The military recruitment budget is $3 billion annually; 90 percent of the people killed in war are civilian noncombatants; 91 percent of Berkeley High students believe the war in Iraq is wrong and illegal; 65 percent of veterans never get their education benefits; 33 percent of homeless men are veterans….  

It was more than these factoids splashed across the screen in the school auditorium and the anti-war rap pulsating in the background that kept the Berkeley High students riveted to their seats Wednesday. It was the real life lesson in war, taught by some who touched battle up close and by others who escaped it that kept the teens’ attention.  

The idea of the anti-war teach-in—four different presentations given to four groups of about 300 students—was hatched by students studying social justice and social action in CAS, Berkeley High’s Communication Arts and Sciences school. The project was guided by CAS teacher Joanna Sapir.  

The first presenter, Aidan Delgado, a 23-year-old conscientious objector, brought the war home to the audience, which sometimes gasped in shock, other times tittered with discomfort, as they viewed images depicting the graphic reality of war they had never seen on the evening news.  

Delgado was 19, just a bit older than the students he was addressing, when he signed the Army Reserve contract that changed his life. The son of a diplomat who grew up in Egypt and other countries abroad, he said he did not go into the service for college money—his family was paying his way—but because he wanted a change in his life. He thought he’d join the reserves and put on a uniform a couple of days each month.  

Soon after the war began in March 2003, Delgado’s unit was deployed to Iraq. “I got to Iraq and felt totally unprepared,” he said.  

He told the students that he had always been opposed to war intellectually, but in Iraq he began to understand the meaning of pacifism and began studying Buddhism. After three months, he told his commanding officer that he wanted to apply for conscientious objector status. The process took two years and he was honorably discharged in January.  

Delgado said he was upset by many things he observed in Iraq. On various occasions he would see a group of civilians walking and U.S. soldiers would tell them to stop. “They didn’t understand. (The soldiers) would shoot them down,” he said.  

Delgado knows Arabic and was able to communicate with the people. For most of the soldiers, though, “every Iraqi was an enemy,” he said. 

They would call them “Hajjis,” (normally a reference to those who have made the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca), using the term to denigrate them. He saw a fellow soldier whip children who had annoyed him with a Humvee antenna. He would watch soldiers break bottles over the head of Iraqis as they drove by.  

His unit spent six months working at Abu Ghraib, where prisoners were punished with the removal of their tents and blankets during the cold months. Once when the prisoners rebelled and started throwing stones, the guards responded by shooting several of them dead and wounding others.  

Delgado showed the Berkeley High students pictures of dead children, and of soldiers degrading corpses. “That’s the reality of war,” he said. “This is what you have to think about.”  

Student organizers also invited a recruiter for the Army Reserve, Sgt. First Class Marco Ramos. Responding to a question about what he had thought of Delgado’s presentation, he said, “I don’t know anybody who agrees with war. War is bad. But unfortunately, war is going on in the world. It’s always a challenge to go to war.”  

Ramos said he has never seen combat and does not feel responsible for sending people to war. His job is to recruit them. Others are responsible for deploying the units. He underscored the positive aspects of soldiering: “Helping build schools, hospitals, taking care of people.”  

The panels explored military recruitment, the question of a possible draft and how people can resist it if they choose to do so.  

Evelyn Chang of the American Civil Liberties Union said she wanted students to know their rights when approached by a recruiter. She said the ACLU hears reports of students who are coerced and misled. Students need to understand, she said, that “the military is a contract, not a job, like others. You can’t quit. It’s a commitment for eight years, even though active duty is two-to-four years.”  

Chang said students need to understood the No Child Left Behind Act. Unless a parent signs an “opt out” form, schools must turn over to recruiters the names, addresses and phone numbers of every student in order to get federal education money. (Berkeley High, however, has adopted an opt-in strategy whereby parents sign up to have their students’ names turned over to recruiters.)  

On Tuesday the Alameda County Board of Education postponed voting on a resolution to encourage parents to opt out of releasing their children’s information to military recruiters on high school campuses. The board is expected to take up the issue again at its April 26 meeting. 

The possibility of a draft was on the minds of students and panelists. Speaking from the audience, one student asked if a draft would be more equitable than recruiting low-income youth as is done today. (A bill with this intent, authored by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY, was defeated in the House in October.) 

Ed Hasbrouck, from the National Resistance Committee, served six months in a federal prison camp for refusing to register for military conscription. Millions do not register, but the government wanted to make an example of 20 vocal opponents, Hasbrouck told the students. 

On Thursday Associated Press reported that the Army, which has increased recruiting bonuses, raised the number of recruiters on the streets by 33 percent and increased the maximum age of National Guard and Reserve recruits from 34 to 39, missed its February recruitment goal by 27 percent and is predicting that the goals will fall short in March and April.  

Oakland City Council candidate Aimee Allison, who was honorably discharged as a conscientious objector from the Army during the First Gulf War, counseled students who think they might have moral or religious grounds for opposing the war. She told them to begin a file now to prove their beliefs in case of a draft. For example, they might include papers they’ve written for school, a letter to the editor, proof of membership in a social activist club, pictures of them at an anti-war march.  

As panelists took audience questions, the students who spoke seemed generally against war and against serving in the military. However, student Mateo Guttierez challenged the panel, asking, “Do you think it’s immoral or unpatriotic to use tax-payer time during school to give information on draft resistance?”  

Ed Hasbrouck answered the question, saying that he believed the country was founded on principals of resistance. “Schools give people a chance to grow and learn,” he said. “It would be an immoral use of schools to educate people to kill.”  

A Counter-Military Recruitment Forum and Conscientious objector workshop will be held at 1:30 p.m. March 27 at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Hall, 1924 Cedar St. Panelists will include Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq, Steve Morse, of the GI Rights Hotline, Jeff Paterson, of Not in Our name, Robert Reynolds, a Berkeley High School student, and the Rev. Craig Scott, UU minister.  

More than two dozen tenants of a West Berkeley live-work warehouse that was declared “an extreme fire and life safety hazard” will be able to stay in their homes for two extra weeks under the protection of the Berkeley Fire Department, the city’s fire marshal announced Thursday. 

Under political pressure, city officials extended an order to vacate The Drayage, a warehouse at Third and Addison streets, to April 15.  

A fire inspection earlier this month found 255 code violations at the property, including propane tanks for cooking, untested gas lines, stoves and heaters installed without permits and insufficient access to exits in the event of a fire. After the inspection, city officials sent the landlord a 15-day evacuation notice, demanding that all residential tenants leave by April 1. Commercial tenants have been allowed to remain. 

The extension will not come cheap for the property owner, Dr. Lawrence White. The city is requiring that White pay for a three-person engine company around the clock at the warehouse beginning April 1. The cost is estimated to run several thousand dollars a day, said Deputy Fire Chief David Orth, who also serves as Berkeley’s fire marshal. White faces $2,500 a day in fines if he does not evacuate the building by April 15. 

Orth said the extension came in response to the requests of City Councilmembers and residents of the Drayage. He said he is requiring the owner pay for fire department surveillance because he wasn’t comfortable allowing residents to remain in their homes. 

“This is an extremely hazardous situation,” Orth said. “If a fire starts in the building, I don’t feel we could stop it. I don’t see any option of making the structure code compliant.” 

The city has ordered White to post a 24-hour-a-day security guard at the warehouse. White did not return telephone calls for this article after the city announced the extension Thursday evening. 

The residents, most of whom are artists with attached studios, said they appreciated the reprieve, but planned to continue to fight the pending eviction. 

“I want a solution that lets me stay in my home with my neighbors,” said Maresa Danielsen, who has lived at the warehouse for eight years. 

Additionally the City Council will receive a staff report on the property at their April 12 meeting. It could choose to discuss the warehouse at the meeting, but does not have the power to overturn a decision by the fire marshal, Deputy City Attorney Zach Cowan said. 

Some residents questioned the timing of the city crackdown 24 years after artists first moved into the warehouse. The building is up for sale, and Orth said that the inspection was prompted by a request from developer Ali Kashani for an address verification. Kashani has since withdrawn his offer to buy the building. 

Understanding that a vacant building is worth more on the open market than an occupied one, residents charged that by evicting them the city was serving the landlord’s interests. 

“Why is the city assisting a landlord who has failed to provide a safe space and stands to make millions from our eviction?” said Claudia Viera, who has lived at the warehouse for 10 years. 

Orth said the Fire Department hadn’t been aware that the building was also a residence and that past fire inspections had only looked at commercial spaces and common hallways. “It just came up on the radar in the last few weeks,” he said. 

According to a city report, during the early 1980s the warehouse was apparently subdivided into 28 multi-use, multi-level units without city permits. Residential gas, water and electrical lines were also installed in the units without permits. 

White, who bought the building eight years ago, said in an interview Thursday morning that he had it inspected before closing and was told it was up to code. A recent electrician’s report found no major problems with the wiring, he added.  

White said he never considered the financial benefit he stood to reap by the evictions when he put the building on the market several months ago. “I never looked at it that way,” he said. “I assumed that any future owner wouldn’t do anything with it for a few years.” 

White said he has lost money by operating the property, and had a deal in place to sell it to Kashani for $2.05 million.  

Kashani, the head of Memar Properties Inc., said he canceled escrow after he found out about the residents. Should the city go ahead with the evictions, Kashani said he still might bid on the property. He had considered tearing down the warehouse to build lofts or townhouses. 

If the tenants are forced out, under city laws they will be entitled to a lump sum of $200 and moving expenses, plus the difference over three months between the rent they paid and $1,395, the average city rent for a one-bedroom apartment. 

Because the property is zoned commercial, White doesn’t have an obligation to find new quarters for artists and crafts tenants as he would under the West Berkeley Plan if the property had been zoned for manufacturing or light industrial. 

Residents said they knew the building wasn’t up to code, but thought that it could be made safe without evacuating them. “If they installed a sprinkler system, upgraded the electricity, installed railings, that is all stuff that can be done,” said Jeffrey Ruiz, furniture maker, who pays $1,375 for an apartment and workshop at the warehouse. 

“There is nowhere else in Berkeley I can get that kind of deal,” Ruiz said. 

The residents’ pleas made a strong impact at the City Council Tuesday. 

“It would be a terrible misjustice to let these individuals bear the full brunt of this while the landlord gets to sell his building,” said Councilmember Max Anderson. 

Should residents remain past April 15, Orth said the city could choose to keep billing the owner for the engine company. “If it’s just a couple of tenants we might have to make some hard choices about evacuating the building,” he said. 

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Aimee Allison has come a long way from the 17-year-old kid at Antioch High who joined the Army Reserves to get an education. The 35-year-old Stanford graduate and Green Party candidate for Oakland’s District 2 write-in election (to replace a councilmember who quit) spoke at Wednesday’s Berkeley High military recruitment teach-in, explaining how she joined the Army.  

“Aimee, you can do whatever you want to do in life,” she recalls the recruiter saying. One of six children, her parents could not afford to send her to college. “I wanted to go so bad, I was desperate to find a way, any way to go to college.”  

So she became an army medic and was in the Army Reserves for several years. As a student in education at Stanford, she came to realize the extent to which she opposed war and won conscientious objector status during the First Gulf War. She’s been counseling others on how to do that ever since and Wednesday, urged students who don’t want to go into the military to explore other options for funding their education.  

“When I was 17, nobody asked me to think about what it would be like to leave my family, go into training, put on the battle-dress fatigues, and shoot M-16s and kill. Realize that you have rights.”  

The issue of a draft is becoming critical, she told the students. “Many people believe that the question isn’t if there’s going to be a draft, but how it’s going to be implemented,…You have rights; there are those of us who will support you whatever you decide to do.” And the question isn’t just for men. Addressing the young women in the audience, she said: “If you think the draft will not target you, I think that you are mistaken.”  

She told students that it isn’t too early to start preparing a file of their anti-war participation, if they feel strongly against war. 

“Maybe you’ve seen pictures of soldiers who have been killed in Iraq. They look just like you. Young men and women of different races from different parts of the country,” she said.  

Making a name for herself in the anti-war community—and taking a strong anti-war stand in her run for Oakland City Council—Allison also spoke at Saturday’s rally in San Francisco marking the second anniversary of the war in Iraq. 

“We cannot end this war without the soldiers joining us,” she said, proposing that cities become a sanctuary for those who refuse to fight.  

Speaking out more strongly at the rally than in the high school auditorium, Allison took aim at military recruiters. “We need to get the blood-sucking recruiters off our campuses,” she said.  

Nine candidates are running for the District 2 seat, vacated by Danny Wan who said the $60,000 council salary was insufficient to help him care for his aging parents. (He reportedly earns twice that amount in his new Port-of-Oakland job.) The election will be held by mail. Registered voters will receive ballots between April 18 and May 7 and must return them by 8 p.m. on May 17.  

District 2 nearly circles Lake Merritt and includes Chinatown. When the area was redistricted in the early 1990s, it was intended to give Asians a district in which they would develop political clout.  

Those running for council seat with Allison, who his endorsed by former councilmember Wilson Riles, are: 

• Shirley Gee, a manager at Stanford University who pushed for a heavily Asian area in the original redistricting. She is endorsed by the North Alameda National Women's Political Caucus.  

• Pamela Drake, a former council aide and longtime community, schools and peace activist. She has the endorsement of former school superintendent Dennis Chaconas.  

• David Kakishiba, director of the East Bay Asian Youth Center, who has won the endorsement of Rep. Barbara Lee.  

• Patricia Kernighan, aide first to City Attorney John Russo when he was councilmember and then to Danny Wan. She is endorsed by Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. 

• Justin Horner, former chief of staff for Councilmember Jane Brunner—and endorsed by her. He sits on the board of directors of Sentinel Fair Housing and is Vice President of International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21.  

• Paul E. Garrison, a vice president for Wells Fargo and member of the city’s Public Ethics Commission, is president of the Haddon Hill Neighborhood Association.  

• Todd Plate, who identifies himself as a non-profit consultant. 

• Margaret “Peggy” Moore, who identifies herself as a community outreach specialist. 

Upcoming Candidates’ Forums  

Monday, April 11, 6 -7:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway (at 2nd St. near Jack London Square).  

Sunday, April 10, 2-5 p.m. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd.  

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Aimee Allison has come a long way from the 17-year-old kid at Antioch High who joined the Army Reserves to get an education. The 35-year-old Stanford graduate and Green Party candidate for Oakland’s District 2 write-in election (to replace a councilmember who quit) spoke at Wednesday’s Berkeley High military recruitment teach-in, explaining how she joined the Army.  

“Aimee, you can do whatever you want to do in life,” she recalls the recruiter saying. One of six children, her parents could not afford to send her to college. “I wanted to go so bad, I was desperate to find a way, any way to go to college.”  

So she became an army medic and was in the Army Reserves for several years. As a student in education at Stanford, she came to realize the extent to which she opposed war and won conscientious objector status during the First Gulf War. She’s been counseling others on how to do that ever since and Wednesday, urged students who don’t want to go into the military to explore other options for funding their education.  

“When I was 17, nobody asked me to think about what it would be like to leave my family, go into training, put on the battle-dress fatigues, and shoot M-16s and kill. Realize that you have rights.”  

The issue of a draft is becoming critical, she told the students. “Many people believe that the question isn’t if there’s going to be a draft, but how it’s going to be implemented,…You have rights; there are those of us who will support you whatever you decide to do.” And the question isn’t just for men. Addressing the young women in the audience, she said: “If you think the draft will not target you, I think that you are mistaken.”  

She told students that it isn’t too early to start preparing a file of their anti-war participation, if they feel strongly against war. 

“Maybe you’ve seen pictures of soldiers who have been killed in Iraq. They look just like you. Young men and women of different races from different parts of the country,” she said.  

Making a name for herself in the anti-war community—and taking a strong anti-war stand in her run for Oakland City Council—Allison also spoke at Saturday’s rally in San Francisco marking the second anniversary of the war in Iraq. 

“We cannot end this war without the soldiers joining us,” she said, proposing that cities become a sanctuary for those who refuse to fight.  

Speaking out more strongly at the rally than in the high school auditorium, Allison took aim at military recruiters. “We need to get the blood-sucking recruiters off our campuses,” she said.  

Nine candidates are running for the District 2 seat, vacated by Danny Wan who said the $60,000 council salary was insufficient to help him care for his aging parents. (He reportedly earns twice that amount in his new Port-of-Oakland job.) The election will be held by mail. Registered voters will receive ballots between April 18 and May 7 and must return them by 8 p.m. on May 17.  

District 2 nearly circles Lake Merritt and includes Chinatown. When the area was redistricted in the early 1990s, it was intended to give Asians a district in which they would develop political clout.  

Those running for council seat with Allison, who his endorsed by former councilmember Wilson Riles, are: 

• Shirley Gee, a manager at Stanford University who pushed for a heavily Asian area in the original redistricting. She is endorsed by the North Alameda National Women's Political Caucus.  

• Pamela Drake, a former council aide and longtime community, schools and peace activist. She has the endorsement of former school superintendent Dennis Chaconas.  

• David Kakishiba, director of the East Bay Asian Youth Center, who has won the endorsement of Rep. Barbara Lee.  

• Patricia Kernighan, aide first to City Attorney John Russo when he was councilmember and then to Danny Wan. She is endorsed by Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. 

• Justin Horner, former chief of staff for Councilmember Jane Brunner—and endorsed by her. He sits on the board of directors of Sentinel Fair Housing and is Vice President of International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21.  

• Paul E. Garrison, a vice president for Wells Fargo and member of the city’s Public Ethics Commission, is president of the Haddon Hill Neighborhood Association.  

• Todd Plate, who identifies himself as a non-profit consultant. 

• Margaret “Peggy” Moore, who identifies herself as a community outreach specialist. 

Upcoming Candidates’ Forums  

Monday, April 11, 6 -7:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway (at 2nd St. near Jack London Square).  

Sunday, April 10, 2-5 p.m. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd.  

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As Berkeley seeks to close an $8.9 million budget deficit, the City Council Tuesday voted to ensure that an unanticipated $3.4 million property tax windfall doesn’t bail out threatened programs. 

Following the advice of City Manager Phil Kamlarz, the council voted 7-2 (Olds, Worthington, no) to set $2.4 million to pay for a new police dispatch system. The remaining money would go to street repairs, technology upgrades, a match for a solar bond fund, a plan for the city to buy its own electricity instead of PG&E, and a lawsuit against UC Berkeley.  

The vote followed the narrow defeat of a competing proposal to postpone the decisions until June, when the city must adopt its budget. (Worthington, Moore, Spring and Anderson supported the delay.) 

Also, the council named Ying Lee to the Library Board of Trustees and gave its blessing to a Fire Department plan to save $1.1 million by periodically closing fire companies rather than by permanently shutting down one of its two fire trucks.  

The budget vote was a victory for City Manager Phil Kamlarz, who in two previous meetings failed to win council approval for his recommendations. Kamlarz has been adamant that the council should not spend the unexpected revenue to bail out city programs, a move he said would only delay painful cuts until next year. 

With the city scheduled to begin community budget workshops this week, opponents of the Kamlarz plan argued that it was too early to dedicate the money. 

“With one stroke here all of the community concerns would be moot,” said Councilmember Max Anderson. “It doesn’t build public confidence in what we’re doing.” 

Kamlarz replied, “My experience in this city is when we have community meetings, people are going to be asking to restore program cuts.” 

As a compromise measure the council agreed that each member would provide Kamlarz by June 14 with a list of programs they would like spared from deep cuts. That move angered councilmembers Laurie Capitelli and Betty Olds, who feared the council would add pork to the budget that the city couldn’t afford. 

The bulk of the unexpected revenue ($2.4 million) will go to pay for the new police dispatch system. 

Of the $1 million to go to city upgrades and repairs, $200,000 would go to pay for a portion of a city centralized call center database, designed to give city operators access to information to answer residents’ questions without having to transfer them. 

According to a city report, last year the city received 17,114 calls for service, 62 percent of which had to be redirected. Seventeen percent of callers hung up instead of waiting for an answer. 

Kamlarz said the system would recoup the estimated $850,000 price tag for the database within four years and save $700,000 annually in future years by eliminating the need for nine positions. 

Councilmember Dona Spring questioned the plan based on previous technology improvements she didn’t think improved worker efficiency. “I would like to see an accounting of all the money we’ve spent on this and where it’s gone to,” she said. 

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak countered that by making staff more efficient, the council would have more money in the long run to pay for programs it doesn’t want cut. 

Fire Service 

Rather than closing one of the city’s two ladder truck companies this July to cut a required $1.1 million, the Fire Department has opted to close different service companies periodically throughout the year. 

The roving company closures will give department brass greater staffing flexibility and spread the effects of reduced service throughout the entire city, Chief Debra Pryor told the council. Since November, the city has closed a truck company in North Berkeley at night as a cost saving measure to balance this year’s budget.  

Response time for the truck company in South Berkeley to respond to a North Berkeley call has increased by two to four minutes during the closure, said Deputy Fire Chief David Orth. 

Under the fire department’s plan, up to two fire companies could be out of service at a given time, and minimum staffing levels would be reduced from 34 to 28. Closures would be targeted to occur during times of lower call volume and minimal fire danger, Pryor said.

Opposition from Republican lawmakers has apparently halted a bid to name Berkeley’s main post office after the 93-year-old local civil rights icon Maudelle Shirek. 

Earlier this month, GOP leaders abruptly withdrew the bill introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) from a vote on the floor of the House. 

Ceremonial matters like the naming of a post office typically sail through the Congress, but according to published report in The Hill, a weekly congressional newspaper, “Certain members in the California delegation believe that Shirek is a socialist or a communist.” 

Shirek, who reportedly once dined with Fidel Castro, served on the Berkeley City Council for 20 years before losing her bid for re-election last year. She was a seminal figure in the local civil rights movement and played a major role in combating housing discrimination in Berkeley. Shirek did not return phone calls for this story. 

Robert White, a spokesperson for the House Government Reform Committee, which has jurisdiction over the bill, said the committee removed it because of opposition from other California representatives. 

The committee, White said, typically doesn’t move ceremonial bills unless they have the support of the entire state delegation. In the case of the Shirek bill, White said, Committee Chair Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) agreed to move the bill as long as no one in the state delegation opposed it. 

But that’s just what a couple of members did, White said. He added that he wasn’t aware of which members raised objections or the nature of their concerns. 

Shirek’s friends were puzzled to hear that the bill had been derailed. “I definitely want to know who blocked it,” said Dale Bartlett, her former legislative aide. 

For her part Lee remained optimistic she could still honor the woman she considers a mentor. 

“Well, you would never want to bet on the schedule in Congress, but I am hopeful that we will pass this bill and honor a woman whose leadership, service and commitment to our community have been an inspiration to us all,” she said in a released statement. 

To win passage for the legislation, Lee will either have to resolve the objections of her colleagues in the state delegation or persuade Davis to move the bill in spite of the opposition, White said. 

Lee has signed on 43 colleagues as co-sponsors for the bill. Nearly all of the nine members of the state delegation not co-sponsoring the legislation are Republicans. 

One of the 11 Republicans to sign on to the bill, Rep. Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs), recently considered withdrawing her support, a spokesperson said. “It was something we talked about because other members were pulling off, but she decided to stay on,” said Kimberly Pencille. 

According to congressional records, Rep. John Doolittle (R-Roseville), who initially co-sponsored the bill, has withdrawn his support. 

If Lee ultimately wins passage for the bill, the post office building at 2000 Allston Way will be recognized as the “Maudelle Shirek Post Office Building.” 

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Poitier McDaniel, 26, gets his daily exercise Thursday by lifting a chunk of old concrete on Ashby Avenue..

The 16-year-old girl charged with slashing the neck of a 75-year-old Berkeley woman will undergo a psychiatric evaluation and remain in custody, her attorney said Thursday. 

“I think there are signs that an exam is needed before we proceed,” said Assistant Public Defender Mike McCormick. 

The 16-year-old, identified as “Marilyn,” made her first appearance in juvenile court Wednesday. She will return before the judge next Wednesday after results of the tests are known. 

The girl has been charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon for the attack. According to authorities, while walking on the 1200 block of Euclid Avenue on the evening of March 16, she grabbed the victim by the neck and slashed her throat with an eight-inch kitchen knife. 

The victim was treated in intensive care for two days after the attack and is recovering at her North Berkeley home. 

Assistant District Attorney Walter Jackson said the girl has refused to speak to authorities. Jackson had filed a motion to try the girl as an adult, but said he could still choose to withdraw it.  

“I’m still deciding how this case is best handled,” he said. 

If the girl is charged as a juvenile, and convicted, she would be up for release from the California Youth Authority on her 25th birthday, McCormick said. As an adult, she faces a maximum of life in prison. 

Neither attorney offered details of the girl’s background or whether she has a criminal history. McCormick said the judge ordered her to remain in custody because she was considered a flight risk and a danger to others. 

Jackson did confirm that the BMW the victim and her companion fled in belonged to the victim’s companion. The companion has not been charged in the case.›

After two years of fierce debate, the parents, students and staff of Jefferson Elementary School will decide if they want their building to continue to bear the name of a slaveholder. 

Earlier this week Jefferson Principal Betty Delaney released a list of eight names for the school community to vote on in an election scheduled for early April. The top vote getter will then be placed in a runoff election against Jefferson in late May. 

“I’m for getting the name Jefferson off the school,” said Dora Dean Bradley, the parent of a third grader. “I don’t care that he wrote the Declaration of Independence. He didn’t write it for me.” 

Bradley served on an oversight committee of parents and teachers that sifted through name change suggestions offered by students and parents. 

The proposed names include four people: Cesar Chavez; Ralph Bunche, a Nobel Prize winning African-American diplomat and graduate of Jefferson High School in Los Angeles; Sojourner Truth, a freed slave who became a leader in the abolitionist movement, and Florence McDonald, a former city councilmember and the mother of Berkeley musician Country Joe McDonald. Other proposals are Ohlone, Peace, Rose and Sequoia. 

The oversight committee rejected one suggested name, Wavy Gravy Elementary, in honor of the Berkeley-based artist. 

“We were hesitant to propose someone who was still alive, because we didn’t want someone who could still make a mistake,” said Chris Hudson, a parent who also served on the oversight committee. 

Not everyone is in favor of a name change. Hudson said he remains cool to changing the school’s name. “I don’t think the name change process should have started at all,” he said. “There are many more important school issues to deal with.” 

Berkeley has a history of changing school names. Shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., James Garfield Middle School was renamed in his honor. Abraham Lincoln Elementary became Malcolm X under a groundswell of community support, and four years ago Christopher Columbus Elementary was rebuilt and renamed after Rosa Parks. 

In 2003, supporters of renaming the school collected signatures from more than 20 percent of parents and teachers. Last year, more than 20 percent of students also voted to move ahead with the name change, a move which triggered the formation of the committee. 

Some parents and teachers have been leery of having younger students vote on an issue that they fear they might be unable to grasp fully, but Superintendent Michele Lawrence has insisted that the school follow district policy and allow all students to vote. 

“That’s a dangerous road to go down saying young children can’t be educated on issues that are controversial in nature. I don’t agree with that as a parent or as an educator,” she said previously. 

