TUESDAY, MARCH 28 

“Circling the Globe—More Than a Dream,” with Bryan and Audrey Gillette at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

National Nutrition Month Cooking Demonstration with Michael Bauce on sautéeing greens, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at MLK. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley High School Site Council meets at 4:30 p.m. in the Conference Room. 525-0124. 

Teen Babysitting Class at 4 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. To register call 658-7853. www.bananasinc.org  

Raging Grannies of the East Bay invites new folks to come join us the 2nd and 4th Tues, of each month, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. to sing (any voice will do), help plan our next gig, or write outrageously political lyrics to old familiar tunes, and have fun at Berkeley Gray Panthers office, 1403 Addison St., in Andronico’s mall. 548-9696. 

Berkeley PC Users Group meets at 7 p.m. at 1145 Walnut St. near Eunice. 

Stress Less Seminar at 6:30 p.m. at New Moon Opportunities, 378 Jayne Ave., Oakland Free, but registration required. 465-2524. 

Family Story Time at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 524-3043. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. In case of questionable weather, call around 8 a.m. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Free Handbuilding Ceramics Class 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at St. John’s Senior Center, 2727 College Ave. Also, Mon. noon to 4 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Materials and firing charges not included. 525-5497. 

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 digital images, 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 29  

Great Decisions Foreign Policy Association Lecture “Human Rights in an Age of Terrorism” with Allan Solomonow, Director, American Friends Service Committee, at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $40 for the eight lecture series. 526-2925. 

Total Solar Eclipse A live webcast from Turkey from 1:15 to 3:15 a.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd. Tickets are $5-$8. 336-7373.  

Oakland Unified’s Annual Science Fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd. Cost is $9-$13. 336-7300.  

Warriors Basketball Benefit for Habitat for Humanity at 7:30 p.m. at Oakland Arena, 7000 Coliseum Way. Discounted tickets available for $25 or $30, with $5 going to support the Habitat affiliate of your choice. 1-800-980-5434. www.bayareahabitat.org 

Early Childhood Education Workshop at 6:30 p.m. at the California Ballroom, 1736 Franklin St., Oakland. Sponsored by the Alameda County Office of Education. Free, but registration requested. 670-3175. 

“Empowering Yourself, Empowering Your Parents” with Donna Robbins at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 848-1960, ext. 246. 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “The New Media Monopoly” by Ben H. Bagdikian, at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble Coffee Shop, El Cerrito Plaza. 433-2911. 

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. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Sing your Way Home A free sing-a-long at 4:30 p.m. every Wed. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Prose Writer’s Workshop An ongoing group made up of friendly writers who are serious about our craft. All levels welcome. At 7 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

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. 

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 30 

Artists With Heart Fundraiser for the homeless children at the Children’s Learning Center at Ursula Sherman Village. Reception with KQED’s Josh Kornbluth, live music and food donations from the East Bay’s top restaurants and art sale at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $100. 235-6502. 

“Harvest of Shame” Edward R. Murrow’s 1960 documentary on farmerworkers, will be shown in honor of Cesar Chavez Day at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Bring seat cushions and snacks. 548-2220. 

The Berkeley Retired Teachers Association, (CRTA Div. 49), holds its annual general meeting at 1 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 841 The Alameda. The featured speaker will be Peggy Plett, Deputy CEO of the California State Teachers Retirement System, Benefits and Services. 

“9/11 The Myth and The Reality” A talk by David Ray Griffin at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $10. 496-2700. www.pdeastbay.org/ 

f911MythReality 

Living with Threes and Fours at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. To register call 658-7853. www.bananasinc.org  

Oakland Unified’s Annual Science Fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd. Cost is $9-$13. 336-7300.  

Berkeley Public Library’s Teen Readers meets to discuss Douglas Adam’s “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” at 4 p.m. at the Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. at Ashby. 

“Understanding Senior Care Options” Learn about residential care facilities and how to find the right one, residents rights when living in a residential care home, and other services, from noon to 2 p.m. at East Oakland Senior Center, 9255 Edes Ave. at 98th St., Oakland. 638-6878, ext. 103. 

Ask a Union Mechanic every Thursday, 4:30 tp 6 p.m. at Parker and Shattuck, until the strike is settled. They will offer advice on all makes of car. 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

FRIDAY, MARCH 31 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Sally Baker, producer of “Wee Poets” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

“Preparing Our Communities for the End of Cheap Oil” A presentation by the Post Carbon Institute at 7:30 p.m. at Laney College Forum, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. Cost is $10. Day-long conference on Sat. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St. http://bayarea.relocalize.net, www.postcarbo.org 

Arts and Crafts Cooperative of Berkeley Gallery Spring Seconds Sale from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

Historical & Current Times Book Group meets on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1249 Marin Ave. 548-4517. 

Berkeley Chess School classes for students in grades 1-8 from 5 to 7 p.m. at 1581 LeRoy Ave., room 17. 843-0150. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 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 1 

Free Compost at the Farmers’ Market from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Center St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Bring your own container, two buckets are suggested or large garbage bags. Backyard amateur gardeners only. Sponsored by the Ecology Center. 548-3333. 

Container Gardening and Design with Gail Yelland at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Landscape Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

Mt. Wanda Wildflower Walk in the hills where John Muir took his daughters. Meet at 9 a.m. in the Park and Ride lot at the corner of Alhambra Ave. and Franklin Canyon Rd., Martinez. Wear walking shoes and bring water. 925-228-8860. 

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 UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

“And Still I Rise ...” A soul gathering and benefit for the people of New Orleans with music, poetry, dancing and film at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Donations $15 and up. 415-864-2321. 

Progressive Democrats of the East Bay meets to discuss clean money and electoral reform at 12:30 p.m. at Temescal Library, 5205 Telegraph. 636-4149. www.pdeastbay.org 

Arts and Crafts Cooperative Gallery Spring Seconds Sale from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sat. and Sun. at 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

East Bay Atheists Berkeley meets at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge, 3rd floor meeting room. We will watch a video of Sam Harris speaking on his book, “The End of Faith.” 222-7580. 

Kids Day at Studio Rasa from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. with movement, yoga and dance classes, at 933 Parker St. Cost is $10. 843-2787. www.studiorasa.org 

Free Craniosacral Self Care Techniques with Dr. Raleigh Duncan from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave.  

Protest Rally at Berkeley Honda Shattuck and Parker every Thurs. at 4:30 to 6 p.m. and Sat. from 1 to 2 p.m. until the labor dispute is settled.  

