BOSTON—Global Exchange executive director and Code Pink activist Medea Benjamin was forcibly removed from the floor of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) Tuesday night after unfurling a “Code Pink, End the Occupation of Iraq” banner right within several feet of the 502-member California delegation. In the end, it took three Boston police officers and eight plain-clothes security people to remove Benjamin. Three reporters with notebooks and a television camera were near her when the incident occurred a few minutes after 10 p.m. Tuesday.  

The good old fashioned Bay Area style guerrilla action took place inside the Fleet Center, the site of this year’s elaborately stage-managed Democratic convention, where each official event was highly scripted, often with carefully selected visuals. Before Tuesday night there were virtually no reported incidents of dissent inside the convention hall. Standing about 10 feet away, this reporter got a clear view of Benjamin’s protest and watched party officials scramble among themselves to explain how Benjamin got to the convention floor in the first place. 

As the action unfolded, Teresa Heinz Kerry was on stage speaking. “My right to speak my mind, to have a voice, to be what some have called ‘opinionated,’ is a right I deeply and profoundly cherish,” she said to loud applause. “My only hope is that, one day soon, women who have all earned the right to their opinions, instead of being labeled opinionated, will be called smart, or well-informed, just as men are.” And it was about at this moment that Benjamin began shouting, “What about the war? No war in Iraq! Bring the troops home.”  

Within minutes, an officer arrived on the scene and said to no one in particular, “She’s got the proper ID, what do we want to do with her?” Benjamin’s banner was unfurled in full view of conventioneers of the Colorado delegation and part of the California contingent. She turned around and held it high towards the stage, about 100 feet away, so that it could be within Heinz Kerry’s view. She wore a “Code Pink” head scarf, and scattered pink scarves could now be seen on others in the hall as well. Momentary uncertainty prevailed. Suddenly a party official was heard on the telephone asking for help: “What should we do? Take her off the floor? Surround her with signs?” Then he yelled to other party officials, “Surround her with signs, surround her with signs!” Almost immediately 10 or 12 arms appeared holding Teresa Heinz Kerry signs all around Benjamin. Another security guard, unaware of what was happening, yelled to clear the aisle. Benjamin’s banner was once again in full view as more uniformed police arrived on the scene.  

They questioned her and saw she had the proper floor pass. Visibly perplexed, the officers received orders from one of the plain-clothes security guards: “Get her off the floor, gotta get her off the floor.” This reporter, other reporters and convention-goers were physically shoved and pushed out of the way as the security guards made their way towards Benjamin. But she would not budge at first. As she was grabbed by the police chants of “Let her go! Let her go!” arose and then died quickly, chanters hushed by other Democrats present.  

The momentum of this small security force carried her out a side exit and away from the view of this reporter. As other reporters tried to pursue through the dense crowd, a wall of five security guards was quickly formed, effectively cutting off access to that exit of the arena. Later, when asked about Benjamin’s one-woman demonstration, a police officer denied knowing anything about it, and also would not divulge who was actually in charge of floor security at the time Benjamin was taken away, if in fact he knew.  

The incident is more than a little bit ironic, given that it came during a Heinz Kerry speech in which she advocated a well received notion that women should not be afraid or intimidated in speaking their minds. Later in her speech, after Benjamin was gone, Heinz-Kerry, perhaps unaware of the entire episode, said that “…as president, my husband will not fear disagreement or dissent. He believes that our voices, yours and mine, must be the voices of freedom.” 

Late Wednesday afternoon, Benjamin was in good spirits. She was not arrested, but simply thrown out of the arena. She said of it all, “Why are the Democrats clamping down on free speech? The biggest issue of our country (the war) is not being talked about,” she declared. “Kerry and the Democrats need to energize their base by presenting alternatives to Bush’s war.” Benjamin said she would seek to return to the convention floor Wednesday night.  

In an interview last Sunday, when asked about the plans of non-violent direct action practitioners like herself, Benjamin said, “We are not seeking confrontation, we are seeking our First Amendment rights.” Were people planning on getting arrested? “People I know are not trying to get arrested,” she said at the time. “We walk a fine line between understanding Kerry is the only one who can defeat Bush, but not giving Kerry a free ride.” P

Only months after electing a new Local Station Board, Berkeley’s KPFA radio station is again facing heated internal debate reminiscent of that which consumed the station back in 1999. 

According to some employees the issue has been festering for months, but it became public after a long list of paid and unpaid staff members sent an open letter to the Local Station Board (LSB) detailing their concerns about the board. In the letter, staffers allege that LSB infighting has “spilled over into attacking KPFA staff to such a degree that the workplace is rife with fear, anger, compromised productivity and the lowest morale since 1999.” 

The LSB was originally devised to prevent a re-run of what protesters called an attempt by Pacifica (the non-profit that oversees KPFA and its affiliate stations) to mainstream the station. But since its inception, said signers, the LSB has only made things worse.  

Specific allegations in the letter include: 

• “Some staff on the payroll prior to 1999 have been accused of being saboteurs from former Pacifica Executive Director Pat Scott’s regime who continue to block progress and continue in taking down the station…” 

• “The LSB chair [Riva Enteen] asked that a now-resolved internal staff issue be broadcast far and wide to the public via e-mail, even though it was a personal and union matter beyond the purview of the LSB.” 

• The LSB chair [Riva Enteen] referred to the KPFA general manager [Jim Bennett] as the “kiss of death,” as part of her criticism of his “ineptness at fundraising.” 

• Some members of the LSB have sought to cut music programming even though “the LSB does not have a mandate to make programming decisions.” 

The signers interviewed say their biggest concern is that when examined, the problems all seem to point to an attempt by the LSB to micro-manage, something they say the LSB swore up and down they wouldn’t do when they ran for their seats.  

In the letter, signers said they do not blame the problems on every single person on the board and said there are those who are trying to find a reasonable solution.  

“These people ran on their various campaign platforms not to micro-manage, but [instead] to foster a spirit of collaboration and to have respect for all who work at KPFA,” said Susan Stone, the director of the Arts and Humanities department and one of the people who signed the letter. 

When asked if the issue had turned into a power struggle, one signer who wished to remain anonymous said, “I wouldn’t put it exactly that way.” He then added, “But I don’t know if [board members] fully understand their position on the board.” 

“I think these kinds of actions put the station in jeopardy in a few different ways. The board’s role is not to micro-manage the station, they don’t have the skills to micromanage the station. If they try they are going to make some really big mistakes,” the signer said. 

Not all the staff signed the letter. Instead, several staff members signed a separate letter to “make is clear that not all members of the union/paid staff are of the opinion that the mentioned board members are problematic.” 

According to Brian Edwards-Tiekert, a reporter with the station, many of the problems crystalized earlier this year over a vote to change some of the morning programming. He said the issue became so polarized that it divided the LSB to a point where the staff were able to predict how each faction would vote on every issue. 

At stake was a proposed change in the morning programming schedule to move the station’s most popular show, Democracy Now, from a 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. spot to just one show at 7 a.m. The change was so controversial because it had the potential to affect the station’s most important fund raising period during each day, the slot right after Democracy Now. 

As it is now, Democracy Now goes over-schedule after the 9 a.m. show during fund drives with a live call-in from host Amy Goodman. Her call-in usually eats up half an hour of the world music program that follows. But according to Edwards-Tiekert, that call-in generates the most donation calls during the entire day and the world music program generates comparatively few. 

If Democracy Now were to be moved to 7 a.m., and went late during fund drives, it would eat up time from The Morning Show, which is second only to Democracy Now in generating funds. 

A decision to make the move was originally approved by the Program Council, which makes schedule decisions, but it was never implemented during previous General Manager Gus Newport’s tenure, nor under current Interim General Manager Jim Bennett. The issue came to a head when the LSB voted to go over Bennett and order the changes, giving the staff four months to implement them. 

Going over Bennett’s head raised concern among the staff, said Edwards-Tiekert, because while the LSB is involved in the decision making process, it is not supposed to have the only say. Although the by-laws for the LSB are somewhat vague, Edwards-Tiekert said concerned staff who opposed the decision are pointing to one section in particular that relates to problems they’ve raised. 

Under a subhead entitled “Powers and Duties,” the by-laws say the LSB has the power, duty and responsibility “to work with station management to ensure… that station policies and procedures for making programming decisions and for program evaluation are working in a fair, collaborative and respectful manner to provide quality programming.”   

When contacted by the Daily Planet, LSB chair Riva Enteen refused to comment, but instead referred the paper to Jeffrey Blankfort. Blankfort has never held a paid staff position at the station, but is a long-time activist involved in KPFA struggles. 

Blankfort called the allegation of micro-management completely unfounded and instead characterized the staff who signed the letter as a “junta” trying to control the station without outside input. 

He said the LSB instead is “charged by the listeners with running the station,” and should have the power to do so or will be “doomed” to being nothing but a “rubber stamp” for staff decisions. 

One of the anonymous signers disputed that, again citing the by-laws as saying the LSB is supposed to work with the station, not run it.  

According to Marla Cornelius, the training director for Compass Points, a non-profit organization that provides consulting, training and technical assistance to other non-profits, there are no clear rules that define how a board is supposed to interact with a non-profit but there are dominant models. 

Generally, she said, the main function of a board is governance, or ensuring that a nonprofit fulfills its mission. Broadly, boards act as supporting bodies that oversee the director, help raise funds, make sure the organization acts consistently with its non-profit tax status, and help with strategic planning. 

“They are supposed to be supporting the organization,” she said. “What that also means is that there is a trust ... that staff know what they are doing. And it’s the board’s job to hold them accountable but not so much to micromanage.” 

Her organization teaches workshops on the relationship between the board and nonprofit directors called “How to lead and when to follow.” 

“There are certain roles and responsibilities for each party,” she said. “Some are more appropriate for one or the other.” 

Both sides agree in theory that a strong new general manager will help the station steer clear of its current problems but they dispute the process of going about hiring one.  

Blankfort and other complain that the “larger KPFA community has not yet been invited to be part of this process, and needs to be.” 

Some of those who signed the letter concerning the LSB said those who have tried to step forward were immediately attacked. 

“When those people step forward there is an automatic shooting gallery that seems to take place which puts too many people on staff in a defensive position and distracts us from moving forward,” said Stone. 

The whole affair, said Stone, besides creating controversy on the inside, is preventing both parties from doing their jobs. Those who spoke to the paper said they were worried that they were spending more time on internal affairs than in getting the news out and producing programs for the station, a leading alternative news source. 

At the same time, other signers criticized board members for failing to perform some of their duties, particularly their job as fundraisers. 

›

On Thursday morning the Committee for Affordable Student Family Housing (CASFH) filed suit against the University of California in Alameda County Superior Court. The lawsuit alleges that the university has acted illegally by approving plans that call for the demolition of 564 units of student family housing in Albany Village without having considered the environmental impacts that will result from the displacement of low-income residents.  

According to a CASFH press release, the rents of the apartments slated for demolition are well below market. However, they said, the rent for the replacement units, the first of which are slated to be completed in 2006, are projected to be 30 percent above market—approximately twice the current rents. At that rate, the new rents will equal or exceed the monthly salary of UC teaching and research assistants, forcing current residents to seek housing elsewhere.  

“The university’s position,” says CASFH’s lawyer Stuart Flashman, is that “we don’t have to deal with that; it’s a social and economic impact, not an environmental one.” The California Environmental Quality Act, whose terms the school is required to meet when embarking on major projects, deals only with environmental impacts.  

CASFH’s suit contends that the displacement of low-income tenants from Albany Village will affect the environment in three ways, starting with traffic.  

“Their traffic analysis,” says Flashman, “is based on traffic counts for current residents. Those counts are lower than the ones for standard apartment complexes” such as the one now planned for the new Albany Village. “Data show a higher correlation between income and auto use: higher-income residents are likelier to have cars and to use them.”  

Increased homelessness would be the second kind of environmental impact, he alleges. “Unless they leave the university,” says Flashman, “the residents forced out will have to live somewhere else in the vicinity. By renting low-income units, they will squeeze others out and increase homelessness in the area.”  

His suit for CASFH argues that the displacement of Albany Villagers will also affect the environment by leading to overcrowding. Two low-income families might be forced to rent a single, otherwise unaffordable unit. Overcrowding, says Flashman, affects public health. “When you overcrowd people, you have an increase in the spread of infectious disease, especially tuberculosis.”  

The suit is the culmination of five years of efforts by residents to get the university to address the housing issues associated with its redevelopment of the area. According to both Flashman and Peter Brownell, a CASFH leader and UC graduate student in sociology, those efforts have been ignored by the school.  

The lack of affordable housing, says Brownell, “affects access to the university and UC’s ability to attract and retain quality graduate students.”  

The next step is for CASFH to serve UC with the lawsuit. After that, the university has to prepare an administrative record documenting what’s happened so far.  

“Can we avoid going to court?” Flashman asks. “Frankly, that’s what my clients would like. We’re more interested in getting the university to address affordable housing for their students than in attacking the university. So far, they’ve ignored us.”  

Before filing a complaint, CASFH was required to send UC a notice of intent within 10 days of the UC Regents’ certification of the environmental impact report for the Albany Village development. Since then, says Brownell, CASFH has heard “not a peep.”  

Gretchen Kell, associate director of media relations at UC Berkeley, told the Daily Planet “we can’t comment on the suit because we haven’t seen it.”  

ª

Nearly 50 anxious South Berkeley residents crowded into a room at the Young Adult Project on Oregon Street Tuesday night to hear a police update on the city’s first murder of the year and share their concerns with police, city officials and each other. 

Mario “Tip-Toe” Jackson died after a gunman opened fire as he stood in the driveway adjacent to the 1317 Ashby Ave. apartment building where his grandmother lives. 

Following the shooting, the gunman leapt into a car—described by police as a light blue four-door sedan—and sped away, heading west on Burnett Street. 

The mortally wounded Jackson stumbled toward Ashby, where police found him collapsed in the front yard and bleeding from multiple wounds soon after callers flooded the 911 lines with reports of gunshots. 

Sgt. Steve Odom of the department’s Community Services Bureau opened the meeting by introducing Homicide Detectives Robert Rittenhouse and Sgt. Howard Nonoguchi and Officers Shira Warren and Spencer Fomby, coordinators for southwest and south central Berkeley. 

The detectives offered a sketchy account of the crime that revealed less than previously published newspaper reports, then fielded questions. 

Asked if drugs played any part in the shooting, Rittenhouse declined to say—nor would he say if Jackson told officers anything in the minutes they struggled to save his life before paramedics arrived. 

With five months remaining in the year, Rittenhouse said, crimes of violence were down in Berkeley, where five murders were recorded in 2003, seven in 2002. So far the city is tied with 2001’s single homicide. 

The one bit of real news was the $15,000 reward the city has offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer. 

Then Warren and Fomby took over, addressing specific community concerns. 

Warren, intense and articulate, acknowledged one woman’s concern about safety in the immediate neighborhood where the ambush took place. 

“Once you’ve had an incident like this, you should be more aware,” she said, recommending that neighbors contact the Community Services Bureau to arrange for a presentation of the department’s safety program. 

The focus of violence can move around, Rittenhouse added, “but certainly after an incident like this there is cause for concern.” 

Another woman raised her hand to tell the officers that “my son is now in Los Angeles because of all this violence between North Oakland and South Berkeley.” 

“Are you planning any kind of beef-up in this area?” added another neighbor. 

“We’ve already beefed up our patrols and brought in two-officer cars, and we’re planning further action,” said the more laconic Fomby, coordinator for the area where the crime occurred. “Whenever we have a violent action in Berkeley we make that the highest priority.” 

Another woman said she was concerned about an increase in tennis shoes dangling from the utility wires in the area, asking “Is that really a sign of drug activity?” 

“That’s more of an urban legend,” Fomby said. “It’s never been a sign that an area is becoming hot or a drug area.” 

While several speakers complained about police inaction in the past, almost all the speakers acknowledged that police performance and community relations had improved greatly in recent years. 

Laura Menard, an outspoken neighborhood anti-crime activist who lives a short walk away from the crime scene, said “police response has improved. They get here faster and with more sirens.” 

Her concern was with the public health aspects of violent crimes. “Last year I was standing right across the street when a drug dealer was shot. That kind of stress is what makes the kids want to warrior-up.” 

A man asked “Has the City of Berkeley ever thought about putting surveillance cameras in high crime areas?” 

The answer came from the sidelines, where Capt. Stephanie Fleming, chief of the Community Services Bureau, sat perched on a low cabinet. “Cameras like Big Brother won’t happen in this city,” she said. “The voters just won’t tolerate any type of Big Brother issue. . .maybe sometime down the line.” 

Why didn’t police go after loiterers, asked another woman. 

“Unfortunately, in Berkeley there is no loitering law,” said Warren. 

Asked how residents should treat suspicious incidents, Fomby said he tells people that if something happens at night and it isn’t urgent, “wait until the next day and call your area coordinator rather than call the dispatch center right away,” lest the system bog down. 

“I came here from Oakland, and I’ve got to say this department really jumped on this crime,” volunteered a woman from the audience. “They really deserve our support.” 

The audience broke into applause. 

“You’ve got to stay vigilant,” added Capt. Fleming. “You need to let us know what’s happening in the community. Call the dispatch center (911) if it’s urgent, call the area coordinator with information, and call the Special Enforcement Unit”—which Fleming heads—“when narcotics are involved.” 

Other audience members wondered how the ongoing city budget crisis would affect community policing. 

“Staffing and patrol will be our priorities,” Fomby said. 

Another woman offered more praise for the department. 

“I live three buildings from where it happened, and the police were there in less than three minutes,” she said. “I saw him take two steps and fall down, and where I got out of my house there were already lots of people there.” 

Then Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who had been quietly standing off to one side, stepped forward to introduce another woman in the audience, his council colleague Maudelle Shirek. The audience applauded. 

More introductions followed: Lt. Allen Yuen of the Special Enforcement Bureau, Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna, Calvin Fong of Mayor Tom Bates’ office, West Berkeley Liaison Michael Kaplan and representatives of a half dozen neighborhood organizations. 

“If anyone heard or saw anything, or knows anyone who saw anything, please let us know about it,” implored Councilmember Worthington as the meeting ended. 

