apers, Short Round, The Mall Rats, The Minds perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost $5. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, APRIL 19 

Kids on the Block Puppet Show, promoting acceptance and understanding of physical and cultural differences, at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level). Suggested donation $3, children under three free. 549-1564. 

Los Mapaches, a Latin American children’s ensemble, performs at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $3 for children, $4 for adults. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

S.F. International Film Festival: Swing at 2 p.m., The Trilogy I: On the Run at 4:15 p.m., The Trilogy II: An Amazing Couple at 7 p.m. and Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary at 9:15 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

Zero Patience, cult activist surrealistic musical about HIV/AIDS. Presented by NEED, Berkeley’s needle exchange project, at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org 

Let’s Face It: Women explore their aging faces, a documentary featuring seven Berkeley midlife women discussing their ambivalence, vanity, anxiety and joy. At 2:30 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. For more information call 526-5075. 

African Music and Dance Ensemble, directed by C. K. Ladzekpo, performs traditional dances and drumming of West and Central Africa at 8 p.m., Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $2 - $8. 642-9988. 

Reggae Angels, Native Elements, One Groove and DJ Jah Light Music, perform at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Crown City Rockers, Lunar Heights, Feenom Circle, Mavrik perform hip hop at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Post Junk Trio performs at 9:30 p.m. at downtown. 649-3810.  

www.downtownrestaurant.com 

Reilly & Maloney perform  

contemporary folk at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ira Marlowe, singer-songwriter, in a free concert at the Jazz House, 3192 Adeline St. Doors open 7:30 p.m., show at 8. 655-9755.  

www.thejazzhouse.com 

Pr. Rajeev Taranath in concert at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts,  

2640 College Ave. Cost is $22 for adults, $18 for students, seniors. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Collective Soul presents The Basics, Deuce Eclipse and The Attik with special guests ISIS in performance at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

High Water Rising, Noelle Hampton, Meriwether perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost $5. 841-2082. 

Plan 9 (fifth anniversary), Lo Fi Neisans, Punk Rock Orchestra, Find Him & Kill Him, Doppleganger perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, APRIL 20 

S.F. International Film Festival: He Who Must Die at 1:30 p.m., The Day I Will Never Forget at 4 p.m., Untouched by the West at 6:15 p.m. and The Trilogy III: After Life at 8:45 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Lama Palzang and Pema Gellek speak on “Visualization and the Tibetan Tradition” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Place. 843-6812. 

www.NyingmaInstitute.com 

World Drum Clinic, hands-on African drumming clinic, at the Jazz House, 3192 Adeline St., at 10:45 a.m. Beginners 11 a.m.; experienced 12:30 p.m. Cost $15 - $25. Preregistration encouraged. Contact Matthew Winkelstein at 415-356-8593 or 510-533-5111.  

www.thejazzhouse.com 

Mitch Marcus Quintet performs at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12, $15, $18. 845-5373.  

www.jazzschool.com 

Wake the Dead performs dance music, mixing traditional Celtic jigs and reels with Grateful Dead songs, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $14. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Nigerian Brothers perform traditional folk music from West Africa at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Gail Brand with Morgan Gunerman from London and Biggi Vinkeloe from Sweden perform improvisation and avant garde jazz at the Jazz House, 3192 Adeline St. Doors open 7:45 p.m., show at 8:15. Minimum $10. 655-9755. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Berkeley High School Jazz Combo performs at 2 p.m. at 

Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. 486-1840. 

MONDAY, APRIL 21 

S.F. International Film Festival: The Death of Klinghoffer at 7 p.m. and Eat, Sleep, No Woman at 9:45 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive.  

Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Robert W. Fuller reads from “Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Wes “Scoop” Nisker reads from “The Big Bang, the Buddha and the Baby Boom” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com 

All Star Jam, featuring The Steve Gannon Band and Mz. Dee, 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph. Cost $4. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

TUESDAY, APRIL 22 

S.F. International Film Festival: The Decay of Fiction at 7 p.m. and Comandante at 9:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“28 Very Short Scenes About Love,” an ensemble performance conceived and directed by Linda Carr, Berkeley High School Performing Arts Chair. Through April 26, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Cost is $15. 

Noh Space, 2840 Mariposa St., S.F. 415-621-7078. 

www.28shortscenes.com 

www.theaterofyugen.org 

Aurora Theater Company presents “Partition,” written by Ira Hauptman, directed by Barbara Oliver. Runs from April 17 to May 18. Performance Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets $32 - $34. 2081 Addison St. 843-4822. 

www.auroratheater.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater 

presents “Surface Transit,” 

written and performed by Sarah Jones, directed by Tony Taccone. Runs from April 18 to May 18. Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949, (888) 4BRTTIX.  

www.berkeleyrep.org 

Black Repertory Group presents “Mulatto,” by Langston Hughes. Runs through April 27. Performance Friday at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 and 5 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance, $17 at the door. 3201 Adeline St.  

652-2120.  

www.berkeleyrepertorygroup.org 

Shotgun Players present 

“Vampires,” by Harry Kondoleon, directed by Joanie McBrien. Runs through May 10. La Val’s Subterranean, 

1834 Euclid at Hearst. 

www.shotgunplayers.com 

The Berkeley Daily Planet prints listings on a space-available basis. Send information at least two weeks in advance to calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com; fax 841-5695, or phone 841-5600, ext. 102. 

A woman walking her dog along the Point Isabel Shoreline in Richmond Monday discovered the decomposed body of a woman at water’s edge, about a mile from where the body of a full-term male fetus was found the day before. 

The East Bay Regional Park Police (EBRP) immediately notified Modesto Police and flew officers who have been investigating the Laci Peterson disappearance to the Richmond shoreline. 

Both bodies were taken to the Contra Costa Coroner’s Office in Martinez. According to Richmond Police, the umbilical cord was still attached to the fetus, which had been dead for some time. 

According to EBRP Police Chief Norman Lapera, there is no evidence linking the discovery of the two bodies to the Peterson case. Laci Peterson, a Modesto resident, was eight-months pregnant when she disappeared on Dec. 24. Her husband, Scott Peterson, said he had been fishing near the Berkeley Marina, about three miles south from where the bodies were discovered, on the day his wife disappeared. 

Lapera said Modesto Police had one detective, two crime scene investigators and an investigator from the District Attorney’s Office at the scene of Monday’s discovery.  

“For all we know this could be a drowning victim,” Lapera said. “We won’t know any more until the autopsy is complete.” 

Lapera said the Contra Costa coroner announced the autopsy would be conducted Monday night. 

“The sheriff’s department is acting in a very professional manner to be able to answer questions,” he said.  

Lapera, addressing a swarm of reporters and television cameras, said he could not address rumors that the woman’s body was discovered wrapped in maternity clothing.

On April 18, I and other stunned neighbors from the Benvenue and Willard neighborhoods watched in dismay as eight members of City Council voted swiftly and mercilessly to destroy a fine old apartment building at 2500 Benvenue Ave. at Dwight Way. This building is just one part of the expansion plans of the American Baptist Seminary of the West. However, much to the community’s relief, the council also voted 6-2-1 to require an Environmental Impact Report (ERI) for another part of the project, a proposed massive new building slated to replace two historic homes. The purpose of the entire project is in question, since the seminary has only 40 full-time students and currently rents half its space to UC Extension. 

Both Progressives and Moderates claim they would like to improve Berkeley’s housing stock, especially for Berkeley’s long-term residents and families. 2500 Benvenue Ave. currently contains highly desirable housing: 12 spacious, one-bedroom units with hardwood floors, fireplaces, chandeliers and decorative detailed cabinetry. These units will each be cut in half, to yield poorly designed rabbit warrens of 290 to 390 square feet each. The rents per unit will dramatically increase; per square foot they will triple. None are rent controlled, nor are they available to the general public or UC students. In the past this building housed older, married seminary students and staff, an asset to a block that struggles to keep its long-term residents and few remaining homeowners in balance with its transient student population. 

The loss of these apartments and their stable tenants will permanently damage Benvenue Avenue. It is especially ironic that the seminary then wants to build other large apartments to replace the ones it is destroying, rather than just add to its already excellent housing stock. 

Why did the council permit this? I call on the council to explain itself. The seminary’s excuse that this destruction is required for earthquake retrofitting is simply untrue. The excuse that the seminary suddenly needs tiny units for young single students is also highly suspect, given that the student body is primarily older and/or married graduate students, as are other GTU students. Who will be the market for these tiny, expensive apartments? Some think it might some day be English language program students currently attending class on the seminary campus. If so, the council has just voted to destroy good housing that serves Berkeley’s own residents to create a hotel for short-term visitors who are not even California residents. How can this possibly be good housing policy for Berkeley or for Benvenue? 

The council was well aware of all these facts when it voted. In addition, the council seemed entirely unconcerned about doubling the number of units in the building without adding any more parking spaces, in a neighborhood where parking is already impossible. Is this, too, the beginning of a trend? Will this improve the quality of life in Berkeley? 

On a more positive note, the vote to require an EIR for the larger part of the project will, if the EIR is performed correctly, result in something like a comprehensive master plan for the seminary campus. The council indicated that it wanted to see a number of impacts examined, including but not limited to loss of historic resources, parking, traffic and density issues, with special attention paid to alternative solutions. This was encouraging to us neighbors. Unfortunately, however, based on statements already made by planning staff members and the seminary’s attorney, I and others fear that the planning staff, ever in favor of all developments at all costs, will be less than enthusiastic about arranging for a truly comprehensive and informative EIR. 

I believe that the majority of the council voted to see a real EIR so it can make a truly informed decision about the seminary campus, which has over the years become intensely used by UC Extension without the knowledge and oversight of the city. Legally, EIRs must examine both alternatives to, and cumulative impacts of, damaging developments. There are certainly good alternatives to the historic loss, and the cumulative impacts remain to be examined, given the existing parking problem created by the seminary’s UC rentals and the huge university housing project under construction a half-block away. We hope the council will support the neighbors in demanding a meaningful EIR that will examine the project — as the law requires — in the context of past, present and future developments both on the seminary campus and nearby. This should make the seminary produce any further development plans, so they can be viewed in their entirety, and thereby prevent such damaging fiascos in the future as destroying valuable old buildings for no reason. 

Sharon Hudson is a Berkeley resident.

It’s a classic switcheroo — a four-way building swap that is leaving West Berkeley residents a little dizzy. 

The Berkeley Unified School District administrative offices now reside at Old City Hall on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The district rents the building for a $1 per year from the City of Berkeley. But the lease runs out in 2009, and the city wants Old City Hall back. 

On the other side of town, the school system’s maintenance operation sits in a seismically unsafe building on Oregon Street, and officials want to move it to a safer location. 

Fortunately, the district has a large, empty building on the corner of Virginia Street and San Pablo Avenue in West Berkeley — the old City of Franklin Elementary School, shut down last year in the midst of a budget crisis. 

Seems simple enough — just move the administration and maintenance operations to the Franklin building, right? Wrong.  

Instead, the district wants to move its Adult School, on University Avenue, into the Franklin building, and put administration and maintenance in the University Avenue building. 

It would actually be a neat little triangle, district officials said — the district would renovate the Franklin site next year; move the Adult School into the spiffed-up building in time for the 2004-2005 school year, then fix an aging Adult School building and move in the administration and maintenance operations. 

There is a problem, though — some Franklin neighbors aren’t so keen on the idea of an Adult School in the area. Late-night classes, traffic jams and parking headaches are all concerns.  

Many said they would prefer to have district administrators, who presumably would have a smaller impact, in their backyard. 

School officials said they are sensitive to neighborhood concerns and emphasize that no final decision on the building shuffle has been made. But the Board of Education, scheduled to vote on a final plan this summer, is leaning toward placing the Adult School at the Franklin site, they said. 

“I think everyone’s trying to keep an open mind, but thinking this makes sense,” said Board of Education Director Nancy Riddle. 

Still, some residents said a neat-and-tidy construction schedule is not a compelling reason to put the Adult School at Franklin. 

“I’m not convinced the Adult School should be here,” said Steen Jensen, a Curtis Street resident. 

City Councilmember Linda Maio, echoing several neighbors, added that the school district might better serve the community if it kept the Adult School on University Avenue. 

“University Avenue has many buses come and [the building] is very visible,” she said. “People can see what classes are available.” 

School board Director Terry Doran said the argument is compelling, but argued that San Pablo Avenue, where the Franklin school sits, is also a major traffic corridor, well-served by BART. 

If the Adult School must go in their neighborhood, residents said they will push the district to build an entrance to the building on San Pablo Avenue, as opposed to one of the side streets. 

School officials said they are open to the idea. 

“It’s a very reasonable thing and I think we have to look at that,” said Lew Jones, the district’s manager of facilities planning. 

Berkeley voters, with the passage of two separate ballot measures in the past 11 years, provided the district with almost $275 million for construction projects — including $10.3 million to renovate the Franklin site and $9.1 million to overhaul the Adult School building on University Avenue. 

The district has already spent $3.2 million on Franklin and $440,000 on the Adult School, according to Jones.

BART considers fare hike 

BART is considering a 10 percent fare hike, beginning Jan. 1, 2004, to help close a $38.8 million budget deficit. If approved, a trip from downtown Berkeley to downtown San Francisco would jump from $2.75 to $3. 

The hike, which must be approved by the BART Board of Directors, would come on top of a 5 percent increase which was put in place this past January. 

BART Director James Fang, of San Francisco, warned at a board meeting last week that a new jump in fares could drive people to their cars. But Director Roy Nakadegawa, who represents part of Berkeley, told the Planet a 10 percent increase is necessary and played down the idea that it would decrease ridership. 

“We already made a 5 percent increase in January and it didn’t seem to make a difference,” he said. 

The board will vote on a final budget, including the fare hike proposal and up to 42 layoffs, in June. 

—David Scharfenberg 

City receives parks awards 

The California Park and Recreation Society presented Berkeley’s Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department with two awards earlier this month.  