According to a letter from Principal Delaney, over the next two weeks students will attend assemblies and have classroom discussions on the proposed names, while parents will receive a voter information packet. A town hall meeting with historians discussing Jefferson is planned for before the final vote in May. 

While Bradley said she was leaning towards Ohlone Elementary, she expected her daughter and many of her classmates to choose Cesar Chavez. “They’ve all studied him, it’s a name they are all familiar with,” she said. 

Country Joe McDonald was in Italy, his wife said, and not available to comment on his mother’s nomination for the school. As for Wavy Gravy, he said he won’t be mounting a write-in campaign. “I never though I stood a chance,” he said. “All they have to do is Google me and there’s my checkered past. It’s enough to be an ice cream flavor.” 

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The story sounds familiar. A teenager shoots five of his fellow high school students, his grandfather, his grandfather’s wife, a security guard, a teacher and himself. Newspapers report he wore a long black coat, and may have posted messages on neo-Nazi websites. It is said he was teased at school.  

But the teen, Jeff Weiss, was not white. He hailed from a long line of Chippewa Indians. And the shooting, like others preceding it, did not happen in suburban America. It happened in Indian Country, on a stretch of wooded reservation with a glistening body of water known as Red Lake.  

Whether this matters—or should matter—in the somber telling of this developing story is something that Native American media outlets, most of which are staffed by members of various national tribes, are considering in a way different from their mainstream counterparts.  

When residents of the Hoopa Valley Reservation in Northern California looked at Columbine, “most of the opinion was, ‘Well this doesn’t happen here,’” says Joseph Orozco, station manager and radio host for Hoopa Tribal Radio. “But now it’s Red Lake, a reservation, a native student. That one’s a little tougher.” It hits close to home, Orozco says, because of the belief that common tribal cultural standards should have prevented such tragedies from happening on reservations.  

Some members of Native media are looking to cover the story in a way that will help tribal elders and members of various national tribes examine the demise of their traditional networks.  

“The social contracts that used to be in place are not as strong or as cohesive as they once were,” says Tim Johnson, executive editor of Indian Country Today, the largest U.S. Native American newspaper, with a circulation of 50,000. “And really, this requires our tribal leaders to respond in real time to these amazing shifts in mainstream society.” Johnson is planning a series of stories that will examine the rise of anti-Indian sentiment across the country, as well as the rise of violence on reservations.  

When something like this happens, Johnson says, Native tribes immediately consider what he calls “the social-spiritual balance” in someone’s life. “When we see something like this we see that some folks in our community have lost their way, have lost their attachment to their own culture.”  

“I don’t think (the Red Lake shooting) is indicative of Indians any more than David Koresh” represented white people, says James May, the West Coast correspondent for Indian Country Today, referring to the former leader of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. “Some of it has to do with just poor rural life.”  

Many media stories have focused on the now-familiar profile of Red Lake—it is remote, poor and isolated—as telltale signs of why the violence may have happened there.  

Hoopa Radio’s Orozco believes cultural elements in Native culture, beyond a shared oppressive poverty, do play a role. “It goes deeper than just being poor,” he says, “Poverty is a symptom of our whole existence.” Something else is being lost, he says. “The people who have carried on these traditions for a long time are somehow getting squeezed out, and that does damage to the psyche.”  

He believes teens who are the most traditional and spiritual have the hardest time meshing with mainstream high school culture.  

But Duane Beyal, editor of the Navajo Times, believes that cultural and spiritual grounding are precisely what may keep teens from self-inflicted or outward violence. “For example, with the Navajo, if you have trouble, we would say you are out of harmony with yourself and the world. A lot of our ceremonies are geared toward restoring the harmony.”  

Walk across Navajo Nation, he says, and you will see these types of ceremonies happening all the time. “Obviously this youth was troubled and did not have that kind of mechanism in place to help him.”  

But the lack of traditional cultural support may not be much different from the lack of other support networks—like sports or family—that afflict many mainstream American teenagers, some say.  

“Here we have clearly an unhinged kid, just like in Colorado,” says Indian Country’s May.  

Youth violence, after all, has not been confined to Native American Indian reservations. “They’re just things that strike out of the blue,” says Navajo Times’ Beyal. “You can’t see them coming. In that sense it’s not a Native American thing, or a racial thing. It’s a societal thing.”

NO BRAINS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Explain to me again why George and Tom aren’t offering to personally pay for Terri’s hospital bills? But money isn’t everything. So explain to me why George and Tom aren’t down in Florida kindly changing Terri’s diapers? Okay so compassion isn’t everything. So explain to me why George and Tom haven’t sent Terri off to Iraq? Okay so killing people is a selective thing. So explain to me why George and Tom are running our government and Terri isn’t? As far as I can tell, all three appear to be brain-dead! 

Jane Stillwater 

• 

LITMAN’S RESPONSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: I take my position serving the people of Berkeley as a Peace and Justice Commissioner very seriously. I was thus surprised and disappointed to see a letter in the Daily Planet by Nancy Delaney that misquoted me, and I appreciate being given the opportunity to correct Ms. Delaney’s mischaracterization of my remarks and to respond to her misquote. 

There is no question that the violent physical sexual assault of a woman (rape) is a terrible crime. In addition, I agree with Ms. Delaney that the use of rape as a battlefield tactic, as in Bosnia, is a human rights violation. However that was not the issue before the Peace and Justice Commission. The resolution in question recommended to the City Council that the rape of female soldiers by male soldiers in the United States Army be reported to the United Nations as a human rights violation. The sexual assault of female soldiers is a military violation, it is a crime, it is indicative of serious problems in the U.S. Army in regard to gender, violence, training, and troop discipline. It needs to be pursued with vigilance and dedication. However, it is not a violation of international human rights. If it were, then the term would be meaningless. The United States Army needs to be held to account for the safety of its female soldiers and the criminal acts of some of its male soldiers. I fully support this. The United Nations has no power or responsibility in this matter, and it is misguided and a waste of time to think that it does. Our City Council has more pressing concerns about protecting the real life women on the streets of Berkeley than indulging in this kind of abstract political posturing in relation to the United Nations. 

As to my personal life—I greatly resent Ms. Delaney publicly speculating if I have been a rape survivor. It is of course this kind of salacious prying into victims’ personal lives that makes it hard to prosecute rape. I believe my very personal history is my business, not that of Ms. Delaney or the readers of the Daily Planet. As to my record as a feminist, I have been an advocate for women’s rights for 30 years, since I was a student at Cal in the seventies and co-organized the anti-rape group there. I invite skeptics to Google my name on the web, and they will certainly see my long history of feminist activism. In addition I invite them to read my book, Lifecycles Two: Jewish Women on Biblical Themes in Contemporary Life, which is filled with feminist content, including an essay by me on sexuality which specifically condemns rape both as a violent crime and for the general fear it causes women. I hope that your readers will feel free to contact me and get to know me themselves by dropping by Congregation Beth El or writing me at JaneLitman@bethelberkeley.org. 

Jane Rachel Litman 

Peace and Justice  

Commissioner 

• 

SACRIFICES 

Editors, Daily Planet: I am writing in response to Zelda Bronstein’s March 22 letter, in which she implies that unionized employees of the City of Berkeley are not being asked to make any sacrifices in response to the city’s current budget woes. Ms. Bronstein is apparently not aware of the following points: 

• The managers at the city of Berkeley were given their raise (27 percent) all at once. Union rank and file were promised raises over a six-year period, so we haven’t yet seen the 28.5 percent raise Ms. Bronstein cites. 

• Members of the city’s various employee unions voluntarily deferred 2.26 percent of our cost of living adjustment (COLA) last fiscal year. While this deferred adjustment will be restored later this year, union members will not receive retroactive pay for the 11 months that we sacrificed our COLA. 

• City employee wages have also been retroactively reduced by the union membership’s agreement to participate in the closing of city offices (voluntary time off), and taking time off without pay.  

• Finally, the 28.5 percent raise that we were promised but have not yet received was intended to raise city employees to parity with other comparable cities.  

It is citizens like Ms. Bronstein who will make major sacrifices in reduced quality of city services if the wages offered by the city are allowed to sink significantly behind those of neighboring cities and Berkeley’s qualified and competent workers respond by seeking employment that will allow them to support their families. 

Heath Maddox 

City of Berkeley Employee 

Member, SEIU Local 535 

• 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 

Editors, Daily Planet: I read with interest two articles in Tuesday’s edition regarding the Berkeley Public Library. The first dealt with the appointment of Ying Lee to fill a vacancy on the Berkeley Public Library Board of Trustees. I trust she is a fine person with a great interest in the well being of our library system. But what amazed me was the process by which she gained her new position: “...the Berkeley Public Library Board of Trustees has selected a veteran of local political battles to join its ranks.” 

In other words, the board is a self perpetuating aristocracy that requires no public input in order to determine its own membership. This method of selection brings back memories of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party Politburo. It too selected its own members to rule the Party and the nation. It had the authority to pick its First Secretary who had the effective rule of the Party and the nation. Berkeley’s Politburo picked Jackie Griffin to run the library, again with no public input. The City Council must approve of Lee’s appointment but it appears this is only a formality. Members of the Board of Trustees can only be removed by impeachment voted by a majority of the City Council. No wonder public input on their decisions means next to nothing. It’s very generous of them to stage monthly public meetings to provide at least the pretense of public input. 

Later in the same article reference is made to the possibility of a community meeting to be scheduled by the trustees to discuss the RFID system and possible layoffs of library staff. The value of such a meeting was explained by Board President Laura Anderson: “There is no way RFID is not coming to the library.” In other words, if you have nothing better to do with your time, attend this meeting. Or if you are stupid enough to think that your point of view will have any impact of this Board of Trustees, be sure to attend. 

It is clear that the present Board of Trustees is very much like George Bush: Its members never make a mistake! The $500,000 they foolishly expended on RFID, $500,000 they had to borrow with interest to be paid out of scarce library resources, is now committed to this dangerous scheme of Jackie Griffin. How many books or other library materials might have been purchased with this half million dollars? 

A second article told of Gene Bernardi’s attempt to gather petition signatures in front of the Main Library. The security guard ordered her to move out of the Plaza and go to the sidewalk with the threat of police action. Clearly the guard was acting at the direction of the library management. I phoned the city attorney’s office today to ask if all government properties were off-limits to petitioners. The response I got was that the library was acting legally in that it was keeping entrance and exit to the library free and clear. Anyone who has seen the front of the Main Library knows there are four large double doors and that the space is at least 50 feet wide and 20 feet deep from the stairs to the sidewalk. One person gathering signatures presents no threat to other persons coming and going. Of course, Bernardi represented a threat to Director Jackie Griffin, thus the action of the security guard. Again, in the best traditions of an authoritarian mentality. Be warned: If you stop in front of the doors of the Main Library to talk to a friend be aware of the right of Griffin to force you off “library” property. You thought that area was “public” property. You were wrong! Apparently Griffin believes in the First Amendment provisions only when it is convenient to her cause. 

At least Board President Anderson made one point that all can agree with regarding the board: “We all felt like she (Lee) was of the community and had a lot of experience working with the community. That’s something we’re finding all of us need some skill at.” This on the job training regarding community relations seems to be coming very slowly for this out of touch board. 

Don McKay 

• 

SLOW-MOTION COLLAPSE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The end is near: The illegitimate Bush regime is collapsing in slow-motion on a day-by-day basis now: The whole phony edifice may come crashing down to the ground any day now... The uncalled for offensive busy-bodying interference into the sad case of the nearly brain-dead Florida woman by Tom Delay, Bill Frist, Jeb Bush, George Bush and other Republican opportunists is actually a symptom of their increasing desperation to distract the American people from their long string of failures.  

All of the Bush-G.O.P.-neo-con grand schemes have turned sour: The Bush plan to destroy Social Security has flopped big-time: The more people hear about his corrupt plan to privatize it the less they like it. Their neo-con fantasy of the beflowered cakewalk in Iraq has turned into an endless nightmare with no end n sight: This neo-con quagmire/rat-hole has so far cost us over 1,500 dead American soldiers, thousands more American soldiers wounded and crippled for life, at least 100,000 Iraqis dead and several hundred thousand more Iraqis wounded and crippled for life. All this devastation costs us well over $100 billion per year with no end in sight. 

The obscene Bush tax cuts for the absurdly rich have bankrupted the federal budget and when the Asian banks decide to stop lending us any more money to finance our ever-growing budget deficits, our interest rates will go through the roof and our economy will then collapse into the worst recession since the Great Depression. The Bush regime, which has stolen two presidential elections in a row, will finally be called to accounts by an increasingly pissed-off America. The Bush gang will finally all resign en masse and will surrender their illegitimate executive power in exchange for immunity from future prosecution for their many war crimes, lies and financial corruptions.  

James K. Sayre 

Oakland 

• 

ONE-INDUSTRY TOWN 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Jesse Townley’s response (Letters, Mar. 22) gives us a laudable resume of his good works, and attributes his freedom to give so generously of his time to the low rent he enjoyed in west Berkeley. If the community values those services, which it should, then they should be supported from the general fund, not through an outdated zoning policy that artificially suppresses rents in one sector and places the burden of our shrinking tax base on property owners throughout the rest of the city. In my letter I did not mean to suggest that he or his landlord received a direct cash subsidy, but that’s what rent suppression, in effect, provides.  

Due to changes in the way commerce is conducted, Berkeley is quickly becoming a one-industry town—UCB, which contributes nothing to our tax base, and very little in other assistance. In fact, the massive construction of student housing will put all that student rent money into the university’s coffers, rather than into the hands of landlords, who would recycle it into the local economy. The only hope for fending off Berkeley’s impending economic collapse is to make pockets of west Berkeley, near the freeway exits, available to the new reality of commerce—car dealerships and big-box retail. Either that, or a marina casino— your choice, friends. 

Jerry Landis 

• 

SOCIAL SECURITY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

In the 1980s they made a huge increase in our Social Security (FICA) tax, telling us that the increase would go into a trust fund and would save the Social Security system from insolvency. 

Now Bush tells us that there’s nothing in the trust fund (just worthless IOU’s). 

So we paid this huge increase in our Social Security tax for nothing. 

So give us our money back! 

Myrna Sokolinsky 

• 

INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I am very disturbed by reports that Diebold and Registrar of Voters Brad Clark have been stonewalling implementation of instant runoff voting (IRV) for Berkeley. It is my concern, and the concern of many of the people who worked on Measure I and many of the 20,000-plus people that voted for it here in Berkeley, that one company and one man are thwarting the will of 72 percent of the voters.  

Despite San Francisco’s ability to run IRV elections, Mr. Clark says Alameda County cannot do it and Diebold is claiming it will need millions of dollars and several years to implement IRV, despite contrary statements in their response to the county’s RFP in regards to ranked ballots and their bidding on a contract to supply the voting machines for Ireland, which uses IRV in their elections. 

Berkeley may be forced to put a new initiative on the ballot to guarantee IRV for Berkeley without the county and without Diebold.  

Diebold is one of the least trusted companies in Berkeley, especially after what happened in Ohio last November and I’m sure many Berkeleyans would be happy to see our elections run without their equipment and software. 

Dave Heller 

Coordinator Measure I campaign 

Click here to view the latest work by Planet cartoonist Justin DeFreitas›

We have a break in the rain so I’m sitting out here in my backyard listening to my 10-year-old son and his buddy setting up GI Joes in preparation for war. That Jason even has such a vast army is somewhat startling to this middle-aged hippie who refused to buy him a single toy gun until a few years ago, when I broke down in the middle of an unusually hot summer and bought water pistols for both my son and daughter. Since then, I have been needled, harassed and otherwise tricked into purchasing numerous toy soldiers and their gear, all of which Jason insisted were just for display but I now see are being readied for serious battle. 

“I get the bazooka!” “Then I get the AK-47!” “Check out this camouflage!” 

“This is so cool!” 

Then, the pre-war bickering begins: “I get the black soldier!” “No, I get the black soldier!” “I called it first!” “No you didn’t!” 

And I recall how difficult it was to find black and brown soldiers in both the small, local independent toy stores and the huge chains. This, despite the fact that the military is composed of disproportionately high numbers of black and Latino soldiers—not in the front offices but on the frontlines, out there dodging bullets with all the other GI Joe’s. About 23 percent of our active Army soldiers are black. Of course, this figure can’t compare with the numbers of black men incarcerated in U.S. prisons but, even so...seems a bit high, don’t you think? 

I had similar difficulties locating black Barbie dolls for my daughter nine years ago when her godmother—over my strenuous objections centered on sexism and conformity—gave her a blonde Barbie doll for her sixth birthday, opening the floodgates to a trim pink and perfect population with matching accessories. I felt compelled to seek out a darker hued Barbie that might approach resembling my daughter. As with the darker GI Joe, it was difficult to find. Even fair skinned brunettes had trouble at one North Berkeley drugstore—they stocked only blonde Barbies. On a recent visit to this very same store I looked up to find that this particular section of Berkeley was still lacking in skin tone diversity, some nine years later. The surrounding neighborhood hadn’t diversified much either, so perhaps the segregation was merely reflective of the environment. It was more of a class thing, really. 

Anyway, the boys surmised that another mercenary-looking action guy sporting a blue hood and matching gloves could be black underneath. They declared him so and the fighting began. 

“I’ve got you surrounded!” “No you don’t! I have a secret escape route!” “No you don’t. I bombed it!” “Did not!” “Did too!” 

Aah. The sweet sounds of children at play. I decide to get out of the range of fire and prepare an early dinner. Perhaps I can entice these soldier-boy-wanna-be’s-who-have-no-clue-what-war-is-really-like young recruits away from the grassy battlefield by offering a plate full of steaming hot dogs and ketchupy fries. As I head inside I hear my innocent young son declare:  

“Hey! You know what? I bet Bush has a lot of these!” 

Perhaps so. But, that’s another story. 

(Names have been changed to prevent me from embarrassing and being therewith scorned by my otherwise adoring children.)

Cops Take a Blow 

A 21-year-old man didn’t take kindly to being stopped by police on the 2400 block of Dwight Way Wednesday morning, Berkeley Police Department Public Information Officer Joe Okies said. Steven Houston, from parts unknown, struck two officers before being subdued. He was arrested for assaulting an officer. 

Spit and Shove 

A 27-year-old women called police Monday afternoon after being attacked by two women at the corner of Shattuck and Durant avenues. Okies said the three women got into an argument and the two suspects spit on and shoved the victim before fleeing the area.  

Robbery 

A man walked into the 7-11 at College and Russell Monday evening and demanded money from the cashier, Okies said. Although the man never brandished a weapon, the clerk emptied his cash register and the robber escaped with the money. 

Marijuana Bust 

Police stopped a juvenile walking in the area of Oregon and California streets Tuesday afternoon, according to Okies. During a search they found he was carrying marijuana. Police arrested him for possession with intent to sell. 

School Yard Brawl 

Two girls beat up a classmate at Berkeley High Tuesday afternoon. The two attackers were both arrested for battery, Okies said. 

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Berkeley Fire Marshal David Orth has classified the Drayage building as an “extremely hazardous situation,” even though he knows of no fire incidents or injuries in the past 20 years connected to the residents living in this “situation.” Mr. Orth brushes off this strong history as “lucky.” 

If the fire marshal classifies a building as “extremely hazardous,” I can see 30 people living there without incident for perhaps three months, or maybe a year if they are really lucky. Three years of stability, and luck is an unlikely explanation. Five years, and luck has nothing to do with it. Ten years, the building is not in an “extremely hazardous situation.” Twenty years residency, surviving the Loma Prieta earthquake undamaged, renders Mr. Orth’s classification as clearly inaccurate. 

He says his main worry is for the residents sleeping in the building at night. Did he take into account that every room has a fire extinguisher and many residents have bought their own smoke detectors? There is a smoke detector in the hallway. Why doesn’t he just have the landlord, Laurence White, make sure there are smoke detectors in all the rooms? In addition, a Drayage resident has completed the fire department’s own CERT program, and continues to be an active CERT member for the community. 

We are adult, intelligent people living here, Mr. Orth. Yes, we choose to lead an artistic life, pursuing knowledge and creativity, and not just wealth. The building is a little funky with murals and collages (pictures http://homepage.mac.com/vincemazzi/). I am sorry if our lifestyle scares you, Mr. Orth. Maybe you have your own deep artistic yearning suppressed. 

Possibly, Mr. Orth just made a rash judgment that lead to his mistaken classification. I am sure he is a busy man in a stressful job. We all make some mistakes. Fine. Let’s fix it. If uncorrected, this mistake will cause severe disruption to the lives of 30 residents of Berkeley, in addition to disrupting the places where they work: the library, Fourth Street shops, and the school, among others, and Berkeley will lose one of its last live/work artistic communities. 

I really think Mr. Orth just made a rushed judgment that resulted in his mistake (although I am not entirely sure he can see his own bias, how many of us can?) In any event, if it is not a mistake, then it can only be one of the following explanations: 

The building is in the process of changing ownership and the new owners want to eject the current tenants, tear the building down, put up condos, and make more millions. Mr. Orth is helping this along. Smells of corruption? 

Another possible explanation: Mr. Orth has made an unsound decision. Can we have someone at Mr. Orth’s level, directly affecting people’s, lives with the inability to make sound decisions? (His power to impose decisions is above the City Council and even the mayor, according to the city attorney.) 

The building inspector, Joan MacQuarrie, cites the stairways as not being quite up to code (the rails need to be the proper number of inches) as an additional reason the residents need to be “evicted immediately.” Twenty years going up and down those stairs, daily, without incident, and she chooses to say that she needs to evict everybody (even apartments without stairs) because the residents are in imminent danger? Joan seems to me to be a genuinely caring official that was just strong-armed by Mr. Orth into backing him up on his rash decision. 

The fire marshal and the building official inspected my apartment and cited three code violations as the reason why I am in “imminent danger” and must leave in 15 days. The code violations cited are: 

1. Electrical extension cords are improperly used. BMC 19.30.010 (I have a computer hooked up to a power strip. What space in Berkeley does not have this violation?) 

2. Electrical breakers lack ready access. BMC 19.30.010 (My breakers are 30 feet down the hall in the electrical room, my breakers have never tripped while I have been living here.) 

3. Plumbing work performed without inspection and permit. BMC 19.28.080 (I have performed no plumbing work. Whenever the sink was put in, 

possibly 20 years ago, the landlords should have filed a permit. Maybe they did, I do not know for sure. Nonetheless, the sink works fine.) 

Do any of these violations warrant an “extreme hazard” classification? Is Mr. Orth concerned about my safety, or does he just want all 30 of us to leave Berkeley, and our unique, low-income, artist building torn down? 

What if the fire marshal came to your house, do you think he would find any code violations? How would you feel if you came home one day to a posted sign on your front door ordering you to be out of your house in 15 days? This is our current reality (nightmare)! I am “lucky.” I can go stay with some relatives 2.5 hours away and take a leave from my work, but there are others in the building who won’t be able to find a place, can’t come up with a security deposit and will have to live on the street. 

Mr. Orth uses his “extreme hazard” classification to justify taking the draconian measure to put 30 people out of their homes, “for their own good.” He says, “I am taking a hard line much like the bad cop, in a good-cop-bad-cop situation like is seen on TV.” Mr. Orth this is not TV; we are real people you are putting on the street. If this is his final stance, I strongly suggest Mr. Orth take his “compassionate conservatism” somewhere where it is appreciated, and fire marshal any number of beautiful towns, in South Carolina for instance, and allow Berkeley to remain a place for truly caring and progressive people to live and work. 

I realize this is a bit of a rant, but not unwarranted due to the aggressiveness associated with the decision to kick 30 people out of their homes. I do have to commend Michael Caplan and the vast majority of the city staff for their compassionate tone. Thank you. 

Vince Mazzi is a Drayage building resident. 



Becky O’Malley’s latest editorial demonstrated a surprisingly shallow understanding of the current contract negotiations between teachers and the Berkeley Unified School District and the realities of teaching in Berkeley.  

Ms. O’Malley suggests that teachers’ unions are protecting “seriously inadequate teachers,” though she doesn’t make it clear whether she thinks this applies to Berkeley.  

The Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) does not want the teaching profession to be undermined by people who do not have the capacity to meet the challenges of the job. The BFT initiated and is working diligently to implement a peer assistance and review program, which is a nationally recognized approach for dealing with ineffective teachers.  

Under this program teachers get intensive support to improve their teaching abilities. Teachers who are unable to improve after a year of this support can be terminated by the superintendent. It may interest readers to know that the BFT has taken the position that principals ought to do more observations to evaluate teachers while the district has argued for fewer evaluations.  

Ms. O’Malley also wonders if class sizes are really that bad in Berkeley. In the last two years class sizes in Berkeley schools have increased tremendously. Many classes at the high school have close to 40 students. Like Ms. O’Malley’s granddaughter’s class in Santa Cruz, fourth and fifth grade classes and middle school classes have 32 to 34 students.  

Having more students in a class means that teachers have less time to spend with each student and must spend more time grading and assessing progress.  

The BFT has asked that class size limits be specified for each grade level. When 72 percent of Berkeley voters supported Measure B, they certainly thought they were voting for reduced class sizes. Yet, the district has refused to commit to class size limits. 

Class size is not the only issue where the school district and the BFT disagree. The last time teachers received a pay increase was September 2002. Teachers received no increase in the 2003-2004 school year and have received no increase in the current school year. To add insult to injury, the latest school district proposal would effectively be a pay cut for a large majority of the teachers in the 2005-2006 school year.  

While the district has trumpeted their offer of an inadequate 1.2 percent raise, they have failed to mention that their latest proposal includes a hard cap on health benefits that would require teachers to pay 75 percent of benefits premium increases beginning this year. The net effect would be a cut in take home pay for teachers who have not received a pay increase in two years. With no offer to pay for even a fraction of premium increases beyond next year, teachers will inevitably face even larger pay cuts into the future. 

In many other districts teachers are receiving pay increases without cuts in health benefits. The latest example is the Los Angeles School District where the recently negotiated tentative agreement calls for a 2 percent raise with no increase in teacher contributions to health or retirement benefits.  

The teachers’ union recognizes that the governor’s reneging on his promises to make up for cuts in the education budget limits the district’s ability to fully compensate teachers for the increase in the cost of living that has occurred since their last raise. However, this does not mean that the district cannot make up for a portion of the ground that teachers have lost to inflation.  

On top of the $8 million dollars Berkeley Unified is getting from Measure B to reduce class size, the school district is also receiving an increase in funds from the state of more than 4 percent for the coming school year. Teachers deserve their fair share of this increase in funds. The district’s refusal to offer teachers their fair share demonstrates that for the School Board the classroom is not a priority. 

Becky O’Malley should be asking the School Board to explain why administration is a higher priority than the classroom. BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence is one of the most highly paid superintendents in the entire state. According to the most recent data available from the state, Ms. Lawrence’s salary of $185,000 is way above the average for districts of Berkeley’s size, which was $136,519. Ms. Lawrence also received a generous housing allowance, which assisted her purchase of a home in Berkeley.  