Callers can reach the Homicide Detail at 981-5741 and should refer to case number 04-41412, or send an e-mail to police@ci.berkeley.ca.us.ª

Eight years in the making, the Zoning Ordinance amendments which implement the University Avenue Strategic Plan sailed through their penultimate hurdle Wednesday night when the Berkeley Planning Commission voted 6-1 to approve a draft and send it on to the City Council. 

“We’re still concerned with some of the provisions,” said Stephen Wollmer of PlanBerkeley, a community group organized around University Avenue zoning issues. 

One of Wollmer’s key concerns is that the plan creates a new residential zoning type that would allow lot-line-to-lot-line buildings. 

“There should be an analysis before we start lining University and San Pablo Avenues with these things,” he said. “But we did come a long way.” 

Planning Commissioner Gene Poschman, who voted with the majority, said the plan should provide more protections, especially for the residents of the north side of University because of provisions that will ensure they receive more sun and light on their properties. 

A mandatory setback of twenty feet on the south side should help encourage retail business. The plan also establishes mandatory proportions for food and personal services business. 

“Within the constraints we faced, we did about as well as we could have,” he said. 

One of Poschman’s laments was that they weren’t able to create more parking spaces for residential tenants, “but Berkeley has one of the lowest requirements in the known world.” 

He acknowledged that “the great scandal in Berkeley zoning is that there are no limits on the number of residential units per acre in the R-3 zoning along the major thoroughfares,” which neighbors had sought to impose. 

“The real 900-pound gorilla in Berkeley is the density bonus,” which allows developers to build bigger buildings than code allows if they install low-income units and cultural space in their buildings. 

“That’s something we’re going to have to deal with eventually,” he said.  

Still, Poschman said, “we did a good job.” 

He singled out Principal Planner Alan Gatzke for special praise in helping the commission through the arduous process that led to the 470-line document adopted Wednesday.ª

Sixty years ago, at 10:18 on the night of July 17, 1944, a massive munitions explosion rocked the wartime naval loading dock at Port Chicago, on Suisun Bay just north of Martinez. The blast was felt throughout the Bay Area, shaking the ground like an earthquake in cities like Berkeley and Oakland. 

In his 1989 book The Port Chicago Mutiny (now out of print), Bay Area historian Robert Allen described the explosion: “Loaded with some 4,600 tons of ammunition and high explosives...the [munitions ship] E.A. Bryan was literally blown to bits. ... The [munitions ship] Quinalt Victory was lifted clear out of the water by the blast, turned around, and broken into pieces. ... [A] Coast Guard fire barge was blown two hundred yards upriver and sunk. The locomotive and [munitions-filled] boxcars disintegrated into hot fragments flying through the air. The 1,200-foot-long wooden pier simply disappeared. Everyone on the pier and aboard the two ships and the fire barge was killed instantly—320 men, 202 of them were black enlisted men [who had been engaged in loading bombs and shells onto the two ships]. ... Another 390 military personnel and civilians were injured, including 233 black enlisted men. ... The explosive force of the blast was equivalent to five kilotons of TNT, on the same order of magnitude as the atomic bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima just over a year later.” 

The two ships were being loaded with munitions by units of segregated black sailors who were commanded by white officers. 

Three weeks later, black naval personnel survivors of the Port Chicago disaster were ordered to return to their munitions-loading duties at Mare Island near Vallejo. Some 250 refused, citing their fear of unsafe work conditions that they believed caused the Port Chicago explosions. Some 200 were given dishonorable discharges from the Navy, but 50 were singled out and convicted of mutiny in a widely-publicized court-martial on Treasure Island. In the meantime, a Naval Court of Inquiry had absolved Naval officers of any wrongdoing in the Port Chicago explosions themselves. 

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who observed the mutiny court-martial in his capacity as director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, is quoted in Allen’s book as saying that the black sailors were tried for mutiny “solely because of their race and color. ... [The court-martial] was deliberately planned and staged by certain officers to discredit Negro seamen.” 

By 1999, only three of the 50 convicted mutineers were still living. In that year, U.S. Congressman George Miller—who represents the Port Chicago area—secured a pardon of one of the survivors from President Bill Clinton. But surviving families and supporters of the convicted mutineers have pushed for complete exoneration by having the convictions set aside. On Saturday, in support of that drive and in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Port Chicago Disaster, the national Equal Justice Society, the African American Museum and Library of Oakland, and Noir Records are sponsoring a Port Chicago Ballet Suite For Jazz Orchestra at the museum.  

Robert Allen, who will speak at Saturday’s events, spoke with the Daily Planet about the gathering and about the continuing meaning of what many people simply describe as “Port Chicago. “Allen teaches African American and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. He is an editor of Black Scholar magazine, and is currently researching for a book on the life of local African American labor and civil rights leader C.L. Dellums. 

Daily Planet: Why is a pardon not enough for the Port Chicago strikers? 

Robert Allen: While the pardon was an important thing to do, and called attention to the injustice, a pardon is like saying, “You did something wrong, but we are going to forgive you for it.” But whatever it was that you may call it, there was not a mutiny. There was never an attempt to usurp military authority. I think of it as a strike, or a protest at the unsafe working conditions and the racial discrimination on the base. And the trauma itself was passed on in the families. So even for today it’s important to have these convictions set aside. For the surviving families, but also for the historical record. 

DP: Why do you think some of them were charged with mutiny? 

RA: Part of the reason was they wanted to make an example of these guys and indirectly, according to what Thurgood Marshall said, “scapegoat” them for what happened at Port Chicago. By bringing these mutiny charges against these sailors, that created the whole context that the blame could go on the sailors, not only for the mutiny, but for the explosion itself. 

DP: What’s the particular relevance of Port Chicago to today? 

RA: [Port Chicago was part of] a long history of racism in the military and the effort to confront that and deal with it. And I think that question remains today in terms of, why is it we have large [over-representative] numbers of people of color in the military today? And the other question is, what are unjust orders? What kind of a situation should folks in the military resist? There is an understanding that soldiers have the right—and, in fact, the obligation—to resist unlawful orders. That’s exactly what came up at the prison at Abu Ghraib. These guys [at Port Chicago] were resisting [the racial discrimination] situation there that was certainly unjust and unfair. This was not a mutiny. This was a protest against an unjust situation. And afterwards the Navy gave covert recognition to that position, because it did begin to dismantle racial segregation shortly afterwards, right there at Port Chicago.ª

Rockridge resident Ilana Wexler, 12, the founder of Kids for Kerry, gave a rousing prime time speech Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention. Her website, www.kidsforkerry.org, is for “anyone who wants to learn and discuss issues important to kids.””

BOSTON—He holds no elected office. He is not a party official nor is he even a delegate, but filmmaker Michael Moore is as hot here in Boston as only an east coast searing summer day can be. How hot? In the first two days of this convention he arguably competes with traditional Democratic all-stars Bill and Hillary Clinton and Illinois Senate candidate and rising Democratic star, Barak Obama, for most attention garnered by a single individual at this 2004 Democratic National Convention. 

Everywhere Moore goes huge crowds form to catch a glimpse of the larger-than-life director of Farenheit 9/11. Topping the $50 million mark in ticket sales recently, this film will easily eclipse every other documentary film that has come before it.  

On Monday, Moore appeared at the Congressional Black Caucus meeting, speaking for about 10 minutes to an overflow crowd of delegates and the press. Many delegates with tickets were left in the hallway, unable to get even a glimpse of their new Democratic hero. Later that same day, Moore attended a memorial service for those lost in the Iraq war. War veterans and their families were waiting for him at a park in this city’s North End. Dozens of press people followed Moore. He quickly became the event, though he did his best to focus the press on the plight of the parents, family members, and veterans who were present, not his movie. 

Tuesday, Moore appeared in the convention center’s Fox television booth to spar with Bill O’Reilly of the “O’Reilly Factor.” Again, Moore’s presence drew a crowd. That same night he made an appearance on the convention floor and was immediately mobbed by star-struck delegates. In fact, security people, under direction from the Department of Homeland Security, had to demand that Moore leave the hall as he was creating a “fire hazard,” since the aisles had to remain open, they said. 

The Boston Globe reported on Wednesday that Moore would leave Boston before John Kerry’s acceptance speech on Thursday. Convention organizers perhaps breathed a sigh of relief on reading that news.ª

The Democratic National Convention is much more than just who becomes the presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Almost 5,000 Democratic Party delegates descended upon Boston for a week of conventioneering, yes, but there were also seminars on organizing, forums on getting out the vote, seemingly endless discussions on best strategies to follow in order to beat Bush, regional and national dialogues on potentially divisive issues, and information sharing—all part of this convention scene. At such gatherings political junkies got together and hashed out differences, drink to similarities, and re-focus and re-energize for the 93 days between the end of this convention and Election Day. It was at just such a gathering that the Daily Planet caught up with 9th District Congressional Representative Barbara Lee.  

Lee is president of a group called “Revolutionary Women, Boston 2004.” On July 27, day two of the convention, she hosted a day-long series of lectures, panel discussions, and music at the New Boston Convention Center on the harbor. The list of speakers reads like a women’s who’s who in the United States government: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former U.S. presidential candidate Carol Moseley Braun, and many other senators, representatives, and governors. 

Barbara Lee wrote about the premise behind holding such an event: “Electing a critical mass of women at all levels of government will transform our country. That is because women legislators are more likely to advocate for families, protect the environment, champion social justice, and seek nonviolent strategies to resolve conflict.” 

As Congresswoman Lee was rushing off to get to her next event on Wednesday, the Daily Planet sat down at the curb with her while she waited for a cab and discussed the war in Iraq, John Kerry, and her priorities in the coming year. 

Daily Planet: Should Kerry and Edwards get elected, what will your priorities be? 

Barbara Lee: It’s changing the priorities of the country. With a Kerry-Edwards ticket we want to make sure our country repairs its relations with the world to achieve global peace and security. We’ve got to do that with our allies. On the domestic front it’s important to repeal the tax cuts, that we fully fund public education and housing, and that our resources are reprioritized into building schools and housing for people…and that it become a country of the people, by the people and for the people. Right now it’s for the wealthy. 

DP: What is the single most important issue relating to your work in Washington that relates to your district? 

BL: Can’t prioritize issues as they relate to my district as the single most important issue. We have schools that are dilapidated and our children deserve federal funding for their public education. We have people out on the streets that are homeless. We need affordable housing. We have transportation needs. You know my district cares about peace in the world and we’ve got to have a new foreign policy. You have to look at foreign policy and domestic policy and how they interrelate to each other and how our budget process and budget priorities drive a rational foreign policy. 

DP: How will the current U.S. foreign policy in Iraq change with a Kerry-Edwards administration? As you look at the current Democratic Party platform there is no language concerning when the troops will be brought home? 

BL: Of course, I would like to see a transition plan and an exit strategy to bring our troops home. Sen. Kerry and his Defense Department are going to have to figure how to do that. In fact, they’ve got to do it. 

DP: What kind of pressure can folks like you in Congress bring to bear on John Kerry and John Edwards to bring the troops home once they get elected? 

BL: Same kind of pressure we’ve been putting on Bush…I mean you know [laughter], passing resolutions saying to the president…it’s really about the people in the country. I mean it’s not just members of Congress that are saying that this war is wrong. It was a war that did not need to be waged. Where are the weapons of mass destruction? The people in our country have to push the Congress, that’s when the Congress moves. And so it’s going to be up to the democratic processes to work to allow the voices of the people of our country to be heard so that a new White House would know how and when to do this. I think it should be done. 

DP: You’re not at all worried about the fact that there is no clear language in the Democratic Party platform to bring the troops home? 

BL: I’ve seen many Democratic Party platforms. This is one of the smallest ones I have seen. I don’t worry about anything but electing John Kerry and getting rid of this Bush administration...that’s what I worry about. The platform is a document that has to be open enough and broad enough to include a variety of points of view. For me, you know what I believe and what I want to see. But I think that we’ve got to make sure that the Bush administration goes and that’s my priority. 

DP: Talking about Washington politics. You said you’ve been following these events closely since 1972. Is this the most divisive, the most partisan you have ever seen it between Democrats and Republicans? 

BL: It’s always partisan when you have Democrats, Republicans and an Independent [laughter]. It’s gotta be partisan. You know our values are different. I don’t think people understand. They don’t want to see us caving in to everything the Republicans jam through the Congress. Who would want as a Democrat to allow these huge tax cuts for the wealthy? Would you have wanted to see me vote for that and support that? Most Democrats didn’t. So I think sometimes you better see that partisan fights are fights where we’re fighting for ordinary folks, for working men and women, for the poor and those who have been shut out…and yes, I am going to be partisan about those issues. 

DP: In a world in which the Democrats get the Congress back, and the presidency, how long will it take to repeal the tax cuts? 

BL: I certainly can’t say how long. I will work to make it happen as soon as possible. 

And with that the congresswoman boarded her taxi and sped off to the next round of panel discussions. 

ª

This is the second of three articles questioning whether the 2004 Democratic Party stands as a real alternative to the Bush regime. In the first column I looked at the current party platform—its words; here I examine the party as it is revealed in its voice—the new Democratic faces of 2004. 

In addition to the presidency, voters will determine 34 Senate seats in November; in 25 races incumbents are running for reelection, typically as heavy favorites. Kentucky GOP Senator Jim Bunning leads opponent Dan Mongiardo, but the Democrat is showing unexpected strength, because he conveys a sincere, homegrown populism. Mongiardo, the son of Italian immigrants, was born in a rural Appalachian community. The first member of his family to graduate from college, he decided to become a physician after his grandfather and brother died because of inadequate healthcare. After completing his medical residency, Dan Mongiardo returned to his home region, determined to provide quality health care to Appalachia. After 10 years in practice, he entered state politics in order to better address the health care crisis in eastern Kentucky. Now he is making the provision of quality health care for all Americans the central issue of his senatorial campaign. 

Two years ago, Jennifer Granholm confounded experts and became the first female governor of Michigan. Tuesday afternoon, she confounded the experts again when she triumphed as the last speaker at the Emily’s List gathering (Emily’s List is the premier PAC that encourages pro-choice, Democratic women to run for elective office). Gov. Granholm seemed an unlikely choice to follow a powerhouse foursome of Ellen Malcolm, the founder of Emily’s List, Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the House Democrats, Barbara Mikulski, the leader of the Senate Democratic women’s caucus, and Ann Richards, former governor of Texas and notorious political wit. Indeed, each of the speakers seemed to gain energy from her predecessor, so by the time Ann Richards left the stage to tumultuous applause, many in the audience wondered how Jennifer Granholm could possibly live up to her billing. These doubts were quickly dispelled as she delivered a simple but compelling message: If women are to take their own power, they must begin by honoring the brave women who have gone before them forcing open the doors of equal opportunity. Gov. Granholm mesmerized the audience with her personal story, praising her mentor, the late Michigan activist Millie Jeffrey. 

Also on Tuesday, Illinois senatorial candidate Barak Obama electrified two very tough audiences. First, he appeared at a breakfast gathering of Democratic senatorial candidates, and then in the evening he gave the keynote address to the convention. During the breakfast gathering there was constant background chatter for every speaker, until Obama took the stage and then a hush fell over the crowd. He has the ability to command attention, to speak to a large audience intimately, to express complex political ideas in everyday language, and to emphasize our commonality rather than our separateness. In short, he is the most charismatic speaker the Democrats have fielded since Bill Clinton. After Obama’s stellar performance, the buzz among the political cognoscenti was that he may be the only Democrat who is capable of upstaging Clinton. 

These were some of the brightest, new Democratic faces of 2004: a populist physician from rural Kentucky, a spunky female governor from Michigan, and an amazing multi-racial Senatorial candidate from Illinois. When I look at them, I get a sense of the party perhaps fulfilling the dual promise of populism and pluralism that it has flirted with for so long. In the past the Democrats would say the right words, deliver powerful slogans, but when one studied their actions over time, it became apparent that nothing had really changed; the Democratic Party that appeared to champion diversity, actually continued to nominate privileged white men. Now this appears to be shifting. While John Kerry is another privileged white man, this is not true of John Edwards. And when we look behind these candidates, we find compelling new leaders such as Jennifer Granholm and Barak Obama.  

Perhaps it is idealistic to think that the Democrats have finally turned the corner and become the party of all the people, but here at the 2004 convention it does seem inevitable that before long Democrats will nominate their first female presidential candidate. And that not long after that we will see a serious presidential bid by Barak Obama, or some other Democrat with a multi-racial background. 

Underneath all this lies the reality that the 2004 Democrats are reasserting their populism. The speeches of Dan Mongiardo, Jennifer Granholm, and Barak Obama, and many more famous speakers, emphasized that the Democratic Party must take back the country, must stand for equality and opportunity. Barak Obama eloquently summarized this, reminding us all that what ultimately distinguishes Democrats from Republicans is the core belief that “we are all connected…I am my brother’s keeper.”  

If Paul Wellstone were alive today he might say that Wednesday night was the night of the ‘democratic wing of the Democratic Party.’ Rev. Jesse Jackson, presidential candidate and U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich, and presidential candidate Rev. Al Sharpton all still cling to the progressive values of the Democratic Party: a party, they say, that is pro-labor, pro-women, pro-minorities, pro-jobs, pro-environment, pro-education, and pro-civil rights. All spoke within the same 90-minute period during prime time Wednesday night between 7:15 p.m. and 8:45 p.m.  

If Jackson is the soul and Kucinich is the conscience, then surely Sharpton has taken on the role of the oratorical voice of the party. There were long and sustained ovations during each of these three leftish speaker’s remarks, but it was Sharpton’s tone and wit that raised the roof most often. 

The Democrats, from John Kerry to top party officials, have issued orders for a gentler, less Bush-bashing approach at this convention. Many delegates are not in that mood. They’ve come to Boston to get ready for the fall fight, sure to be a bruising political brawl. This is the final pep talk for delegates before they get their orders for the next 93 days. Many have come to hear party stories that reflect their own stories, their own realities. So just as nervous officials could not stop former President Jimmy Carter on the first night of the convention—“The United States has alienated its allies, dismayed its friends, and inadvertently gratified its enemies by proclaiming a confused and disturbing strategy of ‘preemptive war’”—they could not shut down Jackson, Kucinich and Sharpton, the soul, conscience, and voice of a re-invigorated Democratic Party.  