The first was in the category of facility, design and park planning for the Berkeley Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge, which spans Interstate 80 to the Berkeley Marina and has become a symbol of Berkeley.  

The other was for the department’s mini-grant program, which allows community groups to apply for $3,500 grants that are used to improve neighborhood parks. 

—John Geluardi 

Lee pushes peace department U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) are leading an effort to create a Department of Peace, headed by a Secretary of Peace who would sit alongside other cabinet members to promote nonviolent solutions to conflicts. 

The legislation was introduced in July 2001 by Kucinich, a presidential candidate and a vociferous critic of the Bush administration’s foreign policy. The number of members sponsoring the bill has grown to 44. In a phone interview from Washington, D.C., Lee said last week that the legislation would “make peace a viable option” and “help our government think outside of the box and learn to do things differently.” 

The bill would also establish a four-year Peace Academy, modeled after military service academies, and designate Jan. 1 Peace Day. 

Getting the bill passed will prove a challenge. Sean Walsh, a Republican political strategist, explained: “It’s silly,” he said, “We already have a department that fulfills that function. It’s called the State Department.” 

Walsh said creating a Peace Department would only interfere with the Defense department’s function of reigning in brutal regimes and lead to the proliferation of “mini-Saddams all over the world.”  

—Angela Rowen

Dozens of new banners honoring UC Berkeley’s 18 Nobel Laureates were installed along Telegraph Avenue last week to promote the area as a center for ideas. 

The banners are a joint project between Telegraph Avenue merchants and the university. UC Berkeley officials, city officials and Telegraph Avenue business owners celebrated the new banners last Friday in front of Cody’s Books at 2454 Telegraph Ave.  

Guests included all eight living Nobel Laureates, Mayor Tom Bates and Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl. 

Sixty-six banners were hung along six blocks of Telegraph Avenue, as well as on Bancroft Way, Bowditch Street, Dana Street and Durant Avenue near the University. The banners will be on display until the university’s winter holiday in December.

TUESDAY, APRIL 15 

Career Talk: A Musician’s Way of Work, with Dana Anderson-Williams, from noon to 1 p.m. at the YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way. Cost is $3 at the door. For information call 848-6370. 

Renewable Energy: Policy and Practical Solutions, with Peter Asmus, director, PathFinder Communications, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. For reservations: 981-5435.  

energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 

Community Meeting for Traffic Circle Project at California/Oregon Streets. Join city of Berkeley staff in discussing the proposed construction of a landscaped traffic circle at the intersection of California St. and Oregon St., 7 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center, 1730 Oregon St. For information call Kenneth Emeziem 981-6444. 

THURSDAY, APRIL 17 

LeConte Neighborhood Association Meeting at 7:30 p.m. at LeConte School, Russell St. at Ellsworth. 

Lawyers in the Library at 6 p.m. at the Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 981-6280. 

City of Berkeley Budget Crisis, a discussion with City Manager Weldon Rucker and City Budget Manager Paul Navazio at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Main Library, Kittredge St., in the third floor conference room. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters. For information call Eloise Bodine 843-8824. http://home.pacbell.net/lwvbae/  

California Botanical Society 

“Giants in the Mist: coastal redwoods and the land-sea interface” a free lecture with Todd Dawson, Department of Integrative Biology, UCB, at 2063 Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Campus, 643-7008. www.calbotsoc.org 

FRIDAY, APRIL 18 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon Series: Robert Haas, Former Poet Laureate of the United States. Luncheon 11:45 a.m. $11.50- $12.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations 526-2925, 665-9020. 

John Zerzan will speak on the Pathology of Civilization in the context of the deepening crisis we face. “Surplus,” a new film by Erik Gandini, will be shown first. It is a 52-minute critique of consumer society and its non-future at 7 p.m. at The Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., near Dwight Way. Cost is $5 - $10 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds. 548-3402.  

SATURDAY, APRIL 19 

Berkeley Earth Day. Live music including Wild Mango; Climbing Wall; Kid’s Eco-Art making area with East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse; Vegetarian food and beer, craft and community booths; Berkeley Farmer’s Market Family Farm Day with bike hayrides, baby goats, wool spinning, observational beehive, Bay Area Seed Interchange Library and much more, at Civic Center Park 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Volunteers needed, call 530-2105. For information call 654-6346. 

Berkeley Association of Neighborhood Associations (BANA) monthly meeting third Saturday of every month. At 9:15 a.m. in the Fireside Room, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave.  

587-3257. www.berkeleycna.com 

Healing Our Community Through Positive Change, a conference sponsored by the Parent Resource Center of Berkeley High. Topics include parent/teen communication, kids and the law, how to pay for college, and depression, among others. Held at Berkeley Alternative High School, 2701 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free admission. For information call the BHS Parent Resource Center at 644-8524. 

UC Berkeley Chinese Martial Arts Tournament in the Haas Pavilion on the UC Campus, beginning at 8:45 a.m. and continuing throughout the day. Admission is $7, children under five free. For information call 642-3268 or www.calwushu.com. 

California Native Plants Sale, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bring cardboard boxes, if possible, to carry purchases, and an umbrella if it rains. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Wildcat Canyon Rd. & South Park Dr., in Tilden Park. Free admission. 841-8732. 

www.nativeplants.org 

Springtime in Tilden Outing. Join the Greenbelt Alliance for a moderately challenging walk to Grizzly and Vollmer peaks in Tilden Park above Berkeley. We will traverse high ridges with panoramic vistas and explore human impacts on native plant systems. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Reservations required. 255-3233.  

Free real estate seminar, hosted by Charles Patton and Eric Jackson, from 10 a.m. to noon. 3362 Adeline. RSVP at 472-0197.  

SUNDAY, APRIL 20 

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk, facilitated by Berkeley singer-songwriter Margie Adam, begins at 2 p.m. at the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club, 1650 Mountain Blvd. Free of charge and open to all. Sponsored by the Avalon Project. 528-8193. 

MONDAY, APRIL 21 

Annual Critique of the American Presidency, The Center on Politics Presents: Bush at War: The Annual Review of the Presidency, from 7 to 9 p.m., 155 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. Panelists include: Eleanor Clift, Newsweek, Richard Berke, The New York Times, Nelson Polsby, UC Berkeley and Dean Michael Nacht, The Goldman School of Public Policy. Cosponsored by The Institute of Governmental Studies and UC Extension. 642-4608. 

www.igs.berkeley.edu 

Meeting of those injured at the Port of Oakland April 7 demonstration, at 499 14th Street, Suite 220, Oakland, Calif. (offices of Siegel & Yee) in Oakland City Center Square; near 12th St. BART station. Discussion will involve a legal response to that day’s police violence, and information will be collected from the injured and witnesses. Also needed: photographs and video of injuries and police behavior from that day. Whether or not you can make the meeting, if you were injured or witnessed specific inappropriate police behavior, call Rachel Lederman, 415-282-9300, or e-mail her at rlederman@2momslaw.com (National Lawyers Guild member). 

TUESDAY, APRIL 22 

We’re Getting There: Transportation and the Environment in Berkeley, with Matt Nichols of the Berkeley Transportation Office, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. For reservations call 981-5435. 

energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

“My Life as an Unabashed Liberal,” a lecture by Stephanie Salter, columnist and reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. She will discuss the role of liberalism in the current climate of American politics at 7:30 p.m., College Preparatory High School at 6100 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $10. Call Bruce H. Feingold at 925-945-1315 for information. 

Lawyers in the Library at 6 p.m. at the West Branch, 1125 University Ave. 981-6270. 

ONGOING EVENTS 

Activist Skill Class: Practical Skills for Difficult Times. Learn tactics and strategies of activism with Karen Pickett and Phil Klasky. Classes offered through Merritt College, Tuesday evenings and Saturdays, from April 29 to May 24. To register call 548-2220, ext. 233. The Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 

Cooking and Baking Classes, offered by The Bread Project in conjunction with Berkeley Adult School. Contact Lucie Buchbinder at 644-1713 for more information. 

A Taste of Judaism, free classes on the basic tenets of Judaism. Sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay. Registration required. March 31 through mid-May. 839-2900, ext. 347. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam, every 

Wednesday with host Charles Ellik. Begins 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. Cash prizes. Cost $7 at the door, $5 with student i.d. 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group 

meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 

1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. Join fellow human rights activists to help promote social justice one individual at a time. 872-0768. 

Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1 FM holds public meetings for all interested people the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 p.m. at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 595-0190. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue. Fridays at noon in Berkeley members of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship hold a Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue. Gather on the grass close to the west entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome. 496-6000, ext. 135. Sponsored the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 

www.bpf.org 

Women in Black Vigil, held Fridays from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310, 845-1143.  

wibberkeley@yahoo.com 

CITY MEETINGS 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/humane/default.htm  

Commission on Aging meets 

Wednesday, April 16 at 1:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Lisa Ploss, 981-5200. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging/default.htm 

Disaster Council Special Meeting on Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/disaster/default.htm  

Design Review Committee meets Thursday, April 17, from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/designreview/default.htm 

Transportation Commission meets Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/transportation/default.htm  

The Berkeley Daily Planet prints listings on a space-available basis. Send information at least two weaks in advance to calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com; fax 841-5695 or phone 841-5600, ext. 102. 

For the first time in recent memory, Berkeley has a professional politician in the mayor’s office — a schmoozer, a comedian, a dealmaker, a diplomat. He is a 20-year veteran of the state Assembly who, after terming out in 1996, fought like hell to overturn the law that pushed him out of office.  

Now, after a seven-year hiatus and a bona fide scandal to kick off his administration, Tom Bates is back in the game and he clearly revels in it. 

“I really do enjoy being back in the action,” he said. 

On a recent Tuesday, the action was in the mayor’s office. Bates, who had promised to go homeless for a night during his fall campaign to unseat former Mayor Shirley Dean, was meeting with four activists to plan the March 19 event. 

The mayor was relaxed and friendly, but he gently pushed the conversation forward whenever it began to drift. 

“We should think about the message we want to give the media,” he said at one point. 

Booma Cheema, who heads Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, a Berkeley nonprofit, suggested that the group capitalize on the looming invasion of Iraq. 

“They’re talking about city, state and federal cuts to pay for the war, and here’s what we’re talking about,” she said. 

Bates agreed and asked the activists to come up with a schedule he could release to the media. 

As the meeting came to a close the mayor, who would later postpone the event when war broke out, had some final questions about his night on the streets. 

“Do I bring a sleeping bag?,” he asked. “Do I get to bring my teddy bear?” 

Making of a Politician  

Bates, 65, grew up in the Southern California town of La Habra Heights, the son of a salesman and a homemaker. In 1956, he went to UC Berkeley on a football scholarship and played on the university’s 1959 Rose Bowl team. After college, he served with the U.S. Army in Germany before returning to the Bay Area to work in real estate. 

Bates got his first taste of politics volunteering for John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign, and 12 years later he won election to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. In 1976, he jumped to the state Assembly, where he compiled a liberal voting record on health care and the environment that built a pool of good will in the East Bay. 

During the campaign, Bates made no effort to downplay his political pedigree. In fact, he made his Sacramento skills a chief selling point — pledging to bring civility to a notoriously divisive City Council, promising to improve the local legislative process and touting his connections in the state Capitol — not the least of which is his wife, Loni Hancock, a former Berkeley mayor who now holds his old Assembly seat. 

But critics, echoing those of San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, say there is something distasteful in Bates’ polish. They see a big shot Sacramento politician who is cozy with developers, bent on controlling the agenda and not above a dirty trick. 

Detractors begin with Bates’ famous admission to trashing about 1,000 copies of The Daily Californian, a UC Berkeley student newspaper that endorsed Dean, the day before the Nov. 5 election.  

The mayor’s allies insist the incident was an out-of-character mistake that inspired regret in the mayor — who publicly apologized in December just a month after denying the allegation. 

“It was very tough on him,” said Malcolm Burnstein, who served as Bates’ campaign treasurer and attorney during the newspaper fiasco. “He had done something of which he was ashamed. People of integrity don’t like to do shameful things.”  

Some Berkeley residents won’t let him off so easily. 

“I don’t believe it was a momentary thing,” said West Berkeley neighborhood activist Michael Larrick. “I think it goes deeper to his character. I think he’s just used to getting his way.”  

The incident sparked a torrent of negative publicity and several calls for the mayor’s resignation. But Bates escaped with a $100 fine and a free ride from the moderate faction of the City Council, which had supported Dean during the campaign. 

“Look, the election was over — our charge was to govern the city and deal with the city’s problems,” said moderate Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, recalling the speedy move to forgive. “People aren’t saints.” 

If the newspaper scandal has faded from public view, analysts say it will resurface if Bates runs for re-election, and possibly before then. 

“He has one strike against him and people are waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said UC Berkeley political science professor Bruce Cain. “The second mistake will be magnified.” 

So far the mayor has avoided any significant new missteps — in part because he has stayed out of the public eye since the newspaper story surfaced. Bates and his allies, however, say he hasn’t made any effort to lay low. 

“He’s made a conscious effort to be mayor,” said Burnstein. “Being mayor doesn’t mean staying in the limelight, it means getting things done.” 

Bates’ chief accomplishment, supporters say, has been restoring civility to a City Council renowned for the bitter, petty factionalism that divided its moderate and progressive camps. 

City Hall insiders, on both sides of the divide, say weariness with the constant bickering played a role in the truce. But they also give much of the credit to Bates. 

“He’s aggressively friendly,” said City Councilmember and ally Kriss Worthington. 

Still, some of the progressives who backed Bates as an alternative to Dean say they are concerned that the mayor has sold out his supporters and moved to the center. Most troubling, they say, is his focus on development. 

Task Force Controversy 

The bulk of the criticism centers on the mayor’s Task Force on Permitting and Development. The group, appointed by Bates, is reviewing the city’s permitting process for everything from home improvement to large-scale development and will make recommendations for changes in local law. 

Many have criticized the current permitting process, particularly when it comes to big projects. Drawn-out, litigious battles that leave both neighbors and developers frustrated are commonplace in Berkeley. 