Meanwhile Berkeley’s teachers, especially younger teachers who are just starting out, have trouble affording rents, let alone mortgages in Berkeley. While the cost of housing continues to increase, the school district proposes to reduce teachers’ take home pay.  

Maintaining competitive teacher compensation is not currently a priority for the School Board. Berkeley Unified ranked dead last among neighboring districts last year in terms of teacher salary expenditures per student and was only average in teacher benefits rankings. Meanwhile, 20 local school districts have given fair cost of living raises to their teachers this school year and Berkeley has not. 

Many factors affect the achievement of students in school and, as Ms. O’Malley pointed out, many are beyond the scope of the public schools. Certainly socioeconomic status, the support students receive from their families and other related factors have an impact on student performance. But, research has shown that the single most important school-related factor in the achievement of students is the quality and experience of the classroom teacher. Does the school district expect to attract and retain the best and brightest teachers while it proposes to cut benefits and take-home pay? 

Mary Wrenn is currently teaching at Willard Middle School and is the secretary for the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. Both of her children attended Berkeley Public Schools. 

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The City Council’s decision to create a Creeks Task Force to review the Creeks Ordinance and to make recommendations back to the council provides the City of Berkeley with a great opportunity to protect creeks while at the same time being sensitive to private property interests and concerns. 

Last November the City Council established a broad-based 15-member Creeks Task Force to review the existing Creeks Ordinance and propose revisions by May 2006. The task force consists of one appointee from each councilmember; one each from four commissions—Planning, Public Works, Parks and Recreation; and Community Environmental Advisory Commission; and one each from Neighbors on Urban Creeks and creek protection groups. The task force has been meeting since Feb. 7 to develop a draft work plan to be submitted to the council by May. Then the task force will have a year in which to come up with proposed revisions.  

This process provides the city with at least four opportunities: 

1) Model Revised Creeks Ordinance. Berkeley has the opportunity to come up with a revised broad-based creeks ordinance that’s a model for other cities in the same way Berkeley’s curbside recycling program has been. The current Creeks Ordinance was one of the first to be adopted in the nation. It’s now time—16 years later—to review it in light of new information including the ecological benefits of creeks while acknowledging and respecting property owners’ concerns. For example, issues to consider include determining setback measurements based on more recent scientific studies, reviewing the definition of creeks overall, and expanding ordinance goals to include improving water quality.  

2) Review the Creeks Ordinance in light of other regulations. Several agencies such as the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board, the State Department of Fish and Game, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regulate specific aspects of creeks and waterways, specifically water quality and stream banks. However, if left only to these agencies, some elements of creeks would not be regulated. For example, land use within 30 feet of the centerline of the creeks. Furthermore, as with many environmental regulations, the overlap and enforcement provided by several jurisdictions result in stronger environmental protection overall which Berkeley citizens have always valued. That is why several other cities like Berkeley and counties throughout the state have also adopted their own local creeks ordinances. The task force will be looking in greater detail at what other agencies do regulate to see if there is any conflict or overlap, and will modify the Berkeley Creeks Ordinance accordingly. The task force will also look at other municipal creeks ordinances to see if we can learn from their experiences; some cities and counties are reviewing their ordinances as well. 

3) Possible day lighting of some creek sections. Berkeley has the opportunity to identify those places on creeks that would be feasible for day lighting. Day lighting means exposing a covered or culverted creek to daylight. Day lighting a stretch of creek could regain some of the benefits of natural channels such as improved flood control thus providing benefits to both private property owners and the larger community. On public property, day lighting can result in a new stretch of creek being open and accessible to Berkeley citizens. The popular Strawberry Creek Park in West Berkeley—one of the first day lighting projects in the nation—is a good example. It might be possible to fund this day lighting work through grants, such as the restoration work in process on lower Codornices Creek, without using any city funds. 

4) Funding for failing culverted creeks. Some of Berkeley’s culverted creeks are failing. Since there is pending litigation between the city and property owners over who is financially liable for repair of the culverts, the City Council has specifically not asked the task force to address the issue of financial responsibility. However, the task force has been asked to look at alternative funding sources, such as grants or possibly raising the storm water fee. 

The task force’s work will continue until May 2006. We’ve been meeting most Mondays at the North Berkeley Senior Center from 7-9:30 p.m. If you want to comment or attend future task force meetings, for more details please check the Creeks Task Force website: www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse/creeks. Or you can call Creeks Task Force Secretary Erin Dando at 981-7429.  

Helen Burke is chair of the Creeks Task Force. The views expressed herein are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of the task force. 

›

Well, maybe not driving six white horses, but Jeannette Rankin of Montana will be coming to Berkeley in a performance of the play, A Single Woman, based on the words and the writings of this unique, pioneering woman. Jeannette Rankin was the first woman to be elected to Congress in 1916, before universal women’s suffrage; she was a pacifist who voted against entry into World War I; then, gerrymandered out of office, she was re-elected in 1940, and was the lone vote against participation in World War II. She was much reviled for this, but she was a feisty woman and ably defended her decision. 

Born into a family of pioneers, Jeannette Rankin grew up on a farm outside Missoula, Montana, where she received her early education, followed by her A.B. from the University of Montana in Missoula. She was already much concerned with women’s right to vote, and this cause was furthered by her time in New York where she attended an institution called “New York School of Philanthropy.” 

By 1910 she was already working in campaigns for women’s suffrage in New York State, Washington, California and Montana. By 1913 12 states had granted women suffrage within their borders, and in 1914 Montana became the thirteenth state. Jannette Rankin participated in meetings, in marches and demonstrations—one march went from New York to Washington in time for Wilson’s inauguration. By this time Jeannette Rankin had developed confidence in public speaking and was eloquent in her persuasive reasoning. 

She became field secretary of the National Women’s Suffrage Association, but relinquished that position to run for Congress from Montana. She ran as an at-large candidate. It is said that she often campaigned on horseback, going to farms and into mines to talk with voters. Her program was original, not the result of a particular mentor or statesman, but ideas learned from her work with the suffrage movement and from her own common sense. She announced that her first issue would be women’s suffrage, to be followed by work for an eight-hour day for women, and for laws providing that women shall receive the same wages as men for equal amounts of work. She also declared her intention to seek extension of child labor laws, mothers’ pensions and universal education. 

(When the women’s movement had that great convention in Houston in l977 we thought we were so innovative in working for the Equal Rights Amendment but Jeannette Rankin had already been there. The ERA never did get passed by Congress.) 

As the only woman in Congress there was curiosity about “the lady from Montana,” but surprising little of that invasive press coverage of our present celebrity oriented media. A brief article in the New York Times of Nov. 12, l916 reads, “Miss Rankin is a very feminine woman, one young woman who had known her here, said yesterday. She dances well and makes her own hats and sews, and has won genuine fame among her friends with the wonderful lemon meringue pie that she makes when she hasn’t had enough other things to do to keep her busy”—so much for an in-depth scoop about her private life. She had admirers, but felt she had much too much to do to take time for marriage. 

Jeannette Rankin served only one term after she was elected to Congress the second time in l940. She continued her work for peace and justice and spoke forcefully against war in many venues. Her opposition to war was not based on emotionalism, but on sheer logic and common sense. She abhorred the stupidity of it. She once said, “You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.” And she pointed out that, “War is nothing more that a method of settling a dispute, but it has nothing to do with the dispute. In fact, you never have the same issues at the end of the war that were present at the beginning.” 

She was active with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom with Jane Addams, she was a founder and vice-president of ACLU, and worked with refugees, immigrant women and minorities. She traveled to Turkey and India, South Africa and the Soviet Union, and moved to Athens, Georgia to work with the community there—and started a peace center in Athens. Still going strong in l968 she led a march of 5,000 women, the Jeannette Rankin Brigade, to Washington to protest the Vietnam war. 

This great life is made immediate in the brilliant and inspiring play, A Single Woman, written and performed by Jeanmarie Simpson as Jeannette Rankin, with Cameron Crain as Everyman, the people Rankin encounters. Playwright Simpson, who used material from the UC Bancroft Library Oral History Project, says, “It is vital that people meet Jeannette Rankin, her words, her actions and her remarkable character.  

“The more people become involved, the more of an impact Jeannette’s voice can make on contemporary culture. Let’s face it. We need help in this country and in the world and we don’t have enough voices with the intellectual and moral clarity of Jeannette Rankin’s.” 

›

Under the tracery and flaring supports of the Eiffel Tower, there’s a dining room and a fainting couch on the Berkeley Rep Thrust Stage: Kent Dorsey’s design. 

All stands ready for the mayhem of a Feydeau farce to break out, but first we are addressed by a shambling, professorial older man who introduces himself as Barrington Regent, Eugene Ionesco professor of Philology and Semiotics at Cal State Yreka. 

Some prefatory remarks about the playwright’s late conjugal comedies, as opposed to the more familiar “door-slammers” like A Flea in Her Ear seem in order, but order degenerates as the introductory speaker’s broad, friendly grin becomes an open-mouthed leer while he explains, “The English for ‘farceur’—is farceur. You can look it up. So good to be back in Berkeley—among the intel-li-ghen-zia—which is a Russian word!” 

The entrance of Geoff Hoyle, featured performer (as Bastien Follavoine) and adapter of For Better or Worse (based on From Marriage to Divorce, a projected collection of five conjugal comedies), is delayed, upstaged, by Geoff Hoyle, indecent docent. 

Geoff’s interruption of the start of the play, in order to trip himself up, also gives Berkeley Rep a chance to rib itself, and subscription drives in general. The gags are witty, but how many in the audience took them seriously? Like a parody donation request, buried in a mound of junk mail, a target audience may be hard not to hit. 

But it’s all in good fun, something the comic action that follows isn’t always. Post-comic may be a better term for the kind of farce Geoff’s adapted from these late plays with a bitter taste. As he quotes in his program note from Marcel Achard’s tart description, “Strindberg through a distorting fairground mirror.” 

Strindberg himself, and his successors, up through O’Neill and Pinter, had a strange, deadpan humor running through the disasters of the text that often doesn’t translate in stage production. In trying “to keep the bitter realism underlying these pungent comedies” in order to get “modernity with the period setting” for “something to play with, something slightly outrageous, unsettling and hilarious,” this clown-turned-adaptor’s in ambitious pursuit of an elusive goal. 

It’s expressed in a melange of comic styles, from pantomime that approaches slapstick, to burlesque mugging, to the more elegant rhythms of boulevard farce. There’s often a Manneristic relation between the performers’ styles in David Ira Goldstein’s staging that seems to stem from the funhouse mirror effect in Achard’s description: a trick of perspective seen from another angle, the viewpoint of another character—torqued gestures and expressions of the most banal domestic events to realize a sometimes grotesque humor—what, as Pirandello said, “you find instead of what you expect to find.”  

The cast’s an able one, up to the job. Act one, “Julie’s Early” (supertitles on the Eiffel Tower) opens with Bastien pacing his super-pregnant-but-prematurely ready to deliver wife Julie (Sharon Lockwood), holding her hand, walking her, trying to fit a chair behind her. Bastien is the put-upon, clueless straight man husband. The routines are funny, sometimes hilarious. The maid (sprightly Amy Resnick) whisks in and out, the statuesque mother-in-law (Lynda Ferguson, all manic, deadpan business) arrives in monumental dress and a hat surmounted by wings and sweeping tailfeathers. The expectant parents quibble about everything under the sun in a stream of verbal play. “Is that all you can talk about on the day you’re to be a father?” Waiting for the most important entrance, which doesn’t come, they urge Bastien to don the chamberpot of the little boy they expect—from a dream of Bastien at the racetrack, wearing the pot and inaugurating a new fashion! The silliness escalates into a crazy tableau of “motherhood, mayhem and mutilation”--as Prof. Regent puts it. 

The second act, after the Professor puts some “volunteers” he drafts through a demonstration “door-slammer,” with hilariously improvised results, is “Purging Baby.” 

Zig-zagging between Bastien’s attempt to ingratiate M. Chouilloux (Jarion Monroe, with stopwatch farceur timing), through whom he hopes to sell a military issue of chamberpots, and Julie’s attempts to administer a laxative to their resistant boy, Toto (Gideon Lazarus and Austin Greene, alternately), complicated by the arrival of adulterous Mme. Chouilloux (Lynnda Ferguson again, just as extravagantly got-up) and her “cousin,” Horatio Garcia Zarzuela de Zaragoza y Pau (Rudy Guerrero), the accident proceeds in due course to the intersection of all the comic vehicles, under the prescient eyes of little Toto, and to the crashing of demolished chamberpots, scurrying laxative-bibbers and a general retreat. The madness goes stratispheric. 

Hoyle’s grand experiment has mixed results; he should pursue it further or look into some other European humorists (Pirandello, Valle-Inclan, Adamov) who mix it up. Sometimes the mix of burlesque and farce click (especially between Geoff and Monroe). Other times, lacking the rhythms of the French original, it bottoms out as just old slapstick routines or, in the pas-de-deux with Sharon Lockwood, a little too Punch ‘n Judy. Fawlty Towers may be an inspiration, but Hoyle’s after bigger game yet—I’m sure Prof. Regent will soon be explaining it to us again, in the most maddeningly informative detail. 

For Better of Worse plays at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, 2025 Addison St., through April 24. 647-2949, www.berkeleyrep.org.

Gideon Lazarus has a lot going on in his life, but discusses it calmly, with flashes of wry humor that make others laugh. 

A couple of days after the opening of For Better or Worse at Berkeley Rep, his debut on a professional stage, he’s talking about working with Geoff Hoyle, a well-known clown and comic actor, and seasoned players like Sharon Lockwood, Jarion Monroe and Amy Resnick. At 10 years old, he’s the first student of the Rep’s School of Theatre of any age to be cast for a company show. 

“I watch them a lot to get tips—and because they’re so funny,” says the young Berkeley resident. “Jerry makes a lot of funny jokes; with Geoff, it’s in his movement, in his face and his eyes. I watch the way Jerry and Geoff work together--it’s good because of the different styles. In the same style, it’d be boring. With Rudy [Guerrero], I just laugh when he walks in.”  

“He likes to learn,” says his mother, Miriam Janowitz, Professor of Religious Studies at UC Davis. “He’s always telling me, ‘You learn a lot by watching,’” 

Watching is a good deal of what Gideon has to do in his role as Toto. Geoff Hoyle and Sharon Lockwood play his parents in the production. He enters in the middle of the second act, into the eye of a comic storm, defiant at having to take his medicine (“I don’t care! I don’t want any!”) and casts a jaundiced eye on the crazy adult antics that whirl around him. 

Gideon is a student at Berkeley’s Crowden School, the remarkable school for young players of string instruments, where he plays double bass and studies music theory early mornings, followed by academic subjects into the afternoon. 

“On his solo night, he played St-Saens’ Carnival Elephant for his solo at 6:30 p.m., then ran off to his 7:30 p.m. call at the Rep,” his mother says. He also plays piano—his first instrument—and likes Beethoven’s music for piano, Vivaldi for double bass. He’s also listens to jazz at the Jazz School Cafe. “They have very good panini there,” he says, “delicious.”  

Gideon enrolled in Crowden after his family returned from three years in Israel—his mother was involved in a UC Overseas Study program—where he attended preschool through first grade, learning Hebrew and the middle eastern drum, the tarbuka. Speaking another language and traveling developed Gideon’s confidence, his mother says, “though when we came back, certain simple things—the days of the week, the word ‘toenails’—he’d only say in Hebrew.” 

Gideon’s also interested in computers. He thinks he’d like to design computer games or edit movies. He said he could see working half-time in computers, and quarter-time each at music and theater. 

The rehearsal process didn’t bore him; it made plenty of sense. 

“All the parts of the show have to work together,” he says. “They have to be greased. Sort of like a clock. And you have to repair it in rehearsal.”  

Making his entrance in the second act, there’s a long wait beforehand. Gideon says he feels a little nervous as he waits, talks to the other actors—or “sneak in the dressing room and comb my hair.” 

Backstage last weekend, he and Amy Resnick shared magic tricks they know with each other. “The time’s much slower than when you’re out on stage,” Gideon says. “After a minute or two on stage—which’s a long time, compared to how long my part is—I think, ‘Let’s do it; let’s have some fun here!’” 

“He has boundless energy, and a stage presence beyond his years,” says Robert Wyllie, an acting teacher at Berkeley Rep’s 2004 Summer Theatre Camp. “For someone in elementary school, he has obvious comedic skill. Picture Andy Kaufman as a fifth-grader.” 

Hoyle says of both Gideon and 9-year-old ACT acting vet Austin Greene (who alternates with Gideon in playing Toto), “They think about what you say, try to do a credible performance. They’re curious whether they’re doing it right or not. I don’t have to pull any punches with either of them. They chew on the criticism we give them. There’s no swagger. If they maintain their innocence and stay open to the craft as they are now, they’ve got it made.” 

Gideon’s mother says Gidoen is “the kind of kid who likes total immersion. After his first rehearsal, the next day he was off—and he said he wanted to go back and watch. ‘I can’t believe how much I’ve learned,’ he said—and, later, ‘School’s boring, now that I’m an actor!’” 

But Gideon’s not forcing the issue. Asked if he’d like a career acting, he’ll only say, “Time will tell.” 

“He’s unaffected, disarming in a very reassuring way,” says Hoyle. 

“If my brother was sitting here, he’d tell you I’m going to be like Brad Pitt,” Gideon quips, and ends the interview—like the play—with his smile. 

›

FRIDAY, MARCH 25 

THEATER 

Berkeley Repertory Theater “For Better or Worse” at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. through April 24. Tickets are $20-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Central Works, “Enemy Combatant” at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Performances are Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. through March 26. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

Shotgun Players “The Just” by Albert Camus. Thurs.- Sun. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. through April 10. Tickets are sliding scale $10-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Un-Scripted Theater Company “You Bet Your Improvisor!” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through March 26 at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St. at Telegraph. Tickets are $7-$10. 415-869-5384. www.unscripted.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Temptations of the Brush” Works by Lisa Bruce, Jeanne La Deaux, Centa Theresa. Reception at 5 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

“David and Goliath” works by M. Sawyer Atkinson. Reception at 6:30 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. 843-2787. 

FILM 

Edgar G. Ulmer: “Detour” at 7:30 p.m. “Man From X” at 9:15 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Christian McBride Quartet at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $18-$32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“Tomorrow is Today” dance and martial arts by Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company at 7:30 p.m. at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St. Tickets are $5-$20. 597-1619. www.destinyarts.org 

Native Elements, Dr. Masseuse, Sandfly, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Alam A. Khan, sarode player, performs North Indian classical music with tabla player Debopriyo Sarkar, at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Tickets are $15-$25. 701-1787. www.hillsideclub.org/concert  

Dougie MacLean, contemporary folk from Scotland at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Houston Jones at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Audrye Session, Serene Lakes, Minmae, indie rock at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886.  

Suffokate at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174. www.storkcluboakland.com 

Three Piece Combo, Mitch Marcus, Young Fine Rabbit at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Kitty Rose, tradtitional country originals, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Danny Caron Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Jared Karol & Mike Jung at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Sour Mash Jug Hug Band, Folk This! at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St.. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Keiko Matsui at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16-$28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, MARCH 26 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Dreaming Mind, The Conscious Mind” a collaborative exhibition between NIAD Art Center and JFK Univ. School of Holistic Studies at 2956 San Pablo Ave., 2nd flr. Reception for the artists from 5 to 8 p.m. Exhibition runs to Mar. 31. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 649-0499. 

“Lexicon of Memory” two and three dimensional works by Lynn Orlando. Reception at 7 p.m. at Nexus Gallery, 2701 8th. St. Also on Sun. from 2 to 8 p.m. and Mon. from 6 to 10 p.m. 847-2744.  

FILM 

Edgar G. Ulmer: “Ruthless” at 7 p.m. and “Moon Over Harlem” at 9:05 p.m.at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rhythm & Muse with singer/songwriter Kim Rea and guitarist Joe Lococo at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. Free. Berkeley Art Center. 527-9753. 

Poets for Peace poetry reading featuring Joyce Jenkins, Ilya Kaminsky, David Reid, and Sam Witt at 8 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

“Composing for Two Pianos” with Jorge Liderman at 7 p.m. at Musical Offering, Bancroft at College. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Emanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman, piano at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $34-$62. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“Tomorrow is Today” dance and martial arts by Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company at 7:30 p.m. at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St. Tickets are $5-$20. 597-1619. www.destinyarts.org 

Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Nanette McGuiness, soprano, at noon at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $10-$50. 848-1228. 

Gaucho, Gypsy Jazz at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

The Conscious Cabaret “Twas the Night Before Easter and all through the house...” with Errol & Rochelle Alicia Strider at 8 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2075 Eunice St. Cost is $15-$25. 528-8844. unityberkeley.org 

David Serotkin at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Klez-X, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Georges Lammam Ensemble, classical and popular Arabic music at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Proceeds provide scholarships for youth in the West Bank village of Dier Ibzi’a, outside Ramallah. Cost is $20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Shortie, Super Model Suicide, Downshift, rock, emo, punk, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6-$8. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Tartufi, Continuous Peasent at 9 p.m. at 21 Grand, 449B 23rd St., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$10, benefit for Rachel Kasa.  

The Art Lande Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz 

school.com  

Lae with Brown, hip hop pop, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Japanese Girl Pop Punk, The Freak Accident, Titan Go Kings at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Infection, Singularity at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

Meli at 7 and 9 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $5. 597-0795. 

Paul & Sheila Smith Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Resist & Exist, Takaru, Gather at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 27 

CHILDREN 

Jewish Songs for Children, with Gary Lapow, at 11 a.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. www.brjcc.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Les Anderson and Tobey Kaplan at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Chamber Music Sundaes with members and friends of the SF Symphony at 3:15 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $7-$19. 415-584-5946. www.chambermusicsundaes.org 

Clare Hedin, singer/songwriter, part of the series “Offerings” at 7 p.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. Suggested donation $10. 213-3122. 

Hebrew Hip-Hop, performances and workshops from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $7-$24. 415-276-1511. www.brjcc.org 

Sarah Manning Quartet at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Paul Thorn at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

MONDAY, MARCH 28 

THEATER 

The Shotgun Players Theatre Lab, “Monster in the Dark” Mon. and Tues. at 8 p.m. through March 29, at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. at MLK. Tickets are $10. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

“A Single Woman” The life, times and fortitude of the first US Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin at 7 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. 587-3228. http://ncmdr.org/singlewoman 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Small Paintings” by John King at North Berkeley Frame & Gallery, 1744 Shattuck Ave. through May 21. 549-0428. 

FILM 

Buddhism and Film: “Tokyo Story” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Adam Mansbach reads from his new novel “Angry White Boy” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“Sephardic Music” with Judith Cohen at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $13-$17. 415-276-1511. www.brjcc.org 

Poetry Express Theme night “mothers and sisters” from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Songwriters Symposium at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Trovatore, traditional Italian songs, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Hot Club of San Francisco at 2 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, MARCH 29 

THEATER 

The Shotgun Players Theatre Lab, “Monster in the Dark” at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. at MLK. Tickets are $10. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: The Birdpeople” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

An Evening in Honor of Thomas Flanagan at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Jeff McGowan describes “Major Conflict: One Gay Man’s Life in the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Military” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

The Whole Note Poetry Series with Eugene David and John Rowe at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave., near Ashby. 549-9093. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Swamp Coolers at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Music for Tsunami Relief with David Grisman, Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum, Geoff Muldaur and others at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50- $25.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bill Jackman & Terry Hilliard at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Sweetbriar, The Brownbums, THe San Antonio Kid, alt country, at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174. www.storkcluboakland.com 

Opie Bellas at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Randy Craig Trio at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 

CHILDREN 

Berkeley Youth Arts Festival Students from Whittier EDC celebrate peace and love through poetry and song at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Rhythmic Seasons” a Metal/Textile BFA exhibition. Reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at California College of the Arts, Irwin Center Gallery, 5215 Broadway, Oakland. 

FILM 

Cine Contemporaneo: “El Leyton: Hasta que la Muerte nos Separe” at 7 p.m. in the CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch St. 642-2088. www.clas.berkeley.edu 

History of Cinema: “Rashomon” at 3 p.m. and Games People Play: “Death Race 2000” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kala Fellowship Artists Talk with Inga Dorosz on digital print and video works and Laura Splan on digital print and drawing combinations at 7 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

Cokie Roberts introduces her new book, “Founding Mothers” at 7:30 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Graduate School of Journalism. Tickets are $10, available from Cal Performances 642-9988.  

Elizabeth George talks about her mystery novel “With No One as Witness” at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Tickets are free with purchase of the book. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, “Masterpieces from early 17th century Italy” with the San Francisco period instrument ensemble, Passamezzo Moderno at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Music of Easter An organ concert at noon at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. www.firstchurchoakland.org 

Jennifer Clevinger and Dennis Geaney at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Mal Sharpe & Big Money in Gumbo at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Orquestra America, salsa, at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Cheryl Wheeler at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Memoir, The Scatter at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174. www.storkcluboakland.com 

Muraski Ensemble at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, MARCH 31 

EXHIBITIONS 

“La Causa” Photographs of the Farmworkers’ Movement at The Free Speech Movement Cafe, Moffitt Library, UC Campus, through Oct. 482-3336. 

“Drawn by the Brush: Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens” guided tour at 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-1295. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Blind at the Museum” guided tour at 12:15 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-1295. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

FILM 

Film and Video Makers at Cal: “Cries of the City” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jennifer Washburn describes “University Inc. The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

David Riggs discusses “The World of Christopher Marlowe” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Eugene David and John Rowe followed by an open mic, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. For information call 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Dhol Patrol, Bhangra and Pan-Arabic beats, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $8. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

LoCal Music Expo, acoustic folk/rock, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Cheryl Wheeler at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Steve Poltz at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $12. 841-2082 www.starryplough.com 

Peter Barshay Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Kenny Garrett at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $10-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

Ah. Rugged mountains. Creamy porridge. Jagged peninsulas. Irish soda bread. Sparkling blue vistas. Guinness stout. Verdant glens. “Shorties” biscuits. Rolling hills. Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes.  

This past summer I visited Ireland for the first time. I toured Dublin, amid energy, museums, culture and crowds. I followed roads through picturesque towns, touring famous landmarks and historic sites. But it wasn’t until I walked in the southwest, on the Beara and Dingle Peninsulas, that I finally got that “ah” feeling. This was the Ireland I had come to see. 

Landscape and people define a country for me and the beauty in the southwest of Ireland speaks for itself. Each day’s walk became my newest favorite: a scenic deserted island rich in history and scenery; a 1,000-acre family owned park of glen, mountains, and lakes; a national park of almost overwhelming greenery, and a tower capped hill along sheep tracks and peat walls. The “ah” feeling never left me. 

The Beara Peninsula remains one of Ireland’s secret havens, its uncrowded roads and trails meandering through pristine countryside. From my base in the remote village of Eyeries, I explored Dursey Island and Gleninchaquin Park. 