Perhaps all three represent the overwhelming anti-war sentiment at this convention among delegates (90 percent according to the New York Times): A Democratic Party victory in November must include a plan to end the Iraq war and bring the troops home. Their speeches were replete with references to historic Left icons: Crispus Attucks, Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Fannie Lou Hamer at Atlantic City in 1964, the Rainbow Coalition of 1984, the New Deal, social security, minimum wage, collective bargaining, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, Paul Wellstone, and most recently, Ray Charles. 

Jesse Jackson started it off with his evergreen theme, “Keep Hope Alive.” Kucinich poured it on with a tribute to the multicultural Democratic party. And Sharpton finished the progressive manifesto with an array of emotional body blows about “living up to the promise of America.” 

“Let Eagles fly to Washington,” said Jackson. “It’s time to bring to bring our troops home from Iraq and send Bush home to Texas.” 

Kucinich was blunt. “Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or with al Qaeda’s role in 9/11. There was no ‘gathering threat,’” he said. “There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.” Then the congressmember took the warrior language and brought it home. “I was mayor of Cleveland,” he said, “and I tell you I have seen weapons of mass destruction in our cities. Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction. Joblessness is a weapon of mass destruction, homelessness is a weapon of mass destruction, racism is a weapon of mass destruction, fear is a weapon of mass destruction.” 

Finally, Rev. Sharpton, as he did so many times on the campaign trail for the past two years, gave a poignant, humorous, story-filled talk—what may very well come to be known as the most rousing speech of the entire 2004 convention. “How did we squander the opportunity to unite the world for democracy and to commit to a global fight against hunger and disease?” He paused. “We did it with a go-it-alone foreign policy based on flawed intelligence.” He concluded his remarks about the war by saying, “And when it became clear the weapons were not there, the president sought to shift the purpose of the war and to challenge our patriotism.” 

All three were united. All three were ready to take on Bush. And all three gave their full support to the Kerry-Edwards ticket, but no one here expects that Kerry in his acceptance speech will put forward a definitive plan for ending the war in Iraq and bringing the troops home. The New York Times called for one in a Thursday editorial. In separate interviews, both former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and California Congresswoman Maxine Waters asked the nominee to make that commitment, but they offer little hope that it will actually happen.  

The question posed by many Democrats in Boston on the last day of the convention was this: Is John Kerry doing a campaign-lite in order not to offend voters in the swing states? And if he is, isn’t he in jeopardy of squandering some of the energy of his base as the last 93 days of this campaign begin? 

The speeches made by the Democratic Party hierarchy thus far show no signs that they’ve heard these questions from the party faithful. The upcoming campaign will tell whether they’ve been listening here in Boston. 

ª

The timely screech of a neighbor’s smoke alarm early Thursday morning saved the vacant house at 1720 Vine St. from major damage, said Deputy Fire Marshal Wayne Inouye of the Berkeley Fire Department. 

Once awakened, the neighbor searched for the cause of the alarm, finding her answer when she looked out the window and saw flames eating at the basement door of the house next door. 

The call to firefighters came at 2:15 a.m., and they arrived a few minutes later and quickly extinguished the blaze, limiting the damage to the door and surrounding frame. Inouye estimated the damage at $5,000. 

The cause was easily pinpointed in the box of matches found at the scene. 

“The fire was set from the outside,” Inouye said. “There was dry rot in the door frame, which is easily ignited because of all gaps it creates. No accelerant was needed.” 

At the front of the house, a “for sale” sign had recently sprouted a “sale pending” addition.  

It was another of those extraordinary ordinary evenings in a time in history when change governed everything and when lifetimes were measured in hours and sometimes minutes. This was war time and we were caught up in the rhythm of it. We were the twenty-somethings living in the uncertainty of the times. 

As was true with other young Bay Area couples, my husband Mel and I opened our little South Berkeley apartment to African American servicemen wanting to meet the locals, but who were less inclined to visit the segregated USO centers. 

This was a late afternoon gathering following a softball game, as I recall. It drifted into the evening. We danced to records by Erskine Hawkins, Lester Young, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington—rushing to the living room window each time another train rumbled through. The Santa Fe railroad track split Sacramento Street down the middle, and brought—literally to our front door—the thousands of homefront workers coming to build the ships, the endless line of flat cars carrying jeeps and trucks, and the troops that disembarked at the nearby Santa Fe depot for assignment to Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, the Presidio, the Alameda Naval Air Station, the Oakland Army Base, and, the Concord weapons station at Port Chicago. 

In that late afternoon of July 17, 1944, we danced, stole bits of intimacy playing “Spin the Bottle” and stopped long enough to hail the passing trains with our guests, which included four young sailors from Port Chicago. As I recall, there was Richert from Denver, Roosevelt and two other young sailors whose names I never knew. 

Toward nightfall, we bid our young uniformed strangers goodbye as they headed back to their base, lingering for a while near the curb in the strange half light that came with evening. This was called a “Dim Out,” a precaution that involved painting half of all street light bulbs a deep gray on the side facing the ocean—to prevent the enemy from seeing the coastline in silhouette—inviting attacks from submarines lurking offshore. There was an eerie cast to everything; strange shadow patterns. Our young friends would drive back to Concord in this half light. 

Some hours later, at exactly 10:18 p.m., the sound of thunder rolled somewhere in the distance. But it wasn’t thunder. Seconds later the ground shook violently in a seismic wave felt as far away as Boulder City, Nevada. Had the enemy finally infiltrated our defenses? We’d heard no planes overhead. There were no air raid sirens. 

We wouldn’t know until morning. 

Berkeley native Betty Reid Soskin is a National Parks Service librarian-technician for the Rosie The Riveter Word War II Homefront National Historical Park in Richmond. She is a former legislative aide to Assemblymember Loni Hancock and former Assemblymember Dion Aroner.ª

Police Warn Shattuck Purse Toters  

Berkeley Police are warning women that pickpockets have been targeting the contents of purses and handbags in the Shattuck Avenue retail area. Over the past six months, light-fingered types have plucked wallets and other content from 20 or so purses and handbags draped over the backs of chairs by their owners. 

The pilferers are skilled enough that nobody’s ever seen them in the act, and thus police have no description of the perp or perps involved. 

Police caution that purses should always remain in the owner’s line of sight and never left unattended. As a further precaution, all zippers and latches should be closed. 

Bat-Toting Robber Takes Cash 

A man with a bat and a hostile attitude approached a pedestrian near the corner of Sacramento and Carleton streets at 5 p.m. Sunday and demanded cash. He got it. 

Gunman Nails Salon 

A young man with a gun walked into Ashby Nails near the corner of Ashby Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way shortly after 1 p.m. Monday and ordered the staff to turn open the till. Described as a six-foot-tall African American in his 20’s wearing a black shirt and blue jeans, he fled the scene with the cash and departed in a gray two-door sedan. 

Too Young to Buy Booze, He Swipes It 

A 20-year-old with an underage taste for booze and a hankerin’ for cheese swiped same from the Telegraph Avenue Andronico’s at 4:34 p.m. Monday. 

Caught in the act, he was taken by police to a place where the legendary fare is water and bread, hold the cheese. 

Street Spat Takes Nasty Turn  

A dispute between two pairs of young men that started on the street took a nasty turn at 3 a.m. Monday when one pair retreated inside the residence, only to be followed by the other pair, who snuck into the dwelling, according to Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

One of the residents sustained minor injuries when an intruder got physical. 

The victims said their invaders were Asian American males between 18 and 21 years old. One was described as 5’9” tall and weighing between 140 and 150 pounds. He was wearing a Yankees hat and shirt along with tan pants. 

The pair departed in a aqua-colored four-door Isuzu Trooper. 

Another with information is requested to call Berkeley PD at 981-5900 or UC Berkeley Police at 642-0472.›

SOVEREIGNTY 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Let me see if I have got this right. Iraq is once again a sovereign nation, with an independent government, answerable to the Iraqi people. They can determine their own policies. If they see fit, they can even decide to legalize same-sex marriages, and George Bush couldn’t do anything to stop them. 

They can sell their oil to whomever they want, at whatever price they want. Or can get. 

So why do we have so many troops over there? It’s a sovereign nation right? We’re not building empire, right? 

Right? 

Marion Syrek 

• 

POLICE BLOTTER 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

I like the Police Blotter very much. Very clever and creative. Thanks. 

Richard List 

• 

LA FARINE 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

It is deplorable that the Zoning Adjustments Board chose to ignore the Solano Avenue Planning Ordinance in unanimously upholding the La Farine variance. The Solano Plan is the product of hundreds of hours of work by neighbors, community members, and the Planning Commission. The Solano Plan is part of Berkeley’s zoning regulations and should be respected unless truly extraordinary circumstances arise. The La Farine application, in which the business requested 12 seats for interior dining, is ploddingly ordinary. 

Twelve seats on Solano are not a big deal until one looks at the context. The seats officially make La Farine a restaurant, a use which is over capacity on Solano. La Farine’s reason for a variance (seating as an ancillary use) is specifically prohibited by the plan.  

In the larger context, ZAB’s unanimous decision is a clear statement that intensive community-based and city-approved neighborhood planning is to be respected only when convenient for the realtors and developers of the city. The rest of us—the apparently deluded community—are ignored. This affects every neighborhood which has worked (sometimes for years: West Berkeley, University Avenue) to create carefully balanced, inclusive visions of a future Berkeley.  

This November, we can vote to respect neighborhood-based plans by careful vetting of our choices for City Council. 

Jesse Townley 

• 

BHS LEAK 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

While school was in session, there was a conspicuous drip flowing out of the brand new $35-million-dollar building at Berkeley High School, and across the sidewalk on Milvia Street. Now there’s a brown stain on the sidewalk. A cursory inspection shows that this drip is coming from the new swimming pool. If the pool is heated, and the air conditioning (HVAC) is running, this means that the HVAC system is constantly trying to drain the humidity which the heated pool is constantly producing. The pool has no cover.  

The new building at BHS uses as much energy as the entire rest of the campus, and the pool is probably a big contributor to energy waste. BUSD needs pool covers which should be used whenever the pool is not used, no matter how inconvenient the staff may find it. The pool covers insulate the water, reducing both heat loss and evaporation. This should cut down on some of the new building’s energy use. I hope all hot water pipes are insulated; including the recirculating pipes from the pool to the heater. If not, they should be insulated immediately. PG&E provides rebates for specific types of pipe insulation that this site would quality for. 

The new BHS building looks directly at the city’s Energy Office, which is staffed with recognized experts on energy. Even though BHS didn’t consult the Energy Office during the design or construction of the new building, it’s still not too late to stop energy gluttony. Instead of paying PG&E, let’s put that money towards education. 

Yolanda Huang 

• 

HOUSING 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

All the articles on new housing developments in Berkeley always seem to indicate that the developer has to provide some low-income units. It seems that to make such a development financially feasible, they then include retail on the ground floor. It has been observed that there is retail space available all over town. Some housing developments include retail spaces that are too small for anything profitable. 

Here’s an idea: Why not make housing developments include no retail, but in areas where there already is retail (groceries, coffee, hardware, etc.) include homeless studios? They could be small, with a Pullman kitchen, triangle shower/bath/sink combo. They could be for really low-income folks, too. I believe many chronic homeless in Berkeley get some kind of disability income, or other money; this way, they could perhaps have subsidized housing?  

Let’s think of a solution for low-income, and/or homeless folks, who generally don’t have cars needing parking, either! 

Colleen Houlihan 

• 

BRACE YOURSELF 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Further to a correspondent’s recent letter regarding Richard Brenneman’s use of Anglo-Saxon monosyllables, your correspondent might like to know that yesterday, my wife asked me to hang a picture for her, even though she knows that I am not a handyman. My electric drill soon ran out of juice, so I used my brace and bit instead. The brace held the bit securely and did the job. So far so good. In fact my wife was so pleased, she embraced me. But brace yourself for the end of the story: In coming down the ladder, I slipped. My belt was torn in two, so I now have to use braces to hold up my trousers (I am from England, where suspenders are worn by women). I also wrenched my neck, which is now held steady in a brace. And I also bashed my mouth. Fortunately the new (and very expensive) braces which I wear on my teeth held firm. Oh, the perils of venturing into alien territory!  

B. Orpington. 

• 

UC LIBRARY STACKS 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Thanks for publishing Lowell Moorecroft’s letter regarding UC library’s policy about stacks. Too bad he didn’t mention the decreased access to public information on the Internet at that library. It seems that UC Berkeley is becoming a country club. Read “Rich Only.” 

John Delmos 

• 

LIBRARY INTERNET ACCESS 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Thanks for printing Lowell Moorcroft’s letter about how “the California citizen, under the new procedures, can only obtain a monthly [Cal libraries] stack pass, renew it once, and then must pay $100 to obtain a yearly library card, which includes library privileges.” As far as I know, everyone is eligible to join the UC Berkeley Alumni Association for half that amount, which includes a stack pass and 20 percent discount on all items at the ASUC store. What is no longer included for alumni association members is Internet access. It is now required that the Internet user have a faculty/staff/student account number. Novartis researchers are considered “associates,” and hence are Internet eligible. But this procedure lets out the public: It also lets out the alumni—some hundreds of thousands strong.  

The only library to allow any public access whatsoever is the Law Library—which allows 15 minutes, standing. Even that is regression to the 1950s, as far as I can see. Those five African-American students in 1960 at that lunch counter in Greensboro could order everything on the menu, and eat throughout the hot afternoon as long as they remained standing. The most disturbing thing of all is that the reference librarians of Doe and Moffitt libraries demand to approve or disapprove research topics of one-day users, regardless of residency. 

Richard Thompsonª

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Robert Denham, in a letter in the July 23-25 issue of this newspaper, claims that the Bay Area needs 300,000 housing units per year to keep up with projected growth. I assume this projection comes from the growth-obsessed Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). ABAG was responsible for loaning Patrick Kennedy over $72 million dollars (including an $8.2 million dollar refinance job for the decaying Berkeleyan building) to create hundreds of dinky rental units in Berkeley, without bothering to check if they were needed. 

For two years I tried to warn the Zoning Adjustments Board and the City Council of the impending apartment glut, as projects came before them for approval. I can still hear them whine “the desperate need for housing” as they approved almost every rental colossus which was proposed. 

About a year and a half ago, a Daily Cal article entitled “City Housing Construction on the Rise” (Feb. 26, 2003) quoted several local developers who were exuberant about rental housing, including Patrick Kennedy. The article stated, “Kennedy maintained there is ‘unlimited demand’ for more housing in Berkeley.” I wonder if he believes this now. 

UC’s fall semester begins in less than a month, and we will see if the many new apartments and dormitories rapidly reach full occupancy, or if they, too, will suffer vacancy problems along with the pre-existing apartment houses. 

Despite ABAG’s meaningless growth projections, Berkeley’s population is considerably smaller now than it was in 1950, and there has been a net increase in housing units during each decade since that year. Moreover, current events suggest that our population is actually decreasing. For example, UC Extension’s English language program, which had an enrollment of nearly 3,000 students, closed in May. Also, Berkeley’s largest employers have recently experienced layoffs and hiring freezes. Even the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that local population has dropped since 2000. Where’s the growth? 

Common sense would suggest that you don’t need more buildings when you have fewer people. Empty storefronts only accentuate the lack of need for more construction. 

Yes, bungalows and condos are way too expensive—so much so that many people think we are in the midst of a speculative real estate bubble, fed by low interest rates and easy lending practices—a bubble which may be just about to burst. 

Nonetheless, Mr. Denham refers to the desperate need for additional housing of all kinds because of the “rapid pace of household formation fueled by immigration, maturing of the population and economic growth.” I’m baffled. Unlike other parts of California, Berkeley’s population is simply not growing at this time. 

As for increasing density on University and Shattuck avenues, does anyone really believe there’s an “unlimited demand” for cramped, poorly constructed units on noisy streets? Just as overbuilding rental housing was a mistake, condo-mania will be the next blunder, unless people wake up and notice that Berkeley’s planning process has been taken over by those who benefit from endless construction—whether it’s needed or not. 

Gale Garcia 

As organizations committed to international disarmament and to the rights of all people to live unhindered by oppression, we believe in the rights of Israelis and Palestinians to self-representation and collective sovereignty. We further advocate the following conditions for a just peace: 

1. An immediate cessation of hostilities by both parties. 

2. Deployment of an international peacekeeping force monitored by the Secretary General of the UN and Israeli and Palestinian women’ s peace organizations, which would help protect the Palestinian and Israeli people and would facilitate the resumption of serious negotiations between the parties in conflict. 

3. United States aid to Israel, including aid in the form of loan guarantees, to be dependent on Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories. 

4. Cessation of direct US military aid to nations involved in the Middle East conflict. 

5. An end to the military and economic siege and the blockade on the free movement of people, materials and food supplies imposed on the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip 

6. Cessation by all parties of the use of internationally prohibited weapons. 

7. Total and immediate freeze of all settlements. 

8. Israel’ s return to the 1967 borders, with minor modifications to incorporate some of the West Bank border settlements into Israel, and the Palestinians to receive an equal amount of land of equal value at another place at the border. 

9. Resumption of permanent status negotiations, including Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, borders, settlements, security, equitable distribution of all natural resources, including water. All other basic issues should be resolved with the aim of fully implementing UN Security Council Resolutions 242 (Nov., 1967) and 338 (1973). 

10. Protection of all holy and religious sites and the establishment of the right of all people in Jerusalem to worship freely at their respective 

sites. 

This statement, as of July 19, 2004, is the position of Women for Peace, and of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, both located at 2302 Ellsworth St., Berkeley. www.womenforpeace.org. 

ª

Me, I always did like those Tricky-the-Rabbit tales, which originated in African villages in the Anansi Spider stories and then grew ears and fur as they made the Middle Passage and settled themselves around the fires in the slavery-time cabins. In these stories, the smallest creature in the field or forest uses his cunning to outwit his enemies and connive his way out of impossible jams. Bro’ Rabbit getting out of the boiling pot by convincing Bro’ Fox and Bro’ Bear to throw him into the thornbriars. The Signifying Monkey escaping Cousin Lion’s teeth by goading the lion into a fight with Cousin Elephant. You might remember them from the Joel Chandler Harris or Walt Disney versions. Anyway, I guess I was partial to these stories because I was always the smallest kid on the block. 