But community activists say Bates, the former developer, has stacked the task force with pro-development forces. 

“I want to keep an open mind, but I think if you read the list of names, there is some reason for concern,” said Nancy Carleton, who volunteered on the Bates campaign. 

Others are more pointed. 

“It is slanted one way,” said activist Marie Bowman, president of the Council of Neighborhood Associations. “The whole reason it’s been put together is to get developers’ projects through faster, not to fix the process.” 

“I think it’s a balanced group,” Bates replied, arguing that he has put together a strong mix of developers, zoning experts and community activists to fix a deeply flawed process. “I think I’ve tried to bend over backwards to get people who are fair and experienced.” 

Whatever the composition of the group, some are skeptical that it will get anything done. 

“Changing processes in Berkeley is a bit like changing the Politburo,” said Berkeley developer Patrick Kennedy, who said he partnered with Bates several years ago in a development deal that ultimately fizzled. 

Critics don’t stop with the task force. Bates’ appointment of former UC Berkeley official David Stoloff to the Planning Commission has raised eyebrows in a town that has done constant battle with the university over its booming student population and the resulting housing crunch. 

“David Stoloff is a strong advocate for the university in a town where the university runs rampant,” said progressive City Councilmember Dona Spring, who backed Bates during the campaign but has emerged as one of his leading critics. 

When Stoloff joined the commission he immediately pushed for a special session with university officials, allowing them to voice concerns about the Southside Plan, a document years in the making, that will guide development south of campus. 

Planning Commission Chairperson Zelda Bronstein said that Stoloff lobbied her to forbid any public comment at the workshop and, when she refused, to limit public comment to half an hour at the end of the evening, a claim Stoloff denies. Bates, Bronstein said, followed with a call making the same request.  

The commission decided not to limit public input. But critics say the mayor’s overtures to the university were troubling. 

“City Council has always tried to be a strong counterbalance to the university, and the Berkeley community has always been on the short end of the stick,” Spring said. 

Bates said the Planning Commission has often been a hostile arena for the university. Appointing Stoloff and giving the university a forum to air its grievances, he said, was part of an attempt to improve upon the often combative relationship between the city and one of its most important institutions. 

“I think people see dastardly things in everything I do,” Bates said. “But I’m interested in having a better relationship with the university, period.” 

Healing broken relationships and fixing broken systems has emerged as perhaps the dominant theme in the first four months of the Bates administration. 

The mayor has made a particular effort to reach out to the Berkeley Unified School District, hiring a former district official, Julie Sinai, as a senior aide and working to convene a March 29 education summit that brought together city, district and university officials to discuss collaboration in a time of severe budget deficits. 

School officials say their relationship with Bates marks an improvement over their sometimes tense exchanges with Dean. 

District Superintendent Michele Lawrence joked that she used to call the monthly “2X2” meeting — which pairs two school officials and two city officials — the “2X4” meeting. 

“I’d go to these things and they’d beat the school district up,” she said. “I think there’s a lot less blame.” 

“I believe Tom has a great attitude toward the schools,” added school board Director Terry Doran. “He wants to help in any way possible, but he doesn’t want to control what it is.” 

Bates has, indeed, been careful to avoid a turf war with the district, stating clearly that the city will stay out of the classroom and focus instead on its traditional support role — funding after-school programs, providing police support on youth safety issues and working to get kids healthy for school. 

The Budget and the Future 

The challenge, observers say, will be funding these priorities, or any others, when the city faces a budget shortfall as high as $16.8 million over the next two years. 

“The true test of leadership is to govern when times are bad, and the jury is still out,” said Planning Commissioner Jerome Wiggins. 

Bates said he favors a balanced approach to the budget problem, cutting some city services while raising revenue through a hike in parking fines and a multi-million dollar parcel tax that would go before the voters.  

While the budget may turn out to be the most difficult “fix” of the mayor’s administration, his most controversial, so far, was his push to streamline the local legislative process by establishing a Rules Committee, recently renamed the Agenda Committee. 

Passed on a 7-2 vote at Bates’ first council meeting, with Spring and moderate Councilmember Betty Olds in opposition, the committee is composed of the mayor and two councilmembers — the moderate Miriam Hawley and progressive Linda Maio. 

The group screens City Council proposals a week in advance to ensure they are properly formatted and include enough background information for a council vote. If there are any deficiencies, the committee sends the proposal back to the sponsor to make improvements. 

The purpose of the Agenda Committee, supporters say, is to prevent the endless debates on half-baked measures that used to plague the council. Critics see an attempt to control the agenda. 

“I suspect it is an attempt at political management,” said Dean, the former mayor. “You don’t get sound decisions when you politically manage an event.” 

Spring, for her part, said the committee initially felt like a straightjacket, limiting her ability to bring measures before council. But Hawley, who serves on the Agenda Committee, said the body has not actually blocked any proposals from going before the council and will not in the future. 

“I think [Spring] was really concerned in the beginning that Tom was going to run roughshod,” Hawley said. “I think he’s proven that he’s not going to do that.” 

Spring said she is pleased with a recent reform allowing a councilmember to brush aside the committee’s proposed changes and place an item directly on the City Council agenda. But she said she had to fight Bates tooth and nail to win the change. 

“He’s a tough cookie,” said Spring. “He’s been in the Sacramento environment for 20 years. I had to put a lot of energy into that.” 

Spring also suggested that the Rules Committee and a “stacked” development task force may be part of a larger attempt by Bates to shape the direction of Berkeley politics to his liking. 

“It feels like he wants to be in control of things,” said Spring. 

Not so, says Bates. 

“That’s not my style,” he said. “It’s my style to share. I’ve tried to be inclusive and get other people participating.” 

Ultimately, Bates hopes his charm and style will allow him to leave the newspaper scandal behind and avoid the plight of Sacramento politicians like Willie Brown and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, who returned to local politics with great fanfare only to watch their reputations sour. 

“A lot of these legislators who came down to be mayors became very unpopular,” he said in a recent interview. “So I thought I’d reverse the process.”  

For those accustomed to being spoon-fed our messages at the movies the documentary films of Frederick Wiseman can be a little hard to swallow.  

He takes a distinctly austere approach to making films. Working in the style of observational cinema, Wiseman depicts the unscripted lives of real people and places using only natural sound and available light, and without the use of music, commentary or direct interviews. 

Nearly half of his films have been collected in a rare retrospective now at the Pacific Film Archive on the Berkeley campus. 

For 35 years Wiseman has churned out films as gripping and memorable as any tightly plotted thriller, and a good deal more provocative. 

Wiseman, however, has always kept a low profile. He’s never been nominated for an Academy Award, and his movies aren’t available at any video store. But last week Wiseman, who lives in Cambridge, Mass., spent five days at the Townsend Center for the Humanities at UC Berkeley.  

The majority of Wiseman’s films explore quintessential social and public institutions. His documented subjects range from public high school and life on a military base to the daily routines of a hospital, domestic violence shelter, welfare processing center, police precinct and public housing complex. His films are both exemplary journalism and meditations on American idealism. 

To hear Wiseman tell it, his film technique is little more than a kind of happy accident of timing. Working with just two other people — a cameraman using a 16mm handheld camera, an assistant and himself handling the sound — Wiseman spends a few months immersed in his subject’s daily life. 

He said he does little prior research, relying only on his instincts, chance events and meetings, and his innate belief that the story will reveal itself over time. Rather than follow a single individual or small group of people for the entire film, Wiseman makes location his center. 

“The place is the star,” Wiseman said during his week in Berkeley. “In addition, the technique I use is that I wander.” 

Very few of Wiseman’s films come in under the two-hour mark, and a great many are three hours. “Near Death,” Wiseman’s 1989 study of an intensive care unit, runs six hours. 

Wiseman’s controversial first film, “Titticut Follies,” released in 1967, provided an explosive glimpse at the conditions inside a hospital for the criminally insane. Throughout his career he has displayed an interest in the condition of people struggling with powerlessness.  

“Meat,” Wiseman’s 1976 anatomy of a massive, automated, beef and sheep processing plant, takes the audience step by step through the process by which an animal is transformed into an object packed into a cardboard box.  

Wiseman taps into the viewer’s curiosity about how things work.  

In the film “Meat” all the sensory details and rhythms that define the meat packing plant are present. 

There is the comforting hum of the assembly line, the cutting equipment in action and at rest, the precise ritualized cuts made by workers at each station, a crowded lunchroom, a worker napping in the sun atop a stack of cinder blocks, a pile of rubber boots, the clean-up crew hosing down floors slick from the day’s work. 

Wiseman always finds the right details to tell the story, even in the seemingly mundane environment of an office building.  

In “Welfare,” a three-hour examination of a New York City welfare office, Wiseman devotes equal attention to individuals seeking services — angry people, stunned people, desperate people, amusing people — and staff. Here is the detached office director, strolling in late and leaving early with his newspaper and hat; here are the case workers, as fallible as the people they’re trying to serve, but on the whole remarkably skilled and patient in their efforts to make sense of a bewildering bureaucracy; here is the security guard who treats his antagonist with supreme forbearance; here, even, is the janitor sweeping the halls, an oasis of calm in the storm. 

“There’s a lot of drama in ordinary experience,” Wiseman has said. 

Wiseman’s films offer lessons about reserving judgment. “Domestic Violence,” a 2001 film about a domestic violence shelter in Tampa, Fla., contains scenes of abused women recounting their experiences.  

The movie is not so much a condemnation of a social scourge as a wrenching study of the complexity of people’s emotional lives. In one scene, a woman tells her story with sorrow, fear and self-blame. She then explains the tenderness she still feels toward her husband. 

Wiseman has objected to being labeled as a practitioner of cinema verité, the French film movement that sought to present life exactly as it is. The term suggests all events have equal value; Wiseman, on the other hand, has said he selects constantly among events, shuffling through reels in search of the moments that conform most closely with his sense of truth.  

Seven films remain in the Frederick Wiseman retrospective at the Pacific Film Archive. Among those scheduled at the theater for this weekend are “Racetrack,” a 1985 study of both high- and low-stakes gambling at the Belmont Stakes; “The Store,” a microcosm of the wealth and materialism at the Neiman Marcus headquarters in Dallas, and the 1995 “Ballet,” which documents the rarefied artistic world inside the American Ballet Theater.

FRIDAY, APRIL 11 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon Series: “Myths and Realities of Aging,” with Jennifer Winters, RN, MSN, professor of nursing, Merritt College. Luncheon 11:45 a.m. Cost $11.50-$12.50. Speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925, 665-9020. 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride converges at Berkeley BART at 5:30 p.m. on the second Friday of every month. 

ASUC Art Studio Spring Sale, with art and pottery by Art Studio members and instructors, held on Lower Sproul Plaza, North Side, noon to 5p.m. 642-3065. 

SATURDAY, APRIL 12 

East Bay Regional Parks Beach Clean Up. Help tidy up East Shore State Park beach from 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at the Brickyard Beach, behind Sea Breeze Deli off University Ave. at West Frontage Rd. Bags, gloves, beverages and snacks will be provided to volunteers. No dogs, please. Sponsored by EBRPD and California State Parks Foundation. 544-2208. 

Path Walks, another view of Northside Paths. Meet at the Rose Garden on Euclid at 10 a.m. for a two- to three-hour walk. For more information call Alan Kaplan 526-7059. 

South Berkeley Community Action Team Forum. This forum includes a review of the results of the 2002 South Berkeley Community Survey and the 2002 Community Walk-Through. The forum also will identify community assets, including schools, businesses, hospitals, libraries, parks, community centers and neighborhood associations. Action Plans will be developed in response. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Frances Albrier Center at San Pablo Park, 2800 Park St. For information, e-mail CMiles-Threatt@ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

ASUC Art Studio Spring Sale, with art and pottery by Art Studio members and instructors, held on Lower Sproul Plaza, North Side, noon to 5 p.m. Pottery demonstrations noon to 2 p.m. 642-3065. 

SUNDAY, APRIL 13 

Berkeley Eco-House Workshop, “Home Greywater Systems and Water Reclamation,” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Suggested donation $5 - $20, but no one turned away for lack of funds. Vegetarian lunch provided. Hopkins and Peralta near Gilman. Enter at Peralta gate. Katharine Jolda, 465-9439. 

Organizing in the East Bay. 

East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse employees have unionized and invite the public to a celebration of music, art and speakers from 2 to 4 p.m., 6713 San Pablo Ave. For information e-mail depotworkers@yahoo.com 

Children at Tilden: Protist April. Toss and tow the plankton net to see what tiny creatures inhabit the pond. The 14-power Discovery Scope will reveal some; microscopes will reveal more. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

Interfaith Pagan Pride Parade, “Ancient Voices,” assembles at People’s Park at 11 a.m., followed by parade at noon. 843-0333. www.paganparade.org 

TUESDAY, APRIL 15 

Career Talk: A Musician’s Way of Work, with Dana Anderson-Williams, from noon to 1 p.m. at the YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way. Cost is $3 at the door. For information call 848-6370. 

Renewable Energy: Policy and Practical Solutions, with Peter Asmus, director PathFinder Communications, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. For reservations: 981-5435. energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 525-3565.  

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 

Community Meeting for Traffic Circle Project at California and Oregon Streets. Join city staff to discuss the proposed construction of a landscaped traffic circle at the intersection of California and Oregon streets. Begins at 7 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center, 1730 Oregon St. For information call Kenneth Emeziem 981-6444. 

The Cultural Heritage of Iraq and the Impacts of War. Professors David Stronach, Marian Feldman and Niek Veldhuis will speak on the cultural and archaeological resources threatened by the war, at 5 p.m. at 2547 Channing Way. 642-6914. conkey@sscl.berkeley.edu 

Community Dances in Berkeley, traditional English and American dances, held at 8 p.m. every Wednesday. Cost $9. Also, first Sunday of month at 7 p.m. for $10. Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St., 233-5065. www.bacds.org  

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group meets first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave. at Cedar St. Join fellow human rights activists to promote social justice one individual at a time. 872-0768. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik begins at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. $90 cash prizes. Cost is $7 at the door, $5 with student i.d. 841-2082. 