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 

Spirit Walking Aqua Chi (TM) A gentle water exercise class at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Cost is $3.50 per session. 526-0312. 

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, APRIL 2 

El Cerrito Historical Society with guest speaker Richard Schwartz on his new book “Earthquake Exodus, 1906” at 2 p.m. at the El Cerrito Senior Center, 6510 Stockton Ave., just behind the El Cerrito Library. www.elcerritowire.com/history 

97th Anniversary of Philip Temple CME Church, with a talk by Rev. Charles Haynes at 3 p.m. at 3233 Adeline St. 655-6527. 

Hands-On Bicycle Clinic on bicycle safety inspections from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Free. 527-4140. 

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 

“Are You Good Enough to be Published?” a workshop with Alan Rinzler at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph Ave. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Tibetan Buddhism with Bob Byrne on “Deepening Meditation” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com  

Ancient Tools for Successful Living at 10:30 a.m., and the following three Sun. in April at 5272 Foothill Blvd. at Fairfax, Oakland. Cost is $8-$20. 533-5306. 

MONDAY, APRIL 3 

United Nations Association Film Festival “Statement of Hope and Courage” at Pacific Film Archive, UC Campus. Tickets are $8-$10. 849-1752. unaeastbay@sbcglobal.net 

Green Business Discussion with green business leaders at 7 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Free. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

“Connect” To help connect transitional age youth to services and other experiential activities from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Lutheran Church of the Cross, 1744 University Ave., at McGee.  

“Healing from Sexual Abuse” with author Carolyn Lehman at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Book. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

“How to Expand Your Mind- Body Connection” at 5:30 pm. in the Rose Room at Mercy Retirement Center, 3431 Foothill Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $30 or $120 for the entire series. 534-8547, ext. 666. 

Introduction to Meditation at 6:45 p.m. at the Bay Zen Center, 315 Alcatraz near College Ave. Cost is $10. 596-3087. www.bayzen.org 

Sing-A-Long from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. 524-9122.  

Beginning Bridge Lessons at 11:10 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $1. 524-9122. 

McGee Avenue Toastmasters meets on the first and third Mondays of the month at 7:30 p.m. at McGee Ave Baptist Church, 1640 Stuart St. 501-7005. 

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. 

ONGOING 

Free Tax Help—United Way’s Earn it! Keep It! Save It! program provides free filing assistance to households that earned less than $38,000 in 2005. To find a free tax site near you, call 800-358-8832 or visit www.EarnitKeepitSaveit.org 

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour is seeking volunteers who will spend a morning or afternoon greeting tour participants and answering questions at the free native plant garden tour, featuring sixty-four gardens located throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties on Sunday, May 7, 2006. Volunteers can select the garden they would like to spend time at by visiting the “Preview the 2006 Gardens” section at www.BringingBackTheNatives.net 

Public Art Opportunities Request for Entries The City of Berkeley is looking for artists for the 2006 Civic Center Art Competition and Exhibition. Entries are due April 18. For details contact the Civic Arts Program, 981-7533. 

Artwork for the Corporation Yard Gates Request for Proposals Applications are due April 3. For details call the Civic Arts Program at 981-7533. 

Proposal for a Mural in Tribute to Maudelle Shirek in Old City Hall. Artists are requested to submit proposals by March 31. For details contact the Civic Arts Program, 981-7533. 

Albany Library Free Drop-in Homework Help for students in third through fifth grades, Mon. - Thurs. from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Emphasis is placed on math and writing skills. No registration is required. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Find a Loving Animal Companion at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society Adoption Center (open from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday). 2700 Ninth St. 845-7735. www.berkeleyhumane.org  

Medical Care for Your Pet at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society low-cost veterinary clinic. 2700 Ninth St. For appointments call 845-3633. www.berkeleyhumane.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Creeks Task Force meets Mon. April 3, at 7 p.m. the North Berkeley Senior Center. Erin Dando, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse/Creeks/default.html 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., April 3, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/peaceandjustice 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., April 5, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5190. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/women 

Planning Commission meets Wed., April 5, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., April 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/housing 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Thurs. April 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/landmarks 

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., April 6, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., April 6, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/zoning   

A couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail message from Susan Schwartz, president of Friends of Five Creeks, about a recent sighting: two pairs of steelhead that had followed Codornices Creek in from the Bay, as far upstream as Masonic Avenue, where they appeared to be attempting to spawn. 

They were good-sized fish, 24 inches long, with the classic silvery coloration of this ocean-going variety of rainbow trout. The females were trying to dig redds—depressions in the streambed—for their eggs. Unfortunately, concrete rubble, which is all the steelhead had to work with, is not the best substrate for spawning. But you have to give them credit for making the effort. 

Emma Gutzler, Restoration Coordinator for the Urban Creeks Council, was there with her videocamera, and you can see a short clip of the event on UCC’s web site (www.urbancreeks.org/steelheadCodornicesMar06.mpg), or on Friends of Five Creeks’ site (www.fivecreeks.org). 

Gutzler says this was the first documented sighting of spawning steelhead this far up Codornices. “Everybody knew we had resident rainbow trout there,” she says. 

But the largest trout recorded in a fish survey last fall were only nine inches long; the two-footers were definitely not there before the winter rains. They hung around for at least three days, after which a new bout of rain increased the turbidity of the creek and discouraged fishwatchers.  

What’s the difference between a steelhead and a regular rainbow? 

They belong to the same species, Oncorhynchus mykiss, but the taxonomy below the species level is fiendishly complicated. The basic distinction, though, is that steelhead, like their salmon relatives, spawn in freshwater and mature at sea. Fish that divide their time between fresh and salt water are called diadromous. Steelhead and 13 other California species, including sturgeon, striped bass, and some lampreys, are anadromous. 

Catadromous fish, like the eels of eastern North America and Europe, mature in streams and rivers and breed at sea—in the Sargasso Sea, in the case of the eels. California, as luck would have it, has none of these interesting and tasty fish. 

But we do have a half-dozen discrete populations of steelhead that are classified as evolutionarily significant units (ESUs, in conservation parlance). They’re all in the subspecies O. m. irideus, but each group is genetically distinctive enough to be treated separately for management purposes, although there’s apparently some gene flow among them. 

From north to south, steelhead ESUs have been described for the Klamath Mountains, the North Coast, the Central Valley, the Central Coast, the South/Central Coast, and the South Coast. Some of these populations are further divided into winter and summer runs, based on the timing of spawning. The steelhead in Codornices likely belonged to the Central Coast stock, all winter-spawners with an historic range from the Russian River to Aptos Creek in Santa Cruz County.  