Dursey Island’s 1,400 acres were once heavily populated; today the few remaining families on this Natural Heritage site are well outnumbered by sheep. Separated from the mainland by turbulent Dursey Sound, the island is accessible by a single wooden cable car, erected in 1970. On one of two benches, limited to six passengers or one person and one cow, the swaying ride carries you 25m above the sea with plenty of time to look for dolphins below.  

On a day of unbelievably warm weather and light breeze, I happily walked on spongy turf among yellow gorse, pink bell heather, and sea pink thinking about those here before me—Bronze Age people who erected the standing stones, farmers who left behind rows of lazy beds where potatoes were grown before the Great Famine, and soldiers during World War II spelling out EIRE in stones as a deterrent to German bombers. Stone ruins were all that remained: an old church, deserted homes, boundary walls and a Napoleonic-era signal tower at the top of a hill.  

After four miles, my picnic lunch tasted unbelievably good as I sat at the most southwesterly tip of Ireland looking out at the Cow, the Bull, and the Calf in waters whose color changed with depth, from blue to turquoise. Before me the endless sea, with guillemots and gannets circling above. Away from the distractions of everyday life, I felt powerful with limitless possibilities stretching ahead. 

In contrast to Dursey Island’s sparse vegetation and salty air, I next walked a verdant glen and woodland in Gleninchaquin Park. Paddy Corkery and his border collie, Dolly, led me along narrow paths, up tracks carved into rock faces and across bridges spanning mountain streams, all built by his family here where he grew up. A soft spoken, reflective man, his love of the land was evident each time we paused. Leaning on his well-worn walking stick, Paddy pointed out treasures easily overlooked: a small butterwort with midges trapped on its sticky secretions, a carnivorous sundew, a milkwort known for its lactating properties, and the distinctive scent of wild chamomile released by our boots. As we climbed the ridge, Dolly never stopped moving, herding sheep, walkers, and even a couple of kites swooping for butterflies.  

After a pot of tea and a picnic lunch, seated in the back garden of the Corkery family home, doubling as a tea house for visitors, we continued exploring the wonders of this park, climbing through meadows and bogs, where Paddy demonstrated the proper technique for cutting peat logs and stacking them to dry. Past mountain lakes, home to sea trout, brown trout and salmon, we finally reached the source of the waterfall tumbling out before our feet. 

Over a pint of Guinness at the Seaman’s Pub, overlooking the Kenmare River, I bade good-bye to Paddy and Dolly while reflecting on the wealth of my day. A lasting memory is Paddy and Dolly at a stone circle set against a dramatic mountain backdrop, cows grazing peacefully nearby. Paddy Corkery, a man of the land, discussing the past, and like Ireland itself, knowing the importance of preserving nature’s gifts. 

Eyeries provided an ideal location to absorb the beauty of the land and replenish the body. Inches House was a ten-minute walk from this “Tidy Town” village of brightly colored houses, just large enough for a few shops and pubs. From O’Neill’s large picture window with views of Ballycrovane Harbor and Coulough Bay, I watched the sun set and never wanted to leave. 

Unfortunately, time doesn’t stand still, not even on vacation. I left Eyeries and headed to Killarney National Park, not realizing that a hard night’s rain had raised the adventure level by several notches. 

At 24,000 acres, Killarney National Park is the last real sanctuary of primeval countryside in Ireland. To walk through this magnificent valley and forested mountains is to walk through land appearing unchanged for thousands of years, where man has left little evidence of his passing. Renowned` for its diverse terrain, a day in Killarney takes you through oak and yew woodlands, heather-clad peaks and moors, and verdant foliage. The color here is green—a luxuriance of green carpeting every surface with bracken, native grasses, and sphagnum moss thickly draped over boulders and trees. 

During my visit, water ruled. Rain at night resulted in swollen creeks and saturated bogs; the sound of tumbling and gurgling water followed me everywhere. To walk a simple trail became a challenge, finding stones or tufts of grass for steps. When choices ran out, it was goodbye to dry boots and socks. Somehow this only added to the experience, besides bringing out coal black slugs and heavily laden dung beetles.  

Overlooking the lovely lakes of Killarney is Muckross House, an ivy-covered Victorian mansion providing a glimpse into the elegant “upstairs” and hard working “downstairs” life style. It also houses the Killarney National Park Visitor Center and the Kerry Folklife Center, where bookbinders, potters and weavers demonstrate their crafts. Outside at the Traditional Farm learn about the skills used before mechanization. 

Night found me in Kenmare, packed with charm and unfortunately, also with cars. A surprising array of color met my eye—homes and shops painted orange, yellow, blue, and red, and beautiful hanging baskets cascading with bright flowers—a very attractive town. That evening, while listening to the bittersweet melodies and words of traditional Irish music at the Bold Thady Quill Bar, I raised my glass in a toast—to rain, to water, to green!  

On to the Dingle Peninsula, where descriptions of scenic splendor never seem enough: shapely mountains bordering gentle glacial valleys and lakes, long golden beaches, curving bays and towering cliffs pounded by an intensely blue Atlantic Sea. This is a land dotted with treasures of ancient times from prehistoric ring forts and ogham stones, to old roads dating back to the 9th century, and early Christian monasteries. The countryside is sparsely populated allowing for wide vistas down fuchsia lined roads past dry stone walls and Ireland’s ubiquitous four: gorse, heather, bracken and sheep. 

The attractive port of Dingle, surrounded by mountains sheltering its harbor, is known for its many craft shops, its 50 pubs, and Fungi, its resident dolphin. Since it was summer, the streets were crowded with those who had come for music, dancing and eating. Before tapping my feet to banjo, bodran and button accordion, I explored what else Dingle had to offer. 

At the marina and quay the combination of pleasure craft and commercial fishing boats produced a cacophony of colors, textures and sounds. From there I followed a footpath around Dingle Harbor where shops were replaced by green fields dotted with sheep. Across the harbor a patchwork of rich green fields stood out against the deep blue of the water. Around Beenbane Strand I reached the cliffs overlooking Dingle Bay and wondered how many visitors would miss this spending their time within a few short blocks.  

For my tour of the Dingle Peninsula, I spent the day with Colm Rothery, Irish guide extraordinaire. A gentleman of great energy, Irish charm and incredible patience, he answered my hundreds of questions with knowledge and humor. 

Our ramble combined stops at several historic sites, a beach paddle and a spectacular coastal hike, as always, the best way to experience the countryside. At Shea Head, overlooking Dingle Bay, Colm pointed out the Blasket Islands and the Sleeping Giant. I watched the currents form “lazy beds” on the surface of the turquoise waters while we both felt the energy coming off the sea. 

At Dunquin we walked down a steep incline to the pier where boats ferry passengers to Blasket Island, and came upon several overturned carraughs. Traditionally, these craft, constructed of a lightweight wooden frame covered with tar coated linen, were used to transport goods and people, while towing an occasional cow, to and from the island. Our close inspection inside left us with souvenirs, smears of tar on clothing and skin. A fair price to pay for a gloriously warm day. 

The Dingle Peninsula is Gaeltacht, a region of Irish speaking culture, and the Blasket Center was built in 1993 as a tribute to the literature, language and culture of the Corca Dhuibhne. It was quite a surprise to come upon this modern, spacious structure perched overlooking Blasket Sound.  

A stop at Clogher Strand provided personal contact with the waters I’d been ogling from afar. White sands and crashing waves—chilly and refreshing. Our final historic visit was Gallarus Oratory. This miniature church shaped like an overturned boat is one of the earliest Christian buildings in Ireland. Over 1200 years old, built only of stone, Gallarus Oratory is completely waterproof, owing to the placement of stones at a slight outward angle. The interior was remarkably dry and also quite crowded; here we had run into the coach tours. It was time to, literally, take to the hills. 

Along track and sheep trails we climbed Ballydavid Head, a few miles but worlds away from tour buses and tourist shops. Our destination for a picnic lunch was the top, site of the ruins of yet another Napoleonic signal tower, and more tremendous views. To the north towering Mount Brandon; to the south the Three Sisters, mountainous fingers reaching out to sea; to the east the broad fertile valley; and to the west the Atlantic. 

Walking past several stacks of stones, Colm reversed roles. “Why are these here?” he quizzed. After guessing walls, boundaries, markers, I blurted out “peat.” Impressing a guide is always a good feeling even when in desperation. They were peat walls placed on the leeward side of the hill, to allow the wind to dry out the stacked peat logs. 

My back against a massive stone warmed by the sun, my eyes never tired of the scene before me: the greens of the fields, blues of the waters, grays of the stones. I reflected on this unspoiled countryside, the warmth of the people and on the respect I felt for their recognition of the worth of their heritage and their land. Ah. Just a few days in paradise—nothing more. 

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FRIDAY, MARCH 25 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Michael Perlman on “International Finance and You.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

Shivas Irons Society Golf Tournament at 11 a.m. at Tilden Park Golf Course. Cost is $90, benefits Tilden Golf Academy. 918-2983. www.shivasjournal.org/catalog 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” a small group meeting weekly at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. 655-8863, 843-7610. dann@netwiz.net 

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

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

SATURDAY, MARCH 26 

Holiday Egg Coloring We’ll collect eggs from the chickens and do some creative decorating. For ages 7 to 11 years, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $3, registration reuired. 525-2233. 

Kids Garden Club For children 7-12 years old to explore the world of gardening. We plant, harvest, build, make crafts, cook and get dirty! From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$6, registration required. 525-2233. 

Drawing and Painting California Wildflowers A two-day workshop with Dr. Linda Ann Vorobik, botanist and artist. Open to students of all levels. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at the Visitor Center, Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Cost is $110 members/$125 nonmembers. 845-4116. 

Berkeley Path Wanderers Urban Nature Hike A 5-mile hike from El Cerrito to Berkeley with Susan Schwartz. Meet at 10 a.m. at the El Cerrito Plaza BART. Wear layers and shoes with good traction, and bring water and lunch. 848-9358. f5creeks@aol.com 

Introduction to Permaculture Covering the philosophy, ethics and principals of permaculture for your garden from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Oakland Permaculture Institute, 2135 E. 28th St. Oakland. Cost is $10-$15. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Ohlone Dog Park Cleanup Day at 10 a.m. at Ohlone Dog Park, on Hearst between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Grant St. ohlonedogpark.org 

Know Your Rights Training Learn what your rights are and how to watch the police effectively and safely, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Copwatch, 2022 Blake St. Free. 548-0425. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 27 

Early Morning Egg Hunt Learn where the amphibians have hidden their eggs, and learn about the life cycle of frogs and salamanders. From 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Cost is $5, registration required. 525-2233. 

The Little Farm’s Sheep Celebrate the spring with a visit to see our lambs, discover lots of eggs, pet a bunny and find out what all this has to do with Easter. From 1 to 3 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233. 

Town Meeting on Counter-Military Recruitment and Contientious Objection Options at 1:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Suggested donation $5-$10. 524-6064. 

Berkeley City Club free tours from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. For group reservations or more information, call 848-7800 or 883-9710. 

Anarchist Theory Conference from 10 am. to 5 p.m. at Barrows Hall, UC Campus. Sliding scale $1-$10. www.sfbay-anarchists.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

MONDAY, MARCH 28 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

Tea and Hike at Four Taste some of the finest teas from the Pacific Rim and South Asia and learn their natural and cultural history, followed by a short nature walk. At 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

“The Transformation of Transnational Migration in Ecuador” with David Kyle at noon in the CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch St. 642-2088. www.clas.berkeley.edu 

“The Jewish-American World of Philip Roth” a discussion of “American Pastoral,” facilitated by Laura Bernell at at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 848-0237, ext. 110. 

“Discover France Another Way” a slide show with Jackie Grandchamps at 7 p.m. at Changemakers Bookstore for Women, 6536 Telegraph Ave. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 9:45 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

“Critical Viewing” an ongoing group that examines the craft(iness) of short film, TV drama, and commercials. Free. co-sponsored by the Berkeley Adult School and BRJCC. New members always welcome. Mon. from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 2 p.m. every Monday at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, MARCH 29 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7:30 a.m. at Island picnic site to look for the birds of the Botanic Garden. 525-2233. 

“Sacred Mountains: A Pilgrimage in Yosemite and Tibet” a slide presentation with Chris Bessonette and Joanna Cooke at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Eat in Season” for National Nutrition month with cooking demonstrations at 3:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

“Invisible Children: The Effect of the Sudanese Civil War on Children” with UCB Prof. Darren Zook at 6:15 p.m. at the FSM Cafe at Moffitt Library, UC Campus. fsm-info@library.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley PC Users Group Problem solving and beginners meeting to answer, in simple English, users questions about Windows computers. At 7 p.m. at 1145 Walnut St. corner of Eunice. All welcome, no charge. 527-2177.  

Sing-A-Long every Tues. from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic. All ages welcome. 524-9122. 

Tap Into It Jazz and Rhythm Tap classes at Montclair Recreation Center, 6300 Moraga Ave., Oakland. Experienced at 6:30 p.m., beginners at 7:30 p.m. 482-7812. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 6 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Family Story Time at the Kensington Branch Library, Tues. evenings at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 

Great Decisions 2005: “Middle East” with Abbas Kadhim, Grad. student UCB, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. Cost is $5. For information and reservations call 526-2925. 

Community Meeting on 700 University Avenue Mixed Use Development A meeting to provide an overview of plans for the property, the planning process, and to gather input from the community at 7 p.m. at 700 University Ave., Southern Pacific Railroad Station. For information call Dan Deibel at 650-340-4340. ddeibel@urbanhousinggroup.com 

“Judi Bari’s Victory Trial” dcumentary at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St,. midtown Oakland. Donation of $5 requested.  

Bayswater Book Club discusses “The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity” by Hyam Maccoby at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble Coffee Shop, El Cerrito Plaza. 433-2911. 

AARP Free Tax Assistance for taxpayers with middle and low incomes, with special attention to those 60 years and older. From 12:15 to 4:15 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. This service will continue through April. Appointments must be made in advance. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Artify Ashby Muralist Group meets every Wed. from 5 to 8 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, to plan a new mural. New artists are welcome. Call Bonnie at 704-0803. 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Chanting Circle for Women Wed. at 7 p.m. through April 6, at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Tuition is $160. For information see www.edgeofwonder.com 

Winter Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www. 

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, MARCH 31 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the end of Taft St., Albany, for a steep hike down Albany Hill for see woodland and creekside birds. 525-2233 

“Celebrating the Environmental Leadership of Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers’ Movement” with the film “Fight in the Fields” at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

“Reducing Violence Against Women” a town hall meeting sponsored by Black Women Organized for Political Action, at 5:30 p.m. at Laney College Forum, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. 763-9523. www.bwopa.org 

“Estate Planning and Power of Attorney” with Priscilla Camp, attorney, at 7 p.m. at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, 828 San Pablo Ave., Suite 104, Albany. To register call 558-7800. 

FRIDAY, APRIL 1 

Outings on Fridays with Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association Tour of the Cohen-Bray House (1884) in Fruitvale, at 11 a.m. Cost is $15. Reservations required. 841-2242. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

“Citizenship and Power” A conference hosted by the Center for Popular Education, UCB, at First Unitarian Church, Oakland. For details see www.cpepr.net. 

First Friday at St. Joseph the Worker with the documentary “Romero” honoring the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Free. 482-1062. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” a small group meeting weekly at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. No charge. 655-8863, 843-7610. dann@netwiz.net 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

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

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

SATURDAY, APRIL 2 

Sick Plant Clinic UC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of Charter Hill and the Centennial of the Big “C” led by Steve Finacom, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

Ponds, Creeks and Puddles An introduction to water chemistry to discover what is there besides bugs and algae, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Visitor Center, Botanical Garden, Tilden Park. Cost is $30-$35. 845-4116. www.nativeplants.org 

Spring Rhododendron Walk with Elaine Sedlack, horticulturist at 10 a.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $8-$12, registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Tilden Toddlers An afternoon of exploration to look for amphibians, for ages 2-3 with adult companions, at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Kid’s Garden Club for ages 7-12 to explore the world of gardening, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. 

Alameda County Criminal Records Expungement Summit Find out about your rights, what you do and don’t need to tell employers, and learn about possible court remedies, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Laney College, 900 Fallon St. Sponsored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee and the East Bay Community Law Center. 548-4040, ext. 373. www.ebclc.org 

Church Divinity School of the Pacific Open House from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 2451 Ridge Rd. Faculty seminars, tours, and discussions. To register call 204-0755. www.cdsp.edu 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

“AAUP and Women in the Academy” with Mary Burgan, past president of the American Assoc of University Professors, and Debra Rolinson on “Time to Thrive, not Just Survive” at 1:30 p.m. at 180 Tan Hall, UC Campus. www.wage.org 

Progressive Democrats of the East Bay meets at 1 p.m. at the Temescal Oakland Library, 5205 Telegraph Ave. 526-4632, 524-4244. wjlawler@hotmail.com 

“Visualization for Health” with LauraLynn Jansen at 4 p.m. at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. at 58th St., Oakland. Free, pre-registration requested. 420-7900, ext. 111. margo@wcrc.org 

Junior Rangers of Tilden meets Sat. mornings at Tilden Nature Center. For more information call 525-2233. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

ONGOING 

United Way’s Earn It! Keep It! Save It! Program provides free tax assistance now through early April to families that earned less than $36,000 in 2004. To find a free tax site near you, call 1-800-358-8832 or visit www.EarnItKeepItSaveIt.org. 

“Half Pint Library” Book Drive Donate children’s books to benefit Children’s Hospital. Donations accepted at 1849 Solano Ave. through March 31. 

Spring Break Program for Children offered by the City’s Recreational Division, March 28-April 1, for children ages 5-12, at the Frances Albrier Community Center, 2800 Park St. For information call 981-6640. 

Bike Chain Response is organizing an interfaith bike ride from the Nevada Test Site to Los Alamos National Laboratory, June 19 to July 17, to raise awareness of alternative modes of transportation and the tragedy of the nuclear weapons industry. 505-870-2-ASK. www.lovarchy.org/ride/ 

CITY MEETINGS 

Creeks Task Force meets every Monday at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center through April 4. Erin Dando, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse/Creeks/default.html  

Parks and Recreation Commission meets Mon., Mar. 28, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Virginia Aiello, 981-5158. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/parksandrecreation 

Solid Waste Management Commission Mon., Mar. 28, at 7 p.m., at 1201 Second St. Tania Levy, 981-6368. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/solidwaste

Facing growing anger from residents and librarians over plans to lay off workers and implement tracking devices on materials, the Berkeley Public Library Board of Trustees has selected a veteran of local political battles to join its ranks. 

If approved by the City Council Tuesday, Ying Lee, 73, a former councilmember and legislative aide to Ron Dellums and Barbara Lee, will join the library board. 

“I know the library is in a vulnerable situation and I thought this might be the last chance I get to do something useful,” Lee said. She would join the five-member board in place of Jorge Garcia, whose second four-year term expired last week. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said that he hoped that Lee, as the only progressive activist on the board, could influence her colleagues. 

Lee said she is opposed to the board’s decision last year to install radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs) on the library’s 500,000 volume collection. RFIDs are expected to make checkout more efficient, but opponents fear that they could be used by government authorities to track patrons. 

“I made it clear to them in my interview that I didn’t believe in tracking library checkouts,” Lee said. “There is no reason for Berkeley to be on the cutting edge of technology in library systems.” 

Board President Laura Anderson said the board was planning to schedule a community meeting on RFID and proposed layoffs before the next board meeting April 12, but she added that she didn’t foresee the board reversing course on RFID after already approving a $500,000 loan to pay for the technology. 

“There’s no way RFID is not coming to the library,” she said. 

Lee said she didn’t know enough to comment on Library Director Jackie Griffin’s budget balancing plan to reorganize library operations and lay off workers. The library faces a $850,000 shortfall next year. 

Griffin’s proposal has met fierce resistance from employees, who at the past board meeting, attended by Lee, blasted Griffin for not including them in the reorganization plan. 

“I was saddened by the depth of unhappiness of staff who spoke at the meeting,” Lee said. 

Jane Scantlebury, a reference librarian, hoped Lee’s appointment would bode well for employees. “I know she’ll listen to us,” she said. 

Anderson said Lee’s experience with tough community issues separated her from a field of seven candidates. 

“We all felt like she was of the community and had a lot of experience working with the community,” Anderson said. “That’s something we’re finding all of us need some skill at.” 

Lee said she owed a debt to public libraries. Upon her arrival in the United States as a 13-year-old immigrant from China, Lee spent most of her first summer in the San Francisco Public Library learning English. She came to Berkeley as a college student in 1951 and stayed to teach in social science in Berkeley schools for 19 years. While still a teacher, Lee was elected to the City Council on the progressive slate, serving from 1973 through 1977. 

In 1980 she left teaching to take a job with Congressman Ron Dellums, and in 1993 she followed Dellums to Washington D.C., where she also served his successor Barbara Lee, before returning to Berkeley in 2000. 

Back in Berkeley, Lee volunteered at the library and directed a local health care agency while continuing her work as a peace activist. Then in 2002, she left public life to help care for her newborn grandson. 

Lee said she was content with retirement, but that friends urged her to apply for the library board. 

“I know it’s a difficult situation, but I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “If it’s not challenging why would I want to be on the board. There are so many other things one can do with one’s time.” 

›

The Berkeley Federation of Teachers filed an unfair labor practice charge against the school district last week, demanding that the district hand over its master list of student addresses so the union could give parents its side of the ongoing labor stalemate. 

The teachers’ union, which is locked in a two-year contract dispute with the district, also claims that the PTA leaders have blocked them from airing their positions on the PTA’s e-mail distribution lists. 

Over the past month Superintendent Michele Lawrence and School Board President Nancy Riddle have used the district’s master address list to send mailings outlining the district’s position on labor negotiations. 

“They’re trying to dominate the information airways,” said BFT President Barry Fike. “We don’t have a quarrel with the district’s right to communicate its negotiating perspective, but we do think it’s unfair that they have denied us the same opportunity.”  

Berkeley teachers have been without a contract since 2003. In protest, last month teachers stopped doing work not specified in their contract. The tactic has meant no homework and fewer extracurricular activities for some Berkeley students. 

If the state Public Employee Labor Relations Board rules in favor of the teachers, it could compel the district to provide the listing. However, knowing that a decision likely won’t come for several months, Fike said the district had little incentive to heed the union’s demand. 

“They know that by the time the labor board rules on this, the issue could be moot,” he said. Fike also charged that the district mailings contained outdated facts on teacher salaries and distorted the district’s budget. 

Mark Coplan, district public information officer, said BUSD did not intend to provide the mailing list. 

“My understanding is that it is privileged information only available to the district,” he said. 

The teachers’ complaint is a novel one, said Joseph Grodin, a former State Supreme Court Judge and a labor law professor at Hastings School of Law. He said federal law grants a union the right to information to enable it to bargain effectively, but that the law has traditionally applied to data on issues like safety or drug testing, not parent addressees. 

“My guess is that there is no precedent and that the labor board will have to decide if the legal principal should be extended as a matter of fairness,” Grodin said. 

Coplan added he did not know how much the mailings cost or which fund the district billed for the distribution. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence was in mediation talks with the union Monday afternoon and unavailable for comment. 

During the dispute both sides have been hesitant to detail their proposals. Coplan said Monday he understood that the district’s latest offer included a 1.2 percent raise in teacher salaries for the next school year. 

Fike said that in light of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s plan to increase education by 4 percent next year, he believed neighboring districts would agree to raises of 3 to 4 percent. 

“We just want to keep pace,” Fike said. 

After finding themselves near the bottom of the Bay Area pay scale, Berkeley teachers signed a contract in 2000 that guaranteed they would be paid the median of selected neighboring districts when the contract expired in 2003. Since then Berkeley teachers have not received raises. However the district maintains that since it has had to pay for soaring employee health benefit costs over the past two years, teachers have received additional value since the contract expired. 

Other local unions have in the past filed unfair labor practice complaint as a pretext for calling a strike, but Fike said the teachers had no plans to walk out on their jobs. 

“We’re trying to do everything possible to avoid a strike,” he said. “That is not our motivation in any way.” 

The last teacher strike in Berkeley was in 1975, said School Board Director Terry Doran, a former Berkeley teacher. Doran said that both district mailings came with the full consent of the school board. 

The BFT is also fuming about its access to school e-trees—electronic mailing lists that distribute school news to parents. Fike said that until the weekend, PTA leaders had allowed the district to broadcast its position on the e-trees, while denying the union equal access. 

“E-trees were told by leadership not to send out teacher perspectives,” Fike said.  

PTA Council President Roia Ferezares said that while some school e-trees did circulate the district’s statements, she ordered them to stop after receiving complaints from Fike. She added that she then disseminated district and union perspectives on the dispute and sent it to five PTA presidents giving them the option to post the information.  

So far two schools have agreed to do so, she said. 

The Berkeley High School e-tree, the district’s most widely read, has not posted perspectives from either side, said Janet Huseby, e-tree co-coordinator.  

“We made it a policy not to publish political notices,” she said. “It would have just opened a can of worms.”›

Thousands marched in San Francisco Saturday on the second anniversary of the war in Iraq, beating drums, chanting slogans and carrying signs to deliver a message to the Bush administration that U.S. aggression and occupation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Haiti destabilizes the world and wastes tax dollars that should serve human needs. 

“Bring the troops home,” San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano called to the crowd in Dolores Park, before the march to Civic Center. “Bring them home to healthcare, bring them home to jobs.” 

Students from UC Berkeley and San Francisco State not only want to bring the troops home, they want to keep military recruiters off of high school and college campuses. Holding signs that read “Military recruiters lie/our children die” and “College not combat,” students organizing against military recruiters held a pre-march rally at the 16th Street BART Station.  

“We have 1,000 signatures to get the recruiters off campus,” said Kelly Osmundson, a second-year history and peace and conflict major at UC Berkeley and a member of the campus Stop the War Coalition. The students say that because the university doesn’t allow discrimination against gays and lesbians—and the military does not permit open homosexuals within its ranks—recruiters are violating university nondiscrimination policy by recruiting on campus. 

Catherine Siskron, a Berkeley resident, teaches Russian at San Francisco State and supports the students. “Funds are being spent on war and killing, not on education,” she said. 

Fewer people showed up to Saturday’s march sponsored by the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition—between 6,000 and 7,000 according to KPFA’s Larry Benksy—than at the one-year anniversary march, where an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 protesters came out. Similar rallies around the world, including one in London that drew 45,000 to100,000, were smaller this year than last.  

While some attributed the poor San Francisco showing to drizzly weather, others said it was because people are demoralized by the re-election of George W. Bush. 

“I think there’s a general feeling of helplessness,” said James Vann, an Oakland peace and housing activist, noting that only “hard-core” protesters like himself tend to demonstrate when political conditions are so adverse. “I can’t acquiesce quietly to what’s being carried out.” 

Labor activists were visible at Saturday’s event, with the San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, South Bay and Monterey Bay labor councils, the Million Worker March, and the California Nurses’ Association supporting the demonstration. 

Trent Willis, of ILWU Local 10, among the labor speakers at the Civic Center rally, touted his union for having opposed the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, refusing to unload cargo from ships from apartheid South Africa and opposing the war and occupation of Iraq. In recognition of the war anniversary, he said, “Local 10 is not working the port of Oakland or the Port of San Francisco today.” 