THURSDAY, APRIL 15 

LeConte Neighborhood Association Meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at LeConte School, Russell St. at Ellsworth. 

Lawyers in the Library at 6 p.m. at the Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 981-6280. 

City of Berkeley Budget Crisis, a discussion with City Manager Weldon Rucker and City Budget Manager Paul Navazio, at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Main Library, Kittredge St., in the third floor conference room. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters. For information call Eloise Bodine 843-8824. 

Berkeley Liberation Radio, 104.1 FM, holds public meetings for all interested people first and third Thursdays, 7 p.m. at the Long Haul Info Shop, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 595-0190. 

FRIDAY, APRIL 18 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon Series: Robert Haas, former Poet Laureate of the United States. Luncheon 11:45 a.m. Cost $11.50-$12.50. Speech follows at 12:30 p.m., all at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations 526-2925, 665-9020. 

John Zerzan will speak on the Pathology of Civilization in the context of the deepening crisis we face. “Surplus,” a new film by Erik Gandini, will be shown first at 7 p.m. The film is a 52-minute critique of consumer society and its non-future. At the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5-$10 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds. 548-3402. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, held Fridays at noon. Gather on the grass close to the west entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions welcome. 496-6000, ext. 135. www.bpf.org 

Women in Black Vigil, held every Friday from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

ONGOING EVENTS 

Activist Skill Class: Practical Skills for Difficult Times. Learn tactics and strategies of activism with Karen Pickett and Phil Klasky. Classes offered through Merritt College, Tuesday evenings and Saturdays, April 29 through May 24. To register call 548-2220, ext. 233. The Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 

Theater of the Oppressed with Julie Sparling, M.Ed. Theater of the Oppressed uses movement, storytelling and tableaux to explore how images of one’s personal experience reflect universal issues of power and change. Sundays April 6 - May 4 (excluding April 20) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost is $90-$140 sliding scale. UC Berkeley Racial Justice Program, YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Way. 594-1377. 

A Taste of Judaism, free classes on the basic tenets of Judaism. Sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay. Registration required. Classes through mid-May. 839-2900, ext. 347. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/humane/default.htm  

Commission on Aging meets Wednesday, April 16, at 1:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Lisa Ploss, 981-5200. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging/default.htm 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare/default.htm  

Commission on Labor meets Wednesday, April 16, at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley WorkSource, 1950 Addison St., Suite 105. Delfina M. Geiken, 644-6085. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/labor/default.htm  

Disaster Council Special Meeting, Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/disaster/default.htm  

Design Review Committee meets Thursday, April 17, from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/designreview/default.htm 

Fair Political Practices Commission meets Thursday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/faircampaign/default.htm  

Transportation Commission meets Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/transportation/default.htm  

The Berkeley Daily Planet prints listings on a space- available basis. Send information at least two weeks in advance to calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com; fax 841-5695 or phone 841-5600, ext. 102.

IN MY THOUGHTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am glad that the Daily Planet is once again reporting the local Berkeley news. At times I agreed with you, at times I disagreed, but I always appreciated your diversity of opinions. Freedom of the press offers continuing opportunity for all citizens. 

One of our Eagle scouts of Troop 19 and Berkeley High School graduate, LCPL Maurice Delmer USMC, has been serving in Iraq for quite some time. I miss seeing his smiling face and pray he comes home safely to his family soon. 

To keep him up to date with the Berkeley scene, I mailed him the first two issues of the Planet for his reading enjoyment. I'm sure he’ll be sharing the Planet with his fellow marines in Baghdad. 

Vince Lipinski 

• 

AVOID BIAS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I welcome back the local coverage of the Daily Planet. You are a major potential source for encouraging democracy to flourish. We need good local information and not Associated Press press releases. I hope you will have diverse writers from the Black, Asian and Latino communities of Berkeley. 

Please avoid out-of-context cartoons like the one this past week about Mayor Tom Bates and the Daily Cal.  

Leave partial, slanted truth-telling to the major media. The absurdity of the Daily Cal supporting the conservative UC Berkeley employee Shirley Dean for mayor could have been sketched on a headline tossed in the garbage can. That was Bates’ statement and is more accurate reporting. 

Rev. Sandra Decker 

• 

YOUTH SUMMIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I attended the youth summit (Daily Planet, April 4-7) and participated in the school safety group. I was pleased with the outcome and commitment. Truancy, victim services and the climate of permissiveness were identified as priorities. Some of the tasks toward achieving these objectives are under way. 

Effectively responding to school violence requires systems for incident reporting and victim services. When students report incidents, they exercise their right to a safe learning environment and everyone benefits. The schools’ administrations need to respond appropriately as well as enforce their own policies and rules. 

Reducing truancy will restore revenue, improve academic success and reduce crime. During the summit some data was presented. We did not see Berkeley High School truancy data; however, police data showed youth crime between noon and 3 p.m. to be not much less than in the 3 to 6 p.m. period. 

Three years ago a group of parents and high school students requested that the city and school district form a task force on youth health and safety issues. Sound familiar? The issues identified were primarily compliance with state law. Then Mayor Shirley Dean placed our presentations on the 2x2 committee agenda. Safety became a focus of subsequent meetings and some progress should be recognized. 

In the Planet article, Michael Miller, of Parents of Children of African Descent (PCAD), states “nothing will change.” I find this pessimism ironic, when I recall the message from PCAD at its inception. It was a message of hope and belief in our kids. Berkeley spends $15 million on youth services; with assessment and re-allocations, surely we can do better. 

Shirley Issel is quoted as saying there is less tension with the change of mayors. Watching years of these discussions I know the issues are not so easily explained. To understand the contentious nature of Berkeley politics, I recommend reading Joseph P. Lyford’s social history, “The Berkeley Archipelago.” The book describes the unwillingness of the then school board to respond to school violence. Is the current school board any different? 

Laura Menard 

• 

WELCOME BACK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a former East Bay resident, I’m glad to see the Berkeley Daily Planet up and running again, and better than ever. Your web site is going to be a home away from home while I live in Bloomington, Ind. 

Carol Polsgrove 

The Berkeley Daily Planet encourages Letters to the Editor. Please send them to opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com, or by mail to 3023A Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705. Please include address and phone number for contact purposes. The Planet reserves the right to edit letters for space.

City Council previewed four budget-cutting proposals Tuesday that could result in higher parking fines, massive cuts to city services and the loss of over 100 city jobs.  

The budget deficit for fiscal years 2004 and 2005 ranges from $2.7 million to $16.8 million, according to city officials. The council won’t know the exact amount of the shortfall until the state, which faces a $35 billion deficit, finalizes its budget, which might not occur until late summer or early fall.  

City Manager Weldon Rucker, Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz and Budget Manager Paul Navazio presented four budget scenarios to the council.  

“We just don’t know what the state is going to do,” Kamlarz said on Wednesday. “So we’re planning for the worst case and then we can back off.” 

During the public comment portion of the special meeting, several public swimming pool advocates, a Civics Art Commissioner and the artistic director of the Shotgun Players theater group asked the council to show restraint when making tough budget decisions.  

Depending on the severity of the budget shortfall, the council is considering several countermeasures. They include raising parking fines, putting a property tax increase measure on the November 2004 ballot and cutting city programs and jobs.  

In the best case scenario, the city will continue a hiring freeze, restrict travel for city officials and cut library, storm drain and street lighting programs. In the worst case scenario, the city will close a fire station, cut more than 100 jobs and take a serious look at revising all the city’s labor contracts. 

The council is also considering raising taxes and increasing fines. Under the proposal, an expired meter ticket might jump from $23 to $30, raising about $2 million in city revenue annually.  

Several cities have raised parking fines to contend with deficits. San Francisco just raised its expired meter fine to $35 in most commercial neighborhoods and to as much as $40 in the downtown. UC Berkeley charges $32 for expired meters. 

There was some conflict among councilmembers about raising parking fines, but overall the idea had support. 

“Our fines should be in line with other communities,” said Mayor Tom Bates, who suggested increasing meter fines to $32. “Oakland and other cities are going higher.” 

Councilmember Betty Olds was one of the few dissenting voices. “Raising parking fines is very unfriendly,” she said. “We’ll have too many Berkeley residents who will be upset.” 

Councilmembers also discussed a ballot measure that would raise about $8 million in fiscal year 2005 through increased property taxes. The exact amount of the tax or how it might be assessed has not been decided. 

City Council typically approves a two-year budget, but because uncertainty surrounds state and federal budgets, Bates proposed planning for a shorter time span.  

“Unfortunately nobody has a crystal ball telling us what the state is going to do,” Bates said. “If we do a one-year budget we won’t have to anticipate the worst and slam together a doomsday budget without knowing what the reality is.”  

The city manager will present his budget proposal to City Council at its May 13 meeting. A public hearing will be held May 20, and councilmembers will suggest amendments on June 10. After a final public hearing on June 17, the council will adopt a new budget on June 24.

FRIDAY, APRIL 11 

Storytelling and reading with Maisy, at 10:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Kinky Friedman reads from  

“Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Literary Friendships: Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, presented by Connie Andersen, at 1:15 p.m. at the  

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Free. For information call 232-1351. 

So How’d You Become an Activist? with Darryl Cherney and Fr. Bill O’Donnell. Monthly series in which local activists share their experiences and influences, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Donation $5. For more information call 415-927-1645. 

Frederick Wiseman’s films  

Primate at 7 p.m. and Missile at 9:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Noon Concert: Axel Van Chee, baritone, Colleen Kobussen, piano, perform songs by Grieg, and Ann Marie Darrow, mezzo soprano, Jonathan Chou, piano, perform Siete Canciones Populares Españoles, by Manuel de Falla. Concert is free. Doors open at 11:55 a.m., Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. 

Friday Afternoon Hang, The Yair Evnine Quartet in a free concert 5 to 7 p.m. at the Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 845-5373. 

www.jazzschool.com 

Camerata Sweden, chamber music and orchestra perform at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way.Cost is $38. 642-9988. 

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Wadi Gad, Jah Bandis with special guest Jr. Toots, Ashanti HiFi perform conscious reggae at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Stung: The Police Tribute 

Zoo Station: U2 Tribute 

perform Police and U2 music at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Grupo Raiz, the Latin American music sextet founded at La Peña returns for an evening of peace and justice songs, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $12 in advance, $14 at the door. 849-2568.  

www.lapena.org 

Scoop Nisker, Scoop with the News celebrates the publication of his new book at 8 p.m. at the Freight and Salvage Coffee House, 1111 Addison St. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Berkeley High School Jazz Combo performs at 7 p.m. at  

Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. at Center. 486-1840. 

Winfred E. Eye, Sonny Smith, Bart Davenport 

perform at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

Jackie Ryan performs at 9:30 p.m. at downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. www.downtownrestaurant.com 

The Bananas, This is My Fist, Operation Make Out, Pirx the Pilot, Abi Yo Yo perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, APRIL 12 

Lydia Mills and Arianna Guthries, “Cantemos Juntos,” traditional and original Latin American songs and games at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $3 for children, $4 for adults. 849-2568.  

www.lapena.org 

Hillside Players present “Tangled Tales!” children’s stories combined in an original comedy, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is  

$7 adults; $4 under 12, seniors and students. 384-6418. 

Frederick Wiseman’s films, 

Zoo at 3 p.m., The Store at 7 p.m. and Racetrack at 9:20 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4 members,UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Broadway Singers will perform “Moonglow!” in  

a benefit for its rehearsal home, St. Ambrose Church, 1145 Gilman St., at 2 p.m. Proceeds go to the church’s capital projects campaign. Tickets $10 for general admission and $8 for seniors. 524-7840. 

San Francisco Early Music Society presents Hopkinson Smith, lute and vihuela de mano in El Siglo de Oro, in a concert of Renaissance music of England and Spain at 8 p.m. St. John's Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 528-1725 or www.sfems.org. 

University Chorus, with conductor Marika Kuzma performs the Brahms Requiem at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC campus. Tickets are $2 - $8. 642-9988. 

The Movement, Spring 2003 Showcase. UC Berkeley’s dance group performs at 3 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $5 from 925-798-1300. 

www.juliamorgan.org 

Kotoja, dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9 p.m., followed by show at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $15. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

Solemite, 62nd St, Stonecutters, ska rock and rock at Blake’s on Telegraph at 9:30 p.m. Cost is $6. 2367 Telegraph Ave. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Utah Phillips sings at Freight and Salvage Coffee House at 8 p.m. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Scott Amendola Band performs at 8 p.m. at Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. Cost is $12, $15, $18. 845-5373.  

www.jazzschool.com 

De Rompe y Raja, Afro-Peruvian dance and music at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Daevid Allen’s University of Errors, Faun Fables at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough, 

3101 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8. 841-2082. 

Jamie Davis performs at 9:30 p.m. at downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. www.downtownrestaurant.com 

The Contraceptions, Scissorhands, Stalker Potential, Megan March, Gally 99 vs Torn Girl Squad perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926 

SUNDAY, APRIL 13 

Family Classic: The Iron Giant at 2 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Recommended for ages six and older. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Hillside Players present 

“Tangled Tales!” children’s stories combined in an original comedy, at 2 p.m. at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $7 adults; $4 under 12, seniors and students. 384-6418. 

Kum Nye 30th Anniversary Event with a talk on Tibetan relaxation mind-body exercises, at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Place. 843-6812. 

www.NyingmaInstitute.com 

Aris Janigian will read from her first novel, “Bloodvine,” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698.  

www.blackoakbooks.com 

South Asian Book Club discusses “Desirable Daughters,” by Bharate Mukherjee, at 11:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

MONDAY, APRIL 14 

Frederick Wiseman’s film 

Ballet at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.ed 

The Tramp and the Dictator, 

documentary on Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” and the collision of art and politics at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. $2 suggested donation. 848-0237. 