Unlike Pacific salmon, steelhead may spawn more than once in their lives—up to four times if their luck holds. The mature males that accompany the females upstream meet competition from smaller precocial males called jacks that have spend only a few months at sea, and even smaller parr males that have never left their natal stream. 

The little guys, collectively known as sneakers, will try to fertilize the female’s eggs while the mature male guarding her is distracted. Schwartz and Gutzman said the steelhead in Codornices attracted smaller trout; they may have been sneakers, or they may have been looking for a snack. One fish’s progeny can be another’s protein. 

The whole steelhead-rainbow business is fraught with irony. Thanks to introductions, non-migratory rainbows are now found in previously troutless streams and lakes all over California, and on every continent except Antarctica. You can fish for rainbows in Hawaii, in Tasmania, on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion. But habitat loss—from urbanization, dams, diversions, flood control projects, agriculture—has brought the anadromous steelhead to the brink of extinction. 

The Central Coast population declined by 85 percent between 1960 and 1997, when it was finally listed as threatened by the National Marine Fisheries Service, and UC Davis biologist Peter Moyle says there must have been significant losses even before 1960 due to all the “insults to watersheds” over the previous 150 years. 

Creek activists have done heroic work in Codornices Creek and elsewhere to help the steelhead recover. As Schwartz says: “Nature will come back if we just open the door.”  

Volunteers have been restoring habitat along the creek for 15 years, and CALFED and the State Water Resources Control Board have funded a Codornices Creek Watershed Restoration Action Plan with steelhead in mind.  

It was something of a shock, then, when NMFS deleted Codornices and most of the Bay’s other tributaries from the critical habitat designated for the Central Coast steelhead last September. Only Alameda Creek made the final cut. 

UCC Executive Director Steve Donnelly responded to the proposed changes in March: “The conservation biology logic of wiping dozens of watersheds, including those which we have labored to revitalize over the past 20 years, from the scheme for recovering Central California Coast steelhead escapes us completely. When did ‘putting all your eggs in one basket’ make conservation biology sense?” 

The agency was unswayed. Its final rule described Codornices as having “low habitat quantity and quality, low restoration potential, no unique attributes, and small [steelhead] population size.” 

That also went for other East Bay streams, from Pinole to Suisun Bay, and for Sonoma and Marin watersheds. 

Critical habitat may be a moot issue if Richard Pombo’s hatchet job on the Endangered Species Act makes it through the Senate, of course. But it’s played a vital part in constraining destructive development on federal land, or where federal funding or permitting is involved.  

In any case, those steelhead didn’t know or care that the feds had written off their creek. It still smelled right to them. The door had been opened, and they came on in.  

›

TUESDAY, MARCH 28 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Tell it on Tuesday” Story- 

telling with Lauren Crux, Kate Frankle, and others at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $8-$12 sliding scale. www.juliamorgan.org 

Rosalind Wiseman gives parenting advice in “Queen Bee Moms & Kingpin Dads” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sw amp Coolers at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Larry Vuckovich, solo jazz piano at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Ellen Hoffman Trio and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Wa y. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

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

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 84 8-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29 

EXHIBITIONS 

Alex Rosmarin “Small Scale Compositions” Reception at 7 p.m. at Artbeat Salon and Gallery, 1887 Solano Ave. 527-3100. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Debra Dean introduces her new novel “The Madonnas of Leningrad” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

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. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music for the Spirit with Ron McKean on harpsichord at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra with Garrick Ohlsson, piano, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $10-$54. 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org 

Calvin Keys Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Blue Roots at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Five & Dime Jazz, The Great Auk at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

Orquestra Bakan at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Sol Spectrum at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Tret Fure at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

THURSDAY, MARCH 30 

FILM 

The Enchanting World of Jacques Demy “Lola” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berk eley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Tom Tomorrow introduces his first compilation of cartoons “Hell in a Handbasket: Dispatches From the Country Formerly Known as America” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Betty Lucas, life coach, in troduces “Many Roads to Love” at 7 p.m. at A Great Good Place for Books, 6120 La Salle Ave., Oakland, 339-8210.  

Word Beat Reading Series with Phillip Deitch and Susan Birkeland at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DAN CE 

Children’s Choral Festival at 12:30 p.m. at Regents’ Theater, Holy Names University. Free. 436-1234. 

Ladysmith Black Mambazo, music of Zulu mine and factory workers, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$46. 642-9988.  

Ellis Paul a t 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Adam Blankman and his Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Travis Jones & Friends at 7 p.m. at Caf fe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Michael Bluestein Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Selector with Black Edgars Musicbox at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

FRIDAY, MARCH 31 

THEATER 

Berkeley Rep “Culture Clash’s Zorro in Hell” at 8 p.m. in the Roda Theater. Tickets are $45-$59. Runs through April 16. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Masquers Playhouse “Relative Values” by Noel Coward. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through May 6. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

Shotgun Players “Bright Ideas” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. to April 23. Tickets are $15-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

FILM 

The Enchanting World of Jacques Demy “Bay of Angels” at 7 p.m. and “Model Shop” at 8:35 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mark Klett and Rebecca Solnit describe “After the Ruins, 1906 and 2006: Rephotographing the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire” at 7:30 p.m. a t Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Duamuxa, worker’s songs from the countryside to the factory, in celebration of Cesar Chavez’ birthday at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Jazz From Fi nland with drummer Andre Sumelius in trio with Jussi Kannaste, saxophone, and John Shifflet, bass, at 8 p.m. at Da Silva Ukulele Co., 2547 Eighth St. Donation $10. Sponsored by The Jazz House, 415-846-9432. 

Karen Wells, Madeline Prager, and John Burke per form Mozart, Brahms and Shostakovish at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $12. 848-1228. 

“Dangerous Beauty” Hip-hop, modern, African and jazz dance, with spoken word and rap performed by Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company at 7:30 p.m. at Malonga Casquelourde Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $6-$20. 597-1619. 

ACL/Nac1, underground hip hop, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

Hurricane Sam & The Hotshots at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Slammin’ with Keith Terry at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

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

Scott Amendola’s “Monk Trio” at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

The Ni Project at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcaf e.net 

Godstomper, Crime Desire, Bafabegiya at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

The Regiment at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SATURDAY, APRIL 1 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Inside Out” Detail i n Dress from 1850 to the Jazz Age opens at Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles, 2982 Adeline St. Open Mon.-Sat. noon to 6 p.m. 843-7178. 