And so—feet dragging all the way—I must admit that I’ve got some grudging admiration for the way our own Bro’ Brown has loosed his paws and feet from the Jacques Barzaghi tarbaby and seems to have got hisself clean away from that mess. Didn’t ever think he could do it, but damned if he didn’t. Admire it, friends, whether you like its results or not, because this is one of the best acts of political Houdini you’re apt to see in a while. 

A brief bit of background for those of you who’ve been too busy to keep up. 

The French emigrant Mr. Barzaghi has been attached to Jerry Brown’s hip since they met in Sacramento in the 1970s when Mr. Brown was serving as California’s secretary of state. They’ve been together through Mr. Brown’s two terms as California governor, two runs for the United States presidency, one-and-a-something terms as mayor of Oakland, and the years of wandering in political exile in between. Mr. Barzaghi has served in various capacities for Mr. Brown during that time, from campaign manager to spiritual adviser—at one point, in Oakland, he even got himself a concealed weapons permit and announced himself as Mr. Brown’s bodyguard. But the exact nature of the Brown-Barzaghi relationship is one the great mysteries of modern life. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? King Henry II and Thomas Beckett? You could do a UC Berkeley dissertation on the subject. But like Malcolm el Shabazz used to remind us in another context, those who say don’t know, and those who know don’t say. 

Oakland—being a tolerant sort-of town—liked to comment on the Brown-Barzaghi relationship, but for the most part accepted it as a necessary—if odd—component to Mr. Brown’s putting-us-on-the-map machine. In Oakland, the two men shared living quarters—along with Mr. Barzaghi’s wife—at Mr. Brown’s Second Avenue loft, with Oakland helping to foot the food and clothing bills by employing Mr. Barzaghi in different city jobs. For a while he served as the arts-something-or-other for the city, though damned if you can find five people who will even try to make a guess at what benefit Oakland got out of that deal. 

Anyhow, the relationship took a decided turn for the worse in late 2001 when Mr. Barzaghi was accused by two female employees of sexual harassment during a trip to Mexico for the incoming Mexican president’s inauguration. Some local newspapers tried to minimize the incident as nothing more than “ear-fondling,” and Mr. Barzaghi himself claimed that his natural Mediterranean friendliness had been—perhaps—misunderstood. But City Attorney John Russo ordered an investigation of previous informal sexual harassment complaints by a number of other city female employees against Mr. Barzaghi. An outside firm produced a report on those complaints. The details of that “smoking gun” report itself is one of the most closely-guarded secrets in the city, but based upon its contents, Mr. Barzaghi was suspended for several weeks by then City Manager Robert Bobb for violation of the city’s sexual harassment guidelines and forced to undergo counseling. 

And there, for a while, the matter sat, with Oaklanders grumbling but accepting (if not necessarily forgiving) the inevitable, even re-electing Mr. Brown to a second term as mayor. Meanwhile Mr. Barzaghi continued in his six-figured job on the Oakland payroll, continuing to share Mr. Brown’s living quarters and—presumably—his confidence. 

And if Mr. Brown would have opted to stay in Oakland, then there the whole matter might have died. But nobody believes that Mr. Brown wants to stay in Oakland. In fact, it is difficult to see why Mr. Brown came to Oakland at all, except as a steppingstone to a revival of his larger political goals, since he does not especially seem to like our city and its various quirky amenities. And, so, as soon as Mr. Brown whupped Wilson Riles Jr. in 2002 to take a second term as mayor, the speculation began to burn fierce as to Mr. Brown’s political future outside the Oakland city limits. 

But there was that Barzaghi thing. 

A year before Mr. Brown’s 2002 re-election campaign, I wrote the following in an earlier incarnation of the UnderCurrents columns (“Oakland Unwrapped,” for the now-defunct Urbanview newspaper): “The Barzaghi Problem may not hurt Mayor Brown too badly in his probable run for re-election in 2002, but that has more to do with the likely lack of heavyweight opposition in that race. But if Brown chooses to run in 2004 either for president or against U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, having a possible sexual harasser as his best buddy and advisor is going to hang around the mayor’s neck like a noose. Sure, there’s always a chance that people might forget about this in four years. But after watching the Clinton-haters hound the president for the past two terms, would you want to bet on it? Sooner or later, unless they burn it, that ‘smoking gun’ report is going to come out. And that could sink Brown’s political career.” 

That “smoking gun” report, by the way, still, presumably, sits locked in the desk of Oakland City Attorney John Russo. 

Since that January, 2001 column was written, Mr. Brown has cast aside—temporarily, at least—any plans he might have had to run for president (again) or the United States Senate. Instead, he has taken out papers and announced his intent to run for the office of California attorney general in 2006. That only intensified Mr. Brown’s Barzaghi problem, since the attorney general is charged with enforcing—among other things—the state’s sexual harassment laws. 

How the artful Bro’ Brown cleared himself of that mess is the subject of next week’s column. 

Up to 1,000 Sicilian opera libretti! That’s just one category of surprises in the “Case X” inner sanctum of UC Berkeley’s new Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library. How can there be so many operas from Sicily? John H. Roberts has a simple answer: “Naples, in the old days.” Aha! 

Next to that stack in Case X (the letter X, not 10): 4,403 libretti for Italian (other than Sicilian, see?) operas, from the year 1600 on.  

Created in 1947, the music library finally has a building of its own. Located just across fro m Hertz Hall, the library is part of a new “arts quadrangle,” along with Wurster, Kroeber, and Morrison halls. A $4 million gift in 1997 from Jean Gray Hargrove—a concert pianist and 1935 music department alumna—was the major contribution that made the $1 3 million building project possible. 

Roberts is visibly exhausted—small wonder after running the library since 1987, heading the huge effort to build the new facility, and supervising a month of physically moving a good portion of the library’s 190,000 v olumes in time to meet the July 6 opening goal—but showing off Case X, he is now fully energized, brimming with enthusiasm as we walk through the restricted section.  

“Look,” says Roberts, handing over an ancient score, “what do you think it is?” There i s no title page, no information of any kind, the music doesn’t look remotely familiar. Well?  

“We got it this way, without any hint about what it may be, and it turned out to be Scarlatti’s ‘missing’ 1683 L’Aldimiro.” Finding the score in the music libra ry’s huge collection of opera led directly—with George Thomson, Michelle Dulak, and graduate students translating the libretto and making a performing edition of the score, Roberts says—to its first performance in at least three centuries, at the 1996 Ber keley Festival and Exhibition. Score one for the librarian. 

Case X contains much more than opera—for example, a 1,000-volume collection of Tartini scores—but the next item Roberts picks up is an operatic delight: the tenor part for Wagner’s Tristan und I solde, copied for and used by the original Tristan, Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld. “He was a very large man,” Roberts muses, “and died shortly after the premiere, in 1865, the strain of the role perhaps contributing...” 

The autograph score for Igor Strav insky’s Orpheus is amazingly clean, no corrections to be seen anywhere; Ernest Bloch—with significant local history—is represented by a large collection of his manuscripts; there are dozens of exquisitely bound old opera scores from Alfred Cortot’s collec tion; the library also owns the 11th century Gregorian chant manuscript called the Wolffheim Antiphoner, and Beethoven’s sketches for one of the string quartets.  

Everything in the new shiny, wood-warm, three-story building is available to faculty, students—and everybody else. There 128 listening stations/study places (complete with CD and DVD players, computers, and wireless connection), miles of open shelves of books and scores, some 50,000 recordings, a huge magazine collection (new copies resting on a flip cover under which you’ll find recent issues of the same publication), and even most of the Case X treasures are available to visitors—although not to be removed from the library, of course. There is also a comfortable seminar room with a baby Bösendorfer, from the estate of Edgar Sparks, the late, distinguished Berkeley musicologist. 

u

As if being music director of the San Jose Symphony for two decades were not enough, world-renowned conductor George Wolfgang Cleve decided to found the San Francisco Bay Area’s Midsummer Mozart Festival back in 1975. Every summer since then, Cleve has regaled Mozart fans with exquisite performances that range from old warhorses like the late symphonies to more obscure works like the German dances or the chamber works for basset horns. This year promises to be equally rewarding and surprising. 

To some, Mozart may be just a bright point in the history of classical or European art music. In fact, he is far more than that. As Ben Jonson said of Shakespeare, “He was not of an age, but for all time!” As a child prodigy guided by a learned and ambitious father, he had the chance to hear all the music of Europe as he traveled from his hometown of Salzburg in Austria to Germany, Bohemia, Belgium, Holland, France and Italy. In England he was befriended by and learned from Bach’s youngest son Johann Christian. In Vienna, he had access to Bach and Handel scores in the music library of his friend Baron van Swieten. His closest musical friend was the great composer Joseph Haydn. 

Much like jazz pianist Art Tatum unifying all preceding vernacular jazz piano styles, Mozart had no difficulty welding all of these disparate strands of European music into a single, all-encompassing classical style. His was fertile soil for these seeds, a veritable prima materia waiting to be transmuted into a musical philosopher’s stone. Every composition, and there are over 600, to which he set his hand was golden, and these works in turn multiplied by generating the succeeding history of classical music.  

More important, his compositions stand as benchmarks of genius, highpoints in the achievement of the human spirit. Mozart delighted to be delighted and he has bequeathed to us the most delightful body of music ever created. The pieces chosen for this year’s festival are exemplary in that respect. The overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio is full of lovely “Turkish” percussion effects and the “Marten aller Arten” aria in particular lets the performer display some incredible vocal gymnastics. Mozart wrote this light-hearted opera when he was 27.  

The two piano concertos could not be more different. Piano Concerto No. 16 is full of melodies that might have been written for a music box or carousel. Mozart’s pieces often begin with child-like tunes, but the orchestrations add a depth and poignancy that reveal a darker aspect of his soul. As Thomas Hood put it, “There’s not a string attuned to mirth but has its chord in melancholy.” The romantic Piano Concerto No. 24 was one of those works that kept Mozart’s name alive during the 19th century when he was seen as more of a cult favorite or a white toy poodle scampering around a grand piano than the equal of Bach and Beethoven. This work in a minor key presents the dark side up front with an ominous, foreboding opening that leads to some of Mozart’s greatest writing for the piano. Celebrated pianist Seymour Lipkin will be performing his own cadenzas for this one. 

The most esoteric piece this year is The Adagio and Fugue for Strings, another piece in a minor key. This work is often, and with no evidence, linked with Mozart’s freemasonic compositions. He became a mason in 1784, followed shortly thereafter by Haydn and his own father. The piece was actually written in 1783 for two pianos (K. 426) and then re-fashioned in 1788 for strings with the addition of an introductory adagio. Although it has no real masonic link or content, its exquisitely strange harmonies and dark mood suggest the movement of an inexorable fate. We are reminded of Marvell’s words: “But at my back I always hear Time’s winged chariot hurrying near.” 

The two symphonies No. 39 and No. 41, the great Jupiter, along with No. 40, were written in 1788. During a six-week period in the summer of 1788, after the failure of Don Giovanni in Vienna, during the time that his infant daughter died, while composing half a dozen other pieces including the adagio and fugue, he carried these three symphonies around in his head and then wrote them down one after the other in fully orchestrated versions. Not only would that be difficult in itself, but these are the greatest symphonies of the 18th century and among the greatest pieces of music ever composed. The contrapuntal final movement of the Jupiter is usually singled out for particular excellence, but both symphonies are magnificent from beginning to end. 

This music can often be heard in large concert halls, but the Mozart Festival gives us the chance to hear it in more intimate settings, not unlike those in which Mozart himself first performed these pieces. In spite of the small-scale of the venues involved, there is never anything small-scale about the performances. Cleve is a masterful conductor who can transform an ensemble of well-trained players into a living, breathing music-making organism. Beyond technical excellence, there is also the question of conception. Some years ago, when he conducted the ballet music from the opera Idomeneo, he completely recast the disparate pieces so that they became parts of a unified work. It is this personal combination of expertise, inspiration and insight that makes the Midsummer Mozart Festival such a treasure.  

All right, so it’s a specialized subject, but it’s presented in so delightful a way and the acting is so terrific, that you ought to be able to generate much more interest in Central Works’ production of The Mysterious Mr. Looney (at the Berkeley City Club) than you may at first anticipate.  

Anyway, it’s probably a shoo-in in a university town to snag theater buffs with a play about the controversy over whether or not Shakespeare really did write all those poems and plays. Don’t laugh. It takes less than a minute on the Internet to come up with a large quantity of quite respectable-sounding arguments against the idea that a small-town boy with nothing but a grammar school education could have created some of the greatest dramatic works in human history.  

Or, being a Berkeleyan, you could argue, “Why not? Power to the People!” and so forth and so on. Particularly since the leading contender for “the real Shakespeare,” the 16th Earl of Oxford, spent so much of his time in truly creative debauchery that it would have been hard to fit in much writing. (Besides, he died in 1604 and The Tempest was written in 1610 or 1611—an awkwardness which the Oxfordians resolve by refusing to admit the play into the Shakespearean canon). 

On the other hand, you could just go over to the City Club and see Mr. Looney. It’s probably one of the pleasantest ways to get the arguments presented—and they can become heated, no question about that. By far the most academic material is rattled off by the two opposing proponents as they’re rolling around on the floor trying to strangle each other. It’s a great scene. 

Besides, quite aside from the arguments about Shakespeare, you’ll get some absolutely terrific acting. Christopher Herold, who teaches acting at A.C.T., is every bit as good as you would expect. He plays Sir Sidney Chambers, who wrote the definitive work establishing the legitimacy of Shakespeare’s authorship. Herold’s role is a challenging one which he handles with great ease. 

For some reason, the program fails to clarify that this play is based on the real people involved in the heat of the real controversy. Since the director and playwright Gary Graves is a longtime “Shakespeare Controversy” buff, he may have simply failed to notice that not everybody is completely current with the subject.  

Or it might be because Graves took some liberties with the real story himself. When the good-looking younger man (a talented John Patrick Moore) who is threatening Chambers’ status as the absolute authority on his life’s subject, salts the wound by starting a serious flirtation with the guy’s wife (Jan Zvaifler, who handles her role very well, indeed ), we can guess that Graves has created some new material.  

Besides, the wife is in contact with a spirit who we have reason to suspect is Shakespeare himself. Surely that has to be Graves’ idea. 

The problem, of course, with this mixture of hard facts and creativity is that those of us who are not knowledgeable about the Shakespearian controversy can’t completely rely on the play’s description of the situation. There are some issues important to the play’s plot that could belong in either camp.  

Chambers, for instance, is presented as maintaining an excellent demeanor of poise over a rapidly deteriorating set of circumstances. In the play, he is suffering a gigantic case of writer’s block and has run through almost all the money he received from his publisher. His financial position is desperate; and he has concealed the whole thing from his wife.  

Into this situation comes an uninvited stranger, Mr. Looney, an articulate conveyor of the arguments in favor of the Earl of Oxford’s authorship. He is, as well, quite ruthless, willing to resort to any extreme to obtain public acceptance of his point of view.  

Amazingly enough, this character, too, is based in reality, on two men, according to UC English Professor Emeritus Alan H. Nelson. However, the professor makes no bones about his contempt for the arguments against Shakespeare’s authorship of the famous works. He says that the theory “has no standing whatsoever in the profession.” Nelson estimates that only one of 2,000 English professors believes it.  

Nelson himself became so irritated with the issue that he spent 10 years researching and writing Monstrous Adversary: The Life of Edward DeVere, 17th Earl of Oxford, which came out in 2003. Nelson calls the Earl “a reprehensible person” and describes his known poetry to have been “execrable to mediocre.” One would think that the quality of Oxford’s known poetry would put the issue to rest. But the Internet is still bubbling away. 

So far as the play goes, the professor sees it as based on “a good yarn,” but says he would have preferred the Looney character to be a ghost. 

Hmm. Interesting point of view. 

ª

WANTED: Vacation destination within the U.S. with spectacular scenery and a recreational source of water; activity-oriented and informative; suitable for singles, couples, groups, families; driver friendly; meet new people; low cost. 

Only qualified locations need apply. 

As much as we look forward to vacations, finding one that satisfies the constraints of time, individual differences and interests, and cost can be quite a challenge. Add to that the current economic and political climate, and the choices become more limited. Is there anything out there that qualifies? I think our national parks are the best deal around. In the past, my family has visited Lassen, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Teton. This year, with children grown, a friend and I spent five days at Zion National Park. The environment and services here reminded me that our national parks have something for everyone; they definitely qualify. I’ll use Zion to illustrate how.  

If you are appreciative of the type of beauty only nature can create, be prepared to be impressed. Impressed by the size, the colors, and the results of geologic change occurring slowly over millions of years. The multicolored cliffs and deep canyons of Zion became a national park in 1909. For over 13 million years the Virgin River has carved out this canyon through layers of Navajo sandstone cemented by calcium carbonate and the iron oxide that provides the reddish hues that contrast with the whites, yellows, and tans. Among the tallest sandstone cliffs in the world, monoliths with names like the West Temple (4,100 feet), the Watchman (2,600 feet), the Great White Throne (2,400 feet), among others, explain why at the end of each day my neck was stiff from constantly looking up at these spectacular sculptures of nature. 

Water provides the power that shaped Zion and contributes to its beauty and pleasure. The riparian ecosystem along the banks of the Virgin River provides a home to the flora and fauna enjoyed by visitors to the park: cottonwood trees, meadow grasses and wildflowers; many species of birds, wild turkeys, mule deer, beaver and cottontail rabbits. Water run-off and seepage through the rock has also created Emerald Pools and Weeping Rock, where golden columbine and shooting stars form hanging gardens as they grow attached to the canyon walls. The cool waters of the Virgin River are the perfect respite for water-loving kids and those young at heart with trail weary feet. One hot afternoon, after hiking the Three Emerald Pools loop trail, I cooled off in the river while I watched a family of children and adults trying to cross it. They started off carefully stepping from stone to stone, and ended up being submerged horizontally and having a great time. 

Ranger-led activities abound at this visitor-friendly park. You can learn about the geology, plants and animals of Zion by joining a ranger for a morning and/or late afternoon hike, an interpretive shuttle ride, a museum talk, and one of two evening lectures and slide presentations: one in the auditorium at Zion Lodge, the other under the stars at Watchman Campground. The topics, themes, and locations for the hikes change daily.  