California Friends of Lousiana French Music present an afternoon of Cajun and Creole music and dance, starting at 1:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5 for CFLFM members, $8 for non-members. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Sunmasons, Boomshanka, Reorchestra, funk rock, funk, jazz funk at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $3. 848-0886.  

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Two Tricks perform in a CD release party and benefit for Exhale at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10 - $15 sliding scale. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Kálmán Balogh and the Gypsy Cimbalon Band, an acclaimed Hungarian Gypsy troupe, perform at Freight and Salvage Coffee House at 8 p.m. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Marcos Silva and Intersection, Brazilian Music at the Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. at 8 p.m. Cost is $12, $15, $18. 845-5373.  

www.jazzschool.com 

Erika Luckett, singer-songwriter, performs at Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. at 7 p.m. 486-1840. 

The Butchies, The Cost, Free Verse perform at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926 

Frederick Wiseman’s film 

Canal Zone at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Oz Shelach will read from his book about growing up in Israel, “Picnic Grounds: A Novel in Fragments,” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Oscar Casares reads from “Brownsville,” his collection of stories of the Mexican American experience in Brownsville, Texas, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. 

www.codysbooks.com 

West African Refugee Community Celebration, with live 

music and cuisine from West Africa, hosted by the International Rescue Committee. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m., at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

All Star Jam, featuring The Steve Gannon Band & Mz. Dee at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $4. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

TUESDAY, APRIL 15 

“Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther” will be introduced by Kathleen Cleaver and screened at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. A pre-film reception will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the BAM Theater Gallery. Cost is $4 members,UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Atul Gawande reads from  

“Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science” at 12:15 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Motor Dude Zydeco, Cajun dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m., followed by show at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Movement, Spring 2003 Showcase. UC Berkeley’s dance group performs at 7 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets $5 from www.juliamorgan.org. 925-798-1300. 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 

Ikiru at 3 p.m. (sold out) and Sympathetic Vibrations at 7:30 p.m., with Paul Klos in person, at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way.  

Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Tamim Ansary reads from 

“West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852. 

www.codysbooks.com 

Noon Concert, Shaw Pong Liu, violin, Jody Redhage, cello, Monica Chew, piano, perform Ravel’s Piano Trio in G at noon. Doors open at 11:55 a.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. 

http://music.berkeley.edu 

Timbuktu Heritage Institute Benefit, special Malian Workshop with Tartit Ensemble, at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10 - $15 sliding scale. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Damelatones Groove and Riot A Go Go at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $4. 848-0886.  

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Carol Denney, singer-songwriter, activist and folk wit, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House, 1111 Addison St. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bob Daley, singer-songwriter at 7 p.m. at Starbucks Coffeehouse, 2128 Oxford St. 486-1840. 

THURSDAY, APRIL 17 

UC Jazz at Noon free concert on Lower Sproul Plaza. 

Grateful Dead DJ Nite at 10 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $6. 525-505.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

Spank, DJs: Solarz from Groove Conflux, an evening of hip hop and R&B house music at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $5. 848-0886. 

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Patty Larkin, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House, 1111 Addison St. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Redwood Forest Benefit with Darryl Cherney and the Chernobles, Francine Allen, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. Cost is sliding scale $5 - $10. 841-2082. 

FRIDAY, APRIL 18 

S.F. International Film Festival showing The Century of the Self (Parts 1 and 2) at 4 p.m., Blissfully Yours at 7 p.m. and Internal Affairs at 9:45 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way.  

Cost is $4 for members, UC students; $5 for UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 for adults. 642-1412. 

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

The Anarchists, directed by Yu Young-Sik, in Korean with English subtitles. Action film in historical setting of anti-Imperial movement during Japanese occupation. Begins at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org 

A. J. Albany reads from “Low Down: Junk, Jazz and Other Fairy Tales from Childhood” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. 

www.codysbooks.com 

Noon Concert, Cathy Olsen, flute, Brian Christian, piano, perform works by Dutilleux, Ibert, Roussel, Messiaen, Boulanger at noon at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Concert is free, doors open at 11:55 a.m. 642-4864. 

The Berkeley Daily Planet prints listings on a space-available basis. Send information two weeks in advance to calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com; fax 841-5695, or phone 841-5600, ext. 102.

In his piece “Big Box Targets City” (Daily Planet, April 4-7), John Geluardi raises a number of issues regarding the construction of a Target Store on Eastshore Highway in Albany. 

Though well written, a number of points deserve clarification. 

Mr. Geluardi begins by saying the city of Albany is “cash-strapped.” In truth, all cities in California face varying degrees of economic challenges due to the recession and political decisions made in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. 

However, given the situation, Albany is doing exceptionally well. Don’t take our word for it — come see for yourselves. 

Our business district, located on Solano and San Pablo avenues, is overwhelmingly composed of mom-and-pop shops, modern boutiques and a diversity of wonderful restaurants, virtually all independently owned and operated. Though we have been hard hit by competition from big box malls north and south, we do not believe a Target Store in the industrial section of our town will pose a threat to our district. 

In order to maintain the small-town ambiance that makes Albany unique, we need additional sources of sales tax revenue, and we believe that Target will provide a good shot in the arm. Many people shop at Target, including working families in Albany and Berkeley. This new location will provide convenient access for them, reduce driving time and save gas. 

Contrary to Mr. Geluardi’s article, Target Stores, Inc. is not building a “sprawling retail complex.” They are constructing a two-story emporium on what is now a vacant industrial lot situated between railroad tracks, Interstate 80 and Berkeley’s Solid Waste Transfer Station. 

Yet some in Berkeley have concerns about the project. 

Community Environmental Advisory Commissioner LA Wood expressed surprise that Target would locate so close to Berkeley’s transfer station, which he says “has had issues of airborne particulate matter and odors.” If there are issues arising from the garbage and recycling center in Berkeley, it is up to Berkeley to settle them. 

Mr. Geluardi also raised the question of Cordornices Creek — a beautiful and important part of our watershed that must be protected. It’s interesting to note that the location of the Berkeley transfer station 20 feet from Cordornices Creek, including a gas station for their vehicles, was approved by the Berkeley City Council. 

Target Stores, in contrast, voluntarily agreed to protect the creek and its environs, maintaining a setback that is 60 feet to 70 feet from it. 

Then there is the traffic issue. Mr. Geluardi quotes Assistant City Manager for Transportation Peter Hillier who, referring to the Gilman Street Interchange from Eastshore Highway, said, “It’s a very old and awkward intersection,” adding he was surprised that Albany did not take into consideration “the increased risk of collisions” there. 

The fact is that Albany and TMG Partners consulted with the city of Berkeley while drawing up plans for the Eastshore Highway development, especially concerning traffic issues. They even hired Berkeley’s own traffic study consultants to review their consultant’s conclusions. In fact, Albany took the extraordinary step of having three separate reviews of plans before finalizing them. 

Albany also spent nearly $4 million to create access to Eastshore Highway from Buchanan Street and Interstate 80 and opened up what had been a dead-end street to facilitate the flow of traffic. We are confident that Target Stores will bring many benefits to our community and to Berkeley as well. 

In closing, we want to welcome the revival of the Berkeley Daily Planet. It is an important newspaper with excellent writers, including Mr. Geluardi, and we hope it is widely read. 

Sherman Lim is the president of the Albany Chamber of Commerce and James Carter is executive director.

Berkeley composer John Adams won the Pulitzer Prize in music this week for his homage to the Sept. 11 victims, “On the Transmigration of Souls,” but his elation was tempered by criticism of the award. 

“Among musicians that I know, the Pulitzer has over the years lost much of the prestige it still carries in other fields like literature and journalism,” he wrote, in an e-mail interview with The New York Times.  

“Anyone perusing the list of past winners cannot help noticing that many if not most of the country’s greatest musical minds are conspicuously missing,” he wrote. 

Adams, like other critics, complains that the Pulitzer jury has focused too much attention, in recent years, on a series of obscure academic composers. 

But UC Berkeley music professor Edmund Campion said the Pulitzer appears to be shifting focus with last year’s award to John Corigliano and this year’s selection of Adams, considered by many to be the nation’s preeminent composer. 

“They seem to be making up for past mistakes,” he said. 

Previous awards, Campion argues, were the product of a cloistered critical culture, powered by composers from the Ivy League colleges of the East Coast and a few western schools like UC Berkeley. 

“Composers in those chairs were responsible for deciding what was important in American music,” he said. “The old structure was definitely in need of being refurbished.” 

The piece that broke through, “Transmigration,” is a 30-minute work for chorus, children’s chorus, orchestra and taped sounds, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, which draws on text from the missing persons signs that dotted New York City after the Sept. 11 attacks. 

The piece is the latest in a career that dates back to 1978 when Adams, who did not return calls for this article, began work as new music adviser and composer-in-residence for the San Francisco Symphony. 

Over the past 25 years, Adams has composed for orchestra, video, film and opera — including “Nixon in China,” a 1987 opera, and “The Death of Klinghoffer,” a 1991 piece that drew charges of anti-Semitism, which many consider unfair. 

Adams, in a January 2001 interview with The New Yorker, suggested he is still troubled by the criticism. “At the time, I was so upset,” he said. “I couldn’t think of anything to say. ‘Anti-Semitic Opera Opens in Brooklyn’ — you can’t shake that kind of thing.” 

If “Klinghoffer” created controversy, Adams is perhaps best known for pieces like “Harmonium,” “Harmonielehre” and “Shaker Loops,” which add a lush quality to the minimalist stylings of modern composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass. 

“One hears harmonies from the late 19th, early 20th century,” said Ronald Bruce Smith, a visiting professor of music at the University of Illinois. “But he fuses that with more recent developments in music.” 

This “synthesis of a broad range of music,” Smith said, marks Adams’ greatest contribution to modern music. 

Richard Reynolds, a French horn player with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, said he is struck by Adams’ ability to combine depth with accessibility. 

“That was something that impressed me deeply,” he said. 

A recent performance of three sections from “Klinghoffer,” Reynolds said, marked one of the most meaningful musical experiences of his life. 

“The emotional impact of the sections we did was just astonishing,” he said. 

Locals interested in seeing a performance of Adams’ work won’t have to wait long. On April 30 the San Francisco Symphony, led by music director Michael Tilson Thomas, will play the world premier of Adams’ “My Father Knew Charles Ives.” 

The piece is the first of four, commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, to be performed between now and the 2011-2012 season, when the orchestra celebrates its 100th anniversary. 

Adams, 56, grew up in Vermont and New Hampshire and graduated from Harvard University. He lives in Berkeley with his wife, photographer Deborah O’Grady, and their two teenage children, Emily and Sam.

I have lived in Berkeley for 34 years and have been actively involved in civic life for the past six. I have been often dismayed and occasionally sickened by the low, mean level at which many civic participants operate, and I know that this grim atmosphere keeps many intelligent and interested residents away from the civic table. 

I am embarrassed by the city’s reputation as a bastion of unfree speech. Frequently, bad manners and undemocratic interactions are cloaked in righteous ideology, making it even harder to take a different position or approach. The pool of badly-behaving civic participants is wide and deep and includes politicians, citizen groups, neighborhood leaders, interest groups, city commissioners, even occasional city staff. 

There is a fairly constant stream of bossiness, rudeness, meanness, pre-emptive dismissal of ideas that are not one’s own, unwillingness to listen and unwillingness to discuss the issues at hand. Luckily for us all, we still have some rules and norms of civilized democratic discussion against which to judge and improve our bad behavior. 

So, since I am preaching on this occasion of the recent re-launch of our local newspaper, the Berkeley Daily Planet (which I hope will be fair-minded and informative as well as lively and interesting), I would like to set forth anew some guidelines for decency and serious debate in Berkeley civic life. Maybe we can some day reclaim our status as “Athens of the West.” 

1—Listen to the message rather than stereotype the messenger. 

2—Don’t shut down reasonable debate just because you can. 

3—Don’t use up the lion’s share of time during civic discussions. 

4—Listen seriously and respectfully to various viewpoints. 

5—Recognize that some opinions may actually be more informed than others, and may be more informed than you own. 

6—Recognize that passionately held positions aren’t always the best positions. 

7—Share information so that all stakeholders will be able to reach an informed opinion. 

8—Forgive and forget whenever possible. Don’t hold grudges. Try a fresh start. A negative encounter with someone five years ago should not necessarily guide your actions today. 

9—Do not confuse self-interest with the public good. Just because you would like to ride a scooter on the sidewalk does not mean it is good public policy. Recognize that self-interest can include a simple desire to hold onto control or power regardless of the issue at hand. 

10—Look to the present and the future. Just because a policy, program or person was (or was not) appropriate in the 1980s does not mean the same holds true for today and tomorrow. 

11—Maintain your sense of perspective and humor. Have a semblance of a life outside of civic life. 

Barbara Gilbert is a resident of Berkeley.

I report this more in sorrow than in anger, but I have been flipped off three times in the past couple of weeks by middle-aged women driving expensive vehicles. 

People, people. Get a grip. Don’t make me start publishing license plate numbers.  

I understand that these dark times can give rise to feelings of nameless dread, to intimations that the best years lie somewhere behind us, to that old where-but-to-think-is-to-be-full-of-sorrow-and-leaden-eyed-despairs sensation. The anonymity of the freeway might allow some of us flirting with the hopelessness of it all to act out just a bit. 

May I offer a better alternative? Meal Ticket, located a few steps north on San Pablo Avenue from Gilman Street, is the kind of place that can help reconnect us to our fellow person. “We sort of think of it as part community center,” explained Carolyn Del Gaudio, who owns the restaurant along with her husband, Jimmy Carter. 

It’s a true mom-and-pop operation, with Carolyn handling the front-of-the-house chores and Jimmy doing all of the cooking. “It’s amazing how loyal customers can be if you offer real warmth with a personal connection. I think that people long for an intimate, non-corporate setting,” said Carolyn, an erstwhile civil rights attorney. 

And loyal its customers seem to be; many of them have followed Carolyn and Jimmy crosstown from their original Southside establishment, a storied hole-in-the-wall joint that they closed in 1998 for a spate of serious globe-trotting. The new, larger place has a comfortable haute proletariat air, sporting a painted concrete floor and plastic-covered tables, with decorative artifacts from their travels providing the haute. 