“Cultural Encounters” travel photographs of Canada, China and Turkey by members of the Berkeley Camera Club. Reception at 1 p.m. at the San Pablo Arts Gallery, 13831 San Pablo Ave., San Pablo. 215-3204. 

“Aftershock! Voices from the 1906 Earthquake and Fire” with artifacts and photographs, opens at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

Pastels by Leslie Firestone at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave., through April 30. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

“Modulations of Light” color photographs by Sidney J.P. Hollister. Reception at 6 p.m. at Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St. 644-1400. www.photolabo ratory.com  

FILM 

The Enchanting World of Jacques Demy “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” at 6:30 p.m., “Jacquot” at 8:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Creating an Illustrated Field Guid e for the Sierra Nevada” with John (Jack) Muir Laws at 10:30 a.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

Sarah Waters introduces her novel “The Night Watch” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Bay Area Poets Coalition Open Reading at 3 p.m. at Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St. Park on street. 527-9905. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Novello Quartet celebrates Mozart’s 250th birthday at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St., between Durant and Bancroft. T ickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. 

Pacific Boychoir sings Bach at 7:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Oakland. Tickets are $15-$20. 452-4722. www.pacificboychoir.org 

“Dangerous Beauty” Hip-hop, modern, African and jazz dance, with spoken word and rap performed by Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company at 7:30 p.m. at Malonga Casquelourde Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $6-$20. 597-1619. 

New Praise Choir performs at the 97th Anniversary of the Pholip Temple CME Church at 5 p.m. at 3233 Adeline St. 655-6527. 

Duct Tape Mafia in a benefit for the Africa Educational Trust at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $10. For all ages. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Berkeley Broadway Singers “April in Paris” at 8 p.m. at St. Ambrose Church, 1145 Gilman St. at Cornell. Free, donations appreciated. 604-5732. 

The Mixers, classic rock, ska/reggae, blues, at 10 p.m. at The Ivy Room, 858 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $7. 524-9220. www.ivyroom.com 

Eddie Palmieri and His Septet at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall , UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

The Venezuelan Music Project at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Tickets are $12-$14. 849-2568. www.lapena.org  

Mad and Eddie Duran Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

The Edlos. a capella, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Braziu at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10-$12. 548-1159.  

Grapefruit Ed with Pickin Trix at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Ravines, folk rock, at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

The D Sides and Cowpokes for Peace at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

The People, Blue Bone Express at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Jewdriver, Until the Fall, The Shemps at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Mel Sharpe’s Big Money in Gumbo Band at 8 p.m. at An na’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

SUNDAY, APRIL 2 

CHILDREN  

“Eggstravaganza” Celebrate spring with an egg decorating contest, egg games and activities from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10 th and Oak St. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Jeanne Dunning “Study After Untitled” Guided tour at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 642-0808. 

FILM 

The Enchanting World of Jacques Demy “the Young Girls of Rochefort” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archiv e. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Houses and Housings: Portability in Jewish Faith and Culture” with Henry Shreibman in conjunction with the current exhibit at the Magnes Museum, at 2 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

“Tails of Devotion: A Look at the Bond Between People and Their Pets” at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

BUSD Performing Arts Showcase from 1 to 4 p.m. at Berkeley Community Theater, Allston Way between MLK an d Milvia. 644-8772. 

Golden Gate Boys Choir and Bellringers at 4 p.m. at St. Ambrose Church, 1145 Gilman St. at Cornell. Tickets are $5-$10. 887-4311. www.ggbc.org 

San Francisco City Chorus performs Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” at 3 p.m. at First COngregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $13-$20. 415-701-7664. www.sfcitychorus.org 

Sor Ensemble performs chamber music by Shostakovich at 4 p.m. at the Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. at Sacramento. Tickets are $12, free for children. www.crowden.org 

San Francisco Choral Artists “Wisdom of the Ages: Sages and Seers” at 4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $18-$25. 415-979-5779. www.sfca.org 

Berkeley Broadway Singers “April in Paris” at 4 p.m. at St. Augustine’s Church, 400 Alcatraz Ave. between College and Telegraph. Free, donations appreciated. 604-5732. 

Leslie Hassberg sings Women Singer-Songwriters of the 60s and 70s, at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. Cost is $12-$15.  

“Dangerous Beauty” Hip-hop, modern, African and jazz dance, with spoken word and rap performed by Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company at 3 p.m. at Malonga Casquelourde Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets a re $6-$20. 597-1619. 

Brentano String Quartet, with Hsin-Yun Huang, viola, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Pre-concert talk with Mark Steinberg at 2 p.m. Tickets are $42, available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Twang Cafe, americana, at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

Bandworks from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. with 17 youth bands at 6 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Houston Jones at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nom adcafe.net 

Vocal Sauce at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Pierre Bensuan, French-Algerian guitar, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $21.50-$22.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Va riety Show with Raum, Ula, a shadow puppet show and short films at 3 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $4. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, APRIL 3 

THEATER 

Shotgun Theater Lab: muwumpin presents “Frankie & J ohnny” Mon. and Tues. to April 18 at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $10. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

FILM 

United Nations Association Film Festival “Statement of Hope and Courage” at Pacific Film Archive, UC Campus. Tickets are $8-$10. 849-1752. 

“Stupid Cupid” at 9:30 p.m. at the Parkway Theater in Oakland. Director Chris Housh and several cast members will be present. Cost is $5. 593-9069. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Actors Reading Writers, short stories by Penelope Lively and W. So merset Maugham at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Free. 

Poetry Express with KC Frogge and guest Frank Anthony at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Contemporary Ch amber Players at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $3-$7. 642-4864. 

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

Zilberella Monday at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

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“We’re free and clear, Willy. Did you hear me? Free and clear!” 

“The problem with most productions of Death of a Salesman,” opined a theater-savvy friend, “is that it’s become an instant American classic—just add water and stir! With all those expectations of immediate gratification, there’s not much room to maneuver.” 

On my way into the Altarena Playhouse’s intimate theater, I saw the setup was for in-the-round . . . a tough way to present a show that’s all over the map, in a different sense. Another challenge to maneuvering: half the audience always at your back. 

If there’s something that typifies most productions of Arthur Miller’s most famous play, it’s either slippage—a lack of focus—or too much focus, exclusively on the lead role, or on some social or psychological conception of What It All Means, leaving out the rest of this problematic text that’s at once intimate and sprawling. 