During my stay I joined three multigenerational morning hikes and signed up for the shuttle ride. On each activity I was able to explore a different area of the park through the eyes and knowledge of an enthusiastic, friendly ranger. Holly led her group along dry creek beds and a narrow slot canyon in the less visited eastern part of the park. Her theme was geologic time and how it is evident in the rock formations and materials deposited in the creek beds. She used laminated diagrams and pictures to illustrate her talks on the layers of rocks, the animals common to the area, and the dangers inherent in exploring slot canyons. Another morning I joined the ranger on the Riverwalk trail where Lonnie’s theme was the power of water and the unique environment along the riverbanks: maidenhair fern, horsetails, willows and columbine—all water-loving plants. A third hike drew my eyes down to the small, often unnoticed details of life at Zion. We studied the marks left by elm leaf beetle larvae as they burrowed beneath the bark; we used magnifiers to observe the composition of river sand; we looked for insects and the trails left by lizards moving from rock to rock. Each hike was fun, a nice balance between physical activity, new information and new acquaintances. 

If only to be young again, at least long enough to join the Junior Ranger Program! Children between 6 and 12 years old learn about Zion and have fun by participating in hands-on activities, games and hikes, ranger-led or self- guided. After completing a requisite number of activities, junior rangers earn pins, certificates and patches. I wished for my own junior ranger hat to display the pins I could earn at the national parks across the U.S. 

On your own, you can go to the Zion Visitors’ Center, the Human History Museum, and Zion Lodge, as well as take numerous hikes of varying difficulty. The visitors’ center can answer questions and help you plan your activities. Artistic and informative exhibits highlight the park’s features and hikes. At the museum, I first watched the Zion Park orientation film, one of breathtaking photography, and then learned about man’s interaction with Zion through the museum’s exhibits. One of my favorite locations was Zion Lodge, set among cottonwood trees, in a large expanse of meadow, surrounded by the monumental canyon walls. Outside, large rustic rockers and benches, set in the shade, made for a perfect destination after any physical exertion, especially when accompanied by a delicious, cooling strawberry peach frozen yogurt from the Zion Park Deli. With my friend, I hiked to Emerald Pools, Weeping Rock, Pa’rus, and the Narrows. All the hikes were clearly marked and easy to follow. My favorite was the Narrows, where with hiking boots and wading staff, I walked in the Virgin River, along the canyon floor with the walls rising above my head as the distance between them decreased. It was great! 

Zion Park has solved the problem of the designated driver missing out on all the spectacular scenery, as well as traffic congestion in the park, by instituting the shuttle system. From May through October, cars are not permitted on Canyon Scenic Drive, the main road through the park. The shuttle runs daily from 5:45 a.m. to 11 p.m., during peak hours as often as every six minutes. It stops at all the trailheads and points of interest, and even goes into the town of Springdale with several stops. I found this system completely relaxing and liberating. I spent my time enjoying the car free scenery and striking up conversations with fellow visitors, comparing notes on where to go and what to do. I didn’t need to concern myself with directions or where to park. I only hope that more of our national parks follow Zion’s lead.  

I’ve amazed you with the beautiful scenery, the wealth of activities, the care-free shuttle system—all geared to increase your enjoyment and relaxation—but I’ve saved the best for last: the cost. For the price of $20 per car, everything I’ve described in this article is free. Not $20 per day, but $20 for a seven-day day pass good for a specific park. The ranger-led activities, talks, slide shows, the Junior Ranger Program ($2 one time sign up fee per child), the shuttle—all are free.  

Zion—a place of refuge. It may be hard to imagine that towering sandstone cliffs could convey a feeling of sanctuary, but for me they did. My memories are long lasting and they could also be yours. Look up at the towering walls and learn their names: the Three Patriarchs, Checkerboard Mesa; marvel at the layers of colors and the cool texture of stone; stand under the dripping water at Weeping Rock, wade in the perfect coolness of the Virgin River; follow the fluffy cottonwood down in the breeze; make a friend at the Lodge or on the shuttle. I won’t soon forget the two young men I met from New Jersey who had “visited” six national parks and traveled 2,000 miles in six days. Even though some “visits” lasted only 30 minutes, they loved all they had seen. 

America is home to 385 national parks. While this article has focused on my recent visit to Zion, each park has services that are geared to making each visit a memorable one. Spectacular scenery, activities that engage our minds, bodies, and souls, the chance to interact with service oriented staff and visitors from near and far. Affordable. Memorable. What are you waiting for?  

For those who love horses but won’t cross a picket line there is no need to worry. After a rough start, Cavalia, the horse and multimedia extravaganza, and the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) signed a contract late Monday night that resolved a heated labor dispute, shutting shut down the picket line that surrounded the production’s tent. 

Workers from IATSE started picketing Sunday after they learned that Cavalia had shipped in “gypsy” or traveling stage hands to set up their show instead of hiring local union workers as is the tradition in the Bay Area. Although they originally claimed union labor would be too expensive, representatives from Cavalia bowed to pressure from the union, the City of Berkeley, and the Central Labor Council, signing a contract that meets industry standards. 

Starting Tuesday, local union workers were hired and will be used to complete the set-up and then hired again to dismantle the various tents and main stage. 

“I think that they recognized the commitment that the city had made to us, the commitment that the Central Labor Council had made to us, and of course our commitment of standing out on the line,” said IATSE Business Representative Charma Ferreira. 

Martin Roy, the publicist for Cavalia, said the production signed the agreement because they were worried that hostilities between the two groups would grow and distract from the show itself. 

As a result, the audience can now enjoy the show when it starts Aug. 5, running through Aug. 15. Unlike any other in the world, the show combines multimedia elements, with horses, and acrobatics. Sometimes dubbed as horse ballet or Cirque du Soleil with horses, it is sure to entertain both horse lovers and regular attendees alike, say the producers. 

Created by Normand Latourelle, one of the founders of Cirque du Soleil, the show’s theme was originally developed when Latourelle saw a horse draw the audience’s attention at a performance, leaving the 150 other performers on stage looking like side acts. With experience in producing shows and events even bigger and bolder that Cirque du Soleil, Latourelle said he had never seen anything like it. 

“They are a star for real,” said Latourelle. “They don’t need a costume, just put it out there and the aesthetic is there.” 

He began to play with the idea of horses, and, as he did when he started Cirque du Soleil, thought about how he could re-invent a standard kind of show. When he originally came upon Cirque du Soleil, he said, it was a group of street performers who smoked a lot of pot and were followed by a street band. With his help, the show re-examined the art of the circus, eventually propelling it into the light as one of the most successful traveling productions ever. 

For Cavalia, he took the same approach. He went to rodeos, formal equestrian shows and studied horses tirelessly. He then took his performance and multimedia background and tried to imagine how to combine the two. 

“I thought I could re-invent the approach,” said Latourelle. Not knowing horses helped him push the envelope. He began to question trainers about what a horse could do. He suggested attaching one to a bungie of some sort, or using huge screens to project images that the horses could interact with. Each time he was shot down, told that the horse would be spooked. But after a little persistence he convinced the trainers, tried several of his ideas and found that horses responded well. 

During his search he ran into Frederic Pignon and his wife Magali Delgado, horse trainers and performers well-known on the European circuit. Latourelle went to meet with them and see their horses. Instead of bringing the horses into a ring, which is the custom, Pignon, believed by many to be a horse whisperer, took Latourelle into a field and began to play with the horses, who seemed to play back. Latourelle knew immediately that his show was born.  

Today the show includes Pignon and his wife along with 28 other performers who play with and ride the horses, perform gymnastic tricks and in all ways push the limits of typical performance.  

It’s hard to describe in detail what the experience is like, says Latourelle. “I could barely explain what Cirque du Soleil is about, now that everyone knows what it is,” he said. He hopes the same will be true for Cavalia. 

Most important, says Latourelle, the show is driven by the horses. They decide how long they want to be on stage and when they want to leave. The easiest way to describe the theme is the relationship between horse and man, he says.  

Every detail is included to insure that the horses have the freedom to express themselves fully during the performance. The show currently uses the largest mobile tent in the world, designed around the horses. Instead of a ring in the middle which would maximize the seating, the audience sits in stadium seating in front a stage 160 feet long: the distance a horse needs in order to get up to full speed. 

Behind the stage is a 210-foot screen that captures images created by 20 different projectors. At one point water streams down from the roof and images are screened onto it. On the stage there are 2,000 tons of dirt and up above is a grid that is 100 feet across, which holds a surround sound system. And although unseen for much the show, a live band that sits behind the screen provides the music. 

The live band, said Latourelle, is needed because they can improvise and conform to the horses, unlike a sound track. 

“[The horses] don’t come to do tricks, they come to play,” said Latourelle. 

And of course, there are the horses. The majority are Lusatanos, which are a breed originally from Portugal, but Cavalia’s are from a farm in southern France. With long mains, and white hair, Latourelle thinks they could easily be the most beautiful horse alive. There are also Belgian, Gitano, and Quarter horses and almost all 30 are stallions. 

When all the elements comes together, Latourelle said the best way to describe the event is “like a big poem for the eyes and the ears.” And for those who still don’t know exactly what to expect, he says the only way to find out is to come. 

Does your soul yearn for the Scottish Highlands? Or perhaps to walk the wind-swept moors, or along rugged coastal trails, expansive sky above and endless ocean at your side? If these pictures are not in your immediate future, a more than satisfactory substitute is just an hour away—the Point of Kings. 

Point Reyes National Seashore is 65,000 acres of varied landscapes: open land of coastal scrub and grassy meadows, fresh and salt-water marshes, forests of Douglas fir and Bishop pines and miles of sandy beaches and promontories above crashing waves. Life abounds on land, in the sea and in the air. Spring wildflowers, breeding elephant seals and migrating California gray whales share the park with resident mammals, birds, and tide-pool denizens. Opportunities for viewing wildlife are many. 

Such richness cannot be appreciated in just one day. This article will highlight the northern area of the park—a hike through Pierce Point Ranch and the Tule Elk Preserve and an afternoon spent at McClure’s or Kehoe Beach. Later articles will cover other park areas and wildlife viewing opportunities. 

For an overview of Point Reyes’ geology, flora, and fauna, there is no better place to start than the Bear Valley Visitor Center. In this 7,600-square-foot barn-like structure of weathered gray wood highlighted with red trim you’ll find helpful, informative rangers, exhibits, and interpretive displays highlighting the Point Reyes environment, its discovery, and the Coast Miwok Indian culture. Pick up trail guides, check the daily postings on nature programs, watch Something Special, an orientation film, and visit the gift shop for books, posters, and other park memorabilia. 

On a recent visit my wildlife viewing began right outside, at the picnic area across the road. Gray squirrels played tag around tall pines and oaks shading well-spaced picnic tables while hawks and ravens soared overhead, piercing the quiet with their cries. 

Your drive to Pierce Point Ranch takes you through the small towns of Inverness and Inverness Park, both good places to stop for a pre-hike snack or to stock up on picnic supplies. As you drive north you’ll pass a mix of open land and historic dairy farms amid sepia-colored native grasses, muted green coastal scrub, and hearty wildflowers in season: orange monkey flower, yellow lupine, and orange California poppy. 

The 22,000-acre Pierce Point Ranch was established in 1858 as a premium dairy ranch, the only independently owned and operated dairy in Point Reyes. Today just the restored ranch buildings remind us of its past. As you walk among the stark white bunkhouse, old and new dairy, the ranch house and massive hay barn, it’s easy to imagine the loneliness of life here at the tip of nowhere. 

The trail to the Tule Elk Preserve begins here. Cervus elaphus nannodes is a subspecies of elk native to California. These majestic animals once numbered in the thousands, but the ubiquitous combination of hunting and habitat loss brought them close to extinction by 1860. In Point Reyes, the elk have a protected haven of open grassland and coastal scrub to roam and graze freely. What began in 1978 as a herd of 17 now numbers over 500. 

The trail to Tomales Point is 4.7 miles each way, but the elk are usually visible less than one mile from the trailhead. The length of your hike should depend on how you want to spend the day. If you’re ready for a day-long spectacular walk, a la Scottish moors, head to the point. If your plans include a visit to the beach, determine how much hiking and viewing time you have as a guide for how far along the trail you’ll go.  

Spectacular sights surround you as soon as your boots hit the trail. The Pacific Ocean in colors of cerulean-blue and aquamarine against white waves breaking on the shores of unreachable beaches below tall, rough cliffs. Multi-hued, four-petaled flowers and seedpods on coastal scrub: pastels in pale pinks, yellows and blues. Raptors riding the wind currents, tipping their wings from side to side as the sun highlights the tips of their feathers, gently gliding as they follow the contour of the land.  

As the level trail starts to head down and a large hill looms ahead, look to the right. You’ll see a meadow with Tomales Bay and Hog Island in the background. It’s common to see a group of 15 to 20 elk here, mostly cows and calves, at their ease, grazing or resting, their senses alert, but not wary. The key to wildlife viewing is time and patience. Find the elks’ comfort zone—the distance from which you can observe without invading their space, forcing them to move away—and watch. Using binoculars will increase your viewing detail. Similar groups of elk can be viewed at numerous points along the trail, all the way to Tomales Point. 

On your return, take the time to visit one of the natural outcrops that dot the landscape. Sit for a while with lichen coated stones and low growing wildflowers at your feet. Emulate an owl, turning your head in every direction. Wherever you look, you’ll find something worth looking at. This is an ideal spot to savor the peace while you marvel at this wonderful resource so close to home, appreciating the luxury of being at one with nature with time to gather your thoughts while absorbing the life all around. You may find it difficult to leave this tranquil spot at the end of the earth, especially with the distant drone of bagpipes just beyond reach. 

Beach time is the perfect ending for a great day. McClure’s Beach is just down the road from Pierce Point Ranch. A short, steep trail leads down to a sandy cove with large rock formations at either end. The surf here is intense, too dangerous for swimming or wading, but beautiful nonetheless. Four miles south on Pierce Point Road is Kehoe Beach, equally scenic. A half-mile level trail along a marsh and over sand dunes reveals a wide, mile long, driftwood strewn beach, with milder surf. Both beaches are great environments for an afternoon of beach activities 

Point Reyes—fit for a king. Spend a day among its jewels. 

JULY 31-AUGUST 1 

CARMEL 

Carmel Bach Festival through Aug. 8 at various locations. Individual events range from free to $50. Average price for major concerts is $40; daytime intermezzo recitals are $15. 831-624-2046. www.bachfestival.org  

NOVATO 

The Heart of the Forest Renaissance Faire at Stafford Lake Park, on Sat. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The festival continues on weekends in August through Aug. 15. Costumed players perform at theaters, in the lanes, and hawk their wares from market stalls. Fully-armored jousters compete twice daily. Advance tickets are $15 for adults and $6 for children. 415-897-4555. www.forestfaire.com/marin 

RUTHERFORD 

Wine Country Film Festival at Sequoia Grove Vineyards. Sat. from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., $20, playing films, “The Passion of the Clown,” “Beat Angel: In the Spirit of Jack Kerouac,” and a live performance by Vincent Balestri. Sun. from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. The festival continues through Aug. 15. 707-935-FILM. www.winecountryfilmfest.com 

SAN FRANCISCO 

Jerry Garcia Birthday Celebration on Sun. at the McLaren Park Amphitheater. Events last from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and includes Paul Taylor and The Mountain Boys and comedien Dan St. Paul. Come dance and celebrate this legendary local hero. Free admission www.jerryday.org 

SANTA CRUZ 

Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music from Aug. 1 -15 at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium in downtown Santa Cruz. The festival will feature violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, grammy award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin, and the award winning Festival Orchestra. For tickets call 831-420-5260. www.cabrillomusic.org 

SANTA ROSA 

Sonoma County Fair and Exposition, at the fairgrounds in Santa Rosa off Hwy. 12, from July 27 to Aug. 9. Entertainment includes a Blues Festival, Bluegrass Festival, Fiesta, Carnival, events for children, including magic shows and Harry Potter events, and livestock and flower shows. Tickets are $2-$7 single admission. 707-545-4200. www.sonomacountyfair.com 

AUGUST 7-8 

AUBURN 

Festa Italiana Italian Cultural Society sponsors a two day food and music extravaganza bringing the best Italian restaurants and clubs together to create all your favorites, from Pizza and Pasta, to Cannoli and Tiramisu. Festival Park, 3730 Auburn Boulevard. 916-482-5900. www.festaitaliana.com 

CARMEL VALLEY 

Carmel Valley Fiesta A family-oriented fiesta, on Sat. and Sun. with games, train ride, dog show, parade, arts and crafts, continuous entertainment, raffles, good food and a Saturday Night Street Dance. 831-659-2038. www.carmelvalleykiwanis.com 

CROCKETT 

Crockett Art and Wine Festival on Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Loring Ave. between Rolph and West Sts. Artist booths, food and beverages, and entertainment stage with music and dance. Resident artists will also be holding open studios. 800-310-6363. www.sresproductions.com 

LIVERMORE 

Rally and March to the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab Meet at 1 p.m. at Jackson Elementary School, 554 Jackson Ave. for a rally and march to the Livermore Livermore Lab - demand an end to nuclear weapons. Tell them to clean up their mess. To volunteer call 925-443-7148. www.trivalleycares.org 

MONTEREY 

Monterey Scottish Games & Celtic Festival on Sat. and Sun. in Toro County Park, between Salinas and Monterey Peninsula on Hwy 68. Entertainment includes pipe bands, Irish step dancing, Scottish athletic competitions including the famous Caber Toss, Saturday night Ceilidah and much more. Admission is $6-$15. 831-647-631. www.montereyscotgames.com 

NAPA 

Sterling Vineyards and Turner Classic Movies present “The Wizard of Oz” on Sat. Grounds open at 7 p.m. for picnicing with movie at dusk. Screenings are free, suggested ticket donations: $8 adults, $5 children. Proceeds benefit farm-workers through Napa Community Foundation. “Roman Holiday” will be shown on Aug. 28, and “Vertigo” on Sept. 18. Call 800-726-6136. www.sterlingvineyards.com  

SALINAS 

The Steinbeck Festival begins Aug. 5, at the National Steinbeck Center and additional locales in author John Steinbeck’s hometown. The festival features four days of speakers, walking and bus tours, panel discussions, and theater, with an emphasis on “Steinbeck and the Environment” and “The Politics of Steinbeck.” Single sessions are $17, and a four day passport is $75 or $60 for members of the National Steinbeck Center. 831-775-4721. www.steinbeck.org 