Carolyn takes orders at the counter up front (be sure to check the blackboard of daily specials). Grab your own water, coffee and silverware. If the place isn’t too busy, Carolyn provides refills; otherwise, fend for yourself. 

Of course, it’s the food that really keeps the faithful, well, faithful. Jimmy — trained in the kitchens of the old Fourth Street Grill and the original incarnations of the Santa Fe Bar and Grill and Christopher’s — brings his classical technique to bear on some pretty straightforward dishes.  

“I like to cook simple, seasonal, what I think of as comfort food, using really fresh, great ingredients,” he said. “And I want to keep things affordable.” He does all the shopping each day, then turns out food that a dining companion described as “Chez Panisse for the working class.” 

One fan insisted that you should always order Jimmy’s fish, waxing poetic about the silky salmon and eggs offered for weekend brunch, and the grilled salmon and trout often featured as lunch specials. “I do a lot of fish, because I think it’s really good for you,” the Scottish-born chef said. Another raved about the tender, flavorful grilled pork loin with chipotle salsa. “I only serve all-natural meat,” Jimmy said. “We also have a vegetarian soup and a vegetarian pasta every day, so vegans and meat-eaters can dine together.”  

While Jimmy’s omelettes, such as a fluffy artichoke, blue cheese and green onion creation, are justly popular, I always opt for his airy, slightly crisp, made-from-scratch cornmeal pancakes for breakfast, served with a smattering of fruit and real maple syrup. (Buckwheat pancakes are also offered.) Really good homemade pastries and granola also can be ordered.  

Salads are impeccably fresh; sandwiches are served on warmed, seeded baguettes; dressings and croutons are house made. Good wines are served by the glass. (Such demanding attention to detail befits the three-time Olympian that Jimmy is.) And the most expensive item on a recent visit topped out at $7.95. No wonder the place boasts an almost cult-like following. 

Right now, Meal Ticket only serves breakfast and lunch, though plans are afoot to add dinner and perhaps patio dining in the near future. 

I talked Jimmy into sharing the recipe for one of his delightful soups, a smoky, slightly sweet roasted tomato soup. “Of course, vine-ripened summer tomatoes work best,” Jimmy cautioned. “And do add some cream or butter if you want a richer version.” 

Meal Ticket is located at 1235 San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley. Its hours are Wednesday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Weekend Brunch 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The telephone number is 526-6325.

FRIDAY, APRIL 11 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon Series: “Myths and Realities of Aging,” with Jennifer Winters, RN, MSN, professor of nursing, Merritt College. Luncheon 11:45 a.m. Cost $11.50-$12.50. Speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925, 665-9020. 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride converges at Berkeley BART at 5:30 p.m. on the second Friday of every month. 

ASUC Art Studio Spring Sale, with art and pottery by Art Studio members and instructors, held on Lower Sproul Plaza, North Side, noon to 5p.m. 642-3065. 

SATURDAY, APRIL 12 

East Bay Regional Parks Beach Clean Up. Help tidy up East Shore State Park beach from 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at the Brickyard Beach, behind Sea Breeze Deli off University Ave. at West Frontage Rd. Bags, gloves, beverages and snacks will be provided to volunteers. No dogs, please. Sponsored by EBRPD and California State Parks Foundation. 544-2208. 

Path Walks, another view of Northside Paths. Meet at the Rose Garden on Euclid at 10 a.m. for a two- to three-hour walk. For more information call Alan Kaplan 526-7059. 

South Berkeley Community Action Team Forum. This forum includes a review of the results of the 2002 South Berkeley Community Survey and the 2002 Community Walk-Through. The forum also will identify community assets, including schools, businesses, hospitals, libraries, parks, community centers and neighborhood associations. Action Plans will be developed in response. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Frances Albrier Center at San Pablo Park, 2800 Park St. For information, e-mail CMiles-Threatt@ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

ASUC Art Studio Spring Sale, with art and pottery by Art Studio members and instructors, held on Lower Sproul Plaza, North Side, noon to 5 p.m. Pottery demonstrations noon to 2 p.m. 642-3065. 

SUNDAY, APRIL 13 

Berkeley Eco-House Workshop, “Home Greywater Systems and Water Reclamation,” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Suggested donation $5 - $20, but no one turned away for lack of funds. Vegetarian lunch provided. Hopkins and Peralta near Gilman. Enter at Peralta gate. Katharine Jolda, 465-9439. 

Organizing in the East Bay. 

East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse employees have unionized and invite the public to a celebration of music, art and speakers from 2 to 4 p.m., 6713 San Pablo Ave. For information e-mail depotworkers@yahoo.com 

Children at Tilden: Protist April. Toss and tow the plankton net to see what tiny creatures inhabit the pond. The 14-power Discovery Scope will reveal some; microscopes will reveal more. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

Interfaith Pagan Pride Parade, “Ancient Voices,” assembles at People’s Park at 11 a.m., followed by parade at noon. 843-0333. www.paganparade.org 

TUESDAY, APRIL 15 

Career Talk: A Musician’s Way of Work, with Dana Anderson-Williams, from noon to 1 p.m. at the YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way. Cost is $3 at the door. For information call 848-6370. 

Renewable Energy: Policy and Practical Solutions, with Peter Asmus, director PathFinder Communications, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. For reservations: 981-5435. energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 525-3565.  

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 

Community Meeting for Traffic Circle Project at California and Oregon Streets. Join city staff to discuss the proposed construction of a landscaped traffic circle at the intersection of California and Oregon streets. Begins at 7 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center, 1730 Oregon St. For information call Kenneth Emeziem 981-6444. 

The Cultural Heritage of Iraq and the Impacts of War. Professors David Stronach, Marian Feldman and Niek Veldhuis will speak on the cultural and archaeological resources threatened by the war, at 5 p.m. at 2547 Channing Way. 642-6914. conkey@sscl.berkeley.edu 

Community Dances in Berkeley, traditional English and American dances, held at 8 p.m. every Wednesday. Cost $9. Also, first Sunday of month at 7 p.m. for $10. Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St., 233-5065. www.bacds.org  

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group meets first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave. at Cedar St. Join fellow human rights activists to promote social justice one individual at a time. 872-0768. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik begins at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. $90 cash prizes. Cost is $7 at the door, $5 with student i.d. 841-2082. 

THURSDAY, APRIL 15 

LeConte Neighborhood Association Meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at LeConte School, Russell St. at Ellsworth. 

Lawyers in the Library at 6 p.m. at the Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 981-6280. 

City of Berkeley Budget Crisis, a discussion with City Manager Weldon Rucker and City Budget Manager Paul Navazio, at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Main Library, Kittredge St., in the third floor conference room. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters. For information call Eloise Bodine 843-8824. 

Berkeley Liberation Radio, 104.1 FM, holds public meetings for all interested people first and third Thursdays, 7 p.m. at the Long Haul Info Shop, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 595-0190. 

FRIDAY, APRIL 18 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon Series: Robert Haas, former Poet Laureate of the United States. Luncheon 11:45 a.m. Cost $11.50-$12.50. Speech follows at 12:30 p.m., all at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations 526-2925, 665-9020. 

John Zerzan will speak on the Pathology of Civilization in the context of the deepening crisis we face. “Surplus,” a new film by Erik Gandini, will be shown first at 7 p.m. The film is a 52-minute critique of consumer society and its non-future. At the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5-$10 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds. 548-3402. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, held Fridays at noon. Gather on the grass close to the west entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions welcome. 496-6000, ext. 135. www.bpf.org 

Women in Black Vigil, held every Friday from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

ONGOING EVENTS 

Activist Skill Class: Practical Skills for Difficult Times. Learn tactics and strategies of activism with Karen Pickett and Phil Klasky. Classes offered through Merritt College, Tuesday evenings and Saturdays, April 29 through May 24. To register call 548-2220, ext. 233. The Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 

Theater of the Oppressed with Julie Sparling, M.Ed. Theater of the Oppressed uses movement, storytelling and tableaux to explore how images of one’s personal experience reflect universal issues of power and change. Sundays April 6 - May 4 (excluding April 20) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost is $90-$140 sliding scale. UC Berkeley Racial Justice Program, YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Way. 594-1377. 

A Taste of Judaism, free classes on the basic tenets of Judaism. Sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay. Registration required. Classes through mid-May. 839-2900, ext. 347. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/humane/default.htm  

Commission on Aging meets Wednesday, April 16, at 1:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Lisa Ploss, 981-5200. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging/default.htm 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare/default.htm  

Commission on Labor meets Wednesday, April 16, at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley WorkSource, 1950 Addison St., Suite 105. Delfina M. Geiken, 644-6085. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/labor/default.htm  

Disaster Council Special Meeting, Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/disaster/default.htm  

Design Review Committee meets Thursday, April 17, from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/designreview/default.htm 

Fair Political Practices Commission meets Thursday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/faircampaign/default.htm  

Transportation Commission meets Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/transportation/default.htm  

The Berkeley Daily Planet prints listings on a space- available basis. Send information at least two weeks in advance to calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com; fax 841-5695 or phone 841-5600, ext. 102.

The other day my wife brought home a baby bunny. She had stopped at the pet store on the way home from work and picked it out from a bunch of baby bunnies. There is nothing like a baby bunny. They are perhaps the cutest thing in the world. 

You know bunnies are born hairless and very tiny into a bed of fur picked from their mothers’ coats. Tiny hairless blind tiny things squirmy and hungry for mothers’ milk. Ours is of course covered with fur and has its eyes wide open. It’s a female, so they say, but it is hard to tell at this age and we have gotten it wrong before: Peter turned out to be a girl and Fuzzy a boy. 

Nothing says spring like a baby bunny. They do a thing called “pop corn” where they leap straight up in the air and turn on a dime. Nothing, that is, except perhaps the blossoms of our Santa Rosa Plum Tree. Incredible white cascade against the blue skies of March. In just a heartbeat they turn into an abundance of delicious sweet and sour treats. 

I tied a yellow ribbon around that plum tree during the Gulf War vowing not to take it down until my nephew returned from his war duty in the Persian Gulf. He did return and today is in good health. Thank you God. And I took the yellow ribbon down. 

Today I am thinking of putting up another yellow ribbon for all those boys and girls and men and women who have left their homes and are missing this spring weather and blossoms and baby bunnies. 

I was happy to see the new bunny but also worried. I wondered how Fuzzy, our adult bunny who lives in our backyard, and this new baby bunny would get along. Bunnies are very complex social creatures. A warren in the wild may have several hundred individuals living together. 

My wife and son got another baby bunny last year and it did not work out well. Speedy, the new bunny, called that because he sped around the living room so fast when he was a baby, turned on Fuzzy when he became an adolescent. We never got him fixed and maybe we should have. Lowered testosterone levels might have helped. 

At first Fuzzy chased Speedy, but then got used to him. They would sit together in the sun and Fuzzy would preen Speedy. But one day I went out on the deck and saw tufts of brown fur all over the yard and Fuzzy on the deck fearful. With some investigation I discovered that Speedy had been attacking him. 

We tried many things to broker peace, and all failed. I began to hate that rabbit and found that we could not give him away. The House Rabbit Society would not take him. Plus he bit me one day, disqualifying himself as a nice house pet. So I announced to the family I would take him on a one-way trip to the animal control people, as even the Humane Society would not take him. 

I pulled him out of his cage wearing gloves so as not to get bitten or scratched. Rabbits can be very aggressive and fierce if they want to be. I put him in a cage in the kitchen for his last night. In the morning he was dead. 

If you have some bunnies who do not get along and you want them to, here is what you do. Put them in a new environment together. In their mutual anxiety they will bond and become friends. We of course tried this with Fuzzy and Speedy, and it worked at first but not later. I think Speedy went insane. Perhaps he had a brain tumor.  

My daddy was a farm boy and a cowboy. He taught me to whistle at a rabbit to stop it so you could shoot it. It works. The rabbit stops and listens. I shot with my B.B. gun but never hit a rabbit. 

Maybe we could put humans in a new environment and they would bond and not fight. Then again, what about madness and brain tumors. 

When I was a teenager in the U.S. Navy in Japan I pressed cherry blossoms one spring and put them in plastic in my photo album. I still have those blossoms from Atsugi, Japan. 

There is nothing like a baby bunny and spring blossoms. I hope the bunnies get along, the blossoms give us good fruit and the soldiers come home from the war. 

Country Joe McDonald is a resident of Berkeley.

Both the Oakland Police Department and the demonstrators who clashed with them at Monday’s anti-war protest will have a chance to testify at a hearing later this month. The public hearing will be held before the Public Safety Committee on April 29 at 3 p.m. in Oakland’s City Hall. 

City officials said they want to hold the hearing to examine whether the Oakland police department acted appropriately when they used wooden dowels, bean bags and rubber pellets to disperse a crowd of about 100 demonstrators protesting outside of Port of Oakland terminals Monday morning.  

Police said they had to use force because demonstrators refused to disperse when ordered to, were climbing on top of trucks that were attempting to enter the port terminals,and were throwing objects at police officers. Protesters have said the police response was unprovoked and excessive, insisting they were demonstrating peacefully before police opened fire. 

At least 12 protesters and six longshoremen were injured in the melee. The police made 31 arrests, but no one has been charged. 

Several demonstrators, some of whom spoke at a raucous City Council meeting Tuesday night, have said they will file a lawsuit against the city.  

The Oakland City Council will meet next week in a closed door meeting to consider City Attorney John Russo’s proposal to hire an external, independent investigator to look into the protest melee and police behavior. 

I work for a Berkeley-based nonprofit organization that offers comprehensive services to help homeless people gain independence. I have worked here for 17 years, and watched as attention to the war on poverty ebbed and flowed as public priorities changed. We are seemingly no closer to a solution than when I first arrived. Or are we? 