“Miller almost titled this enduring play—In His Head—and that is where I hope to take you this evening,” writes director Sue Trigg in her program notes, “into the inner workings . . . of his lost hopes, his delusions and a family that has to lie to live up to both . . . to avoid being labeled by society as failures.” 

Most productions are thick with an emotional haze emanating from brooding characters: an off-balance suicidal Willy, unwittingly playing the sycophant, the martinet, the fool, and Biff, his Golden Boy gone bad, simmmering with resentment, on the verge of his next explosion.  

Perhaps because of her background of training at LAMDA, one of Britain’s finest theater schools, director Trigg dwells less on the psycho-sociological backstory than on the very rapid changes the script demands of an ensemble working closely together, in tight, almost musical timing. 

Willy’s constant reveries are immediately juxtaposed with the rather banal events that lead up to the climax of his tragedy—of obsolescence and self-deception, of wanting to be loved, for any reason or none at all. It was Miller’s innovation, a dramatic movement that is less cinematic than an adaptation of the techniques of storytelling he mastered as a scriptwriter for radio. 

The Altarena players perfectly articulate these often lightning-fast changes of mood and tone, and even, seemingly, narrative direction, and the rest falls into place. It’s the most coherent production of Death of a Salesman I can remember seeing—and one of the few that leaves room for the contrapuntal humor and irony necessary to make the play qualify for what it is always claimed to be: a tragic play. 

There’s a great deal that’s problematic, as well as brilliant, about Miller’s masterpiece: the utter banality of the lives portrayed and the manner in which Miller often portrays them, which seems at times to contradict the lofty claims made for it as a stage complement of that elusive creature, the Great American Novel. 

There’s also a good deal of explaining that salts the raw tableaux of personal, professional and familial dysfunctionality. Orson Welles once complained that Miller wrote like a moralizing professor. Indeed, many productions telegraph a certain fussiness of mounting, or a sense of grim solemnity, of admiration of a verdigris-stained monument that stands for self-evident truths.  

The Altarena production is both refreshing and thought-provoking. Images and perceptions loom out of the web of complicated interchanges as if they’re new and previously unperceived. It’s the true representation of a complex set of relationships—that of a man who’s failing, of a family fallen apart—and of a society pushing on, while pushing off its stragglers. 

The cast of 13 acquits itself very well, especially its principals. Chris Chapman is a Willy whose moods have come loose and can turn on a dime to show his wandering mind. Chris Ratti’s Biff is more hang-dog, self-deprecating and even whimsical than resentful, making his explosiveness more telling. 

David Koppel is a sanguine Happy, the “philandering bum” of a brother, always supportive and in denial. Koppel, the sole Equity actor in the cast, provides solid support in a crucial role. The brothers must play themselves as teenagers in Willy’s wayward recollections, and do so very well. Elinor Bell is admirable as Linda, the wife and mother of the Loman clan, a role that’s difficult, demanding great discretion. 

Stephen Steiner gives Willy’s neighbor, foil, and benefactor Charlie a light touch. Charlie and his son, Bernard (hazed by the Loman boys; well-portrayed by Eric O’Kelly), are the only two characters who are both successful and decent, as well as sympathetic and insightful.  

And Jonathan Ferro does justice to Willy’s boss, scion of the company’s founder, Howard Wagner, often portrayed as a nouveau-riche buffoon but here more as thoughtless, self-absorbed, and unable to handle Willy’s troubles and capriciousness. As Willy’s fabled brother and “super-ego” Ben, Steve Schwartz is ideal, an insouciant and prepossessingly self-dramatizing apparition. 

Willy’s constant clutching at Ben, begging him to stay and talk of their father, whom Willy barely recalls, only results in the “news” that he played flute, which Yahui Cathy Yang performs as well, linking and shading the tumbling vignettes in this rapidly shifting tragedy of the disparity between what’s outside and within. Death of a Salesman is playing its final two weekends on High Street, on the island of Alameda—a fine tribute to Arthur Miller, following his death last year. 

For more information, see www.altarena.org or call 523-1553.

The Bush-Cheney regime may represent a radical break with this nation’s traditions in many areas, but in making torture a central weapon in its “war on terror,” the current administration is simply building on a body of theory and practice that goes back more than half a century. 

That, at least, is the conclusion suggested by two new books on the modern history of American torture. 

A Question of Torture, by historian Alfred W. McCoy, traces the influence of “mind control” research conducted by and for the CIA in the 1950s in shaping the interrogation techniques used by American agents and allies ever since. 

Truth, Torture, and the American Way, by lawyer and human-rights advocate Jennifer K. Harbury, highlights parallels in the practices of U.S. government operatives and their local “assets” in the current conflict and in the civil wars that wracked Central America in the 1980s and early 1990s. 

While both books summarize the Bush administration’s record of brutality toward detainees, neither author offers new revelations in this area. As McCoy puts it, “There is no longer any need, well into the war on terror, to ask whether the United States has engaged in the systematic torture of suspected terrorists.” 

(If you are not already acquainted with the evidence, the best source remains Mark Danner’s 2004 compendium, Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror, supplemented by the new evidence that appear regularly on the Web sites of such organizations as Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, Amnesty International, and the American Civil Liberties Union.) 

The heart of McCoy’s book is his account of what he calls “a veritable Manhattan Project of the mind” coordinated by the CIA and carried out by behavioral scientists at leading universities and hospitals in the years 1950-1962. Some of the most lurid aspects of this research—such as the government’s experiments with LSD as a truth serum—have been reported before. 

But previous accounts have paid little attention to the real fruits of the program: the CIA and its academic front men made two discoveries that soon became the basis of the U.S. approach to the handling of enemy captives. The first was the devastating effect on the human personality of sensory disorientation, implemented through simple tools such as hoods, bright lights, and loud music. 

The second was the power of pain caused simply by forcing prisoners into unnatural positions for long periods of time. (McCoy and his sources call this “self-inflicted pain,” though I find that term misleading.) 

Together, the author argues, these discoveries amounted to “a major scientific turning point … the first real revolution in the cruel science of pain in more than three centuries.” 

Practically, they provided the conceptual foundation for a new approach he sums up as “psychological torture”—a way of delivering “a hammer-blow to the fundamentals of personal identity,” as he puts it, without breaking bones or spilling blood. 

CIA operatives translated these scientific insights into a set of procedures elaborated in a 1963 CIA manual, which in turn served as the basis for textbooks used later in CIA and U.S. military programs—including the infamous School of the Americas—where friendly locals from around the world were taught the techniques of counterinsurgency. 