SAN JOSE 

San Jose Jazz Festival from Aug. 5 - 8 Performances on seven stages with Ray Barretto, Peter Bernstein, Dena DeRose, Dave Ellis, Pete Escovedo with special guests Ray Vega and Justo Almario, Insight, Mark Levine Pascal & Remy LeBeouf, Virginia Mayhew, Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, John Sanots & Machete and many more. Events include master classes, jam sessions and films. 408-998-8497. www.sanjosejazz.org 

SAN FRANCISCO 

The American Craft Council Show displaying contemporary crafts from more than 300 artists from across the country in the Fort Mason Center from August 6 - 8. Fri. and Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sun. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission for one day is $10 and $18 for a two-day pass. American Craft Council members and children under 12 are admitted free. www.craftcouncil.org 

SAN JOSE 

Santa Clara County Fair on the Fairgrounds in San Jose, Aug. 6 - 8. Entertainment includes events for children, music by The Syndicate of Sound, Roy Rogers and Norton Buffalo with Tom Rigney and Flambeau, The Blues Box Bayou Band and Freddie Fender. Destruction Derby on Sun. at 5 p.m. 408-494-3247. www.thefair.org 

AUGUST 14-15 

AUBURN 

Sacred Arts and Music Faire, Sat. and Sun., 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Gold Country Fairgrounds. Music from many world traditions, workshops, and presentations including yoga, belly dancing, crystal bowl healing, storytelling, kids activities, and peace song sing alongs. Tickets are $15 advance, $20 at gate per day. 530-613-1865. www.sacredmusicevents.com 

LAGUNA SECA 

31st Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey. The Monterey Historics bring out the best of racing’s past from rare pre-war racers adorned with nameplates like Bugatti and Alfa-Romeo to 70s and 80s rocket ships from Lola and McLaren. 800-327-SECA www.laguna-seca.com 

MOUNTAIN VIEW 

The Small Brewers Festival of California Sat. and Sun. behind the Tied House on 954 Villa St., with live music including the California Repercussions Marching Jazz Band, Groovy Judy, Frank Lima on the accordian, Johnny Fabulous Band and many more. Added this year is a commercial beer competition where the participants will be invited to submit their beers for a friendly competition. www.smallbrewersfest.com 

NAPA 

Napa Town and Country Fair from Aug. 11 - 15, noon to 10 p.m. Entertainment, including 4-H Horse Show, Charreada Mexicana, and Destruction Derby, plus wine tasting, and livestock exhibitions. Music features KC and the Sunshine Band, War, Tracy Lawrence, The Coasters and John Cafferty. Cost is $4-$7. 707-253-4900. www.napavalleyexpo.com 

PITTSBURG 

Pittsburg Scottish Renaissance Festival in Buchanan Park with archery tournaments, sword fighting, Queen’s Court, Highland dances and much more. 925-209-3598. http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/hrp/PSRF/index.html  

SAN FRANCISCO 

The 10th Annual Arts and Crafts Show and Sale at the Concourse Exhibition Center, 8th and Brannan St. on Sat. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sun. from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Over 150 exhibitors and artisans with merchandise from the Arts and Crafts era, including Art Nouveau, Native American, and California Rancho. Exhibits, lectures, and booksigning. Admission $8. www.artsandcrafts-sf.com 

SAN MATEO 

San Mateo County Fair from Aug 13 - 22 at the San Mateo County Expo Center. The fair’s 70th anniversary theme is “A Tropical Paradise” and features commercial exhibitors, artisans and craftspeople, food, including a chili cook-off and guest chefs, and music, including Garratt Wilkin and the Parrotheads, The Ben Taylor Band, Tower of Power and The Village People. 650-574-3247. www.sanmateocountyfair.com 

SEBASTOPOL 

Gravenstein Apple Fair in Ragle Ranch Park on Sat. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with music stages, children’s corner, farm animal exhibits, arts and crafts, apple pie eating contest, apple pie baking contest, beer and wine tasting, and more! Admission $4-$8. 800-207-9464. www.farmtrails.org 

SONORA 

Sonora Blues Festival on Sat. at Mother Lode Fairgrounds. Gates open at 10 a.m. and music starts at 11 a.m. There will be concerts on three stages, and dancing at the end of the day. There will be fans, air conditioning (inside) and water misting units to keep cool! 209-533-3473. www.fireonthemountain.com/blues.html 

SUTTER CREEK 

Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival from Aug. 13-15 with performers Nan Bostick, Tom Brier, Carl Sonny Leyland, Stevens Price, “Ah Sweet Sue” Jan Price and her “Dill Pickle Melodrama” crew, Keith Taylor and more. At Sutter Creek Ice Cream Emporium. All venues within two blocks along Main St., Hwy 49. Admission is $10-$40. including camp sites and RV facilities. 209-223-0867. www.SutterCreekRagtime.com 

UKIAH 

Redwood Empire Fair at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds from Aug. 12 - 15 with livestock exhibitions, demolition derby, cooking contests, and much more. 707-462-FAIR. www.redwoodempirefair.com 

AUGUST 21-22 

CARMEL VALLEY 

Jewish Food Festival & Crafts Faire on Sun. from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Jewish village of Anatevka comes alive with music, crafts, and Jewish foods. Entertainment will include performances by singers Alisa Fineman and Kimball Hurd as well as the Ya Elah Spiritual music ensemble. Shuttle service will be offered from Carmel Middle School. 831-624-2015. www.bethisrael.info www.carmelvalleychamber.com 

DUNSMUIR 

Upper Sac River Jazz and Blues Festival on Sun. at Dunsmuir City Park and Botanical Garden, featuring Bammy nominee guitarist Mimi Fox and her trio, Good Bait and others. Admission is $15. Parking is free. 800-386-7684. www.dunsmuir.com  

HOPLAND 

SolFest at the Real Goods solar Living Center, on Sat. and Dun. from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. with a green marketplace, workshops, organic food and family fun. From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sat. and Sun. 707-744-2017. www.solfest.org 

MONTEREY 

Monterey County Fair at the Monterey County Fairgrounds from Aug. 17 - 22, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. with livestock exhibitions, a wine-tasting booth, amusement midway and delicious foods, plus great live entertainment. 831-372-5863. www.montereycountyfair.com 

SACRAMENTO 

California State Fair from Aug. 21 to Sept. 6 from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. The festival will feature competitions, activities, exhibits, and presentations, including cooking competitions, kitchen demos, a baseball exhibit, and youth art graffitti competitions. Also a rodeo, horse racing and a mid-way. Admission $6-$12. Held at 1600 Exposition Blvd. 916-263-FAIR. www.bigfun.org. www.calexpo.com  

SANTA ROSA 

Historic Railroad Square Association Heritage Days from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Historic Railroad Square. Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Santa Rosa’s Historic Train Depot, with live music, art show, vintage car show, cooking demonstrations by local chefs and much more. 707-578-8474. http://Railroadsquare.net  

AUGUST 28- 29 

AUBURN 

Sierra Blues Benefest and Crafts Fair on Sat. from noon to 10 p.m. featuring ten blues bands including Mitch Woods, Annie Sampson & Her Band, NiteCry, Hamilton Loomis, Little Sister & The Bad Intentions and many more. Plus many crafts vendors and activities for children. Admission is free. 530-268-9166. www.sierrabluessociety.org/BENEFEST.htm 

BODGEA BAY 

Bodega Bay Seafood, Art and Wine Festival Sat. and Sun. from 11 a.m. with 12 restaurants, 85 art and craft vendors, 25 wineries, 13 micro-breweries, music, activities for children including pony rides, rock climbing, magicians and jugglers. Also on Sunday. Held at the Chanslor Ranch, on Highway 1, one mile north of Bodega Bay. Admission is $8 adults, $6 seniors, under 12 free, dogs $1. Benefits Chanslor Wildlife’s wetlands conservation and education programs. 707-824-8404. www.sonomawetlands.org/fundr.html 

COTATI 

Cotati Accordian Festival on Sat. and Sun. from 9:30 a.m. With the O’Grady Family, Trio Amore & Ron Borelli, Polkanomics, The Great Morgani, Soughdough Slim and the Steve Balich Polka Band performing for dancing. Tickets are $15-$25. On West Sierra Ave. exit, off Hwy 101, 50 miles north of the GG Bridge. 707-664-0444. www.cotatifest.com 

MONTEREY 

16th Annual Greek Festival An ethnic festival featuring authentic Greek food, live music, traditional dancing, a taverna and crafts. 831-424-4434. www.montereyinfo.org 

SAN FRANCISCO 

Golden Gate Renaissance Fair in Golden Gate Park on Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Over 1,000 actors bring to life the times of Queens Jane and Mary Tudor and Princess Elizabeth. The festival will feature staged combat, music, song, dance, drama and comedy. 415- 354-1773. www.sffaire.com 

VALLEJO 

Vallejo Shoreline Jazz, Art & Wine Festival from Aug. 26 -29 from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Outdoors and inside The Waterbarge Restaurant and Tavern. Featuring Delbert Bump Organ Big Band, Jeff Chambers Quintet, Bobby Hutcherson Sextet, Ron Tyler & New Directions, Dee Daniels, Kitty Margolis Quartet, and many, many more. Tickets are $15 for one day, $25 for two. Proceeds benefit local community organizations. 707-642-3653. www.vallejojazzfestival.comu

FRIDAY, JULY 30 

CHILDREN 

Mood Swings with a reading of “When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry” by Molly Bang at 10:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-3635. 

FILM 

The Invention of the Western Film: “Ride Lonesome” at 7:30 p.m. and “The Searchers” at 9:05 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “A Delicate Balance” by Edward Albee. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, through Aug 14. Tickets are $10. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Aurora Theatre “Betrayal,” by Harold Pinter, directed by Tom Ross. Runs through August 1. Tickets are $34-$36. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org  

California Shakespeare Theater, “Henry IV” Tues.-Fri. at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at the Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, through August 1. Tickets are $13-$32. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Central Works “The Mysterious Mr. Looney” a new play about the man who wrote the plays of Shakespeare, at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m., through Aug. 5. Tickets are $8-$20. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

“Spanglish 101” with Bill Santiago at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Adrian Tomine, author of the comic book series “Optic Nerve” in conversation with Eli Horowitz on “Scrapbook” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Jim Hightower introduces his latest book “Let’s Stop Beating Around the Bush: More Political Subversion” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Midsummer Mozart Festival at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $28-$48. 415-627-9140. www.midsummermozart.org 

Moonrise & Shekhinah at the 1923 Teahouse at 9 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson at 8 p.m. with Belinda Ricklefs. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, traditional folk singer and raconteur, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The People, Orixa, Awesome Cool Dudes at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Robbie Fulks, Scout of Firecracker at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Mal Sharp Big Money in Jazz at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Henry Kaiser, solo guitar, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Research and Development at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Blown to Bits, Death Toll, Against Empire, Holokaust at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Dan Zemmelman at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. All ages welcome. Suggested donation of $8-$15. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

SATURDAY, JULY 31 

THEATER 

The Oakland Playhouse Improv Troupe A night of improv comedy at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby at MLK. Tickets are $15 at the door. 595-5597. www.theoaklandplayhouse.com 

FILM 

Jewish Film Festival runs from July 31 to Aug. 5 at Wheeler auditorium, UC Campus. 925-275-9490. www.sfjff.org 

Bergman on a Summer Night: “Smiles of a Summer Night” at 5 and 9 p.m., and “Wild Strawberries” at 7:10 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash reading for “Mercy of Tides: Poems for a Beach House” with contributors Alex Green, Zack Rogow and Hannah Stein at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam Fundraiser at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Port Chicago,” a musical-theater performance commemorating the 60th anniversary of the worst home-front disaster in World War II, will be staged by the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra from 3 to 5 p.m., at the African-American Museum and Library, 659 14th St. 637-0200. www.oaklandlibrary.org  

Quasi Nada, live Brazilian music, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

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

Sarah Manning Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

John Reyburn, folk, Baroque guitar, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Kekele, Congolese rumba, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15, with $5 discount for those who have their receipt from the June 29 lecture. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Naked Barbies at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Insolence, Unjust, Jynx at 8:45 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

John Stowell, guitar, at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com  

Dan Zimmelman on piano at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Blair Hanson at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Scott Amendola Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Allegiance, Cast Aside, More to Pride, In Your Face at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Tim Barsky at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$10, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 

FILM 

The Invention of the Western Film: “Lonely Are the Brace” at 5:30 p.m., “The Wild Bunch” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Conspirare, Craig Hella Johnson & Company of Voices, from Austin,Texas, at 4 p.m. at St. Marks Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $15. www.conspirare.org 

Sacred Geometry and Dances of India with Malathi Iyengar and Rangoli Dance Company at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Tickets are $12-$20. 925-798-1300. 

Americana Unplugged: Joe Craven, mandolinist and percussionist, at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bush-Be-Gone Bash with the Funky Nixons and the Gary Gates Band at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jacqui Naylor at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com  

The Art of One, solo performances presented by Acme Observatory at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. All ages welcome. Suggested donation of $7-$10. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

MONDAY, AUGUST 2 

CHILDREN 

“Tales from the Enchanted Forest” with puppeteer Nick Barone at 11 a.m. at Habitot Children’s Museum’ Fairy Tale Day celebration. Children can come dressed as their favorite fairytale character and act in impromptu skits. Fairy dust painting will take place in the Art Studio. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Alfred Henry Jacobs” photographs, documents and original artwork on Jacobs’ contribution to the architecture of Bay Area movie palaces, at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. 549-6950. www.magnes.org 

FILM 

“My Sister, My Bride” a documentary about same-sex marriage by Bonnie Burt at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus at 6:30 p.m. www.sfjff.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Last Word Poetry Series with John Rowe and Michael Kelly at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave.  

Julie Smith introduces her new detective book, “Louisana Lament” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Actors Reading Writers “America at War” a story by Tim O'Brien and letters from Andrew Carroll’s book, “War Letters” at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave.  

Poetry Express featuring Terry McCarty from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Greg Osby Four at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 3 

FILM 

Time’s Shadow: “Corridor” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Jewish Film Festival with “Tomorrow We Move” at 8:30 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. 925-275-9490. www.sfjff.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Evan Wolfson on “Why Marriage Matters” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Jay Brunhouse introduces “Travelling the Eurail Express” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jazz House Jam hosted by Darrell Green and Geechy Taylor at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. www.thejazz- 

house.com 

Courtableu at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Pattie Whitehurst at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Greg Osby Four at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4 

CHILDREN 

Puppet Show on Common Germs at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. Donation $3. Free for children under 3. 549-1564. 

FILM 

Exploit-O-Scope: “Mr. Sardonicus” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Jewish Film Festival with “Channels of Rage” at 8:45 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. 925-275-9490. www.sfjff.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with Nazelah Jamison and Karen Ladson at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Anoush at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Balkan dance lesson with Nancy Klein at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Improvised Composition Experiment at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $5 to play or listen. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Jules Broussard, Ned Boynton and Bing Nathan at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. www.downtownrestaurant.com 

Peau de Chagrin, jazz trio, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Hiromi, Japanese pianist, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“An Angel Is My Watermark” Monoprints by Elizabeth Addison and her students. Reception at 5 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery. 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-1228. 

FILM 

“Alila” at 6:30 p.m. at the Café Muse, Pacific Film Archive. Dinner and discussion with Janis Plotkin, former director of the Jewish Film Festival. Cost is $40 for dinner and film, $10 for film only. Sponsored by the New Israel Fund. 415-543-5055.  

Time’s Shadow: “From the Pole to the Equator” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free screening. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Luchino Visconti: “La Terra Trema” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Jewish Film Festival with “Alila” at 8:45 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. 925-275-9490. www.sfjff.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Photographs of Roger Ballen, curator’s talk with Constance Lewallen at 5:30 p.m. in Gallery 2, Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Diane Wilson discusses how to deal with the loss of a job in “Back in Control” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-3635. 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with Jesy Goldhammer, Gail Silverstein and guests from the Cabaret of Peace Tour, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE  

Nathan Clevenger Group, original music with world and jazz influences, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $8-$15. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Loop! Station at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711. 

George Pederson and The ReincarNatives at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen, bluegrass and country rock at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bill Frisell with Vinicius Cantuária and Mauro Refosco at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Through Sat. Cost is $18-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Mimi Fox at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 6 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

American Craft Council 29th Annual San Francisco Show at Fort Mason Center, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fri. and Sat., Sun. to 5 p.m. Admission for one day is $10 and $18 for a two-day pass. 1-800-836-3470. www.craftcouncil.org/sf.shtml 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “A Delicate Balance” by Edward Albee. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, through Aug 14. Tickets are $10. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Alameda Civic Light Opera “Bye Bye Birdie,” directed by Frederick L. Chacon. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. Sun. at 2 p.m. to Aug. 22. Kofman Auditorium, 2220 Central Ave. in Alameda. Tickets are $23-$25. 864-2256. www.aclo.com 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “My Fair Lady,” directed by Michael Manley, through Aug. 14, Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., selected Sun. at 2 p.m. Contra Costa Civic Theatre, 951 Pomona Ave, El Cerrito. Tickets are $12-$20. 524-9132. www.ccct.org  

Shotgun Players “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. in John Hinkel Park, Southampton Ave., until Aug 29. 841-6500. wwwshotgunplayers.org 

Woodminster Summer Musicals, “The Will Rogers Follies” at 8 p.m., Fri.-Sun. in Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland. Also Aug. 12-15. Tickets are $19-$31. 531-9597. www.woodminster.com 

FILM 

Luchino Visconti: “Rocco and His Brothers” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

By the Light of the Moon with Karen Broder at 7:30 p.m. at Changemakers Books, 6536 Telegraph. Sliding scale $3-$7. 655-2405. www.changemakersforwomen.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Dr. Abacus, Shelley Doty, Julie Zielinski at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7-$10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

The Vowel Movement A BeatBox Showcase hosted by Andrew Chaikin and Tim Barsky at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Snake Trio at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $12 in advance, $14 at the door. 849-2568. 

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

Lowen & Navarro, contemporary folk duo, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50- $16.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jessica Jones at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Syncrosystem Afro-Latin and Gypsy at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Skin Divers at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com?

FRIDAY, JULY 30 

Free Compost for Berkeley Residents Open to the general public at 11:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Berkeley Marina Maintenance Yard, 201 University Ave., next to Adventure Playground. 644-6566.  