Protesters with religious ties came out to preach the message that the right wing doesn’t have a monopoly on moral values. 

“It’s important to bring an alternative faith perspective,” said Sara Steen, who marched with about two dozen fellow students from the Pacific School of Religion. Letters on her bright green shirt spelled out her belief: “Walking with Jesus/Working for Peace.” 

While the event was marked by contemplation of the more than 1,500 U.S. soldiers dead and an unknown number of Iraqi fighters and civilians killed, humor was not absent: street theater featured Rice, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al, portrayed as members in the Abu-Ghraib Fraternity from Torture University. Signs and banners targeted the president: “Bush’s third term, 25 years to life”; “Practice Compassionate Impeachment.” And one protester asked the question: “Who would Jesus Bomb?” 

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party marched, including the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club and the Progressive Democrats of America. Despite Democrats voting with Republicans last week for the House bill that will give another $81 billion to the war, Judy Bertlesen, a Berkeley resident and Wellstone co-chair, pointed to the ascendancy of anti-war candidate Howard Dean to head the Democratic National Committee, indicating a shift towards a peace perspective within the party. (One hundred sixty-two Democrats, including House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, voted for the war funding; Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, joined 39 Democrats in opposition.) 

Many of the rally speakers looked beyond Iraq to condemn U.S. foreign policy more broadly. Eyad Kishawi from the Free Palestine Alliance criticized the U.S. role in the attempted overthrow of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, the “kidnapping” of Haiti’s democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, “two years of carnage in Iraq” and “57 years of apartheid in Palestine.” 

Pierre Labossiere of the Haiti Action Committee said the Bush administration was trying to impose a new colonialism on Haiti as in Palestine and Iraq. 

“At stake is (the U.S.) global hegemony,” he said. 

Counter-demonstrators, carrying Israeli and American flags and signs that read “Free Israel” and “What if Blaming Israel was not an Option,” gathered across the street from the Civic Center rally platform. According to their spokesperson, Dan Kliman, of San Francisco Voice for Israel, some members of his organization support the war and others oppose it. The group came to the rally, he said, to oppose ANSWER’s “co-optation” of the anti-war movement, turning it into an anti-Israel platform.  

On the rally stage nearby, Barbara Lubin, of the Berkeley-based Middle East Children’s Alliance, praised ANSWER for including speakers who addressed conditions in the many parts of the world where people suffer from U.S. support of occupation and war. 

“We are not going to stand for the fact that we are laying off teachers and closing schools, while funds are sent to Israel to kill Palestinian children,” Lubin said.o

Gene Bernardi of Berkeleyans Organized for Library Defense said she was collecting signatures against automation of the library’s main branch in front of the main doors recently when she was ordered away from the library. 

According to Bernardi—whose account was confirmed by the ABC Security guard involved—the guard came out and said she was on “library property” and would have to move to the sidewalk. Bernardi refused and the guard threatened to call the police. A police car did arrive but Bernardi had relocated to the sidewalk. 

Two weeks ago, the Peace and Justice Commission declined to condemn the small radio tracking devices being installed in all the libraries materials. 

Lee Tien, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based watchdog group, told the commission that the devices now in Berkeley’s library books are similar to those that government spy agencies intend to use for long-range tracking, placing them, for example, in visas carried around by foreign visitors. 

“This is a technology that could usher in an age of surveillance,” Tien said. 

Mark Marrow, library general services manager, told the commission that the devices as installed can only track a book a few feet as it goes through a checkout reader. A resolution against the devices failed to pass with five yes votes, five no votes, one abstention, and three absences.  

Library employees have complained about a variety of issues at the library, including the automation check out system, proposed layoffs and sagging employee spirits. 

“In 34 years…I’ve never seen morale so low or the staff so angry,” said library employee Anne-Marie Miller told the trustees. 

Reference librarian Andrea Moss told Library Director Jackie Griffin, “We don’t know how to have a conversation with you and we need to.” 

While the debate continues, library employees are pasting the tracking tags on the library’s books, videos, compact discs, records and tapes. 

Joseph Alvarez, a library aide for seven years, said Griffin announced at a recent staff meeting that 200,000 of the library’s estimated 500,000 books and other materials have been tagged so far. 

Alvarez said a sense of depression pervades the staff at the main library downtown. 

“People are just beat and (management) contradicts itself in many ways,” he said. “First we’re told there are going to be layoffs and then we’re told there aren’t going to be.” 

A common sight at the library is two employees checking out materials at the main desk while a line of waiting patrons stretches into an adjoining room. Alvarez said Griffin wants to automate the library “and you know who gets squeezed when that happens.” 

Griffin was unavailable for comment for this article. According to the City Charter, the library director is answerable only to the five library trustees. The trustees are appointed by the City Council which can remove them only by a majority vote. 

Bernardi was back at her post outside the library late last week. Not every one who signed her petition cared only about the tacking devices. 

“The petition should be to have the library stay open later and on Sunday,” said Rinaldo Pelegrino, who had a small child strapped to his side. He said the library is rarely open when a working parent has time to go there.  

“The reduced hours are a disservice to the community,” he said. 

›

Three hundred and fifty-seven local middle school girls, 50 adults and 130 volunteers showed up at the 29th annual Expanding Your Horizons math and science conference for girls, held on the Mills College campus, last Saturday. 

Nary a boy was in sight and the enthusiasm for hands-on scientific experimentation was infectious. 

Part of a national program based at Mills College, Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) encourages middle school girls to discover the excitement of scientific discovery and the career opportunities available to women in science-related fields like math, technology, engineering and medicine. Last year over 28,000 girls attended EYH events across the country.  

Karen Chang, 26, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, was one of 12 chemistry graduate student volunteers working with a class full of girls signed up for “Colorful Chemistry.”  

With great enthusiasm Chang schooled the assembled girls in proper lab technique while warning them of dangerous chemicals and the possibility of explosive chemical reactions.  

“I love explosions,” Chang told the wide-eyed girls as her fellow graduate students poured clear colorless chemicals into beakers, concocting Cal’s colors: blue and gold. She then poured two more clear colorless liquids into a larger beaker and stirred it while the liquid transformed into an opaque black then back to transparent clear and then back to black in an infinite and enchanting cycle.  

“It’s a really good way to get them exposed to science,” Chang said later. “A lot of times chemistry is given this negative attitude, negative reputation as being harmful for the earth and it’s bad for us. We often don’t see the good side of chemistry. It’s fun and exciting and people can learn that too. I think this is great. These activities are fun.”  

In an hour-and-half hands-on class, the girls learned how to make polymers and “super” bouncy balls, bronze coat pennies, recognize chemical components by their fire-oxidized color qualities, flash freeze compounds and numerous other common chemical processes used in manufacturing million of chemical compounds. Best of all, their instructors were all women only a decade older than the middle schoolers.  

With a streak of pink dyed into her long blonde hair, Lynn Trahey, 24, a graduate student in material chemistry at UC Berkeley, has been volunteering at Expand Your Horizon events for the last three years.  

“I always have a really good feeling at the end of the day,” Trahey said. “It’s not that much work and the girls always get really excited. I feel like if they get excited they may carry this with them further on. I didn’t get turned on to science until I was in high school where I had a teacher who had lots of fun experiments.” 

Trahey said she thinks it’s important for young women to see female role models in their lives.  

“A lot of schools don’t have female professors,” Trahey said. “So you can’t project yourself into that role. I think a lot of women don’t apply to grad school because you don’t see examples of women in the positions that you would acquire after a graduate degree. The role models need to be there for undergraduates. I’d like to be a female professor so that female chemistry students can see me and say, ‘Ahh! I’d like to do that too.’”  

One such inspired young lady in attendance was Cassy Muscer, 13, from Julia Morgan School for Girls on the Mills Campus.  

“I went here last year and I really liked it,” Cassy said. “I just think it’s really fun. I learned a lot about a lot of different things like how to set up battery circuits and about genes and stuff. It was really fun.”  

She said she plans to take more math and science classes and hopes to become a marine biologist.  

Teaching math to girls at Julia Morgan, Liz Gibbs Campbell said, she sees first hand the issues many young women face when they consider science classes.  

“In middle school, in particular, girls get subliminal messages from adults in their lives and other people and media, that math isn’t something that girls do,” said Gibbs Campbell. “It’s not an appealing subject area or thing for them to pursue in their lives. I just really want to be a strong advocate for girls and for how math can be fun and interesting.” 

Gibbs Campbell taught a class on architectural drafting on Saturday.  

“The numbers of women in architecture are still a very small percentage compared to the fact that women are supposed to be equal nowadays,” she noted. “That’s why I chose the workshop I’m giving today. To show girls architecture is a field women can enter and become successful.” 

Natalie Edelman, 11, a sixth grade student at Chadbourne Elementary School in Fremont, came with her mother, Jill Walker, an electrical engineer. While her daughter explored the solar system, mom attended a class on preparing parents for the financial burdens of college.  

“I learned a tremendous amount about how different things like savings can affect your (child’s) financial aid,” Walker said. “I learned that sometimes savings can hurt you. It was definitely worth my time.”  

Natty Siegel, 11, a sixth grade student from Berkeley, was eager to talk about her class on building robotic bugs  

“I did the electronic bugs and it was really fun,” Siegel said. “The first part of the class we learned all about the science of it, like the atoms and stuff. They taught us about circuits and it wasn’t super easy so it did challenge you.”  

For more information about Expanding Your Horizons and the schedule of programs available to for middle school girls search go to www.expandingyourhorizons.org. 

The 75-year-old woman whose throat was slashed with a butcher knife while walking outside the Berkeley Rose Garden last week said she is on her way to a full recovery. 

“I’m doing quite well and my voice is back,” said the grandmother of seven, who wished not to reveal her name. 

On Friday police arrested a 16-year-old Oakland woman on attempted murder in connection with the incident. Police would not give the identity of the suspect because she is a juvenile. 

“I’m immensely relieved that she’s in custody,” the woman said Monday. 

She recounted the ordeal as she rested Monday at her north Berkeley home, a few blocks from the site where she was assaulted. 

She said she was walking home Wednesday with her husband, also 75, from a UC Berkeley cinema class when two women approached her from the opposite direction. 

“One of them just grabbed me around the neck and attacked me out of the blue,” she said. “I was astonished. At first I didn’t realize I had been stabbed, but then I saw the blood spurting out.” 

She said the slasher released her and continued walking south on Euclid Avenue. She called for her husband who had been walking behind her. 

“I yelled at him to come and then realized I should probably be lying down so I went down on the sidewalk and started yelling, ‘help, help.”  

The two women fled in a BMW convertible, according to police. 

The attack left the victim with “a long slash,” but the knife struck a bone in her throat that doctors told her might have shielded her from a life-threatening injury. 

“I was extremely fortunate,” she said. “It missed my trachea, my esophagus and any major arteries.” 

After being rushed to Highland Hospital, she remained in intensive care for two days with a breathing tube inserted into her throat. 

The attacker did not say a word or reach for her purse, the woman said. 

The person who accompanied the attacker has been identified, but will not be charged, said Berkeley Police Public Information Officer Joe Okies. 

Okies declined to discuss possible motives. 

Councilmember Betty Olds, who lives near the Rose Garden, said she understood from talking to authorities that the incident was not gang related and that the car was not stolen.  

“It looks like she was deranged,” Olds said.  

The victim, who works part time at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, said she was raised in Berkeley and although she was shaken by what happened, it hasn’t soured her on her neighborhood. 

“I was shocked that something like this could happen to anyone in Berkeley,” she said. “But I think north Berkeley is a wonderful place to live and I’m not leaving.”  

An alarming report on asthma in Berkeley and Oakland will be front and center at this Tuesday’s Berkeley City Council meeting 

Berkeley children are hospitalized for asthma at twice the rate of the state average and African Americans are more than four times as likely to be hospitalized for the respiratory illness as other Berkeley residents, according to a 2004 report from the Oakland Berkeley Asthma Coalition. The data for the report came from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. 

“As a community we need to talk about what we’re going to do about this,” said Berkeley Public Health Officer Dr. Poki Namkung, who will present the report’s findings to the council.  

Also on the agenda for Tuesday, the council will once again consider how to spend $3.4 million in unanticipated property tax revenue and Fire Chief Debra Pryor will detail a Fire Department proposal to cut service without eliminating one of the city’s two ladder trucks. 

Last week, for the second time, the council held off on supporting a recommendation from City Manager Phil Kamlarz to dedicate the money for a new police dispatch system, the city’s lawsuit against the UC Board of Regents over the UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan, street repairs and a match for a solar bond fund. 

Several councilmembers have been hesitant to dedicate the money so early in the budget process, when the city is facing a general fund shortfall of $8.9 million. 

“The city manager is still trying to ram through the $3.4 million,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who wants to hold off the allocation until the council finalizes the budget in June. 

Kamlarz has recommended that the extra revenue not go to pay for recurring programs, because he fears that would only delay tough budget cuts. At last week’s meeting, Councilmember Laurie Capitelli backed Kamlarz. 

“I’m not spending this to pay for recurring costs,” he said. “I think that it’s delaying the inevitable.” 

Also, the council will consider a proposal from the Human Welfare and Community Action Commission to give it more say in the distribution of funding to local nonprofits. The commission charged that last year the council found more money for local nonprofits, but didn’t seek the commission’s input in choosing which groups received extra allocations. 

Oakland/Berkeley Asthma 

Hospitalization Report 

Findings: 

• From 1999 to 2001 there were over 7,400 hospitalizations due to asthma in Alameda County, an average of 2,500 per year. 

• In Oakland and Berkeley during the same period, there were more than 4,100 hospitalizations with direct charges totaling over $13 million. 

• Hospitalization rates for Oakland children are four times higher than for all California children; for Berkeley children they are 2.5 times higher. 

• Over half of the Oakland/Berkeley residents hospitalized for asthma are children below the age of 15. 

• African-American hospitalization rates are about four times higher than that of the general population. 

• While asthma hospitalization rates have declined slightly in Alameda County over a five-year period, rates have increased significantly in some high risk neighborhoods in East and West Oakland. 

• Over 16 percent of Oakland and Berkeley residents under age 25 hospitalized for asthma have more than one hospital stay for asthma in the same year. 

—Oakland Berkeley Asthma Coalition

PATONG BEACH, Phuket, Thailand—Some three months after the tsunami waves invaded its shores, Phuket’s most popular beaches are haunted by ghosts, locals say.  

Stretches of white sand here are mostly deserted in the height of the hot season, even though many coastal areas have been rebuilt. Fears of spirits are keeping Thais away. One visitor is even said to have captured the image of a spirit on a cell phone camera and circulated the photo via the Internet.  

Thais have believed in the spirit world and animism since ancient times, when higher beings were thought to control natural phenomenon such as rain and trees. These beliefs became intertwined with Buddhism, which spread throughout the kingdom, and were passed down through the generations.  

Many Thais say the souls of some of the 5,300 persons who perished on Thailand’s southern shores are still looking for answers. Some say that “pieeh,” or ghosts, can be seen swimming along the beaches at night. A tuk tuk driver said one evening he stopped to pick up passengers only to find there was no one there. Even a multi-denominational gathering of more than 100 Buddhist and Muslim leaders to “purify” the island did not quell the strong belief that the resort area is haunted.  

The fear of ghosts has greatly hurt an island heavily dependent on tourism, which generates roughly $2.5 billion a year. The steepest drop in tourism since the tsunami has been visits by domestic visitors, which declined by almost half.  

Kanda Tetanonsakul, a Thai-born, United Kingdom-educated art director for a Bangkok-based French fashion magazine, says it will be five to 10 years before she returns to one of her favorite vacation spots. “My coworker just got back from Phuket and told me of how a spirit followed her home,” she says.  

It’s not just Thais who fear unruly spirits, but also other Asians. After the Bali bombing, tourists from countries like Korea, China and Japan were very slow to return, also due to fears of spirits, says Chris Tan of Sea Tours in Bangkok. “Two years later, the Asian market is still not the same,” Tan says.  

Nantawan Kosai, an 18-year Phuket resident, says the superstitions are nonsense and only hurt the residents who depend on the tourism business now more than ever as they try to rebuild their homes and livelihoods. Kosai says she knows the tuk tuk driver who began the rumor that he saw ghosts. “He said that for attention,” she says.  

Following the tsunami, many residents have also been fighting their own demons. “They have become more religious and blame themselves for the disaster,” Kosai says. “They think it was brought on by misdeeds like greed.”  

In the past decade, development on Phuket multiplied ten-fold. Hotels, restaurants and umbrella stands sit in practically every scenic nook and cranny. In some areas dozens of establishments that challenged the shoreline were wiped out by the tsunami in a blink. Many small proprietors say they have learned their lesson. The Thai government has also promised to curtail development in ecologically sensitive areas.  

Western media has also done its share of perpetuating misconceptions and myths that have hurt the island, Thais here say. It failed to adequately distinguish the damage in Phuket from other, much more heavily damaged sites in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.  

“Major news networks would mention the damage in Phuket but show coverage in Aceh,” Tan says. Phuket sustained only a fraction of the 163,000 deaths in Aceh. Mainstream media also failed to explain enough that much of the damage on the island was distant from Phuket’s main beaches. As a result, coverage lead many to believe the entire island was leveled. Major news agencies also reported a high threat of epidemics and contaminated food and water that never materialized.  

Despite all of the fears and rumors, many are slowly starting to return to Phuket. Occupancy rates on the island’s 50,000 hotel rooms have crept up from 10 percent in January to 30 percent in February. Many are repeat visitors from the West who have a relationship with the island and also those who want to help, including a large number of intrepid Americans.  

Americans like Mickey Howley have been traveling to Phuket en masse to help rebuild the island. Howley and several hundred other volunteers at a camp in Khao Lak are rebuilding homes and schools. He says they are teaching many families who lost breadwinners sustainable living skills such as English and Western cooking techniques.  

“Over 80 percent of families here lost a relative, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from anyone’s face,” he says. Thais’ resiliency is “such a positive influence on anyone who comes here.” 

In a heartening shift from the heavy anti-American sentiment in neighboring countries, Americans are heralded almost everywhere on the island and have helped reconstruct an image of tourists seen by some locals as careless with the island and the culture. Together, Americans and Thais may be creating new stories and legacies.›

WORK TO RULE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am writing to concur with the BUSD student director . Our son is being affected academically by the union’s work to rule. The teachers are now in the very unenviable position of being restricted from assisting the ve ry students they are intent on educating. Fortunately we can afford to send our son to a private tutor, many I fear can not. Surely there must be a better bargaining chip then putting the students at risk. I especially feel for the kids who will be taking the SAT II and AP tests this spring. 

Although I am unhappy with the size of our son’s classes, the district and the community have taken measures to reduce class sizes starting in 2005-06. 

BUSD Board President Nancy Riddle’s March 7 letter to the commu nity stated that Berkeley teachers receive an above average salary and benefits package. Further, teachers with the district since 2002 have received average increases in their take home pay of 2.5 percent annually due to step and column raises. Is this c orrect? 

Margie Gurdziel 

• 

DERBY STREET FIELD 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I had to go deep into my flat files to find my Site Master Plan for the area of Carleton, Martin Luther King Jr. (Grove Street), Ward and Milvia streets. The purpose of the Master Plan was to unify the development of the new Adult Education Center and the Early Learning Center for the BUSD. I proposed the closure of Derby which is shown on my plan dated March 31, 1972. Closing Derby Street is not a new idea, the baseball field on the s ite is new. 

Too, it is my experience (37 years) that when weak design plans are proposed, approvals are difficult. (As you know I am prepared to sue for proper field orientation relating to baseball field design.) 

Richard Splenda 

Richard Splenda & Associates 

Landscape Architects,  

Park Planners 

• 

A VIBRANT TOWN 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Regarding Jerry Landis’ March 15 letter, as someone who lived at Gilman and Sixth for 10 years, I can safely say that I received no subsidy from Berkeley property owners for my rent. I can also safely say that my landlord did not receive a subsidy from Berkeley property owners for my rent, although he would’ve loved to get one! 

My ability to live cheaply thanks to the shack-like nature of our house meant that I could con tribute to Berkeley’s cultural and social life, which is one major reason why we all live here and love it. For instance, I could work at Uprisings Bakery, a collective which provided delicious and nutritious organic bread to the Bay Area for more than 20 years, as well as work as a paratransit driver for grassroots disability-friendly companies like Vantastic Wheelchair Transportation and as a personal attendant for Easy Does It Disability Assistance (this was years before I ended up running the latter non-profit). Culturally, I was able to dedicate more volunteer hours to KALX, UC Berkeley’s nationally known free-form radio station and to 924 Gilman, Berkeley’s internationally known alternative music landmark. This latter non-profit launched such local success stories as Green Day and Rancid, as well as record label Lookout Records. All three of these entities are still wholly or in part based in Berkeley, which means their sales taxes, business taxes, and property taxes are giving back to the city even now. 

Should artists move somewhere else cheaper? Only if we want to live in a husk of a town, with nothing but imported culture to sustain us. I don’t want to live in a shopping center, I want to live in a vibrant, diverse community. 

Jesse Townley 

• 

HUM AN RIGHTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was concerned about a comment made by Jane Litman, a commissioner on the Peace and Justice City Commission Monday night, March 7. Ann Fagan Ginger had compiled a book regarding human rights violations and sought endorse ment from Peace and Justice to go to City Council for an endorsement. Jane Litman’s comment was that rape was not a violation of the human rights of a woman. She admitted that it was a crime but did not consider it a human rights violation. Perhaps she ha s never been raped and hasn’t experienced someone close to her being raped or she might see the matter differently. I am surprised that she, a rabbi from Temple Beth-El, would express publicly so callous a regard for women around the world who have been raped and are threatened by rape as a matter of war and dismissal of their human dignity and rights not to be violated as women. Consider the wholesale rape of Muslim women in the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. Were their human rights not violated? Where was Jane’s solidarity with other women less privileged than herself on the eve of International Women’s Day? I wonder.  

Nancy Delaney 

• 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Congratulations to the Berkeley Public Library staff members who had the courage to speak out to the Board of Library Trustees at their March meeting. Their statements about the low morale and lack of responsiveness of top management confirm what several have told me privately. I wasn’t surprised to hear that Director Jackie Griffin is hard to communicate with. I have written her two letters in the past three or four months. It took her two months to respond to the first and that came only after I publicly complained about her responsiveness at the January trustee meeting. I waited for three weeks for some comment on a second letter until I finally phoned her office. Her secretary promised me a return call once she returned from a meeting. Of course, she never called. A day later I received a two-sentence response in the mail to my thre e page letter. It is apparently a pattern she follows as staff members have told me that other patrons have written her about their concerns and have received no responses from her. Her claim to your reporter of “open e-mail dialogue” is doubtful. She may be willing to receive comments but obviously feels no obligation to respond. Apparently Griffin does not see herself as a public servant. 

I have also written two letters to the Chair of the Board of Trustees about Griffin’s behavior and again have recei ved no response. 

What is the nature of the Library Board of Trustees? We know they are not elected by popular vote. They are appointees of the City Council. Is it their belief that they are only responsible to those who appointed them and the public be d amned? Seeing they are apparently in charge of the library’s budget and have hiring responsibilities, at least for top management, it might do them well to remember that ultimately the citizens and taxpayers of Berkeley are their bosses. I suggested in my letters that it would be wise to visit the libraries that are their charge and talk to staff members. If they had done so, it would not have come as a surprise that morale was so low. Their behavior, on the other hand, seems to indicate that they take their marching orders from Jackie Griffin, rather than vice-versa. If this is the case, how does the public go about impeaching them? 

The unwillingness of Jackie Griffin and the board to address the major points regarding RFID made in the article by Peter Warfield and Lee Tien (issue of March 4-7) indicates either ignorance or arrogance. Perhaps the issues raised by Warfield and Tien are too complex for Griffin and the Board to understand. Clearly Griffin is obsessed with RFID. It’s up to the Board to exam ine the program objectively and that means listening to all sides. The unwillingness of the Board to allow union representatives scheduled time at meetings, forcing them to make their points in the two minutes allowed during public comments, further erode s public confidence in their fairness and ability to manage this institution during a time of crisis. Listening only to Griffin’s cronies gives them only one side of the argument. Their attitude is much like listening only to Bush appointees opinions on Bush’s so-called Social Security reforms. When will the Berkeley Board of Library Trustees get out from under Griffin’s thumb? 

Don McKay 

• 

GOVERNATOR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Does the Governator get a lunch break? 

Also, I wonder if he and his family have a good health plan and well-funded schools for their kids. 

Ruth Bird  

• 

BUSD LAWSUIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A thorough reading of the article “BUSD Settles Discrimination Lawsuit” (March 18-21) begs the question, “Were these students ever expelled in th e first place, or was an informal agreement made by the students and families to attend an alternative school?” The latter is hardly unusual, especially for BHS students. The irony in this alleged discrimination case, is that we are likely to see more formal expulsion processes with less flexible outcomes and communication with the families involved. 

I was one of these young adults who attended an informal conference some 30 years ago because of chronic truancy. Sure, this system failed me in many ways, but the informality and personalized approach was less upsetting and we developed a reasonable way for me to obtain a diploma. I attended the morning continuation program, worked in the afternoons, received credits from evening adult school, and graduated early. These choices moved me closer to functioning adulthood rather then staying connected with teen culture with all its excesses and excuses. 

For many years BUSD has been an unaccountable system and out of compliance with standard practices in student services. However, the current administration and school board has done more in the past two years to institute the necessary reforms and should be supported and encouraged to complete the task. I fear this current settlement only lined some attorneys’ pocket, fueled misplaced perceptions about discriminatory practices, did little to improve compliance with due process or address the lack of alternative placement needed for students with behavior problems. 

Laura Menard 

• 

W. GOES TO SESAME STREET 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was invited to a friend’s house for dinner the other day and over dessert, I started talking with a woman who taught kindergarten. “The teachers at our school are now required to teach a unit entitled ‘Patriotism’ to their 5-year-old students,” she told me bitterly, “and the book we are required to use has nothing to do with patriotism. It is nothing more than a shamelessly blatant commercial for George W. Bush.” 

Since when did our George become so afraid of his ratings in the polls that he has to stoop to propagandizing kindergarteners? Is the Bush cartel that desperate? What will they do next? Start brainwashing toddlers? 

I can see it all now—George Bush guest stars on Sesame Street! “Which character do you think he would pla y?” asked my friend Jan. 

“Bush wouldn’t play any of the characters,” I replied. “He would just boss everybody around, steal Ernie’s rubber ducky, kick Oscar the Grouch out of his garbage can, take away PBS’s educational funding, teach Maria how to torture prisoners, deport Luis and Zoe, introduce Gordon to the wonders of election fraud, expose the Cookie Monster to mercury poisoning, take away Susan’s voting rights, send Burt off to Iraq without body armor, jail the Snuffaluffagus for being a threat to national security, take Big Bird off the endangered species list, try to hook Kermit the Frog up with Jeff Gannon and napalm Elmo.”  