In one of the most interesting sections of the book, McCoy shows that even as the U.S. government adopted a series of treaties and laws ostensibly outlawing torture, presidents from Reagan to Clinton insisted on language and “reservations” designed to provide subtle legal cover for the CIA-discovered approach. And as even a casual glance at accounts emerging from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo suggests, these techniques have emerged in the 21st century as essential components in the George W. Bush administration’s handling of detainees. 

At times McCoy leans so heavily on his thesis that he seems to imply that “no-touch” torture has completely replaced physical pain in the American interrogators’ arsenal. He admits, however—and supplies plenty of confirming evidence from Vietnam, the Philippines, Latin America, and now Afghanistan and Iraq—that “under actual field conditions, the CIA’s psychological paradigm … was often supplemented by conventional physical tactics,” such as beating, burning, and electric shock. 

“With the physical thus compounding the psychological,” he writes in a passage that perhaps undermines his argument but matches the facts at hand, “medieval and modern methods sometimes seemed indistinguishable.” 

That’s an analysis I’m sure Harbury would accept. Compared to McCoy’s, her book is based less on documentary sources and more on the testimony of victims, and in the picture that emerges, there’s no doubt that old-fashioned physical torture plays a central role. 

Perhaps that’s because most of her examples come from Central America’s “dirty wars,” which make the current conflict look like a Sunday-school picnic. (Some 200,000 people were murdered or forcibly “disappeared” in Guatemala alone.) 

There’s plenty of evidence, though, that physical abuse has also been a common feature in the war on terror, even though the documented beatings and killings seem to have had less impact on American public opinion than the sexual humiliation practiced by Lynndie England and her friends. 

(Neither Harbury nor McCoy has much to say about the sexual dynamics that figure so centrally in the modern history of torture, nor about the ways the CIA—with help from Israel—has tried to “refine” its techniques to take advantage of specifically Muslim cultural sensitivities.) 

Many of the stories Harbury tells—including those of her late husband Everardo, a Guatemalan resistance leader kidnapped, tortured, and finally murdered by a team whose leader was on the CIA payroll, and of Sister Dianna Ortiz, a United States-born nun gang-raped and burned in 111 places—have been told before, including in Harbury’s previous books. But these horrifying reports—and the dozen other individual stories told in less detail here—bear retelling for the light they shed on the current situation, especially because nearly all the victims have testified that North Americans were directly involved in their ordeals. 

A Harvard-trained lawyer, Harbury also includes a useful summary of U.S. and international law on torture. On the one hand, she demonstrates the breadth and depth of legal strictures against the practice; on the other hand, she outlines the loopholes that have long ensured the CIA “de facto impunity for crimes against humanity.” 

Both Harbury and McCoy end their books with chapters making the case, in effect, that torture “doesn’t pay.” For one thing, they argue, history shows that it rarely produces useful information. Both authors devote special attention to demolishing the “ticking bomb” argument—the contention, regularly advanced by torture proponents (from Harvard’s Alan Dershowitz to Fox’s “24”) that it’s an effective and even necessary answer to terrorism. 

Both authors also remind us of torture’s many costs: its lasting physical and psychological effects on victims and their families, its corrupting influence on the men and women who carry it out, and the corrosive cultural effects it tends to have on the societies that experience it. On this score evidence McCoy presents from the Philippines is every bit as wrenching as Harbury’s from Central America. 

Neither author offers any advice on building a movement to force our government to abandon torture. All they do is give us a better appreciation of what we’re up against. The rest is up to us. 

Henry Norr was arrested in San Francisco on March 20 for taking part in civil disobedience, organized by a new Bay Area group called Act Against Torture (www.actagainsttorture.org), to protest torture, indefinite detention, and the war in Iraq. 

A QUESTION OF TORTURE: CIA Interrogation from the Cold War to the War on Terror 

By Alfred W. McCoy 

Metropolitan Books, 292 pages, $25 

TRUTH, TORTURE, AND THE AMERICAN WAY: The History and Consequences of U.S. Involvement in Torture 

By Jennifer K. Harbury 

Beacon Press, 227 pages, $14

Frederick Crews’ latest book, Follies of the Wise: Dissenting Essays, will be published next week by Shoemaker & Hoard. 

Crews joined the UC Berkeley English Department in 1958 and retired as its chair in 1994. In the mid-’60s he shared the widespread ass umption that Freudian psychoanalytic theory was a valid account of human motivation, and he was one of the first academics to apply that theory systematically to the study of literature. 

But he soon developed misgivings, and he gradually came to regard F reudianism as a seductive pseudoscience that manufactures the “evidence” it purports to explain.  

Crews has continued to advance that point of view for several decades now, but it was his 1993 essay “The Unknown Freud,” triggering the most intense and voluminous controversy ever seen in the New York Review of Books, that made his name a household word. But he was already briefly famous in 1963 for his bestselling satire The Pooh Perplex, and a generation of students in the ‘70s and ‘80s, including many at Berkeley, knew him from his witty composition text The Random House Handbook. 

Crews’ change of heart about psychoanalysis convinced him that his loyalty shouldn’t belong to any theory but rather to empirical standards and the skeptical point of view. In the past dozen years he has brought that attitude to the study of various public enthusiasms, from the recovered memory craze, Rorschach tests, and belief in alien abductions to theosophy and “intelligent design” creationism. These, along with psychoan alysis in its latest guises, are among the Follies of the Wise skewered in his new collection of essays. 

Crews is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In Berkeley, he won a Distinguished Teaching Award and was named a Faculty Research L ecturer. On retiring, he was given the Berkeley Citation, and just recently he has been honored as a Berkeley Fellow. He lives in Berkeley with his wife of 46 years, Elizabeth Crews, a photographer who was born and raised here. They have two daughters and four grandchildren—some as close as El Cerrito, others as distant as Mexico. 

Crews is an avid skier, hiker, swimmer, motorcyclist, and runner who continues to compete in road races at age 73. 

Jake Fuchs: The essays collected in your new book discuss a wide assortment of “follies.” You bring to all these a skepticism that those who enjoy your work consider both acute and fair. Your detractors might prefer the adjectives “grouchy” and “obsessed.” There some particular urgency about these various topics, some of which seem pretty silly, that makes them worth your trouble and the attention of your readers? 