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Players at all levels are welcome. 652-5324. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 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. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

Overeaters Anonymous meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. 525-5231. 

SATURDAY, JULY 31 

Fifth Annual Urban Sustainability Bike Tour We’ll tour several houses in the East Bay that demonstrate some aspect of lighter living in the city. Join us at the east side of the Ashby BART Station at 10 a.m. Please bring lunch and water with you. 548-2220, ext. 233. www.ecologycenter.org 

Sunset Walk in Emeryville Marina with Solo Sierrans. Meet for an hour’s walk on paved trail through the Emery- 

ville Marina with quiet views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Meet behind Chevy’s Restaurant at 5:30 p.m. 234-8949. 

United Nations Association 40th Anniversary Celebration, with music, dance and food, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1403B Addison St. in the University Ave. Andronico’s parking lot. 849-1752. 

“Port Chicago,” a musical-theater performance commemorating the 60th anniversary of the worst home-front disaster in World War II, will be staged by the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra from 3 to 5 p.m., at the African-American Museum and Library at Oakland, 659 14th St. 637-0200. www.oaklandlibrary.org  

Community Festival in Richmond from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 530 South 15th Street in Richmond. Wth BBQ Ribs, Gospel Bird Hot Links, Black Art Jewelry, craft items and much more. Sponsored by Ennis Chapel Church Of God In Christ. Proceeds from the Festival will benefit the “Gifts Of Love African Outreach Ministry” which will build a well for clean drinking water and a church building. 

Summer Pond Plunge With dip-nets and maginifiers we’ll search for backswimmers, dragonflies and more. For ages 4 and up. From 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Peace & Justice Community Summit Former Prisoners Organize to Fight Discrimination from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church, 685 14th Street in Oakland. Childcare and a community lunch will be provided. This Summit is being sponsored by All of Us or None, Keith Carson, District 5 representative on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, and several community based organizations.  

Berkeley International Kite Festival at Cesar Chavez Park, Berkeley Marina. 235-5483. www.highlinekites.com  

Rockridge to the Hills Explore historic neighborhoods of Oakland and Berkeley, with beautiful old homes, gardens, and a creek. Ascend to Claremont Open Space for a picnic and views before returning to Rockridge. A challenging, seven mile hike with an elevation gain between 1,000 and 2,000 feet. From 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 415- 543-6771, ext. 302. www.greenbelt.org 

Full Moon Peak Hike for youth and families to Wildcat Peak to see the moonrise. From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Butterflies: Flying Flowers” from 1 to 4 p.m. at Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden park. Cost is $30-$35. For reservations call 845-4116. www.nativeplants.org 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Glenview From 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at Gleview Elementary School, corner of Hampel and La Cresta. Tour is limited to 20 persons. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. For reservations call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. For reservations call 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours 

The Bay Area Dry Climate Garden Learn what to plant in our winter-wet, summer-dry climate, choosing from plants from similar climates around the world. At 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Trivial Pursuit Booklover’s Edition Join this interactive event and test your knowledge of book and author trivia at 2 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Disaster First Aid Class from 9 a.m. to noon at the Fire Dept. Training Center, 997 Cedar St. Part of Berkeley Community Emergency Response Training series, open to anyone who lives or works in Berkeley. To register, call 981-5506. 

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. for $8. 848-7800. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 

Guided Trails Challenge Hike in Kennedy Grove from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Fruitval Commercial from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meet at the Pedestrian Plaza at East 12th St and 34th Ave. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. For reservations call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

“Justice For All” with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, organizer of the UUFETA, at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. 525-0302.  

“Terror Through the Looking Glass” a slide lecture with Simon Kendrick on the history behind western images of Islam in the aftermath of Sept. 11, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Middle East Children’s Alliance, 901 Parker St. Event is free, but RSVP’s requested to jos@unionbug.com 

Tibetan Buddhism, with Sylvia Gretchen on “Heroic Lives of Bodhisattvas” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Celebrating Recovery at New Spirit Community Church A special worship service honoring and celebrating the journey of recovery, at 11 a.m. at Pacific School of Religion Chapel, 1798 Scenic Ave. 704-7729. www.newspiritchurch.org 

MONDAY, AUGUST 2 

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter meets at 6 p.m. the first Monday of each month at the Oakland YWCA, 1515 Webster St. Our August speakers will be three lesbian authors who will discuss the similarities and differences gays and straights encounter in getting published. 287-8948.  

The Coalition for a democratic Pacifica looks at Russia at 7:30 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita.  

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 1:15 p.m. every Monday at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

Iyengar Yoga on Mondays from from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $12. 528-9909. gay@yogagarden.org 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. 524-9122. 

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. 

A Celebration of Diversity in Families To explore both biblical and modern concepts of family for children from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Aug 6. Sponsored by the Arlington Community Church. To register call 526-9146. 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 3 

Tomato Tastings at the Tuesday Farmers Market, Derby St. at MLK, Jr Way from 2 to 7 p.m. Sample about 35 tomato varieties. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Mid-Day Meander Hike Rare manzanitas, cool mosses and delicious berries all in a compact park off Skyline Blvd., from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. registration required. 525-2233. 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Suggested donation $3. 549-1564. 

Bicycle Maintenance 101 Learn how to identify and fix your bike’s simple mechanical problems at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

American Red Cross Blood Services is holding a volunteer orientation from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave. Volunteers are needed to support the more than 40 blood drives held each month. Advance sign-up needed. 594-5165. 

“There’s Something About W” takes a look at the state of our nation in light of the policies of the Bush Administration over the past 3 years. at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Phone Banking to ReDefeat Bush on Tuesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Bring your cell phones. Please RSVP if you can join us. 415-336 8736. dan@redefeatbush.com 

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. 845-6830. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672.  

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4 

Twilight Tour “Latin America: The Least Grown and Least Known” A tour of Latin American plants that are typically under-represented in commercial nurseries, at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$17. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

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

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours 

Point Molate Restoration A presentation by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command at 6 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library, 325 Civic Center Plaza. 620-6561.  

“What the #$*! Do We Know?!” a film on the convergence of science and spiritality opens at UA Berkeley. www.whatthebleep.com 

Medicare Discount Prescription Drug Cards, a discussion with Alex Shulman from Medicare from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on a drop in basis at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets at 7:15 a.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. For information call 524-3765. 

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

Fun with Acting Class every Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Free, all are welcome, no experience necessary.  

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5 

Cavalia: A Magical Encounter Between Horse and Man under the big-top at Golden Gate Fields, Tues.-Fri. at 8 p.m. Sat. at 3 and 8 p.m., Sun. at 1 and 5 p.m. through August 15. Tickets are $44-$79 available from 1-866-999-8111. www.cavalia.net 

Berkeley Farmer’s Market with all organic produce at Elephant Pharmacy parking lot, 1607 Shattuck Ave., at Cedar from 3 to 7 p.m. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Twilight Tour “A Celebration of Poetry in the Garden” Join us fro a slow meandering throught he worlds of words and nature, at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$17. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Preparing for Your Remodeling Project A two evening class to demystify the design and construction process. Offered by Imagine General Contractors, Inc. Aug. 5 and 12, at 7 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Cost is $57-$67. To register call 524-9283. 

“The Coast Starlight” a PBS film on America’s scenic rail journeys at 1:30 p.m. at Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Suggested donation $3. 549-1564. 

Storytelling for Women, a step-by-step class at 6:30 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $20. 655-2405. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 6 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Players at all levels are welcome. 652-5324. 

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 

Overeaters Anonymous meets every Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. Parking is free and is handicapped accessible. For information call Katherine, 525-5231. 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 7 

Peace Lantern Ceremony from 6:30 to 9 p.m., at the North end of Acquatic Park at the base of Addison Street, near University Ave and I-80. Japanese-style floating lantern ceremony remembering the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and all wars. Shade decoration and paper crane making begins at 6:30, lanterns to be floated at sunset. All ages welcome. Free. Wheelchair accessible. Volunteers needed. www.ProgressivePortal.org/lanterns 

Soul Food Cooking Demonstrations at 11 a.m. at the Saturday Farmers Market, Center St. and MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around Preservation Park to see Victorian architecture. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of Preservation Park at 13th St. and MLK, Jr. Way. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Lake Merritt Modern from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meet at the Lakeview branch Library, 550 El Embarcadero. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. For reservations call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Water Gardening for Various Environments with Karen Norman Boudeau at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursey, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. The class is taught by Rosie Linsky, who at age 72, has practiced yoga for over 40 years. Open to non-members of the club for $8 per class. For further information and to register, call Karen Ray at 848-7800. 

Max Dashu Slide Show on godesses and Women’s herstory at 7:30 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $10-$15. 655-2405. 

ONGOING 

Free Summer Lunch Programs are offered to youth age 18 and under at various sites in Berkeley, including James Kenny Rec. Center, Frances Albrier Center, Strawberry Creek, Longfellow School, Rosa Parks School and Washington School, Mon. - Fri. 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. until Aug. 20. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Health Dept. 981-5351.  

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour Seeks Host Gardens The tour, which will be held in the spring of 2005, will showcase Alameda and Contra Costa County gardens that contain at least 30% native plants, don’t use synthetic pesticides of fertilizers, and provide habitat for wildlife. The gardens featured in this tour will demonstrate that, from postage stamp sized yards to large lots, beautiful California native plant gardens are possible for anyone. This tour is sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Coastal Program, the Urban Creeks Council, and the National Wildlife Federation. To be added to the mailing list, or to receive a host application, contact Kathy Kramer at Kathy@KathyKramerConsulting.net or 236-9558.  

Radio Summer Camp, four day sessions from June 4 through Sept. 6. Learn how to build and operate a community radio station. Sponsored by Radio Free Berkeley. 625-0314. www.freeradio.org w

Program One 

Featuring The Adagio and Fugue in C Minor for Strings, K. 546; Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543; and Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491, Seymour Lipkin, pianist. 

8 p.m. Thursday, July 29, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco. 

8 p.m. Friday, July 30, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Berkeley. 

6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 31, Gundlach Bundschu Winery, Sonoma. 

7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 1, Petit Trianon, San Jose. 

Program Two 

Featuring the overture and the arias “Traurigkeit” and “Marten aller Arten,” Christina Major, soprano, from The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 384; Piano Concerto No. 16 in D Major, K. 451, Jon Nakamatsu, pianist; and Symphony No. 41 in C Major, Jupiter, K. 551. 

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 5, Villa Montalvo, Saratoga. 

8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco. 

6:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, Gundlach Bundschu Winery, Sonoma. 

7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 8, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Berkeley.  

For tickets and information call (415) 627-9140.ôa

BOSTON — Was it the Boston Common or the Boston Morgue this past Sunday? Only about 1,500 protesters showed up at what was to be the marquee protest event during this Democratic National Convention (DNC). The absence of many protesters at the march may be the greatest indication yet that the American left, if not embracing John Kerry for President, simply does not want to get into any political food fights this year and possibly end up with another four years of George W. Bush.  

Sunday’s event was organized by International A.N.S.W.E.R under the banner of “No War in Iraq, End the Occupation Now.” One fact is very clear, in and around the streets surrounding the Fleet Center, hub of convention proceedings which began yesterday: Boston of 2004 is not Chicago of 1968. Thousands of protesters did not come to Boston to protest the Democrats, or their presumptive nominee. Thousands did come to lend their voices, bodies, and money to upending an incumbent president’s bid for a second term. 

Most of the protesting Sunday was anti-war. Most of the delegates, 95 percent according to the Boston Globe, are anti-war. Yet the “Strong at Home, Respected in the World” Democratic Party platform pays but lip service to the fundamental concern not only of the left, but of the party faithful: the war in Iraq. That platform states: “People of good will disagree about whether America should have gone to war in Iraq, but this much is clear: This administration badly exaggerated its case, particularly with respect to weapons of mass destruction and the connection between Saddam’s government and Al Qaeda.” Later the document says “having gone to war, we cannot afford to fail at the peace.” This latter statement rankles many anti-warriors, since the platform offers no timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.  

But where will so many anti-war Democrats turn? Many see a Bush defeat as the only possibility of bringing the soldiers home, but there are no assurances, no language within the platform document with which to make the future president accountable.  

The absence of much vocal dissent here in Boston, so prominent in Los Angeles at the 2000 Democratic National Convention, is another indication that Democrats—left, right and center—are not willing to risk anything going wrong as the final leg of the campaign officially begins here in Boston. Some protesters said press accounts this past week have described Boston as a potentially dangerous place for anyone, and that might very well might have kept protester numbers down.  

Yes, $60 million was spent on convention security. Over 3,000 police, sheriff’s deputies, state highway police, and National Guard troops are a ubiquitous sight, stationed on most downtown street corners in this city of 589,000. Helicopters hover overhead. Dozens of riot-clad police form lines along the sidewalk in front of Faneuil Hall, the Massachusetts Statehouse, and Kerry’s Beacon Hill home. But in interview after interview with people who describe themselves as leftist—Democrat, Green, Anarchist—virtually everyone agreed that Bush must go. And nothing for these civil liberties-minded, peace-and-social-justice-practicing, anti-war activists seems to be getting in the way of saying adios to George W. Bush.  

Probably no place was this yearning for change in Washington, D.C. more visible, and sincere, than at the national Vietnam Veterans For Peace Convention which ended here Saturday night. This annual four-day convention drew more than 400 veterans and much of the talk was about changing presidents.  

Pacifica’s Amy Goodman and Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation President Bobby Muller were the keynote speakers at the closing dinner. The overt and covert subtext of their talks was about regime change in Washington. Also participating in the conference were Daniel Ellsberg, of Pentagon Papers fame, who lives in Kensington, and San Francisco Global Exchange Executive Director and Code Pink activist Medea Benjamin. 

Separate interviews with each of these activist legends (Muller is perhaps less well-known in the Bay Area) revealed a determined and forthright unanimity that George W. Bush has got to go. Ellsberg, the former Marine, former Defense Department analyst turned whistle-blower and current full-time peace activist, was the most forthright in his support for Kerry: “I am urging everyone here not to vote against Bush but to vote for Kerry.” Democracy Now’s Goodman was perhaps most circumspect. “I’m a journalist,” she said, when asked if she supports Kerry. “I think people can determine what politicians will represent them. The question for many,” she added, “is who can be held accountable?”  

Medea Benjamin and Bobby Muller find themselves somewhere between Goodman and Ellsberg. Benjamin said of the impending protests, “the left is very confused about how to react to the Democratic convention.” Choosing her words carefully, she said, “We walk a fine line in trying to get Bush out of office and yet be critical of Kerry’s support for trade agreements, the Patriot Act, and the war.” For Muller this election is quite personal: “I’ve known Kerry for 33 years and he’s a damn good guy.” Super-dissenter Benjamin said she was “so tired” of protesting against Bush and not getting anywhere. “I’m invigorated by the prospect of protesting against a Kerry Administration and having a possibility of being heard.” 

Three of the four spoke of the dangers which Bush has created at home and in the world. “When I think of Kerry I don’t think of Veteran benefits, I think of war,” said vets activist Muller. “He (Kerry) can walk us back from this untenable, cataclysmic position we are in within the world community.” Ellsberg called the world situation both “a crisis” and “an emergency.” Benjamin said, “A second Bush administration would harden the left…with Kerry we have more of a chance.”  

Goodman seemed to think that Bush’s standing in the polls is the result of a press which hasn’t held him accountable. She spoke of the dangers posed by what she calls “sound-bite media.” She said, “We need a media not for pundits, who know so little, but a media for people speaking for themselves.” Goodman cited a study in which the major television programmers—NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS Newshour—had 393 pro-Iraq War interviews and only three anti-war interviews in the month leading up to Bush’s war in Iraq. “The sound bite media is fiercely political,” she said. 

In the streets of Boston Sunday anti-war passions mixed with tacit support for Kerry. The marchers were critical of the Democrats, but restrained. Only one arrest was recorded that day. For the most part, the issues raised on signs were like those seen at Bay Area rallies over the past couple of years: “No to War, Stop Fascist and Anti-Gay Violence, Say No To Racism and Police Brutality, Free Mumia Abu Jamal, People Not Profits.” Along with the small turnout, the ‘whose-streets-our-streets’ fervor of past demonstrations was significantly muted.  

“It’s mainly, do what it takes to get Bush out of office,” said International A.N.S.W.E.R. member and day laborer, Adam Luce of Boston. “Kerry is the best option of getting Bush out.” Luce added, “I am left-wing, but realistic.” Jessica Ramer, a math teacher from Pompano Beach, Florida, disdains Bush but is not ready to commit to Kerry. “I’m here to let the Democratic Party know that they can’t have my vote until they change their policy on Iraq.” When pressed by a reporter saying that polls indicate a vote for neither Kerry nor Bush would most likely add up to a vote for Bush, Ramer responded, “I’m still wrestling with the question of who to vote for, especially since I am from the swing state of Florida.”  

Paula Sutton, an archeologist from Alaska and a Dennis Kucinich supporter, was walking with the protesters. She was concerned about the war, but she is waiting to declare her full support of Kerry because “we are seeing if we can influence the Kerry agenda. We need to take a stand on the war in Iraq.” When pressed about who she would end up voting for, Sutton conceded, “Basically it has come down to, we’ve got to get Bush out of office.”  

Tom Sager, retired and a Veterans For Peace member from Rolla, Missouri, said he’s not of a mind to vote for either Bush or Kerry right now. “Kerry has said he will send more troops and stay the course. I’m definitely not going to vote for Bush…(Ralph) Nader and (David) Cobb (Green Party nominee) are other choices,” he declared. When asked whether a vote for Nader or Cobb might be a vote for Bush, he replied, “I really have not made up my mind on that, probably won’t know until I walk into the (voting) booth.” 

Many who might have been in the streets in past protests were not present at this one. The mood here is that the left is feeling an overwhelming sense of duty to help in denying George Bush another four years, so many are getting behind Kerry with great reservations. Global Exchange’s Benjamin puts it this way, “I have the luxury in California of voting with my heart, but if I lived in a swing state I would vote with my head and vote for Kerry.” She then paused to reflect for a moment, “And I can’t remember the last time I voted for a Democrat.” Vietnam veteran Muller says, “If we don’t create political space for Kerry, it is totally unrealistic to think he is going to shift government institutions unless we create a base, a parade of popular support.” 