Jane Stillwater 

• 

BIODIESEL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As the new owner of an old MZB (1977!) with a diesel engine, I am lo oking to convert MY biodiesel usage to pure veggie oil use. EYE (lookin’ at ya Berkeley) would never, ever consider going back to petroleum. And do you know why? Yes, you guessed it: because the occurring toxins resulting from such usage is harmful to the health of the living body, including mine—and I ride around town every single day on a bicycle. I can’t roll my windows up and pretend it’s okay to be spewing because I can’t smell the fumes. I do not only smell them but cough them out of me, involuntari ly. 

Besides which, the conversion is not difficult or expensive and used oil can be acquired and filtered at an even lower cost than buying the oil new. Rudolph Diesel invented the diesel engine to use vegetable oil. The diesel engine is not meant to use petroleum (as if anything really is). Maybe that’s why burning diesel petroleum smells so bad. 

Iris Crider 

• 

CRIME REPORT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Richard Brenneman is more of a problem that just a Police Blotter contaminator. 

What’s with this guy anyhow? I take the Chronicle’s and Daily Cal’s versions of the Rose Garden slashing as actuality. Brenneman says both attackers slashed the victim’s throat and that the police said they were “treating as [sic] a homicide,” although he notes that the woman was then alive in the hospital. It appears that Richard is not just a mucker-up of police blotters but can’t even handle a simple crime story. 

Ray Chamberlin 

EDITOR’S NOTE: The quote should have read “...we are treating this as an attempted homicide.” 

• 

WHA T THE UNIVERSITY GIVETH...IT TOOKETH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Steven Finacom (“University Contributes Much to Public Life,” March 18-21) argues that UC gave land to Berkeley to widen Bancroft Way west of Barrow Lane (behind Sproul Hall). Ignoring that it w ould, of course, be in UC’s interests to have a sufficiently wide street fronting its most popular entrance, Steve forgot to tell you that UC took all of that land beginning in the 1920s. There was once a bustling community of shops and houses between Bancroft and Allston Way west of Barrow Lane—yes, that path that winds west from Sather Gate following the south bank of Strawberry Creek was Allston Way! Barrow Lane was named by Henry and Jennie Barrow who owned the Alta Vista Apartments that stood on the northeast corner of Bancroft and Telegraph, when Telegraph ran up to Sather Gate. My father (UC ’38) was appalled that the business strip between Bancroft and Sather Gate was gone by 1962 when I entered UC—the soda shop and everything! But he didn’t know the worst—how UC bought the Alta Vista in condemnation proceedings, got the city inspector to declare the building unfit and evicted everyone in December 1944. Happy Holidays and welcome Sproul Hall! Steve was reminded of this in a recent meeting, but cho se not to share it in his attempt to bolster UC’s image. 

Jerry Sulliger 

• 

WHERE’S THE SACRIFICE? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The lead story in the March 18-21 Daily Planet (“Council to Decide Cuts to Programs, Positions”) states: “City employees will also be asked to sacrifice. The city is budgeting zero raises for its unionized employees for two years after their current contracts expire.” 

As context for the foregoing statements, consider the opening lines of the Sept. 24, 2002 Planet article, “City, union s reach deal”: “After months of negotiations, Berkeley has reached a tentative six-year contract with its four municipal labor unions representing 60 percent of the city’s work force, city and union leaders said Monday. When final, the 1,119 union members who range from secretaries to engineers will get 28.5 percent raises over six years—nearly as high as the 31.5 percent increase awarded to police officers last year.” 

In light of these terms, will somebody explain how “budgeting zero raises for…unionize d employees for two years after their current contracts expire” is asking City of Berkeley staff “to sacrifice”? 

Zelda Bronstein 

• 

TEACHERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In a recent article in your paper, Michele Lawrence does admit that California teachers ar e the highest paid in the United States but then finds a way to lower them to number 32 with adjusted cost of living index. All of us living in the Bay Area are subject to these same economic conditions. But there are some conditions which are exclusive t o teachers. Let’s put a teachers salary in perspective.  

A teacher is contracted to work seven hours a day. A normal work day is eight hours. A teacher gets one “free” period and a lunch period included within that seven-hour day. Most workers get no “fr ee” period and do not get paid for lunch. A teacher works for a “school” year of approximately 180 days. A normal worker works a standard year of approximately 240 days. The normal worker works a least 600 more hours per year than a teacher. You can think of that as 75 eight-hour days or 15 weeks or nearly four months. 

If a teacher worked a standard year instead of the radically reduced school year and received the California teachers average daily salary, the $56,000 becomes $80,000 per year. Even a fir st year teacher with no experience would make $50,000 per year. Add to this salary the very generous health and retirement benefits (which threaten to bankrupt many school districts) and you begin to wonder why teachers are considered overworked and under paid. 

In 1960 there were 35 million students and 1.35 million teachers. Today there are 47 million students and the number of teachers has doubled to 2.7 million. There has also been an explosion of administrators so little more than half the staff are t eachers. America is number two in the world in the cost of education per student, but is not first in teacher salaries. The teachers are correct, there is plenty of money for education but it is being spent poorly. 

Michael Larrick 

• 

TERRIE SCHIAVO 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Republicans ram through another one at the midnight hour, on Palm Sunday no less. The Republican controlled Congress trumped state’s rights and family issues in voting to overturn Florida Courts in the Terrie Schiavo case.  

Ideology , religion and politics is driving the Terrie Schiavo debate. Republicans are trampling on the Constitution and Congress has descended to playing judge, jury, doctor and God in this case. Conflict of interest, hypocrisy and diversion sum up the latest GOP i nvasion into family matters. 

Republicans at the hearing kept saying they would be judged on how they treat the least of us. The bill was for ‘one lone soul’. Where was Republican compassion as the took away food support from 660,000 children and pregnant women in the latest budget?  

President Bush rushed back from his Crawford ranch to sign the Schiavo bill. Would he do the same to help out the millions of poor, elderly and vulnerable who are affected by draconian cuts in his latest budget? 

Ron Lowe 

Nev ada City 

• 

READ-IN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We in Berkeley think we have library problems, but down in Salinas in Monterey County the City Council has voted to CLOSE all three public libraries, including the John Steinbeck and the Cesar Chavez, in April f or budget reasons. 

Several organizations are planning an emergency 24-hour Read-In to call Californians’ attention to this deplorable situation in a community so desperately needing books and libraries.  

The Read-In at the Cesar Chavez Library will start at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 2 and continue until 1 p.m. Sunday, April 3. Then we will join the Cesar Chavez Holiday Celebration in town. 

Celebrate your love of books by coming to Salinas to read from a favorite book. Bring a sleeping bag. Several celebrity authors will be joining us. We are calling on the governor to bring his family and read from his wife’s children’s book. We hope he will be able to implement a solution to the closings. 

Car caravans are planned from all over the state. E-mail sam@bayareacodepink.com or call 524-2776, and check out a website: www.codepinkalert.org or www.savesalinas libraries.org.  

Sponsors: United Farm Workers of America, AFL/CIO; Salinas Action League; Code Pink:Women for Peace; La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE); Global Exchange, Vote! The Citizenship Project. 

Corrine Goldstick 

• 

SIDESHOWS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor misses one critical point about sideshows. Allen-Taylor claims that the sideshows began at Pak ‘n’ Save and Eastmont mall. These may have been the first sideshows, but it does not follow that the current incarnation has anything to do with the previous one. There is an obvious difference between burning rubber in a parking lot, and doing donuts in the middle of an intersect ion and I doubt that the people who found both fun and pride in doing the former are currently engaged in the latter. All movements are a product of the fragile environment that created them. In the beginning, this environment helps weed out those who are not serious enough to respect whatever’s going on, and instead endanger its existence with reckless behavior. You can see this with punks or hip-hop--once vibrant movements limited to in-circles and word of mouth, now both a bottom-feeders paradise prone to become vehicles for violence and lowest common denominator thinking. Once sideshows were forced out of the parking lots, they became something altogether different, and in my opinion, something that embodies everything wrong with our culture--reckless disregard for the welfare of others, crass materialism and a lemming-mentality. The mistake comes in even calling these free-for-alls sideshows in the first place. Let sideshows rest in peace and the memory of their heyday be their eulogy; like many, that moment in history is over. 

Omar Silva 

• 

BERKELEY EDUCATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’ve been a volunteer teacher of Basic English at the Berkeley Adult School for three and a half years. Previously I taught at two leading colleges in the Northeast. 

I’m able to recognize high-quality teaching technique when I encounter it. Among the teachers I’ve observed here, it is high. For the community’s sake it ought to stay high and not be threatened. 

I’ve come to know my pupils, too. Most of them are sharply aware that they need education and most try hard to get it. Research keeps proving that teacher quality is the major determining factor in their learning success. Or failure. 

Berkeley teachers have now been struggling for nearly two full years for a fair C.O.L. adjustment, health benefits, and class size shifts—without a contract. 

They’ve worked far beyond the times for which they are paid, to make sure they continue to maintain their high-quality teaching. 

Now at last, more funds are coming to the Board of Education. The bad news: none of the money is reaching the teachers. 

Outraged? Who wouldn’t be? 

A teachers’ strike is a public horror. Especially with the world’s finest public university right up the street, we’re much to civilized a community to endure such a disaster. 

To keep Berkeley education Berkeley education, let’s give our teachers the gentle little lift they deserve. 

John Griffin 

UNIVERSITY AVENUE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As along time homeowner on Berkeley Way, I am very interested in the recent developments on University Avenue. I have tried to keep myself informed regarding the Strategic Plan and zoning regulations, as well as individual projects, which is a bit daunting. 

The recent City Council approval of the Satellite Homes project revealed one of my many confusions surrounding the intent of the council and the Planning Department. I know the concept of “nodes,” which I understand to be intersections located on a major transit corridor, within the boundaries of which large buildings are permitted. I believe the nodes on University Avenue are the intersections of Chestnut, Acton and California Streets and the area near the West Branch Library. However, Satellite Homes is on University and Sacramento, not a node. The Tune Up Masters project is on McGee, not a node. I’ve heard of a planned project on the northwest corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, not a node. All three of these projects are large buildings, taller than allowed by current zoning. What is the purpose of designating nodes if other intersections also have large buildings? 

Is it because these three buildings are to be the only tall ones on their intersections, with the other three corners left within the zoning provisions? 

Is it expected that nodes will have large buildings on all four corners? What happens to existing buildings? Will Andronico’s market at Acton Street disappear to be replaced by a tall building? What are the parameters of a node? Can a replacement building go all the way through to Addison Street, as Andronico’s does? If Ledger’s is replaced by a large building, can it also incorporate the current vacant lot behind Ledger’s, going all the way though to Berkeley Way? How about the lot across the street, on the northeast corner of Acton and University? The property from University to Berkeley Way is also owned by the same family; can they utilize the entire property for one large building that goes corner to corner? 

If two or three large buildings join the existing Acton Courtyard at that intersection will they also be built with reduced parking facilities? I’ve heard that the rationale of placing large buildings on the University Avenue transit corridor is to discourage the ownership of cars and increase the use of public transit. Will nearby neighborhoods be inundated by the vehicles of building residents who don’t have on-site parking? 

What about Chestnut Street? It dead-ends into University Avenue at the former site of the Berkeley Adult School, so there are two corners. Does that make the school property eligible for large development projects? Just the part within a specified distance from Chestnut Street or the entire block, through to Addison Street? What if the owner of the auto repair shop at Chestnut Street wants to continue with his business rather than replacing it with a large apartment complex? I recall discussion during the close down of the Tune Up Masters business indicating that the council would like to eliminate all auto-related businesses on University Avenue, but what will it do to accomplish this goal? I have gone to my auto repair shop for many years and I imagine that there are many loyal patrons of the Chestnut Street shop who would not want to have to find another reliable place to take their cars. 

Do policies on these issues exist, or will decisions be made on a case-by-case basis by the Planning Commission, Zoning Adjustment Board and City Council as each project is proposed? How much neighborhood notification will be involved for each decision? 

I imagine I am not alone in being concerned about the possibilities of developments along University Avenue. I wish I felt more confident that decisions will be fair to current residents of the area. 

Honor Thompson 

o

Click here to view the latest work by Planet cartoonist Justin DeFreitas›

In September I wrote a column about how my friend Corrie desperately wanted to buy a sweatshirt at San Francisco State University’s bookstore but she couldn’t find one that satisfied her sense of fashion. Well, I’m happy to report that after a long search she has finally found the gray, zippered hoodie she was looking for.  

Despite the $45 price tag and the big black letters, I kind of understood Corrie’s need and affection for the hoodie, but it came as a surprise to me when a favorite teacher at State decided to buy the same sweatshirt.  

Brian Thorstenson was on his way to the bookstore in a retail therapy kind of mood when I ran into him on campus several weeks ago. “I’m cold,” he said. “Plus I don’t really like what I’m wearing today. I need something spiffier, don’t you think?” 

“I don’t know,” I said. In jeans and a plaid shirt, Brian looked exactly as he always does, skinny and casual. “What are you thinking about getting?” I asked. 

“A zippered, hooded, green sweatshirt that says San Francisco State on the front. They’re adorable.” 

“Get out of town,” I said. “My friend Corrie just bought one in gray.” 

“Does she look marvelous?” 

“Yes, I believe she does.” 

“Well then, I guess I better hurry and get one before they sell out.” 

I followed Brian into the store.  

Last semester I took a class from Brian in which we read several plays, went to see them performed, discussed the written and live versions, and then attempted to mimic the style of the playwrights by creating scenes using their work as our guides. It was a wonderful experience, not just because of the material, but because Brian is warm, generous and funny. 

In a room full of fifty or so undergraduate and graduate students, ranging in age from 18 to 52, Brian was able to create an atmosphere full of analytical thought and enthusiastic dialogue—not an easy thing to do, considering that most of the students came to class after work tired and hungry. The class ran from 7 p.m. until 10. Many of us didn’t get home until after 11, and at least one young kid drove straight from campus to the UPS center in Petaluma where he loaded and unloaded boxes from midnight to 8 a.m. Yet, despite the late hour and the hard seats, we attended week after week, interested in hearing what Brian had to say, anxious to share our opinions with one another.  

So there I was in the bookstore, looking through racks and racks of sweatshirts, wondering if I should buy one just so that I could be more like Brian. 

“Here it is!” he shouted, pressing a green sweatshirt against his chest and looking into a mirror. “What do you think? Is it groovy, or what? 

“Totally,” I said. “If I buy one for myself and promise to wear it every day, will you let me into your theater class next semester?” 

“Honey, it doesn’t work like that,” said Brian. “But I’ll tell you what. Buy yourself a ticket to Rococo Risqué. It’s a must see and I swear you’ll have a fabulous experience.”  

I did just that and I was not disappointed. Rococo Risqué OSU, the Hope Show, is an ensemble-driven cabaret-style performance blending vaudeville, burlesque, oleos and comedia dell’arte in a contemporary setting. Andrew Sisters-style singing, almost-nude dancers, a live band, and a Statue of Liberty-clad actress entertain with exuberant energy and spirited political satire.  

The extravaganza took place at the Danzhaus, an interesting venue located where the sidewalk ends in San Francisco’s Bayview warehouse district, right next to a junkyard housing a vicious-sounding guard dog behind a chain link, barbwire-topped fence. Wear a hoodie-style sweatshirt and you’ll fit right in with the crowd, the performers, and the neighborhood. You can get one at the SFSU bookstore, or anywhere on Telegraph Avenue.  

The Red Gate Performance Collective plans to put on Rococo Risqué again sometime this spring. Look for an announcement on their website at: www.rococrisque.com. 

›

Elmwood Attack 

A man walking down Stuart Street at College Avenue early Sunday morning was confronted by three male juveniles, one who was wielding a metal bar, said BPD Police Public Information Officer Joe Okies. The boys demanded his belongings and grabbed his camera before fleeing the area. 

Fight in South Berkeley  

Police responded to a fight between two women Sunday, Officer Okies said. A 22-year-old took most of the blows, but although police identified the other combatant, she was not charged. 

San Pablo Robbery 

A man walking near San Pablo Avenue and Cedar Street Sunday was confronted by a man claiming to be carrying a gun, Okies said. Not taking any chances, the victim handed over his wallet. 

BART Beatdown 

A 22-year-old woman walking near the North Berkeley Bart Station was punched and kicked to the ground by three juvenile girls on Saturday evening, Okies said. Despite being outnumbered, the victim held on to her purse and the three young attackers fled north on California Street. 

In the wake of the flap over the Harvard president’s comments about women in science, the University of California Berkeley has thrown a spotlight on efforts by two of its own to explain why men still outnumber women on the tenure track of university faculties.  

Crunching numbers from two large data sets, two UCB researchers, Mary Ann Mason, dean of the graduate division, and Marc Goulden, principal analyst for the division, have concluded that “women may be more successful in obtaining academic careers if they forgo or delay marriage and childbirth.” 

Thus, many women who want marriages and children may get Ph.D.s (as they’re doing now in numbers about equal to men’s), but either teach part-time or not at all. 

The researchers’ findings sent my thoughts scrambling back over my checkered career. 

How well I remember my favorite graduate professor wagging his cigar at me and telling me to think twice before I tried to get pregnant when I was about to write a master’s thesis. I took his advice, completed my Ph.D., got a divorce, climbed onto the tenure track in Kentucky and stayed there for four years before I decided there was more to life than that and headed for California. 

I spent the next dozen years writing, editing, and, when I needed money, teaching on and off in the Bay Area in what Mason and Goulden call the “second tier”—part-time or full-time but temporary jobs. Then, finally, at the age of 41, I had a baby, and, suddenly (in a reverse of their findings) tenure-track teaching looked more attractive—the best way for a single mom to pay the bills. 

It isn’t easy for someone who has stepped off the tenure track to get back on, but I was lucky. The School of Journalism that hired me needed someone with recent journalism experience, and I had it. 

It was a gamble, for the school and for me, but things turned out fine—I got tenure, then promotion to full professor in time to pay my daughter’s college bills. If the odds were against that happening, as Mason and Goulden’s research suggests, then I bucked the odds. 

But I had a lot of help along the way, the kind of family-friendly help Mason and Goulden would like to see all professors have. I had a decent salary and a reasonable teaching load—two courses a semester, standard at research universities but not at “teaching” universities like San Jose State University, where I taught four courses a semester. 

I had research support that meant I did not need to teach every summer and could meet the writing expectations of my university. I had a reduced load one semester for research. I had research funds to travel to archives. My daughter went to a good child care center provided by the university.  

Not all universities provide that kind of support, though I suspect they may need to provide more of it in the future. 

When I retire in a few years, so will about half of my colleagues in the School of Journalism where I teach. A similar scenario will play out across the country. We baby boomers who have occupied a disproportionate number of faculty lines for so long are about to leave the scene. 

The challenge of filling that many jobs will be enormous. Universities will not be able to afford to lose either women or men who see commitment to university life as inconsistent with raising children.  

Carol Polsgrove, a professor of journalism at Indiana University, Bloomington, is author of Divided Minds: Intellectuals and the Civil Rights Movement and It Wasn’t Pretty, Folks, But Didn’t We Have Fun? Surviving the Sixties with Esquire’s Harold Hayes. 

For more on the UCB study, see www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2005/03/10_gap.shtml. 

Since the presidential election, Democrats have been challenged to go back to the basics, to remember their core values. As the process continues there is agreement on basic principles of social justice and on key ethical standards. For example, the vast majority of Democrats do not believe that the ends justify the means; unlike Republicans, they do not feel that it is okay to do anything to win. Because of these scruples, Democrats face a conundrum with regards to the tactical use of fear: How to talk to voters about the very real dangers facing America. The challenge for the Democratic leadership is to tell the truth about the perils America faces, and, yet, provide a message of hope, to reason with voters, not scare them. 

Fear played a huge role in the 2004 presidential contest. Republicans warned that the U.S. was going to incur another terrorist attack, and argued that only President Bush had the strength required to guide us through such horrors. They accompanied this assertion with a no-holds-barred assault on John Kerry’s character. Who can forget the infamous “Swift-Boat” ads, or Zell Miller’s speech at the Republican convention implying that Kerry was unfit for command? This strategy worked; in the last days of the election, key swing voters moved to Bush because of their fear regarding national security. 

To gain perspective on how Democrats might effectively play the fear card, it is helpful to consider five different calamities that might beset America in the next four years—ruling out totally random events such as an invasion by aliens or Ann Coulter becoming president.  

The most obvious peril is another terrorist attack on the United States, which would inflict horrendous casualties, traumatize the populace and deal a severe blow to the economy. It would also demonstrate that the Bush administration has not done enough to bolster real homeland security. 

A related, but less obvious, threat is an Al Qaeda strike on overseas petroleum resources. For example, an attack on the mammoth Saudi oil refinery at Ras Tanura would drastically reduce world oil supplies, and have a devastating impact on our economy. Here again, the Bush administration has been negligent because it has done nothing to prepare us for this eventuality. 

The third peril is that of a severe recession brought on by the shifting winds of geo-politics. American interest rates stay low because, to a huge extent, allies, such as China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, finance our debt. If one of these countries decided to quit buying our treasuries, or to simply demand prevailing rates, interest rates would spike upward, triggering an economic downturn. The Bush administration has refused to consider this problem, causing one foreign economist to complain, “There’s nobody home on economic policy in America.” 

The fourth threat is that presented by rapid climate change. If present trends continue, Americans will experience increasingly savage weather: vast ice storms, hurricanes, droughts, and floods. This continued onslaught will surely impact the economy; imagine, for example, if arctic temperatures persisted in New York for months, rather than weeks. The Bush administration pretends that this problem does not exist. 

Finally, Americans are in peril from the next great pandemic, whether a new strain of influenza, SARS, or some monstrous hybrid created by ill-advised biological research. In addition to the death and trauma this would cause, our economy would certainly be devastated. Once again, the Bush administration has done little to prepare the country for such an eventuality; in fact, they have weakened our public health services. 

The thread that unites these five scenarios is our brittle economy, the product of the Bush administration’s warped policy perspective. The cornerstone of their domestic agenda is tax cuts. Their foreign policy is based upon military intervention. However, global diplomacy exists within three, inter-connected spheres: military, financial, and social—those dealing with common concerns such as epidemics, immigration, and climate change. The Bush administration focuses exclusively on military policy and, thereby, ignores the financial and social spheres in the mistaken belief that what goes on in one area does not impact the others. For example, they assume that China will remain our benefactor, economically, even if we intervene militarily in their conflict with Taiwan. Following this line of reasoning the administration has ignored all potential calamities except a direct attack. 

This is terribly flawed thinking. Whatever the form of the disaster that strikes us, America will be thrown into financial turmoil, suffer the worst depression in modern times. 

Yet, it is not inevitable that another national catastrophe would sink our economy. For example, when precipitous climate change begins to wreak major havoc, our economy might be structured so that it would “bend” but not break. In order for this to be true, steps would have to be taken now to bolster our economic infrastructure, to make America more resilient by, for example, drastically reducing our use of carbon-based fuels and incentivizing use of renewable resources such as wind and biomass. 

Sadly this has not been an objective of the Bush administration, which, instead of regarding the American economy as a vital national resource which must be bolstered, treats it as an infinite piggy bank. This cavalier attitude not only sets a dreadful example for the American consumer, who already is much too eager to go into debt, it has also made our economy perilously fragile. 

A number of factors contribute to this frailty: The United States is a debtor nation. Our standard of living is dependent on artificially low interest rates and gasoline prices. Many citizens have no savings and, in fact, are only a paycheck or two away from homelessness. (Most citizens are in peril if someone in their family suffers a catastrophic illness.) Our infrastructure is decaying and many essential services cannot handle their current caseloads, much less the demands of a major emergency. 

Ironically, the Bush administration touts itself as having kept America strong. The sober truth is that their domestic and foreign policies have severely weakened us, made us more vulnerable. 

The ineptness of the Bush administration has created an opportunity for Democrats. In order to capitalize on this, they need to play the fear card. When they do, Democratic leaders need both to tell the truth about the hard times ahead, and to present a sensible economic plan - a proposal for a resilient America. This should be a plan that recognizes the perils that confront us, and meets them head on with domestic policies that reduce our debt, rebuild the infrastructure, and restrict our reliance on carbon-based fuels. The same plan should propose a foreign policy that recognizes that there are three spheres of international diplomacy, and America must take the lead in each—rather than restrict its interest solely to hegemony, a policy of militant unilateralism. Finally, this plan must appeal to our tradition of standing shoulder to shoulder for the common good; it must provide a message of hope based upon the recognition that Americans can overcome any calamity if we all work together. 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer and activist. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net. 

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“History is written by winners... and the bad witch is old.”  

—Child, interviewed on PBS program, “The Goddess Remembered”  

March is Women’s History Month. Why a celebration of the history of women in particular? It’s an annual recognition that recorded history still omits the history of females, and that when something is noted about them, it is often distorted.  

Circa 1968, linguists, sociologists and feminists began pointing out that traditional history often ignores 50 percent of the population or misrepresents women’s achievements. The word history is from the Greek root for the concepts of inquiring, knowing, learning. Herstory was coined to emphasize that women’s lives, deeds and participation in human affairs have been neglected or undervalued in standard history books and official documents. In 1981, Congress declared a national Women’s History Week, following lobbying by the Women’s History Project. By 1987, the week had turned into a month. 

March can be a time for reexamining and celebrating the wide range of females’ contributions and achievements. Consider California herstory. How many of these California heroes can you identify?  

1. California’s first woman lawyer, she was active in women’s rights, social welfare and politics.  

2. The owner and editor of the West Coast’s oldest black newspaper, the California Eagle, who, in l912, seeing no black workers on a visit to the County Hospital, appealed to the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, which agreed to hire if she sent qualified women; she continued to pressure, and 10 years later the first black secretary and nurses were hired. 

3. She silently absorbed countless ancestral epic sagas told by her mother, Brave Orchid, and other California Chinese who influenced her Stockton childhood and her best-selling memoir.  

4. She grew up in Whittier, lived in France and Marin County, where her book on aging, Sister Age, was written when she was 75, well known as a gourmet-author.  

5. Although regarded as an “office worker” by some and never named Carillonist, she began ringing the University of California, Berkeley’s Sather Tower bells in l923 and continued until her retirement 50 years later.  

6. She is an award-winning Berkeley author born in the Mission, published in a variety of genres, the author of 10 novels, including Confessions of Madame Psyche (American Book Award, 1987) and five plays, including Dear Master (Bay Area Critics Circle Award, 1991).  

7. This economist lectured on labor and social policy and wrote stories until she met Jane Addams at the California Women’s Congress in 1895 and was inspired to write the classic Women and Economics, since published in seven languages.  

8. When it was rumored that women were being mistreated at the City Hospital, this San Francisco Examiner journalist threw herself in front of a truck; taken to the hospital by horse cart, her resulting expose caused reforms. (See answers, page 19.) 

American presidents, governors and mayors have waffled in proclaiming recognition of National Women’s History Month and of International Women’s Day, annually celebrated worldwide on March 8. 