Frederick Crews: I don’t have any agenda when it comes to topics. Some get suggested by editors, others by people who send me books that might appeal t o my disposition. When I do lock onto a theme, I usually find that, however strange the beliefs in question may be, there are sophisticated academics who “fellow travel” with them for turf-conscious reasons of their own. That’s what really engages me: the abdication of common sense by people who have been given every opportunity to educate themselves in rational principles, but who consider rationality itself to be old hat. 

JF: One conclusion that can be drawn from your book is that it’s hard to keep a w ise folly down. Freud, for example, still matters to millions, despite decades of sharp criticism. And creationism, you suggest in one essay, is thriving after receiving the cosmetic treatment known as intelligent design. Do you think any real progress ha s been made in helping people to ... well, think? 

FC: Many of my fellow skeptics are utopians who look forward to a heaven-on-earth from which all illusions have been banished. My hunch, on the contrary, is that we’re heading into a world of economic and demographic dislocations, strife over dwindling natural resources, increased superstition and sectarian conflict, and vulnerability to horrendous catastrophes, some of which will be our own fault. I’m embarrassed for my species, which has made a great me ss but can’t seem to take responsibility for the enormous destruction that’s already well under way. But while I’m still here, I’d like to continue to speak up for values that I regard as universally human and “planetary.” 

JF: Let’s go into your past a b it and perhaps relate it to the present. In Follies of the Wise, you describe yourself as having been an “antiwar spokesman” during the Vietnam era. Were you a radical? Any misgivings about your activities then? Do you think they may have had a part in le ading your university or the academy in general down unfortunate paths? 

FC: Circa 1968, I was co-chair of Berkeley’s Faculty Peace Committee, and my advocacy of draft resistance made me susceptible to the same prosecution that was brought against Dr. Spo ck. We were both on the masthead of a militant organization called “Resist.” But I was a minor figure, nationally, and was accordingly left to speechify without hindrance.  

Yes, I thought of myself as a radical in the ‘60s, but when even moderate Republicans joined the antiwar cause around 1970, I felt that my activism wasn’t needed anymore. Since then I’ve been a garden-variety liberal, with no advice to offer except, of course, the obvious suggestion that “wars of choice” are stupid and profoundly un-American.  

I did worry, in the ‘60s, about advocating draft resistance when I myself was beyond draft age—but 55,000 Americans and about a million Vietnamese were being slaughtered for no reason, so some scruples had to be overridden. As for the universi ties and UCB in particular, I always opposed academic disruption and violence. In fact, that’s exactly where I parted company with the New Left. 

JF: More recently, I’ve heard you characterized in academic circles as a right-winger. Any comment? 

FC: That perception is a by-product of the “theory wars” that brought us deconstruction, poststructuralism, and the newer forms of psychoanalysis. By warning, right away, that those movements were anti-empirical, I marked myself in some circles as an opponent of the political causes that the gurus of “theory” imagined they were serving. Only now are some of their successors beginning to realize that when you disrespect evidence and reason, you render yourself politically irrelevant–indeed, ridiculous. And you also become incapable of responding to those who disagree with you except by name calling. 

JF: You began your career as a literary scholar; then, as a writer, if not as a teacher, you moved into other fields. However, the two most recent essays in Follies of the Wise are about Kafka and Melville and the criticism concerning them. Does this mark a return to your primal academic scene?  

FC: Both of those literary subjects were proposed by the New York Review. By now I do feel more comfortable analyzing trends and movements than trying to say something new about classic authors. The amount of reading that needs to be done for each new project is daunting. But I don’t agree that my “other fields” stand altogether apart from literary criticism. The so-called interdisciplinarity of academic criticism from the seventies until now has been shallow and vapid. Thus, when I continue to write about the circular nature of, say, Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, I’m not turning my back on the literature departments but trying to show them how they’ve strayed from the ground rules of sincere investigation. Literary study is in broad disrepute now, and I’m trying to put my finger on the reason. 

JF: Let’s talk about your athletic endeavors. You’ve had 25 first-place finis hes in races since turning 70. How do you account for that? 

FC: It’s longevity, not talent. The other mobile septuagenarians tend not to show up, and when they do, some of them wander off the course. 

JF: And the motorcycle? Isn’t it getting to be time to dismount for good? 

FC: I ride for one reason only, to find parking spaces in Berkeley. But it’s also a source of amusement, because, with my helmet on, I’m completely invisible to my academic colleagues. There is something very satisfying about that.  

FOLLIES OF THE WISE:  

DISSENTING ESSAYS 

By Frederick Crews 

Shoemaker & Hoard, 416 pages, $26 

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In the 1950s, Albert Camus famously wrote, “There is but one truly philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.”  

The answer to this question, he admitted, changes constantly throughout life, depending on what is happening to a person. Such as? Even traumatic suffering —physical (pain of terminal illness), psychological (discrimination and persecution), or economic (hunger and homelessness)—doesn’t necessarily lead to suicide. Nevertheless, fiction tends to stick to these immediate triggers rather than to tackle any broad philosophical speculation.  

Suicide to end physical suffering or to achieve what we now call “death with dignity” seldom occurs in fiction. The only example I can think of is the syphilitic son in Ibsen’s Ghosts, who demands that his mother help him die before he sinks into dementia. The more frequent cause is psychic shock, as when Ophelia’s lover rejects her, then kills her father. 

Classic literature and drama, fantasizing historical figures, emphasized suicide for honor. The great general fell on his sword, cheating his victorious enemy of the opportunity to torture and dismember him, then festoon the town gates with his body parts. Slightly lesser people might also choose a suicide of honor, like the wife in Shakespeare’s poem “The Rape of Lucretia,” whose suicide regains both her and her husband’s honor.  

The suicide of remorse seems more human, though sometimes it is corrupted by petty emotions like plain old jealousy. Shakespeare’s Othello, declaiming “Say that I loved, not wisely, but too well,” sounds like the despairing drunk on the late-night news who shoots his ex-wife, his children, and himself “because I love her.” Contrast that with the pitiable suicide of Lady Macbeth, tortured by her role in turning her husband into a killing machine. 

Arthur Miller’s All My Sons gave us an even broader example of suicidal remorse, in the factory owner who faces up to the fact that his profiteering on making faulty parts caused the death of untold numbers of soldiers, and, indirectly, that of his own son. One suicide in modern fiction takes the remorse of an innocent ordinary person to a level worthy of the great Greek tragedies. 

In William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice, Sophie accompanies her mad lover into suicide as the only way to atone for the sin she committed—against her will—in the Nazi death camp. 