Berkeley is sometimes considered a too generous provider of services, drawing homeless from surrounding cities. This is false, as Berkeley has about 1 percent homeless persons, lower than Oakland’s 1 percent to 1.5 percent and San Francisco’s 1.5 percent to 1.8 percent. This jibes with the 2000 Urban Institute estimate of 3.5 million homeless nationwide, or 1.2 percent. (The U.S. Census is so insecure about their lower number — and rightly so as it fails to capture large numbers of “hidden homeless,” who double up with friends or family, as well as those not present at a participating shelter or soup kitchen on counting night — that the 2000 Census refers to their count as the “emergency shelter and transitional shelter population” and not the homeless population.) 

One percent of the U.S. population is a large number of people. But we do not need numbers to tell the story. We know homelessness remains unsolved, as we walk by homeless people every day. Why does it remain so after all this time? Part of it is underfunding, and part is inadequate diagnosis. 

Most of the homeless face multiple difficulties, resulting from inadequately treating several ailments, which may be of a physical, mental, emotional, social or systemic nature. 

This complex hodge-podge of obstacles is why homelessness persists, since not all are accepted as valid barriers and subsequently are not supported by policy or resource allocation. 

Physical and organic mental barriers are the most comprehensible and thus easier to mobilize around. Emotional and social barriers are less comprehensible, and often perceived more as personal shortcomings that a person can “get over” with sufficient willpower. This higher degree of victim-blaming muddies our ability to implement solutions. Systemic barriers are by and large accepted as valid by the public, who understand that structural issues make it harder for some people to survive and thrive than others. 

In effect, the public has a collective emotional dysfunction about systemic shortcomings — a shared sense of hopelessness that prevents ambitious corrections. 

Policy and opinion makers need to deepen their understanding of the obstacles in the way of solving homelessness and speak a more informed language with the public, to increase their understanding as well. We should then apply the same concepts of patience, commitment and long wars, which this administration has adopted for the purposes of fighting terrorism, to the ongoing fight against homelessness and poverty here at home. 

Sonja Fitz is a resident of Berkeley and works for Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS).

A UC Berkeley ceremony honoring Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control, as “Alumna of the Year” became an impromptu press conference last week on the mysterious disease SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory disease. 

Dr. Gerberding, a graduate of U.C. Berkeley’s School of Public Health, addressed a standing-room-only crowd of Bay Area public health professionals reporters, students and faculty for over an hour on Tuesday. 

Originally scheduled to discuss bioterrorism, Gerberding devoted most of her speech to the emerging global epidemic that already has infected more than 2,700 people around the world. Gerberding said it was likely that a U.S. health professional had been infected with the disease. 

“The most recent diagnosis has all the hallmarks of SARS,” she said about the worker, “and we’re confident it will turn out to be a true case.”  

It was the first confirmed case in America of the disease’s transmission to a health-care provider. Two other healthcare workers had been reported with suspected SARS infections, but their cases had not been confirmed as of early this week.  

Health-care workers in the US have been cautious when dealing with SARS patients, taking precautions to avoid the infection which has had a devastating effect on health-care workers in Canada, Southeast Asia and Asia. 

SARS currently has a 4 percent mortality rate. In her address Gerberding noted SARS may have a very high attack rate. In the only example currently analyzed, 66 percent of people exposed to a Hong Kong SARS carrier developed the disease, according to Gerberding. 

“We are very concerned about the spread of this virus,” Gerberding said. “It does appear to be transmitted very efficiently, and what we know about respiratory viruses suggests that the potential for infecting large numbers of people is very great. We may be in the very early stages of what could be a much larger problem.” 

Despite the persistent questions about SARS, Gerberding also spoke about bioterrorism, funding for public health issues and obesity, which she called the most dangerous epidemic facing America today. 

“We are enjoying unprecedented investments in the public health infrastructure as a consequence of congressional concern, the executive branch concern and fears people have about the ongoing risk of terrorism of varying kinds,” she said. “The philosophy that we’ve been using in all of this is to try to build this kind of preparedness on a solid foundation of existing public health services and structures.”

City Council handed a partial victory to neighborhood opponents of an American Baptist Seminary of the West proposal to demolish two century-old cottages to make way for a five-story building. 

The council, by a 6-2-1 vote, required the seminary to conduct an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to determine whether the two cottages have historical significance under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The EIR will also analyze impacts on traffic and parking in the residential neighborhood, which is south of the UC Berkeley campus. 

Councilmembers Miriam Hawley and Margaret Breland voted against the EIR and Councilmember Kriss Worthington abstained. 

The council’s ruling will delay the project by approximately six months, according to Department of Planning and Development Director Carol Barrett. The EIR is estimated to cost the Seminary somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000. 

The project, proposed for 2514 Benvenue Ave., would have included 23 new dwelling units, a 22-bed dormitory, classrooms, offices and a 48-car garage.  

The council did approve the use permits for two other seminary projects, both retrofits at 2500 and 2508 Benvenue Ave. The project at 2500 Benvenue Ave. will add 12 dwelling units for a total of 24. The 2508 project would add six dwelling units to an existing 15. Both of the approved projects will result in 18 additional dwelling units for a total of 45. 

Seminary President Rev. Keith Russell said the setback on the five-story building was unfortunate but he was glad the other two projects were approved. 

“After the two years of public process we’ve gone through, we’re delighted to get started on the retrofit projects,” he said. 

The Zoning Adjustments Board narrowly approved a use permit for the five-story building in July, which the Benvenue Neighborhood Association appealed. After the council’s ruling on Tuesday, BNA members congratulated each other outside the council chambers. 

“This is a huge victory for our neighborhood and all neighborhoods across Berkeley,” said BNA member David Baker. 

Baker accused the Planning Department of showing favoritism toward the Seminary throughout the approval process. He said planning staff dismissed the opinion of seven UC professors who believed the two cottages, one built in 1899, the other in 1906, had historical significance. 

Councilmember Gordon Wozniack, who made the motion for the EIR, said there was insufficient evidence that the cottages lack historic value. 

“The EIR should authoritatively address whether those buildings are historical resources for the purposes of CEQA,” he said. 

Councilmember Miriam Hawley voted against requiring the EIR. “I’m opposed to this motion because the city has been involved with this project for over two years,” she said. 

Councilmember Betty Olds said she voted for the EIR because she was concerned about density in the neighborhood, which is just south of the UC Berkeley campus. 

“I’m scared,” she said as she stood on the sharp edge of the shallow end of Willard Pool in Berkeley. 

“Don’t be scared,” I answered. “It’s easy. Just jump into my arms.”  

“I’m scared,” she repeated. Her thin body was shaking like a leaf. 

“Stop saying you’re scared and jump,” I demanded.  

I was standing in three feet of water and was close enough to touch her. If she jumped and by some freak miscalculation missed my outspread arms, she’d wind up standing herself, her head at least six inches above water.  

“Come on. I haven’t got all day. You can do it.” 

“Okay,” she said. “But move closer and don’t drop me. I’m almost ready.” 

She was holding her nose with her right hand and swinging her left arm as if she were going to fly. She wore a tiny blue flowered bikini and a pair of enormous snorkeling goggles that magnified her already big brown eyes. She looked like a preying mantis with her long legs and spindly arms.  

“I’m gonna do it, I swear,” she said. “I’m almost ready. Are you ready?” 

“Yes,” I said, barely hiding my irritation. “Hurry up.” 

“Here I come,” she yelled, and she jumped. She landed with her hands wrapped around my neck and her knees tucked under my armpits. She was holding on so tight I could barely breathe, and the force of her momentum knocked me back. She hadn’t made a splash and only her toes were wet. The rest of her frail body was high above the water. 

“I did it!” she screamed in my ear. “I did it. I did it. I did it. Let’s do it again!”  

“Let go,” I said. “You’re strangling me!”  

“Put me on the side of the pool,” she demanded. “I want to do it again and again and again.” 

Several months later I held her hand as we entered Head Over Heels, located in a cavernous building in Emeryville.  

“I’m scared,” she whispered as she watched little girls in black leotards do somersaults, cartwheels and flips. 

“Don’t be scared,” I said. “It’s easy. You can do this stuff.” 

“I’m scared,” she said again as an instructor led her to the trampoline. She tentatively stepped on the springy surface and began to jump. First little jumps and then bigger and bigger and bigger until she was practically flying. 

“This is fun,” she yelled, looking at me and waving. She turned around and around as she sprung higher and higher and then she pretended that she was running in the air, like a clown in a circus.  

Now it is spring and we are outside on the sidewalk. She is balanced on a small pink two-wheeled bicycle with glittery plastic streamers sprouting from the handlebars. I stand beside her, keeping the bicycle and her body upright by holding the seat and her thin shoulder. 

“I’m scared,” she says, looking at me.  

“Don’t be afraid,” I whisper. “You can do this. I’ll hold on to you the whole time. All you have to do is pedal.” 

“Don’t let go of me. You promise?” 

“Yes, I promise. Now pedal, please.” 

“Okay,” she says. “I’m gonna do it. I really am.” She looks forward and squints her eyes in concentration. “I can do this,” she repeats and she is no longer talking to me. 

She starts to pedal and wobbles forward, going faster and faster until I can’t keep up. 

I let go of her shoulder and then the back of the seat and she is pedaling in a straight line down the sidewalk, as if she has been bicycling for a hundred years. She comes to the corner of 53rd Street and makes a smooth, professional turn, pedaling out of my sight, out of my reach. 

And now it is my turn to be scared, because I am going to have to let her go. “I can do this,” I say to myself, without much conviction. “I really can.” 

Susan Parker lives in Oakland near the Berkeley border. She is the author of the book “Tumbling After,” a memoir published last year by Crown Publishing.

Elderly woman robbed 

Police are looking for two men suspected of robbing an 85-year-old Berkeley woman of thousands of dollars in jewelry and cash. 

The woman was at her 10th Street home on Wednesday afternoon around 2:30 p.m. when two men knocked on her door claiming there was a problem with her chimney, said Officer Mary KusmisS, Berkeley Police spokesperson.  

One of the men said the chimney problem was critical and offered to fix it immediately for $200 cash.  

When he took the woman outside to show her the problem, the other man ransacked her home, according to police. The woman reported missing over $2,000 in gold jewelry and over $500 in cash.  

Police nab murder suspect 

Kevin Sterling Jones, who was shot by Berkeley Police last November during an armed robbery sting, was charged with the rape and murder of two women on Wednesday. 

Jones, who is in custody and recovering from gunshot wounds at the Santa Rita Jail infirmary, was charged after Oakland and Napa police said they could link him to the two murders that occurred 1999 and 2000. 

The two victims were Jamie Williams, 22, and Sharonda Parker, 16. Both were raped and strangled.  

Berkeley Police arrested Jones Nov. 15 after a tip that he intended to rob a beauty parlor on Alcatraz Avenue. Because Jones was considered dangerous, parlor employees took the night off and female police officers took their place as stylists and customers.  

Snipers and members of the Barricaded Hostage Negotiating Team were deployed around the business. When an armed Jones arrived at the parlor with an accomplice, he was confronted by police and then shot twice in the abdomen when he resisted. 

Actor’s car still missing 

Actor Sean Penn’s jet black 1987 Buick Grand National, along with two handguns, is still missing after being stolen in downtown Berkeley on Tuesday. 

Berkeley police said it’s possible it was taken to a garage and dismantled for parts. 

Penn parked in front of Citibank on Shattuck Avenue around 1 p.m. Upon his return after having lunch at 2:30, he discovered the car was missing. 

When officers arrived at the scene, Penn told them there was a loaded Glock 9 mm handgun and an unloaded Smith and Wesson, five-shot revolver in the car. Penn has a state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon. 

Kusmiss said the car theft has generated calls from the London Times and the Paris Match in addition to other local newspapers.  

Students Protest for Palestine 

One year after storming UC Berkeley’s Wheeler Hall and making national headlines, several dozen pro-Palestinian student activists staged a modest protest Wednesday afternoon calling on the university to divest from Israel. 

The Sproul Plaza rally commemorated the April 9, 1948, Israeli paramilitary attack on the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin, which left several civilians dead. 

Activists, many involved in the anti-war movement, said events in Iraq have shifted the focus away from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

“I think a lot of momentum was building around the Palestinian issue when the war broke out, and that energy has been transitioning into the anti-war movement,” said NAME REMOVED BECAUSE OF PRESSURE, an Oakland resident who took part in the student protest. 

Last year on April 9 UC Berkeley police arrested 79 protesters for taking over Wheeler Hall. Two months later, the Alameda County district attorney dropped criminal charges against the protesters, but the students involved still faced possible disciplinary action from the university.  

In February, students signed confidential agreements with the university settling their conduct cases. 

On Wednesday, protesters staged street theater with students impersonating Israeli guards before the noon rally. Protesters waved Palestinian flags and equated Israel with South Africa’s former apartheid state. 

Josh Baron, a member of a student group called the Israel Action Committee, held an Israeli flag aloft during the rally. He criticized pro-Palestinian activists for equating Israeli policies with apartheid. 

“I think it does an injustice to the intellectual capacity of this university,” Baron said of the protest. “I’m here to say I think your slogan is crap.” 

—David Scharfenberg 

Cesar Chavez Street 

Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmembers Betty Olds, Linda Maio and Kriss Worthington will serve on a new committee, formed last week, that will chose a “major street” to be named after Cesar Chavez, the founder of the National Farm Workers Association. He died in 1993. 

The streets that have been talked about include University and Ashby avenues and Gilman Street, because Chavez’s name would be displayed prominently on exit signs on Interstate 80.  

“Sacramento Street has also been talked about because it runs parallel to Martin Luther King Jr. Way, which would have symbolic significance,” Worthington said.  

Olds said she supports naming a street after Chavez, but has reservations about altering Gilman Street and University and Ashby avenues because of the hardships the name change would impose on the small businesses that line those streets. 

“People think it doesn’t hurt businesses, but it does,” she said. “And I don’t think Cesar Chavez would want to hurt these little mom-and-pop businesses.” 

Once the committee chooses a street, it will be approved by City Council and submitted to the city’s two-year work plan. 