Its American origins may date back to 1857, when 40,000 American women textile factory workers protested sweat-shop conditions. In March 1908 thousands of women garment workers, many of them socialists and immigrants, took to the streets of Manhattan’s lower East Side, demanding the right to vote and an end to sweatshops and child labor. Late on Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire led to 146 deaths, mostly young Jewish and Italian women; it came to be known as the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, and the two men who owned and operated the unsafe Manhattan building were acquitted.  

A group of American women struggling for women’s rights had attended a conference of the Socialist International in Copenhagen in 1910 and requested passage of a resolution supporting the working women of the United States. The Party responded by creating a Women’s Day to demonstrate in favor of woman suffrage. 

German socialist Clara Zetkin put forth a resolution to internationalize Women’s Day, first celebrated on March 19, 1911 in Germany and Austria. March 8, 1917 signified one of the most important events in the overthrow of Tsarist Russia; in St. Petersburg, thousands of women organized and demonstrated.  

With the advent of World War I, many nations stopped celebrating Women’s Day, but in the United States, antiwar demands were added, and, in 1916, American women called it International Women’s Day. Observance of International Women’s Day waned until it was revived by American feminists following the rebirth of the contemporary Women’s Movement in the 1960s.  

The year 2005 marks the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, in Beijing, which mobilized the global women’s movement into strategic alliances and collective power that resulted in commitment of participating nations to the advancement of women as outlined in its “Platform for Action.” The decennial Fifth World Conference on Women would have been held in 2005, but it is not to be. The United States has still not reaffirmed the United Nations Platform of Action on Women’s Rights. 

Women have always served their compatriots as part of their nations’ military. They have volunteered and spied, been conscripted, and served in combat and as prisoners of war. The account of 12th Century B.C. Deborah is told in “Judges,” chapters 4 and 5; she is an unusual biblical figure because of her evident command over the male leaders of the tribe at the battle of Taanach. The first woman sea captain recorded was fifth Century B.C. Greek Artemisia of Halicarnassus.  

In 1782 Massachusetts school teacher Deborah Sampson (1760-1827) enlisted as “Robert Shurtleff” in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment. She sustained sword and musket wounds from several skirmishes until her identity was discovered and she was discharged from the army. Congress awarded her a small pension for her services. 

She published an account of her experiences, The Female Review, in 1797. Sarah Edwards (1841-98) left her Canadian home at fifteen to enlist as a man in the Union army at the outbreak of the Civil War. As an aged widow without income, she “confessed” in order to receive a government pension.  

In 1942 Congress passed a bill introduced by Representative Edith Nourse Rogers, establishing the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. Its passage had been stalled until after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Later, the word “auxiliary” was dropped, and thousands of women who enlisted received full U.S. Army benefits. 

The WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) became an official part of the Navy. Duties ranged from clerical staff to flight instructors. In 1947 Congress passed the Army-Navy Nurse Act, providing nurses permanent commissioned officer status in the U.S. military. Until then, they could achieve relative rank, but not the pay and benefits of full officer’s rank.  

Air Force officer Jeanne Marjorie Holm, born in 1921, joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant the following year. By the end of World War II she was a captain in charge of a women’s training regiment. She rejoined the services in 1948 and was transferred to the Air Force, advancing to the rank of major-general in 1973. She is a strong supporter of women’s rights, a member of the National Women’s Political Caucus, and founder and first chair of Women in Government. Aviator and business executive Jacqueline Cochran (1910-80) left her foster home and went to work at an early age. By 1935 she had a pilot’s license and her own cosmetics firm. She was the first woman to pilot a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean (1941). During World War II she served in the British Air Transport Auxiliary, ferrying planes across the English Channel. 

After the United States entered World War II, she led the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots—the WASP, for which she received the Distinguished Service Medal (1945). She was responsible for training thousands of women and their testing and piloting transport and fighter planes. On May 18, 1953, flying an F-86 Sabre jet, Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier.  

The WASPs were women who were U.S. civilian pilots under contract to the U.S. Army who served as test pilots, ran target missions providing training for antiaircraft gunners, and ferried new aircraft to embarkation points in North America. Chinese American Hazel Ying Lee (1912-1944) of Oregon, already a skilled pilot, volunteered, trained, served and died as a WASP. 

She was one of 132 WASPs selected to fly the faster high-powered fighter planes, or “pursuit aircraft.” She was the last of the 38 WASPs killed in the line of duty. The families of those killed were responsible for paying to transport their remains and belongings. Despite the need for the WASPs and their outstanding record, Congress refused to make the WASP part of the regular military forces and dismissed the women in 1944. WASPs were accorded military status in 1979.  

During World War II, many American civilian women served as homemakers, prisoners-of-war, volunteers, and defense plant workers—the Rosies. 

Typical jobs available outside the home to American women in the 1930s—when they could get work—had been domestic, shop girl, waitress and cook. Depression Era women were often forced to give up their own interests and goals. Tillie Lerner Olsen, for example, was a promising writer in her youth, but marriage, care of four children, and need to earn a living stopped her writing. Many years later that situation spurred her to write Silences, published in 1978. 

An unprecedented demand for new workers was suddenly created by the United States’ entry into World War II. Women were asked to work outside as well as inside of the home. The media called on them to “Do the job he left behind.” The Rosie the Riveter persona was created, although not all women became riveters. They earned money, joined unions, and found new benefits in being in the labor force. Minority women for the first time entered major industrial plants. 

The women who got factory jobs worked in welding, machining, building aircraft, and on tanks. They were employed in armament factories doing jobs once held by men who had been drafted or volunteered into the military. Women were soon shown to have better motor skills than men (attributed to needle work) and were assigned work with wire fuses on bombs and filling metal casings with gunpowder. Despite safety precautions, many of these women were permanently disabled and some lost their lives. 

With the opportunity to demonstrate that they were as capable as men, they did “men’s work” so well that production levels rose. As the war continued, greater numbers of women began to take control of their lives. More than six million women took over for men in these occupations. And worldwide, women were learning factory skills, and they worked as journalists, drivers, farmers, mail delivery personnel, garbage collectors, builders, and mechanics. 

Notions of what was proper for women changed rapidly. But when the war was over and the Rosies wanted to stay on their jobs, the American economy and way of life no longer welcomed them. They were out of their place. 

In 1944 the average woman’s salary was $31.21 a week for her labor, while the men who remained on the home front averaged $54.65 a week. The women became accustomed to the overalls, uniforms, slacks and bandanas or snoods and continued to wear them in public. As the War drew to an end and GIs returned, these clothes were considered unfeminine. For a while, it had been a time when women were no longer forced into roles society created for them. They became free to create their own lives and sense of self, moving in the direction of sex/gender equity. 

Women workers’ increasing presence—they outnumbered men three to one in the labor force—and influence threatened many of the men who were still in the work force and who responded with harassment and discrimination that continued after the war. They had problems with the idea of women as wage laborers. The Rosie the Riveter recruitment poster had encouraged women to join the workforce by portraying their heretofore hidden strengths and by promoting power and pride.  

Connie Field at Berkeley’s Clarity Productions produced the 1980 motion picture The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter. It garnered a long list of awards, for it differs from other documentaries depicting war workers. We see and listen as women workers delineate their lives before, during and after their World War II employment outside the home for wages. 

Molly Haskell in Ms. Magazine described it as “The best film on working women” she had seen. And yet this Rosie is not in local video collections. In 2001 the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historic Park was founded in Richmond. A permanent visitors’ center in the old Ford Plant is planned to open in 2009. Comparable projects have included the Manzanar National Historic Site, Boston’s African American National Historic Site, and the Women’s Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls, New York.  

Today we hear about men and some women having “issues” with women doing certain jobs. The war had allowed women to get “out of the house” and “out of hand.” The liberated woman (the actual term took 20 years to surface) threatened traditional marriage and family life.  

ANSWERS 

1. Clara Shortridge Foltz (1848-1934) 

2. Charlotta Bass (1880-1969) 

4. Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher (1908-1990) 

5. Margaret Murdock (l894-l985) 

6. Dorothy Calvetti Bryant (1930- )  

7. Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman (1860-1935) 

8. Winifred Sweet Black Bonfils /”Annie Laurie” (1863 - 1936) 

Helen Rippier Wheeler is a feminist and Berkeley resident who has taught Women Studies. From 1973-93 she ran Womanhood Media, a consulting firm. She earned her B.A. is from Barnard College, M.A. in human development from the University of Chicago, and her M.S. and doctorate from Columbia University. In 1984 she was a visiting scholar in Women Studies in Japan. 

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On a sunny afternoon last month, a vehicle struck resident John Wang while he walked in the crosswalk across Martin Luther King Jr. Way at Addison in Central Berkeley. Unconscious at the scene and requiring several days’ hospitalization, Mr. Wang lost weeks of work and is still in a neck brace. He continues in physical therapy in hopes that his neck fracture will heal. Meanwhile, with considerable pain in his shoulders, neck and back, he fears that arm numbness and paralysis are permanent. 

Walking home on Addison Street after doing an errand downtown, Mr. Wang was hit while crossing MLK. He waited until cars had stopped before he entered the crosswalk. After crossing three of four lanes, where cars yielded the right of way, a fourth vehicle that Mr. Wang couldn’t see coming failed to stop. Due to the severity of the impact, John Wang lost consciousness for a considerable period, waking up to paramedics preparing to take him to the ambulance. 

John Wang wishes the City would do more to encourage careful driving. He wonders if drivers get tickets only for speeding and not for injuring other people. “Arresting drivers who seriously injure pedestrians is something the City can do right away that will make a big difference in how people drive,” Mr. Wang insisted. 

He explained that the pedestrian crash experience involves trauma, pain and often long term difficulties. A serious pedestrian injury crash even impacts the pedestrian’s whole family and sometimes community, while the driver has only individual conscience and continues life with no interruption. The driver’s family and community must be engaged in confronting the horrific violence and damage resulting from the driver’s conduct in causing a serious pedestrian injury. 

John said, “As a driver I feel that the person driving a vehicle must always have control and be able to stop in time.” 

MLK and Addison is a frequently used walking route where serious injuries regularly occur. Last year a walk inventory recommended safety improvements to this intersection. 

If you know of pedestrian injuries or dangerous walking conditions in Berkeley, please let Walk&Roll Berkeley know at wrb@americawalks.org or 883-9725. Walk&Roll Berkeley is working to make sure all such information is included in the city’s upcoming Pedestrian Plan as we prioritize needed improvements for Berkeley.  

Wendy Alfsen is the coordinator for Walk&Roll Berkeley.

As a member of the Berkeley Unified School District community, I recently received a letter from Superintendent Michele Lawrence explaining the situation with teacher contract negotiations, facts about BUSD’s financial situation, and the proposed state budget as it relates to education. We were asked to contact the governor’s office to express our feelings about the proposed budget, so I did. 

I called the number provided, chose “hotline topic,” waited for a while, then was connected to a real person. Regina was obviously less than thrilled to be speaking with someone criticizing the budget proposal. We spoke for a few minutes as I tried to cover the topics raised in the superintendent’s letter, and her replies were mostly limited to a couple of stock phrases, regardless of my questions and then responses to her repeated phrases. It basically ran something like this: 

“I’m calling to express my displeasure at how the new budget takes money away from districts and to ask that the governor fulfill his promise to restore funds that were borrowed from education last year.” 

“There are no cuts in the education budget.”  

“But if the money was borrowed from education and never gets repaid, that’s the same as a cut, isn’t it?” 

“There are no cuts in the education budget.” 

“Why is it then that the governor’s budget moves responsibility for STRS from the state to the district? It’s a removal of money from the state budget, isn’t it?” 

“There are no cuts in the education budget. Have you even read the proposal? It actually adds money to education.” She gave me the website.  

`Still on the phone with her, I typed it in, followed a couple of links, and said (OK, a little triumphantly) “See, right here, it says the responsibility for STRS is being moved from the state to the districts. Why is that?” 

Click. She hung up on me. 

I called back, waited, then the phone was picked up and immediately hung up without a greeting. Hmmm. 

I called back, waited again (lots of time to look over the online budget), and spoke with John, who apologized for Regina, was similarly unable to help me out, but didn’t hang up on me. He repeated the stock phrases, then transferred me to Joe, the “education guy.” 

Joe was also quite apologetic, and tried to answer my questions more fully. At my first mention of STRS, he tried to transfer me to the retirement plans person, but I managed to keep him on the line. Among other things, we discussed a few of the stock phrases that had come up.  

“Money has been added to education—it’s the governor’s number one priority and is over half the budget.” Joe stated a few times that the education budget had increased and that it was now over 60 percent of the overall budget . . . so I interrupted him to ask why the graphic on the website’s summary charts put K-12 education spending at 32.3 percent and higher education spending at 11.5 percent for a total of 43.8 percent. He navigated there, then sent me to another page (major program areas; K thru 12 education) showing that $61.1 billion would be spent on schools. Um, last time I checked, billions of dollars don’t equal percentage points. Then Joe said I’d have to talk directly to the finance department to find out why the figures on the website didn’t match the one he had.  

“There are no cuts in the education budget.” He explained that no areas had received actual cuts, and that the amount given to districts had increased by $362 per student. He wouldn’t talk about STRS, so I asked about the monies that had been “borrowed” and not returned—$1.5 million for 2004-5 and 2005-6 for a total of $3 million taken from districts. He tried to explain that the additional revenues being given to school districts ($1.8 million for Berkeley in 2005-6) would cover that. So then I quoted from the superintendent’s letter that “. . . we will lose other revenue [Berkeley] received this year from the state or county, such as lottery funds, mandated reimbursements and interest income; a total loss of $572,000. . . increased medical and required benefits for all employees are estimated to be $468,000. . . STRS . . . will cost $700,000” so the additional revenues will roughly break even with the new expenses. I asked him if he were to receive a $50/week raise which happened to be tied to an additional $100/week in new mandatory taxes, would he consider that a pay raise or a pay cut? He chuckled and said he could see my point, but agreed that it was all just political semantics. 

“All of the money is going straight into classrooms.” When I asked about teacher salaries, I was told that all of the new monies being provided by the state budget were earmarked for classrooms—direct student use. I remarked that the teacher is the one most important thing in the classroom for impacting student learning. He chuckled and agreed with me again, then clarified that the monies are for supplies and changed topic.  

So, I still have the same concerns and questions I did before talking with Joe, but at least he didn’t hang up on me. He also gave me a number to bypass the automated system next time.  

I understand now why more people don’t call their elected representatives. I felt that although I called to express concerns, my voice is not being heard where it differs from the message the governor’s office is working to promote. But I still encourage others to call, in hope that staffers might begin to realize that for voters to believe the promoted message that “the governor’s number one priority is education,” we need to see actual progress being made, not money being shuffled around to play the political semantics game. 

Amy Yamashiro is a member of the Cragmont Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association.:

Your recent article about the New Leaf Gallery’s move out of its Berkeley location unfairly puts the blame on “development pressures”. Not only did the article contain a number of inaccurate statements, but also the overall picture that you painted does not describe what is happening and leaves your readers with the wrong impression. As the architects working with Carl Lasagna, the property owner, we feel the need to respond. 

It is not true that New Leaf had been “notified” six months ago. We have been working in good faith for two years with New Leaf to design a mixed-use project around the heart of their wonderful garden and to provide them with the indoor gallery space they desired, and we are disappointed that they have now decided to move to downtown San Francisco. The landlord encouraged the gallery to stay and was willing to work the plans around their needs, at the expense of the development potential of his property. As New Leaf wanted to reduce their overhead, we suggested one or two small storefront businesses on the site to keep the rent affordable. Our design schemes would also have encouraged pedestrian activity and added more diversity to the neighborhood. 

Before hiring our firm the landlord offered the New Leaf Gallery to stay in the existing space in its current condition, but asked for a longer-term lease agreement. The gallery declined the offer, but was open to the prospect of a development that would give them an indoor facility on the site. The overall plan included the option to move into another building across the street during construction. New Leaf uttered concerns about a temporary relocation during construction, which may have been the main reason for them to disengage from the process. However, they also mentioned the changing nature of their business, becoming increasingly Internet based. The landlord would have liked to preserve the garden gallery, but it is New Leaf that decided to trade it for an indoor gallery in San Francisco. After your article was published, Brigitte of New Leaf agreed it was misleading to imply that they were forced out and acknowledged the planning effort to shape the project around their gallery. In the end, relocating to San Francisco made more sense as a business decision for the New Leaf Gallery. 

The Lasagna family was among the founders of the Westbrae Neighborhood, going back almost a century. Carl Lasagna is a local resident and feels the responsibility to maintain and improve the property and to serve the neighborhood at large. The Westbrae Neighborhood Commercial District, as it is designated in the Berkeley Zoning Code, is intended to “Provide locations for uses supplying convenience goods and services for residents of the immediate area.” Although many neighbors, including us, enjoyed the beautifully crafted outdoor gallery, others weren’t even aware of it, due to the introverted nature of the business. With the gallery moving away to San Francisco, the focus should be on what the future may hold for the site. It is part of a larger effort to invigorate the small commercial area along Gilman Street. Our firm has been working closely with the Ohlone Greenway Team, including the late Karl Linn, Berkeley Parks and Recreation and Carl Lasagna to build a small public plaza at the intersection of the Ohlone Bike path and Gilman Street, in the heart of the Westbrae Neighborhood. We would like to see a lively street scene with businesses that cater to the needs of the community. 

Dietmar Lorenz is an architect with DSA Architects in Berkeley.Ã

Berkeley didn’t always have a city-run Fire Department or professional police force. Back in the late 19th century, when the community was still a small town, volunteer fire companies and elected town marshals provided basic protection.  

All that changed about a century ago. Today, the origins, notable events, and histories of Berkeley’s fire and police departments are being told in consecutive exhibits at the Berkeley History Center.  

The exhibit on the Fire Department closes this coming Saturday. An exhibit on the Police Department opens with a special event from 3-5 p.m. April 10.  

Both exhibits are organized by the Berkeley Historical Society, working in cooperation with the fire and police departments and private collectors and historians. 

Berkeley’s first volunteer company—known as Beacon Number One—formed around 1877, a year before the town formally incorporated. In 1882, after fires destroyed three West Berkeley buildings in quick succession, several volunteer companies were reorganized. 

Two decades later, volunteer fire protection no longer seemed sufficient for the growing community. A city-run Fire Department with paid staff was created in 1904, and a Police Department in 1905.  

James Kenney, who had been chief of the local volunteer fire companies since 1896, was appointed Berkeley’s first paid fire chief in 1904. Kenney, who later died at the scene of a fire, is memorialized by James Kenney Park in West Berkeley. 

Fire Department History 

The current Fire Department exhibit at the Berkeley History Center contains a fine array of materials. There are pictures of the old volunteer fire companies, complete with their horse drawn engines and wooden fire houses, and artifacts of early days of Berkeley firefighting including old helmets, badges, and even an early alarm box.  

In the days before widespread telephone service, fires and other emergencies were often reported by citizens activating alarm boxes that stood at strategic intersections throughout the city. The local newspaper, the Berkeley Gazette, regularly published a list of locations of the alarm boxes.  

There’s also a display of photographs of early fire houses, some gone completely, others replaced by newer buildings at the same locations. Examining these photos you may be struck, as I was, with the different standards of public architecture in decades past.  

Berkeley, it’s clear, once made a credible effort to design fire stations and other public buildings to harmonize with the character of their surroundings.  

No chunky, concrete-block, industrial-style edifices then. Here you’ll see photographs of old firehouses that look more like handsome family homes. 

A rare survivor, the old Hose Company 7 station building at 2911 Claremont just up the street from Ashby Avenue, now houses an art gallery. There’s a photograph in the exhibit of this circa 1914 building in its early fire-fighting days. 

The exhibit also provides vivid vignettes of notable local fires and disasters.  

One panel profiles Berkeley’s devastating 1923 fire, which leveled dozens of blocks and nearly 600 buildings on the northside. A map outlines in red the perimeter of the wind-driven fire, marking the buildings burned and showing how the destruction reached the edge of downtown Berkeley. There are also large, wide-angle, photo panoramas of the fire ruins. 

Two collages of color photographs provide glimpses into dozens of more recent disasters, from the 1991 Berkeley hills firestorm to traffic accidents and residential and commercial fires.  

Although the collage images are a bit jumbled and don’t have extensive captions, there are some very evocative items if you look through them carefully.  

For example, one picture was taken inside a white-painted kitchen, meal preparation in evidence, in a residence on Regent Street. The room is tranquil, but the view through the window above the sink is like a glimpse into a volcano. The visible wall of the building next door is completely covered in flames.  

Other elements of the exhibit include drawings by local school children, videotapes of the 1923 and 1991 firestorm disasters, and a smoke-stained Tunnel Road street sign from the edge of the 1991 fire. 

Police Department Centennial 

After the Fire Department exhibit closes, there’s a two week hiatus followed by the April 10 opening of an exhibit on the centennial of the Berkeley Police Department. Retired Berkeley Police Sergeant Michael Holland is expected to speak at the opening reception. 

Any Berkeley resident who assumes that everything innovative about Berkeley stems from the 1960s or later will be surprised to see some of the elements of this exhibit.  

Led by August Vollmer, who served first as elected Town Marshal, then as appointed police chief, Berkeley’s Police Department was a pioneering institution.  

Vollmer, whose services as a consultant on law enforcement came to be in demand nationwide, revolutionized police work. He emphasized professionalism, sought police officers with good educations, and worked with the university on the establishment of a school of criminology. 

He recruited the first woman and first African-American officers to the local police force, installed radios in police cars, experimented with lie detectors and was, even by today’s standards, a progressive force; for example, he became a prominent opponent of the death penalty. 

Chief Vollmer and his Berkeley Police Department were even the heroes of an early fictionalized crime thriller series on film, Officer 444. 

A half century after his department was established, the aged Vollmer, in declining health, shot himself; organized to the end, he first asked his housekeeper to call the police. 

Today, 50 years after his death, Vollmer is largely forgotten in Berkeley, quite unjustly so. The exhibit should bring renewed attention to him, as well as the Berkeley Police Department as a whole. 

Steven Finacom is a boardmember of the Berkeley Historical Society. 

The Berkeley Fire Department Centennial exhibit closes March 26. The Berkeley Police: Innovators for A Century exhibit opens April 10 with a reception from 3-5 p.m. 

The Berkeley History Center is located at 1931 Center Street, in the Veteran’s Memorial Building. 

The exhibits are open 1-4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Admission is free, wheelchair accessible. Closed March 27 through April 10 for exhibit change.  

For more details, call 848-0181 or see www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc. 

?

TUESDAY, MARCH 22 

THEATER 

The Shotgun Players Theatre Lab, “Monster in the Dark” Mon. and Tues. at 8 p.m. through March 29, at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. at MLK. Tickets are $10. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Karsten Huer describes “Walking in the Big Wild: From Yellowstone to the Yukon on the Grizzly Bears’ Trail” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Teada at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50- $17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jug Free America, Pinebox Boys, Toshio Hirano, darkgrass and cowboy, at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174. www.storkcluboakland.com 

Peter Barshay Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Lee Simpson Band, Americana, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Tomasz Stanko Quartet at 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200.  

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23 

CHILDREN 

Berkeley Youth Arts Festival Emerson First Graders perform an original musical inspired by “Where the Wild Things Are” at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Deborah Santana describes “Space Between the Stars” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Andrew Schelling reads from “Erotic Love Poems from India: A Translation of the Amarnshataka” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Whole Note Reading Series presents Judy Wells and Dale Jensen at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave. 549-9093. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High Jazz Gala with the BHS Jazz Ensemble, Lab Band and small combos, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Berkeley Rep Theater. Tickets are $25-$75. 527-8245. www.berkeleyhighjazz.org 

Wednesday Noon Concert, with In Black and White, music by Jorge Liderman at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Music of Holy Week An organ concert at noon at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. www.firstchurchoakland.org 

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Balkan Folkdance at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Salsa Caliente All Stars at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Chris Smither, country blues tradition, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Keiko Matsui at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16-$28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, MARCH 24 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Seen, Not Spoken” artwork by Bentley High School students and artists with disabilities, reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at NIAD Art Center, 551 23rd St. Richmond. 620-0290. www.niadart.org 

FILM 

Edgar G. Ulmer: “Green Fields” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Robert Laughlin discusses “A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Down” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Stanley Crawford reads from his new novel “Petroleum Man” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Ellen O’Donnell and Marvin Hiemstra followed by an open mic, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. For information call 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jewish Music Festival Purim Matinee with members of Shtreiml at 1:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $10-$15. www.brjcc.org 

Adama, Purim party at 7 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Shtreiml, klezmer musicians, at 1:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $10-$15. 415-276-1511. www.brjcc.org 

“The Secret Life of Banjos” with Jody Stecher and Bill Evans at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Moekestra, Brian Kenney Fresno at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082 www.starryplough.com 

Meli at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Husbands, Turpentine Brothers at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174. www.storkcluboakland.com 

Gene Bertoncini, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

FRIDAY, MARCH 25 

THEATER 

Berkeley Repertory Theater “For Better or Worse” at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. through April 24. Tickets are $20-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Central Works, “Enemy Combatant” at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Performances are Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. through March 26. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

Shotgun Players “The Just” by Albert Camus. Thurs.- Sun. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. through April 10. Tickets are sliding scale $10-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Un-Scripted Theater Company “You Bet Your Improvisor!” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through March 26 at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St. at Telegraph. Tickets are $7-$10. 415-869-5384. www.unscripted.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Temptations of the Brush” Works by Lisa Bruce, Jeanne La Deaux, Centa Theresa. Reception at 5 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

“David and Goliath” works by M. Sawyer Atkinson. Reception at 6:30 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. 843-2787. 

FILM 

Edgar G. Ulmer: “Detour” at 7:30 p.m. “Man From X” at 9:15 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Christian McBride Quartet at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $18-$32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“Tomorrow is Today” dance and martial arts by Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company at 7:30 p.m. at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St. Tickets are $5-$20. 597-1619. www.destinyarts.org 

Native Elements, Dr. Masseuse, Sandfly, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Alam A. Khan, sarode player, performs North Indian classical music with tabla player Debopriyo Sarkar, at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Tickets are $15-$25. 701-1787. www.hillsideclub.org/concert  

Dougie MacLean, contemporary folk from Scotland at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Houston Jones at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Audrye Session, Serene Lakes, Minmae, indie rock at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Suffokate at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174. www.storkcluboakland.com 

Three Piece Combo, Mitch Marcus, Young Fine Rabbit at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Kitty Rose, tradtitional country originals, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Danny Caron Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Jared Karol & Mike Jung at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Sour Mash Jug Hug Band, Folk This! at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St.. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Keiko Matsui at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16-$28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, MARCH 26 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Dreaming Mind, The Conscious Mind” a collaborative exhibition between NIAD Art Center and JFK Univ. School of Holistic Studies at 2956 San Pablo Ave., 2nd flr. Reception for the artists from 5 to 8 p.m. Exhibition runs to Mar. 31. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 649-0499. 