Fictional suicide also recognizes the more common tribulations of ordinary, middle-class people. Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Flaubert’s Emma Bovary, and Kate Chopin’s Edna Pontellier (The Awakening) were three well-married women, who, having won the best place open to them, struggled to get out of it. Yet, each stepped off the narrow path of conformity only to find herself on the edge of an abyss she could not bridge. Ditto for Edith Wharton’s Lily Bart (House of Mirth), who defeats her own best efforts even to achieve a rich, unhappy marriage. Their solutions?—a speeding train, arsenic, a late-night swim seaward, an overdose. 

When I first read these four novels, I was impatient with these women. I wanted them to live up to their aspirations, shape up, hang in there, march “to the beat of a different drummer” on “the road less taken.” And so on. In other words—I was young. 

Some 20th century fiction gives us the suicide of honor as understood (and misunderstood) by more humble characters. One of these is the suicide of Little Jude Fawley, the son of Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure. Jude, the father, doesn’t even know of his son’s existence until Jude Jr. lands (from Australia) on Jude and Susan’s doorstep. After Little Jude’s arrival, Susan gives birth to two more children, while the family sinks deeper and deeper into poverty, to the very edge of homelessness. 

When Jude learns that Susan is pregnant yet again, he is astonished at these hapless adults, who don’t seem to know any more than he does about how or why they keep acquiring more mouths to feed. But he loves them, and wants them to survive, so he “solves” their problem by killing the two infants and himself, because, as his suicide note says, “we were too many.” 

When I first read Jude the Obscure I experienced a shock of recognition. All his life, my father (who never read novels) told, over and over again, the story of his arrival with his mother from Italy to join the father he hardly remembered, in a rocky mountain mining town that was worse than what they had left. Less than a year after his arrival, he came home from school one day to find his mother lying in bed with a new-born infant. 

My father burst into tears of outrage and despair: “We don’t even have enough to eat, and you go out and buy a baby!” In all the critical and psychological writings on the “pathology” of “strange” Little Jude, I have never read anything about the trauma suffered‚ throughout history, world-wide—by countless impoverished children, battered by irrational forces of nature and socio/economic abuses that no one can or will explain to them. 

Another obscure immigrant is the middle-aged father of Willa Cather’s My Antonia. In Bohemia, Mr. Shimerda had been a respected artisan, a reader, a musician, an honorable, amiable man who not only married the coarse, mean servant girl he had impregnated (instead of just paying her off, as she and everyone else would have preferred) but allowed her to nag him into going to America where their children (three or four of them by then) might have better chances. In a sod hut on the bleak plains of Nebraska, Mr. Shimerda’s violin sits mute in its case. 

No one has any use for his music or his craftsman skills or his love of poetry, and he has neither the skills nor the capital for farming. He has nothing but his beloved daughter. Antonía combines the physical endurance of her mother with the sensitivity of her father; she might just make it in this raw, unforgiving country—if no useless burden weighs her down. As the second ruthless Nebraska winter closes in on them, he cleans and dresses himself for burial, then quietly goes out to the barn and shoots himself. 

Mr. Shimerda’s death punctures the myth of the hardy pioneer, heroically taming the land, while incidentally driving out or killing indigenous people. His is the bitter reality for many in the masses of poor castoffs who made up the second wave (1840-1920) from Europe, the simultaneous waves from Asia—and far too many in the repeated waves that continue to cross and recross our southern border.  

Unlike the death of Little Jude, Mr. Shimerda’s suicide succeeds as a heroic sacrifice. In later years, as Antonía endures and prospers, she feels “closer to him, all the time” inspired by the spirit of her father—not hindered by the burden of this loving but depressed, displaced parent. But, if Shimerda’s suicide is Antonía’s gain, Cather seems to say, his death is our incalculable loss—how to measure the cost to a country that, until very recently had little use for a poor immigrant who played the violin but couldn’t last three hours behind a horse-driven plow? (My grandfather, I was told, had a fine singing voice and played many instruments, but I never heard them; by the time I was born, all music in him had been suffocated by silicosis.) 

I searched my memory in vain for a “suicide bomber” in fiction, a character who chooses death as part of what s/he believes is a purposeful social, political, or religious act of violence—an “honorable” murder/suicide. Even the martyrs in our religious myths are non-violent. (Samson? By the time he pulled down the Philistine temple, he didn’t have much of a life to throw away.) 

Maybe I was being too literal about protest suicide? An act of violence committed by a character who has about a 2 percent chance of escaping alive is actually a protest suicide. Richard Wright’s Bigger Thomas (Native Son) may not know consciously that his murder of a white woman is a murder/suicide protest against racism, but Wright made sure that we readers know it. 

Russell Banks’ fictionalized John Brown (Cloudsplitter) challenges the standard image of Brown as a madman and forces us to ask ourselves, who is mad, the people who find slave-owning tolerable, or the man driven to become a violent, live-or-die instrument of God’s judgment on this horror? 

Getting back to Camus, his play The Just Assassins gives us a young ill-suited would-be assassin of the Russian Tsar. He and his idealistic allies know that none of them are unlikely to survive this “just” and “necessary” act. And, speaking of pre-revolutionary Russia, the novels of Turgenev (Fathers and Sons, Rudin, On the Eve, Virgin Soil) give us portraits of suicide-bombers-in-the-making, who come close to a profile of present-day suicide bombers. 

According to non-fiction being written about these people, they are young, highly educated, accomplished members of the privileged classes; the women among them often have been gang-raped by foreign occupiers. Some are Arabs born in Europe, who feel segregated, shut out of positions equal to their training. The word “honor” occurs frequently in their suicide notes to family (as it did in notes by Japanese Kamikaze pilots during World War II).  

In other words, they resemble the ancient literary tradition of suicide by members of the leadership class, to retain or regain honor against a foreign enemy—like the defeated general or the violated Lucretia. They are educated and idealistic like Camus’ home-grown Just Assassins and our own American Weathermen of the 1960-70s. However, unlike those privileged white Americans (whose idealism held a component of deluded arrogance), these mostly non-western terrorists feel humiliated, dominated, and despised by an alien people, as Wright’s Bigger Thomas did. 

Somewhere, some fiction writer is probing the souls of these current suicidal warriors, stripping away layers of stereotype to show us a deeper reality than we can get in the horrors of the daily news. Maybe someone like Camus, who, while he completely rejected revolutionary violence (incurring the wrath of Sartre and the intellectual French Left) managed to portray the complete humanity and self-sacrificial “honor” of his “Just Assassins.” 

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