—John Geluardi 

Study Slams Charter Schools 

The nation’s growing number of charter schools rely heavily on uncredentialed teachers; fail to secure available public funding for low-achieving or disabled students, and leave black children isolated in racially homogenous schools, according to a new study by researchers at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. 

“Charter schools now offer hope for hundreds of thousands of families, many dissatisfied with mediocre or unsafe local schools,” said Bruce Fuller, the UC Berkeley professor of education and public policy who directed the study. “Ironically, we discovered that many charter students are exposed to less qualified teachers and weaker instructional support than if they had remained in regular public schools.” 

The report found that 48 percent of charter school teachers, including 32 percent of those in California, are uncredentialed, compared to only 9 percent at the typical public school. 

The study also found that schools serving the largest number of black students are 80 percent black on average. Comparable public schools are more integrated, with 54 percent the highest percentage of black students. 

Critics of the study said the report did not address the fundamental question of how charter school students are performing. A study conducted last year by the Charter Schools Development Center found that California’s “veteran” charter schools — those that have been in existence for five years or more — outperformed standard public schools on the state’s testing system. Charter schools, as a whole, did worse than regular schools. 

—David Scharfenberg

For those accustomed to being spoon-fed our messages at the movies the documentary films of Frederick Wiseman can be a little hard to swallow.  

He takes a distinctly austere approach to making films. Working in the style of observational cinema, Wiseman depicts the unscripted lives of real people and places using only natural sound and available light, and without the use of music, commentary or direct interviews. 

Nearly half of his films have been collected in a rare retrospective now at the Pacific Film Archive on the Berkeley campus. 

For 35 years Wiseman has churned out films as gripping and memorable as any tightly plotted thriller, and a good deal more provocative. 

Wiseman, however, has always kept a low profile. He’s never been nominated for an Academy Award, and his movies aren’t available at any video store. But last week Wiseman, who lives in Cambridge, Mass., spent five days at the Townsend Center for the Humanities at UC Berkeley.  

The majority of Wiseman’s films explore quintessential social and public institutions. His documented subjects range from public high school and life on a military base to the daily routines of a hospital, domestic violence shelter, welfare processing center, police precinct and public housing complex. His films are both exemplary journalism and meditations on American idealism. 

To hear Wiseman tell it, his film technique is little more than a kind of happy accident of timing. Working with just two other people — a cameraman using a 16mm handheld camera, an assistant and himself handling the sound — Wiseman spends a few months immersed in his subject’s daily life. 

He said he does little prior research, relying only on his instincts, chance events and meetings, and his innate belief that the story will reveal itself over time. Rather than follow a single individual or small group of people for the entire film, Wiseman makes location his center. 

“The place is the star,” Wiseman said during his week in Berkeley. “In addition, the technique I use is that I wander.” 

Very few of Wiseman’s films come in under the two-hour mark, and a great many are three hours. “Near Death,” Wiseman’s 1989 study of an intensive care unit, runs six hours. 

Wiseman’s controversial first film, “Titticut Follies,” released in 1967, provided an explosive glimpse at the conditions inside a hospital for the criminally insane. Throughout his career he has displayed an interest in the condition of people struggling with powerlessness.  

“Meat,” Wiseman’s 1976 anatomy of a massive, automated, beef and sheep processing plant, takes the audience step by step through the process by which an animal is transformed into an object packed into a cardboard box.  

Wiseman taps into the viewer’s curiosity about how things work.  

In the film “Meat” all the sensory details and rhythms that define the meat packing plant are present. 

There is the comforting hum of the assembly line, the cutting equipment in action and at rest, the precise ritualized cuts made by workers at each station, a crowded lunchroom, a worker napping in the sun atop a stack of cinder blocks, a pile of rubber boots, the clean-up crew hosing down floors slick from the day’s work. 

Wiseman always finds the right details to tell the story, even in the seemingly mundane environment of an office building.  

In “Welfare,” a three-hour examination of a New York City welfare office, Wiseman devotes equal attention to individuals seeking services — angry people, stunned people, desperate people, amusing people — and staff. Here is the detached office director, strolling in late and leaving early with his newspaper and hat; here are the case workers, as fallible as the people they’re trying to serve, but on the whole remarkably skilled and patient in their efforts to make sense of a bewildering bureaucracy; here is the security guard who treats his antagonist with supreme forbearance; here, even, is the janitor sweeping the halls, an oasis of calm in the storm. 

“There’s a lot of drama in ordinary experience,” Wiseman has said. 

Wiseman’s films offer lessons about reserving judgment. “Domestic Violence,” a 2001 film about a domestic violence shelter in Tampa, Fla., contains scenes of abused women recounting their experiences.  

The movie is not so much a condemnation of a social scourge as a wrenching study of the complexity of people’s emotional lives. In one scene, a woman tells her story with sorrow, fear and self-blame. She then explains the tenderness she still feels toward her husband. 

Wiseman has objected to being labeled as a practitioner of cinema verité, the French film movement that sought to present life exactly as it is. The term suggests all events have equal value; Wiseman, on the other hand, has said he selects constantly among events, shuffling through reels in search of the moments that conform most closely with his sense of truth.  

Seven films remain in the Frederick Wiseman retrospective at the Pacific Film Archive. Among those scheduled at the theater for this weekend are “Racetrack,” a 1985 study of both high- and low-stakes gambling at the Belmont Stakes; “The Store,” a microcosm of the wealth and materialism at the Neiman Marcus headquarters in Dallas, and the 1995 “Ballet,” which documents the rarefied artistic world inside the American Ballet Theater.

A group of teachers and parents at Jefferson Elementary School are pushing to rename the building, citing concerns with Thomas Jefferson’s slaveholding past. But critics, including some parents, call the move shortsighted. 

“You want to put a hole in this guy who people hold up as a hero — who’s going to be left?” said parent Mark Piccillo, annoyed at the renaming effort. “I pick my battles and this is one I’m going to fight.” 

First-grade teacher Marguerite Hughes said she’s not interested in “Jefferson-bashing.” But she said it would be insensitive to leave the name of a slaveholder on a building with a large black student population. 

“I think it’s important to think about how students feel about the school, and even teachers,” said Hughes. “As an African American, it’s not a small thing that Jefferson was a slaveowner.” 

To change the school name, proponents will have to get 20 percent of parents, 20 percent of staff and 20 percent of students to sign petitions pushing the idea. Once the community settles on a new name, a majority of each group will have to vote in favor of the change and win final approval from the Board of Education — a process likely to take at least a year. 

District officials, wrestling with a major budget crisis, are not lining up behind the nascent movement. 

“With the school district giving notices to 200 teachers, students of many cultures struggling to comprehend English and a community working hard to save programs in these difficult budget times, changing the name of a school site is not high on my list of priorities,” said Superintendent Michele Lawrence in a statement. “Right now, our time would be better spent on these immediate issues.” 

Even school board Director Terry Doran, a progressive stalwart, is taking a wait-and-see attitude. 

“I think it’s appropriate to look at that, but I don’t have strong enough feelings at this point to participate in a movement to change the name of the school,” he said. 

Robert Middlekauff, UC Berkeley professor emeritus of American history, said the legacy of Thomas Jefferson — slaveowner, Founding Father and author of the Declaration of Independence — is a complicated one. 

“All historians and students recognize that Jefferson was a slaveholder, but they also recognize that he was one of many, and his life, his career, his contributions to the Revolution were of another order,” Middlekauff said. “I think Jefferson is generally held in very high regard.” 

Philip Broaddus, parent of two children at the school, cited Jefferson’s contributions in defending the current name. 

“They should give Jefferson more due for what he did,” said Broaddus. “I don’t think we’d even be having this conversation if Jefferson hadn’t included those inalienable rights in the Constitution.”  

Piccillo noted that Martin Luther King, Jr., one of his heroes, was an adulterer and alleged plagiarist. King, he said, is still worthy of praise and the same should hold for Jefferson. 

“I don’t think you can compare adultery and slaveholding,” Hughes replied, drawing a sharp distinction between personal failures and holding human beings in bondage. 

“We’re not saying [Jefferson] can’t be people’s hero,” she continued. “All we’re saying is you can have that viewpoint with your life experiences, but I can’t do that, as an African American, with my life experience.” 

If a name change goes through, Jefferson Elementary would not be the first Berkeley school to take on a new identity. A few years ago, parents and staff at Columbus Elementary School decided to rename the building Rosa Parks Elementary School and won board approval.  

There wasn’t much controversy at the time over taking down the “Columbus” sign, but there was a heated battle over whether to name the largely black and Hispanic school after Rosa Parks or Cesar Chavez. 

Jefferson parent and name-changing advocate Dora Dean Bradley said the naming process at her school is wide open, but she mentioned a few possibilities, including Ohlone Elementary, after the nearby Ohlone Park, and Rose Street Elementary, after a nearby avenue. 

“We want to have something more positive now for Berkeley,” Bradley said. 

Whatever the final name, opponents raise concerns about a district policy which has elementary schoolchildren weighing in on the process. 

“If the kids get set up for it, I know how they’re going to vote,” Broaddus said. 

But Beverly Thiele, one of the teachers pushing for a name change, said the vote would be fair. 

“We’re certainly not going to go around and grab kids by the collar and say this is what you have to do,” she said.

ohn Henry Mitchell, always concerned about the well-being of others, wrote several letters to the city pleading for a stop sign at the busy Shattuck Avenue corner near his home, the very intersection where he was killed by a car in January.  

Walking home from his senior yoga class on Jan. 17, the 78-year-old retired teacher was crossing Shattuck at Woolsey Street — a stretch of Berkeley’s main thoroughfare where there isn’t a stop light or sign between Ashby and Alcatraz — when he was struck. 

A city report on whether to install a stop sign in the area is promised for next week. 

Witnesses told Berkeley Police that the driver, Jennifer Troia, of Oakland, appeared preoccupied when she struck Mitchell, according to the accident report. 

According to Mitchell’s wife of 30 years, Siglinde, Mitchell had been writing to Berkeley officials since 1998 about putting in a stop sign at that exact intersection — not far from their home near the corner of Telegraph and Woolsey.  

Mitchell’s first letter led to a city study that concluded there was not enough pedestrian or vehicular traffic at the intersection to warrant a stop light. He asked for a pedestrian-operated sign, known as a Santa Rosa light. 

“He didn’t even ask for a signal,” said Siglinde. 

Not one to give up easily, Mitchell responded to the report — based on data gathered during the summer when Berkeley’s student population is depleted — to conduct another study when U.C. Berkeley was in session. The city did just that in the fall of 1998 and came to the same conclusion, not enough pedestrian traffic. 

According to Peter Hillier, Berkeley’s assistant city manager for transportation, the last studies done on accidents at the intersection where Mitchell was killed showed that for a five-year period ending in 2001 there were no other fatalities. Four collisions, however, involved either a bicyclist or pedestrian.  

The same number of crashes and no deaths occurred at nearby Prince and Shattuck during the same period. Hillier would not say what the report’s recommendation would be, but he did say that “with that kind of collision frequency, there are some improvements that we should be making.”  

Berkeley Transportation Commission member Dean Metzger isn’t sure there’s the wherewithal to put in new stop signs in Berkeley. 

According to Metzger, one of the biggest stumbling blocks is the perception that stop signs cause more pollution as a result of a car’s engine having to work harder coming to a complete stop and then starting again.  

An advocate for more stop signs, Metzger  

is equally critical of the resources devoted by the Berkeley police to crack down on speeders and distracted drivers. 

Mitchell’s tenacity about the stop sign was no surprise to his son Derek, 40, of San Anselmo.  

“What he had been involved with in his later years is more than most people are involved with in their whole lives,” says Derek. “Like he said one time, there’s too many arm chair liberals out there these days.” 

In their father’s honor, Derek and his other son Ian, of Santa Cruz, and daughters Hilary, a Berkeley school teacher and Sonia, a junior at Berkeley High, along with Siglinde, carried a banner Mitchell had intended to carry in the peace rally held in San Francisco the day after he was killed. A reproduction of a cartoon, it showed Uncle Sam telling his psychiatrist, “I’m not paranoid doc, it’s just that everyone’s out to get me so I have to get them first.” 

Mitchell grew up in Oklahoma during the dust bowl. The image of tenant farmers eking out a living left a lasting impression of the importance of social justice on him, family members said. His father, a prominent pharmacist, wanted him to become a veterinarian, but he had other plans and after dropping out of vet school in Oklahoma headed to Chicago in the late 1930s.  

There he lived in a co-op with future BART Director Roy Nakadegawa, and attended Roosevelt University where he earned a degree in special education. It was during this period that Mitchell also learned folk music and eventually went on to play with Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie and Country Joe and the Fish among others.  

In the early 1950s, Mitchell moved to Berkeley and began a 36-year-career as a junior high school special education teacher in east Oakland.  

“His thing was if you want to be a good human being go out and do things that really affect other people’s lives. Like special education. He touched a lot of children and had an impact on their lives. He didn’t think that would’ve happened if he was in business,” said Derek. 

Throughout his teaching career, Mitchell continued to perform at the Berkeley Folk Festival and the Fillmore West in San Francisco. He was also a fixture at Ashkenaz where he called square dances. He loved to hike Bay Area trails as a member of the Montclair Hiking Club. 

After his retirement in the early 1990s, Mitchell became president of the California Retired Teacher’s Association. A member of the ACLU and Amnesty International, Mitchell wrote countless letters for organizations to free political prisoners. 

Even Mitchell’s work on improving traffic conditions for Berkeley pedestrians was an ongoing commitment — in the 1970s he successfully lobbied the city to put in a four-way stop sign near his then-home at the corner of Prince and Wheeler after several accidents occurred there. 

Siglinde has not given up her husband’s last fight. She and several other concerned neighbors went to a Berkeley city transportation committee meeting in February to again ask for a stop sign at the intersection of Shattuck and Woolsey.  

“They said they were going to give us a traffic report in an about a month,” said Siglinde. “Well, it’s been almost three months and we still haven’t seen the traffic report.”