“Lexicon of Memory” two and three dimensional works by Lynn Orlando. Reception at 7 p.m. at Nexus Gallery, 2701 8th. St. Also on Sun. from 2 to 8 p.m. and Mon. from 6 to 10 p.m. 847-2744.  

FILM 

Edgar G. Ulmer: “Ruthless” at 7 p.m. and “Moon Over Harlem” at 9:05 p.m.at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rhythm & Muse with singer/songwriter Kim Rea and guitarist Joe Lococo at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. Free. Berkeley Art Center. 527-9753. 

Poets for Peace poetry reading featuring Joyce Jenkins, Ilya Kaminsky, David Reid, and Sam Witt at 8 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

“Composing for Two Pianos” with Jorge Liderman at 7 p.m. at Musical Offering, Bancroft at College. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Emanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman, piano at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $34-$62. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“Tomorrow is Today” dance and martial arts by Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company at 7:30 p.m. at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St. Tickets are $5-$20. 597-1619. www.destinyarts.org 

Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Nanette McGuiness, soprano, at noon at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $10-$50. 848-1228. 

Gaucho, Gypsy Jazz at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

The Conscious Cabaret “Twas the Night Before Easter and all through the house...” with Errol & Rochelle Alicia Strider at 8 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2075 Eunice St. Cost is $15-$25. 528-8844. unityberkeley.org 

David Serotkin at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Klez-X, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Georges Lammam Ensemble, classical and popular Arabic music at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Proceeds provide scholarships for youth in the West Bank village of Dier Ibzi’a, outside Ramallah. Cost is $20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Shortie, Super Model Suicide, Downshift, rock, emo, punk, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6-$8. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Tartufi, Continuous Peasent at 9 p.m. at 21 Grand, 449B 23rd St., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$10, benefit for Rachel Kasa.  

The Art Lande Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz 

school.com  

Lae with Brown, hip hop pop, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Japanese Girl Pop Punk, The Freak Accident, Titan Go Kings at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Infection, Singularity at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

Meli at 7 and 9 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $5. 597-0795. 

Paul & Sheila Smith Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Resist & Exist, Takaru, Gather at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 27 

CHILDREN 

Jewish Songs for Children, with Gary Lapow, at 11 a.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. www.brjcc.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Les Anderson and Tobey Kaplan at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Chamber Music Sundaes with members and friends of the SF Symphony at 3:15 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $7-$19. 415-584-5946. www.chambermusicsundaes.org 

Clare Hedin, singer/songwriter, part of the series “Offerings” at 7 p.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. Suggested donation $10. 213-3122. 

Hebrew Hip-Hop, performances and workshops from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $7-$24. 415-276-1511. www.brjcc.org 

Sarah Manning Quartet at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Paul Thorn at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

MONDAY, MARCH 28 

THEATER 

The Shotgun Players Theatre Lab, “Monster in the Dark” Mon. and Tues. at 8 p.m. through March 29, at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. at MLK. Tickets are $10. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

“A Single Woman” The life, times and fortitude of the first US Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin at 7 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. 587-3228. http://ncmdr.org/singlewoman 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Small Paintings” by John King at North Berkeley Frame & Gallery, 1744 Shattuck Ave. through May 21. 549-0428. 

FILM 

Buddhism and Film: “Tokyo Story” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Adam Mansbach reads from his new novel “Angry White Boy” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“Sephardic Music” with Judith Cohen at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $13-$17. 415-276-1511. www.brjcc.org 

Poetry Express Theme night “mothers and sisters” from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Songwriters Symposium at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Trovatore, traditional Italian songs, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Hot Club of San Francisco at 2 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, MARCH 29 

THEATER 

The Shotgun Players Theatre Lab, “Monster in the Dark” Mon. and Tues. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. at MLK. Tickets are $10. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: The Birdpeople” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

An Evening in Honor of Thomas Flanagan at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Jeff McGowan describes “Major Conflict: One Gay Man’s Life in the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Military” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

The Whole Note Poetry Series with Eugene David and John Rowe at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave., near Ashby. 549-9093. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Swamp Coolers at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Music for Tsunami Relief with David Grisman, Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum, Geoff Muldaur and others at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50- $25.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bill Jackman & Terry Hilliard at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Opie Bellas at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Randy Craig Trio at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198. ª

So I go 

On my bamboo pole 

Over to the Kaiser doctor 

On Howe Street 

To renew my handicap sticker. 

“No way lady 

You can walk: 

But you can’t talk 

A good enough line” 

This new doc says, 

O lawyers, come to my rescue 

Come John Edwards, 

Come speak for me here in Oakland. 

I stick on—on my bamboo pole 

Over to Piedmont Ave. 

And reward my bitters 

With some fine Quan Yin tea 

At L’AMYX—the monkey tea bar, 

A flashback to the Wednesday 

After Kerry went down that Tuesday 

Comes with a hot golden sip: 

My Sufi water aerobics teacher, 

In his dark red turban and wild music 

Stayed under a wide beach umbrella, 

While the rain rained down on all of us 

Sad swimmers dancing beneath him 

In the chlorine waters. 

The sky over the pool an abstract of dark grays 

One streak of bright blue 

By a corner roof. 

Some speak of a move to Canada, 

To Prince Edward’s Island 

Where ocean tides are warm; 

Some of Costa Rica. 

The flashback ends. 

So does the tea. 

I stick on home 

On my bamboo pole 

And think about China 

And swimming in the China Sea. 

—Nance Wogan

I keep being reminded that the universe, as either the geneticist J. B. S. Haldane or the astronomer Arthur Eddington (or both) said, is not only stranger than we imagine, it’s stranger than we can imagine. And I’m not talking about superstring theory or quantum weirdness here. This is about plain old biology, and the unexpected link between the eastern fox squirrels in my yard and the unfortunate George III of England. It’s not breaking news—the basic facts have been known for quite a while—but it’s just too strange to be left alone with. 

If you saw the 1994 film The Madness of King George, you know the story: verbal tics, erratic behavior (although it’s not in the movie, he had long conversations with trees in the royal gardens), wild lunges at the ladies-in-waiting, brutal treatment regimens, restraints, and so on. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the king’s illness was retrospectively diagnosed by the psychiatrists Ida MacAlpine and Richard Hunter as porphyria, a hereditary disease caused by a chemical defect in the production of hemoglobin. Apart from the psychiatric manifestations, other symptoms—all apparently present in George III’s case—include hypersensitivity to light, abdominal pain, paralysis of the limbs, and urine the color of port wine. The king was part of a line of royal porphyria victims that included Mary Queen of Scots, James I, Anne, his son George IV, his daughter Princess Charlotte, and Frederick the Great of Prussia. I don’t know whether the Windsors have been affected, but they have enough problems of their own.  

The latest twist in the saga of the mad king involves a sample of his hair that surfaced recently among the collections of a London museum. The hair proved to be loaded with arsenic, 300 times the toxic level. Medical detectives concluded that George had ingested the stuff in a popular eighteenth-century nostrum called James’s powders, which contained a compound of antimony and arsenic—and that the buildup of arsenic triggered and aggravated the porphyric attacks. George Washington used it, too, but in smaller doses. 

But what about the squirrels? Eastern fox squirrels seem ubiquitous in Berkeley. They’re not from here; their home range is east of the Mississippi, from which they were introduced to the Bay Area and other parts of California. I haven’t been able to trace the exact origins of the Bay Area population, but the ones in Los Angeles were brought in from Tennessee or thereabouts around 1904 by Civil War and Spanish-American War veterans at the Sawtelle Veteran’s Home—either as pets or as ingredients for the classic Southern dish Brunswick stew. Which is a fate I’ve often wished on the squirrels that raid my bird feeders or dig up the Calochortus bulbs. 

Eastern fox squirrels (so called to distinguish them from the Nayarit fox squirrel of southern Arizona and Mexico) are pretty typical tree squirrels, except for one thing: their bones are pink. Under ultraviolet light, the bones of eastern fox squirrels fluoresce brilliant red.  

In the 1930s, a medical researcher named William J. Turner was looking for possible animal models for human porphyria. Somehow he heard about the fox squirrel and its oddly colored bones. “Although the farmers of Pennsylvania have long known that the bones of the fox-squirrel are red,” Turner wrote in 1937, “it has entirely escaped scientific investigation.” He confirmed the presence of the pigment uroporphyrin I in the squirrels’ systems. Turner, who appears to have been a methodical man, looked at thousands of small mammal skeletons for other examples and found a few pinkish chipmunk remains, but nothing comparable to the fox squirrel situation. He also noted reports of red bones in fetal mammals, including rats, guinea pigs, and rabbits, with the deposit of uroporphyrin I somehow being switched off before birth. 

No one seems to have done anything with the fox squirrel-porphyria connection until the work of Ephraim Levin at Johns Hopkins and Vagn Flyger at the University of Maryland in the 1970s. Their paper explicitly linked the squirrels’ condition with hereditary porphyria in humans and cattle. One common factor was a low level of an enzyme called uroporphyrinogen III cosynthetase, essential to the conversion of porphyrins to hemoglobin, in the red blood cells of fox squirrels and porphyric humans. Levin and Flyger found that eastern gray squirrels, close relatives of eastern fox squirrels, had higher and more stable concentrations of the enzyme. 

But sciurine porphyria, as the researchers called it, doesn’t seem to be a pathological condition. There was no trace of the anemia or skin lesions common to human and bovine subjects with congenital porphyria. And fox squirrels don’t seem sensitive to light; Levin and Flyger pointed out that they’re more active during daylight hours than nonporphyric gray squirrels. They didn’t discuss psychiatric symptoms; if a fox squirrel was demented, I’m not sure how you could tell. The phenomenon seemed to be species-wide and most likely hereditary; although diet or other environmental variables were not ruled out, fox squirrels and gray squirrels eat pretty much the same mix of nuts, fruit, and grain, with the occasional egg or nestling bird. 

Levin and Flyger speculated that somewhere in the 25-million-year history of tree squirrels, a mutation occurred in the fox squirrel line that changed the way their enzymes worked. The condition may have persisted because it was somehow favorable to the squirrels, as sickle-cell trait was to humans in regions with endemic malaria (although it looks like a dominant rather than recessive trait). Or it may have been neutral in its effect and therefore invisible to the process of natural selection, or linked to another trait that was selected for. As far I as can determine, that question remains unanswered. And no one has exhumed George III to see if his royal bones fluoresce red.

TUESDAY, MARCH 22 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7:30 a.m. opposite the Pony Ride to celebrate “gloomy winter’s now awa” with Robert Tannahill. 525-2233. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll learn about the water cycle from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

“Climbing Mt. Shasta” a slide presentation with Tim Keating at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Argosy University Information Sessions for degree programs in Psychology, Education and Business at 6 p.m. at 999-A Canal Blvd., Point Richmond. To RSVP or for directions to the school, call 215-0277. 

“Forgetfulness: Is It Normal Aging or Alzheimer’s?” with Brian C. Richardson, M.D. at 4 p.m. at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, 828 San Pablo Ave., Suite 104, Albany. To register call 558-7800. 

Tap Into It Jazz and Rhythm Tap classes at Montclair Recreation Center, 6300 Moraga Ave., Oakland. Experienced at 6:30 p.m., beginners at 7:30 p.m. 482-7812. 

Meditation Class at 7 p.m. at Dzalandhara Buddhist Center, in Berkeley. Donations accepted. For directions call 559-8183. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Carl Arnault will show slides of the world’s coral reefs at 11 a.m. 845-6830. 

Sing-A-Long every Tues. from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic. All ages welcome. 524-9122. 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23 

Military Recruitment Teach-In for Berkeley High students, 2nd through 5th periods in the Little Theater. For more information go to BHS Room C324. Sponsored by CAS Social Action Committee. 

Great Decisions 2005: “Widening Poverty Gap” with Prof. David Levine, Haas School of Business, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. Cost is $5. For information and reservations call 526-2925. 

Honoring Rosie’s Sisters-Women Veterans During Women's History Month Gray Panthers celebrate women who served during WWII, Korea, the Spanish Civil War, and any time. At 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 548-9696. 

“Unlocking Horns: Healing & Forgiveness in Burundi” with David Niyonzima at 7:15 p.m. at Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St. 524-4112. 

Martial Arts Demonstration for children and teens with John Burn and students of Berkeley Cuong Nhu Karate-The Rohai Dojo at 4:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, West Branch, 1125 University Ave. at San Pablo. 981-6270. 

AARP Free Tax Assistance for taxpayers with middle and low incomes, with special attention to those 60 years and older. From 12:15 to 4:15 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Appointments must be made in advance. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

“Who Bombed Judi Bari?” documentary at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., midtown Oakland. Donation of $5 requested.  

Winter Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

Artify Ashby Muralist Group meets every Wed. from 5 to 8 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, to plan a new mural. New artists are welcome. Call Bonnie at 704-0803. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, MARCH 24 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park to look for birds of the Bible. 525-2233. 

Tilden Explorers An after school nature adventure for 5-7 year olds who may be accompanied by an adult. No younger siblings please. We’ll learn about the weather. From 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Bird Walk along the Martin Luther King Shoreline to see marsh birds at 3:30 p.m. For information call 525-2233. 

“Raptor Winged Migration” a lecture and photo presentation with Don Jedlovec, East Bay Regional Parks, on the Lower Klamath Flyway at 7 p.m. in the Marian Zimmer Auditorium, Oakland Zoo. Cost is $8-$10. 632-9525, ext. 142. www.oaklandzoo.org 

Golden Gate Audubon “Saving the Wild Cheetah” at 7:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, between Solano and Marin. Dr. Laurie Marker will give an illustrated presentation on her 30-year effort to save the wild cheetah. Meeting is free and accessible. 843-2222. ggas@goldengateaudubon.org 

”The Future of Food” A film on genetically engineered foods at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220. 

Community Budget Workshop with City staff on the two-year City budget cycle which begins July 1, at 7 p.m. at the West Berkeley Senior Center. Co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters. 981-7004.  

Berkeley Retired Teachers Assoc. General Meeting at 1 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Topic for this meeting is “Health Issues.” 

“Building the Bond Between Cops and Kids” A Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Social fundraiser for the Berkeley Boosters PAL at 6 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $100. 925-798-1300. www.berkeleyboosters.org 

Tsunami Relief for Small Businesses in Sri Lanka A slide presentation and discussion at 7 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Benefit for SecondAid. 525-9533. 

Older People United A discussion and support group for elders over 75 at 1:30 p.m. at the Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

“Caring for Yourself While Caring for Others” at 7 p.m. at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, 828 San Pablo Ave., Suite 104, Albany. To register call 558-7800. 

Easy Does It Disability Assistance Board of Directors Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, Classrooms A/B. Meeting is accessible and open to the public, with time for public comment. 967-4003. 

Celebrate Purim With Chabad at 7 p.m. at Bancroft Hotel, 2680 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4-$8. Reservations required. 540-5824. 

FRIDAY, MARCH 25 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Michael Perlman on “International Finance and You.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

Shivas Irons Society Golf Tournament at 11 a.m. at Tilden Park Golf Course. Cost is $90, benefits Tilden Golf Academy. 918-2983. www.shivasjournal.org/catalog 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” a small group meeting weekly at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. 655-8863, 843-7610. dann@netwiz.net 

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

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

SATURDAY, MARCH 26 

Holiday Egg Coloring We’ll collect eggs from the chickens and do some creative decorating. For ages 7 to 11 years, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $3, registration reuired. 525-2233. 

Kids Garden Club For children 7-12 years old to explore the world of gardening. We plant, harvest, build, make crafts, cook and get dirty! From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$6, registration required. 525-2233. 

Drawing and Painting California Wildflowers A two-day workshop with Dr. Linda Ann Vorobik, botanist and artist. Open to students of all levels. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at the Visitor Center, Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Cost is $110 members/$125 nonmembers. 845-4116. 

Berkeley Path Wanderers Urban Nature Hike A 5-mile hike from El Cerrito to Berkeley with Susan Schwartz. Meet at 10 a.m. at the El Cerrito Plaza BART. Wear layers and shoes with good traction, and bring water and lunch. 848-9358. f5creeks@aol.com 

Introduction to Permaculture Covering the philosophy, ethics and principals of permaculture for your garden from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Oakland Permaculture Institute, 2135 E. 28th St. Oakland. Cost is $10-$15. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Know Your Rights Training Learn what your rights are and how to watch the police effectively and safely, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Copwatch, 2022 Blake St. Free. 548-0425. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 27 

Early Morning Egg Hunt Learn where the amphibians have hidden their eggs, and learn about the life cycle of frogs and salamanders. From 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Cost is $5, registration required. 525-2233. 

The Little Farm’s Sheep Celebrate the spring with a visit to see our lambs, discover lots of eggs, pet a bunny and find out what all this has to do with Easter. From 1 to 3 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233. 

Town Meeting on Counter-Military Recruitment and Contientious Objection Options at 1:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Suggested donation $5-$10. 524-6064. 

Berkeley City Club free tours from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. For group reservations or more information, call 848-7800 or 883-9710. 

Anarchist Theory Conference from 10 am. to 5 p.m. at Barrows Hall, UC Campus. Sliding scale $1-$10. www.sfbay-anarchists.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

MONDAY, MARCH 28 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

Tea and Hike at Four Taste some of the finest teas from the Pacific Rim and South Asia and learn their natural and cultural history, followed by a short nature walk. At 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

“The Transformation of Transnational Migration in Ecuador” with David Kyle at noon in the CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch St. 642-2088. www.clas.berkeley.edu 

“The Jewish-American World of Philip Roth” a discussion of “American Pastoral,” facilitated by Laura Bernell at at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 848-0237, ext. 110. 

“Discover France Another Way” a slide show with Jackie Grandchamps at 7 p.m. at Changemakers Bookstore for Women, 6536 Telegraph Ave. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 9:45 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

“Critical Viewing” an ongoing group that examines the craft(iness) of short film, TV drama, and commercials. Free. co-sponsored by the Berkeley Adult School and BRJCC. New members always welcome. Mon. from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 2 p.m. every Monday at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, MARCH 29 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7:30 a.m. at Island picnic site to look for the birds of the Botanic Garden. 525-2233. 

“Sacred Mountains: A Pilgrimage tin Yosemite and Tibet” a slide presentation with Chris Bessonette and Joanna Cooke at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Eat in Season” for National Nutrition month with cooking demonstrations at 3:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

“Invisible Children: The Effect of the Sudanese Civil War on Children” with UCB Prof. Darren Zook at 6:15 p.m. at the FSM Cafe at Moffitt Library, UC Campus. fsm-info@library.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley PC Users Group Problem solving and beginners meeting to answer, in simple English, users questions about Windows computers. At 7 p.m. at 1145 Walnut St. corner of Eunice. All welcome, no charge. 527-2177.  

Sing-A-Long every Tues. from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic. All ages welcome. 524-9122. 

Tap Into It Jazz and Rhythm Tap classes at Montclair Recreation Center, 6300 Moraga Ave., Oakland. Experienced at 6:30 p.m., beginners at 7:30 p.m. 482-7812. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 6 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Family Story Time at the Kensington Branch Library, Tues. evenings at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Meditation Class at 7 p.m. at Dzalandhara Buddhist Center, in Berkeley. Donations accepted. For directions call 559-8183. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

ONGOING 

United Way’s Earn It! Keep It! Save It! Program provides free tax assistance now through early April to families that earned less than $36,000 in 2004. To find a free tax site near you, call 1-800-358-8832 or visit www.EarnItKeepItSaveIt.org. 

“Half Pint Library” Book Drive Donate children’s books to benefit Children’s Hospital. Donations accepted at 1849 Solano Ave. through March 31. 

Spring Break Program for Children offered by the City’s Recreational Division, March 28-April 1, for children ages 5-12, at the Frances Albrier Community Center, 2800 Park St. For information call 981-6640. 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues. Mar. 22, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Budget Review Commission meets Wed., Mar. 23, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7041. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/budget 

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., Mar. 23, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Mary Ann Merker, 981-7533. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/civicarts 

Disaster Council meets Wed. Mar. 23, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Energy Commission meets Wed., Mar. 23, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/energy 

Planning Commission meets Wed., Mar. 23, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed. Mar. 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/policereview 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs. Mar. 24, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/zoning ª

This month the United States celebrates National Free Newspaper Week, and on April 1, an auspicious date with lively associations, the Berkeley Daily Planet will be celebrating our second anniversary of revived publication, timed to coincide with the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the city of Berkeley. It’s hard to believe it’s been two years, but here we are, doing well and even expanding. 

Our coverage continues to stretch up and down the East Bay. We started with the concept of “greater Berkeley” as our sphere of interest, and soon learned that the definition stretched all the way north to Richmond and south through Montclair, Grand Lake and others of Oakland’s diverse neighborhoods, because people in all of those areas are eagerly picking up the paper, reading it, and writing us letters about what they read. We’ve discovered that the region between the bay and the hills called the East Bay by San Francisco and West County by Contra Costa County has a unique identity all its own.  

We’re still not breaking even financially, but our growth curve would do credit to a high-tech startup. We’ve doubled our print run since the first issue. Our advertising is robust enough to increase our page count to 28 pages in this issue (we started with 8) and even perhaps 32 pages in the very near future. In April we’re launching a stand-alone real estate insert, because our advertising for that market has grown enough to need it. We’re calling it East Bay Real Estate because we’ve become aware that home buyers are looking beyond Berkeley in today’s hot market. 

Our most cherished small symbol of success is that we were featured in a New York Times crossword puzzle not long ago. (Clue: “city whose paper is the Daily Planet. Answer: Berkeley.”) The good gray east coast metro papers are sometimes slow to get the word about the West, so we’re glad to know that they know that we’re out here.  

Readers have written to us asking us what they can do to help us celebrate. You’ve been doing a lot already with your contributions to our opinion pages, which we think could easily be the best in the country. Unlike some other papers, we don’t pay our op-ed writers, or even solicit or censor them— we just take almost everything you send us, and you’ve sent us some fine copy in the last two years. (By the way, there’s still a lively controversy raging in the national press about why there are not more women’s voices on op-ed pages of other papers, but we’re proud to say that the Planet routinely has full representation from excellent women op-ed contributors.) We also appreciate the congratulatory ads some of you took out last year. 

We thought about renting the Paramount for a big party, but frankly we’re just too busy for anything like that. Twice weekly publication, with our small staff, does keep us running. However, we will let down our hair a bit next Friday, April 1, at the office. We’d love to meet any of our readers or advertisers who’d like to drop by after 2 p.m. to say hello. This is a bit risky, since by some calculations more than 50,000 people might be reading these words, but if everyone keeps their visits brief we can probably handle them by spilling out into the driveway. (Unless it rains, and if it does, don’t come.) We’re looking forward to meeting you.  

—Becky O’Malley 

n

It’s one thing to read statistics about the sorry state of education in California, but it’s another to talk to someone who’s in the trenches trying to cope with it. At a party this weekend I met a woman who’s bucking for sainthood as a teacher in the Los Angeles public school system. She’s an energetic, lively person, who’s successfully raised two kids of her own. At the age of 60, after a pleasant career which included a Ph. D. and a series of administrative jobs, she decided to “give something back” to society by resuming the school teaching career she’d given up at an early age. (She’s a red diaper baby—maybe that explains her desire to be socially significant.) 

She teaches sixth and seventh grades in a regular public school, in Sherman Oaks, a middle-class area of L.A. County. “So,” I said, making polite conversation. “How many kids do you teach?” Well, she said, it’s down to 48 this year, though last year it was 50. “Fifty kids every day,” I said, “that’s not too bad.” No, she said, 50 in the classroom at a time. 

Fifty pre-pubescents in a classroom at one time? I had to sit down, contemplating what it must be like. It’s been a few years since my kids finished in the Berkeley public schools, but surely they didn’t have anything like 50 kids in their junior high classes. I remembered statistics indicating that average class size was now under 30.  

And so it is: In California, in 2003-2004 for grade 6 it was 29.4, and for grade 7, 26.5. But the devil is in the definition: Average class size is the number of students enrolled in classes divided by the number of classes. Observe: Average class size is not maximum class size. That’s why my new friend, who teaches health education, has to try to manage 50 kids at a time. 

“Sometimes there aren’t even enough chairs for all the kids,” she told me. She said that’s a real problem when the subject matter is supposed to be sex, and the students are crammed into a too-small class room, cheek by jowl as it were, pretending to have a serious discussion of what’s already on their minds all the time, and they’re supposed to behave themselves. She said she figures it’s been a good day when no one gets hurt at school, but no, they aren’t learning much. And she can’t do much about it. She intended to teach for 10 years, of which three have passed, but she’s not sure she can stick it out. As a politically astute person, she knows the solution must be political, but not what it is. 

Are things that bad in Berkeley? We’ve had a couple of letters calling attention to the distinction between average and maximum class size in the reports we get from the teachers’ contract negotiations, but I don’t remember hearing anything about 50-student classes. The main topic in the contract dispute seems to be raises, but it’s hard to imagine a percentage pay raise which would compensate a teacher for having to cope with 50 kids at a crack. And fair compensation for teachers isn’t the only goal of the system: education for the kids has to be the real objective of the public schools.  

My granddaughter in Santa Cruz has 32 kids in her fourth grade class, and according to her mother, who volunteers in the classroom a lot, it isn’t working very well. 

Many children come to school carrying the problems of society with them. Even in small classes teachers would have a hard time providing everything these kids need—and with 32 individuals to cope with, they certainly can’t do it. 

The Planet has reported on a couple of recent local cases where high-school age young people have demonstrated big problems. One girl was caught with a gun in her backpack—and the excuse was that her father gave it to her to keep it out of the hands of younger siblings. A 16-year-old was arrested this weekend for slashing the throat of a total stranger on a pleasant spring evening at the Berkeley Rose Garden. These are problems teachers can’t solve in the classroom. 

The contract negotiations in the Berkeley Unified School District continue to be hot and heavy. Teachers are becoming more militant, working to rule by refusing to provide their professional services outside of the formal contact hour schedule. Whether this is a good PR move for the teachers’ union is debatable. The union president has sent out letters complaining that BUSD’s perspective gets better airtime on the Parent-Teacher Association e-mail tree—but that could just be a reflection of how the parents are viewing the controversy. It seems unwise for the Berkeley Federation of Teachers to suggest shooting the messenger.  

There’s no easy answer to the question of whether a teachers’ union is good or bad for students. The all-time worst teacher any of my three kids had in the Berkeley Public Schools was a high official in the union—but, to make it more complicated, so were two of the best. In the ideal world, a teachers’ union should advocate for both teachers and students, but in the real world it seems sometimes that the kids come second. 

Sometimes seriously inadequate teachers who really should move on to another profession are protected by the union for much too long. 

Maximum class size is one of the key elements highlighted in the latest round of communications from teachers. This seems to be one place where teachers and parents could agree, and could join together to make the point to the school administration. And the students, particularly the always articulate Berkeley High students, should be playing an important role in the discussion as well.  

But putting a lid on class size, even if that’s needed in Berkeley, won’t solve all the problems of the public school system today, nor will giving teachers raises, even if they deserve them. The disintegration of public education in California has much deeper roots, and the solution, as my new teacher friend recognizes, is ultimately political. 

—Becky O’Malley 

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