Perhaps David Cline, president of the national Veterans For Peace, who served in Vietnam and has three purple hearts to show for it, summed up the citizen-activist ambivalence best. He said, “We want to beat Bush and get our foot up Kerry’s ass.” 

This Thursday, the day of Kerry’s nomination, there will be another informally organized opportunity for protesters. There will be random acts of civil disobedience, according to a Boston group, The Bl(a)ck Tea Society, which is helping coordinate talks, parties, housing for activists, and direct action trainings.  

?

Although sure to entertain, Berkeley’s upcoming Cavalia multimedia horse show has some union members pointing to the drudgery behind the dazzle. 

With their first show on Aug. 5 quickly approaching, the Canadian-based company woke up to a picket line this weekend as workers came out to protest the company’s decision not to use local union labor, as is the custom in the Bay Area when productions come to town. 

And in the meantime workers from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Motion Picture Operators of North America and Canada, Local 107, who are walking the picket, have been keeping a close eye on the company, spotting what they said are violations of the city of Berkeley’s requirements needed to secure a use permit. They also called a representative from the local board of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to investigate what they called important safety violations. 

Cavalia did not hire local union stage hands for their show, as they did during their last Bay Area performance in San Francisco, where they hired 50 union stage hands from San Francisco Local 16. Instead, this year they’ve opted to bring in their own non-union technical workers from Canada, and fill the rest of the jobs with workers from non-union temporary agencies. 

Union representatives, while not disputing the legal right of the company to chose its own employees, said they are upset by Cavalia’s switch in policy. Instead of using local, qualified union labor, union representatives said, the company shipped in “gypsy” or traveling stage hands who, though paid decent wages, take jobs from local union members. 

They said they are also concerned about the company’s use of laborers from temp agencies, who they claim are paid dismal wages.  

“We’ve been in existence for over 100 years, we’re professional, this is what we do for a living,” said Charma Ferreira, the business representative for Local 107. “And they’re bringing out of state people to do local work.” 

According to Ferreira, Local 107 workers are consistently used for almost all the major performances in the East Bay, from the UC Greek Theater and Zellerbach to the Coliseum. 

Martin Roy, the publicist for Cavalia, defends the company’s decision, saying it was a way to make their production “self sufficient.” He said it was also a matter of money-- they couldn’t afford to hire union labor for all the jobs. 

“There is absolutely no legal reason and it would be very expensive,” said Roy. As it is the company is only one year old and still not turning a profit. 

But for the union, money is not an excuse. They point to ticket prices, which according to Roy range between $40 and $150. Even if the company refuses to pay for technicians, who make between $20-$30, the union contends that it should pay a living wage to the temp workers, who according to the union make somewhere between $7 and $8.  

“It’s not just about unions, it’s about workers’ rights,” said Ferreira. “These kids need to make a living and they need to make a decent living. Everyone on the worksite deserves a reasonable wage.”  

Both sides have complained about the other’s actions on or near the picket. According to the union, company workers from Canada (where Cavalia is based) drove out and roughed up a woman picketer by grabbing her sign and shouting, “Fuck America, we’re taking all the money back to Canada.” 

Cavalia called the Berkeley police Monday evening, claiming the picketers were harassing the workers as they left, spitting at cars and making workers uncomfortable. 

Meanwhile, workers who have read the conditions in the notice of decision for the temporary use permit that the city of Berkeley granted to the company have called Cavalia out for several violations of the permit. They said that they saw workers going into the tent past the 8 p.m. stop time for construction activity. Since they saw more workers going in and out, union officials said, they ended up spending the entire night until 6 a.m. walking the picket as lights moved inside the tent. 

When asked about the permit, Roy from Cavalia said the company is questioning the terminology used in the conditions. 

“What is the definition of construction? That’s not what we’re doing in the evening or night, we’re setting up,” said Roy. 

Union picketers said they also saw the company violate the use permit by not hosing the active construction sites down twice a day to prevent dust. 

According to the permit, “All active construction area shall be watered at least twice daily, and all pieces of debris, soil, sand and other loose materials shall be watered or covered.” 

Roy disputed the claim, saying the company is following the use permit requirements. 

When she was alerted on Monday, Lisa Caronna, the deputy city manager and currently the acting city manager, said someone from the city would be sent down to investigate. When the issue was originally raised by the union, Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington requested that a city official visit the site immediately. 

If the company is found in violation of the conditions on the use permit the city has the authority to terminate it, which would stop the production, even though the site is located on East Bay Regional Park District land and Cavalia is paying the district $10,000 for its use.  

According to Assistant City Attorney Zach Cowan, the park district as a regional public agency is subject to city law. If the land were a state park, the city would have no jurisdiction. 

Caronna did question the 8 p.m. stopping time, saying that the rule is usually included to insure that work in residential areas cuts off at a reasonable time so as not to bother neighbors. Where Cavalia is currently located, down at the end of Gilman Street, that might not be an issue, she said. When questioned about whether there are labor concerns in that rule, she said she would have to investigate. 

Concerning the OSHA violations, union picketers said they were worried that Cavalia workers were not wearing hard hats, not using safety devices when working up on the tent and were misusing forklifts and other heavy equipment. 

After the complaint was called into the Cal-OSHA board in Oakland, an OSHA representative did visit the site but would not talk to the press. But according to a Cal-OSHA spokesperson, an investigation has been opened. 

As the long-running dispute between the American Baptist Seminary of the West and its neighbors threatens to boil over once again, the city Planning Department sought advice from Robert Humphrey, a long-retired city zoning officer. 

Neighbors have charged that the seminary has consistently violated the terms of the 1962 city-issued use permit that authorized construction of two residential halls along the 2500 block of Hillegass Avenue. 

But just what that original permit intended was a question until city staffers sought out its author. 

The neighbors already had champions in City Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Gordon Wozniak, who agreed to sponsor their detailed plan for reaching a solution with the divinity school, but a key vote scheduled for last week’s council session was delayed when the council found out city staff had already acted independently by contacting Humphrey and issuing a demand letter to the school. 

Area residents are angry that the seminary, afflicted by declining enrollment, has rented out much of the campus to the University of California, which has brought in more than four times the 250 anticipated students specified in the 1962 permit. 

As a result, neighbors say, traffic congestion has increased and on-street parking has become scarce. 

Discontent coalesced two years ago over seminary plans to demolish two historic cottages on the campus and replace them with a 65-foot-tall residential, classroom and office complex containing a 48-car garage. 

Neighbors created the Benvenue Neighbors Association (BNA), and launched an ongoing campaign to bring the campus into compliance with the 1962 use permit. 

While they succeeded in blocking the demolition and the big building by landmarking the two cottages and forcing the seminary to undertake an environmental impact report on the project—something seminary officials said they couldn’t afford—the BNA wanted more. 

“We have been working with Kriss Worthington to come up with a resolution for the City Council,” said Sharon Hudson, one of BNA’s most outspoken activists. 

Wozniak signed on as well, though it was Worthington who introduced the proposal at last week’s City Council meeting. 

But it was only just before the council meeting that the two councilmembers discovered the city Planning Department had already acted. 

For more than a year, city planning staff have been working to determine how the campus is currently being used and what was the intent behind the original permit, said Planning Director Dan Marks. 

“We have a huge file, but to interpret the 1962 use permit and what was intended, we had to find the zoning officer who was involved. We sat down with him, and we were all amazed at his memory, and he recalled the events quite well,” Marks said. 

And what Robert Humphrey recalled for Zoning Officer Mark Rhoades and Assistant City Attorney Zach Cowan was precisely what the BNA had insisted was the case all along: The use permit was issued on the basis of a maximum student body of 250 and on the premise that only the seminary would use the campus on a consistent basis. 

Based on their study of the file and on Humphrey’s recollection, Rhoades fired off a letter to seminary President Dr. Keith Russell and his attorney on July 12, eight days before the council was to take up Worthington’s resolution. 

“City staff has determined that ABSW is not in compliance with the intent of the letter of the existing use permit” and “must either come into compliance. . .or seek a modification” to allow use and enrollment to go beyond the terms of the existing permit, Rhoades’ letter said. 

Hudson praised the letter, adding “it contains almost everything we could’ve asked for. We’re very happy they did that, but if we’d known before, Kriss Worthington might have written a much stronger resolution.” 

Wozniak said he also regretted not having the letter before the council meeting. “It would’ve been very useful to have known of it earlier,” he said. 

The seminary has leased space to UC for both its extension division and the recently canceled program teaching English to non-natives, drawing in more than a 1,000 non-seminary students to the site, between Hillegass and Benvenue avenues and along Dwight Way. 

The campus also houses a commercial venture, Integrated Structures Inc., which lists its address as 2606 Dwight Way in official corporate filings with the California Secretary of State. ISI was the lead contractor in retrofitting on-campus buildings. 

Rhoades’ letter, dated July 12, gave Russell and his attorney 45 days to respond, and the city council voted to delay action on Worthington’s resolution until the Sept. 28 meeting, exactly one month after a response is due to Rhoades’ letter. 

Worthington and Wozniak praised the BNA for offering a conciliatory stance which doesn’t demand immediate compliance from the seminary and offers hope of reaching a settlement that would allow the school to continue leasing some space to UC. 

“It will be a lot easier to reach a solution if the neighbors approve,” Marks said. 

Russell was unavailable for comment Monday.

The first public official to pose a serious public challenge to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lives—where else?—in the City of Berkeley. 

Last week, Senior United States District Judge Thelton Henderson, a longtime Berkeley resident and a UC Berk eley and Boalt Hall graduate, threatened a federal takeover of the California Department of Corrections (CDC) and pointedly requested a meeting with the governor “to discuss the state’s continued non-compliance with [the judge’s] remedial orders” concerning inmate abuse and corrections officer discipline in the state’s prison system.  

Henderson has had a continuing interest in conditions in California’s prison system since at least 1995, when he ruled in favor of inmates charging abuse by prison guards at Pelican Bay State Prison near the Oregon border, California’s notorious “most violent” maximum security facility. 

In recent years, the CDC has been charged with numerous incidents of officer shootings and beatings of inmates, as well as being charged with cover-ups of those incidents. Most recently, State Senator Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) released a videotape of the beating, kicking, kneeing, and pepperspraying of two unresisting youth prisoners by guards at the Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facil ity in Stockton earlier this year. The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s office and the office of California Attorney General Bill Lockyer both declined to bring charges against the guards following that incident, stating that there was “no reasonabl e likelihood of conviction” of the guards in a California courtroom. 

The immediate target of Henderson’s wrath was a recent agreement between the Schwarzenegger administration and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), in which t he prison guards’ union gave up scheduled pay raises in this year’s state budget in return for a greater say in the running of the state’s prisons. Schwarzenegger has crafted several such private money-deferral agreements with state organizations in an effort to balance the budget. 

But in a letter sent last week to Schwarzenegger’s Legal Affairs Secretary Peter Siggins and to Roderick Hickman, secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, Henderson expressed his “disappointment and concern” with the agreement, noting that a a recent federal investigation into the California prison system found a “pattern of interference by the CCPOA with investigations [into prison problems] and employee discipline.” The judge added that “bad investigations, a co de of silence, and the failure to discipline correctional officers has been condoned for many years by the highest level of California officials. ... Despite these findings, the [Schwarzenegger] administration proposes...[to] give up numerous and importan t management prerogatives to” the prison guards’ union.  

Stating that he is “resolved to correct [these] serious problems,” Henderson said that “if the State of California is no longer willing to manage the necessary corrective actions, I must consider t he appointment of a receiver over” the Department of Corrections. 

It was a stunning laying-down-the-gauntlet from a federal judge long known for far-reaching rulings that challenge entrenched authority. 

Legal Affairs Secretary Siggins denied that the Sc hwarzenegger administration was turning over too much authority for management of the state’s prisons to the prison guards’ union, stating that he was “both shocked and disappointed” by the judge’s letter. “We hope to craft a process that results in timely, fair, and effective investigations of inmate abuse and imposition of just punishment when called for,” he said. 

In 1995, Henderson issued what is considered a landmark ruling concerning Pelican Bay State Prison in Madrid v. Gomez, in which he held in part that “a pervasive pattern of excessive force against inmates violated the Eighth Amendment.” A “near-riot” occurred while Henderson was visiting Pelican Bay in September of 1993 during investigations leading up to that decision, and he and several of his staff members had to lie on the prison yard grounds with inmates while prison guards brought the prison under control. The United States Attorney’s office in San Francisco later charged that the guards knew of the near-riot in advance but allowed it to go on, and said that the “event was staged to show Judge Henderson that Pelican Bay is a dangerous place, and that he should not interfere with the guards in running the prison.” Two Pelican Bay prison guards were later convicted in federal court of conspiracy to violate civil rights and sentenced to more than six years in connection with that case. 

Henderson’s most notable decision came in November of 1996, when he issued a temporary restraining order against the recently-passed Proposition 209, the citizen initiative which outlawed affirmative action in California state agencies. Henderson’s ruling was later overturned by a three-judge federal appellate panel. 

In other rulings, Henderson has enjoined federal agencies from tuna import practices that allowed the slaughter of dolphins (1990), ruled in favor of Vietnam veterans who charged that the Veterans Administration was improperly denying their claims of exposure to the cancer-causing jungle defoliant Agent Orange (1989), held that the Defense De partment violated the equal protection rights of gay men and lesbians by subjecting them to greater security clearance scrutiny (1987), and overturned the conviction of San Quentin Six inmate Johnny Spain (1986). 

Henderson was born in Shreveport, Louisia na and raised in the Watts section of Los Angeles. In high school, he describes himself as being a member of “a bunch of tough black kids...that had intimidated all the...football coaches” while playing on the school’s football team. He credits his mother and high school teachers with helping turn his life around, and he later played football at UC Berkeley, graduating with a B.A. in political science in 1956 and obtaining a law degree from Boalt Hall in 1962. In between, in 1960, he joined the Bay Area’s African American Association, a black nationalist theoretical group that included such diverse members as later-Congressmember Ron Dellums and later-Black Panther Party founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. He was an attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Justice Department from 1962 to 1963, was assistant dean of the Stanford Law School from 1968 through 1977, and was appointed U.S. District judge by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. 

›m

The newest addition to the Berkeley political scene, the non-partisan, non-profit Bay Area Center for Voting Research, warns that the Democratic Party is within a hair’s breadth of losing its majority hold on Bay Area voters. 

“Both major parties seem to take the Bay Area for granted,” said Jason Alderman, a Berkeley resident co-founder of the group. 

“The Democrats seem to take the vote here for granted, while the Republicans look at it as a bastion of left-wing kooks. But the truth is far more complex,” Alderman said.  

According to the center’s just-released study “Democrats in the Bay Area,” the party now accounts for 50.1 percent of the 3.3 million voters in the nine Bay Area counties—and while they still outnumber Republicans more than two-to-one, both parties are losing their hold on voters. 

The biggest gains were made by voters who declined to state a partisan preference. 

While Democrats accounted for 1,741,389 million voters in 1999 and Republicans totaled 887,709, by this year their numbers have declined to 1,656,707 and 813,692 respectively. “Declined to state” voters rose in the same period from 497,414 to 661,512. 

While Green Party registrations increased from 38,508 to 58,597 in the same period, other third party registrations fell from 140,041 to 113,015. 

Alameda County remained the firmest Democratic stronghold, though the party’s 55.2 percent majority was still a full three percentage points lower than in 1999. 

Republicans were strongest in Napa County, making up 33.5 percent of registrations, down from 35.6 percent five years earlier. 

Statewide, Democratic registrations had fallen from 46.7 percent to 43.2 percent, while Republicans had scored a modest increase, for 35.3 percent to 35.5 percent. But the big winners statewide were those who refused to name a partisan preference, rising from 12.9 percent to 16.4 percent. 

“We want to see the Bay Area get the respect and consideration it deserves,” Alderman said. “The information we provide will be useful to voters, to the parties and to policy-makers.” 

Alderman and partner Phil Reiff, a San Franciscan, are already preparing other reports for release in the near future, including a city-by-city look at changing registrations. 

“We don’t accept any money for this from parties, causes or foundations,” Alderman said. “We’re doing it out of our own pockets.” 

If the trends outlined in their report continue, Alderman said, “by 2005 the Democratic party will lose its position as the majority political party in the Bay Area.” 

Added Reiff, “If Democrats cannot hold a majority of voters in America’s most liberal enclave, then they have some serious soul-searching to do.” 

A copy of the full report is available online at www.votingresearch.org/reports.html. 

Bullet Holes Discovered, Twice 

A California Street resident called Berkeley Police last Wednesday afternoon after discovering two bullet holes in a window. No one was injured, nor did anyone recall hearing gunshots. 

An hour later, police were summoned to a King Street address after a similar discovery was made. 

Strongarm Hat Grabbers Busted  

Berkeley police arrested a pair of teenaged armed robbers after they strong-armed another youngster and relieved him of his hat near the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. and Channing ways just before 1 p.m. last Thursday. 

Road Rage Reports, One Arrest 

Berkeley Police were summoned to two reported road rage incidents in the last few days. 

The first time, calls came at 1:58 p.m. Thursday, when officers were summoned to the corner of Benvenue Avenue and Dwight Way by both parties to the incident—one, a pedestrian, claiming that a driver had refused to yield the right of way; the other, the driver, reporting a “crazy” pedestrian. 

No one was arrested.  

Officers were summoned to the intersection of Telegraph and Ashby avenues Saturday afternoon by another road rage report, and this time they made a bust. 

A 59-year-old motorist was charged with battery after he reportedly shoved the other driver, a woman, said Officer Joe Okies, spokesperson for the Berkeley Police.  

Party Incident Leads to Beat-down 

A dispute between two men took a nasty turn during a party just before midnight Friday when the friends of one man piled on the other, punching and kicking their hapless victim. 

When police arrived at the address of Martin Luther King Jr. Way near Rose Street, they summoned an ambulance, and the injured man was rushed to an emergency room for treatment. 

Juvenile Gunmen Rob Wallets 

A pair of young men, at least one of them carrying a pistol, relieved two men of their wallets near the corner of Stanton and Russell streets about 1 a.m. Saturday. 

Toughs Awaken Driver, Steal Car 

Three men awakened a motorist sleeping in his car on University Avenue near Tenth Street early Saturday morning, hauled him out of the vehicle and drove off in it, reports Officer Okies. 

The rudely awakened victim had the strongest memory of one of the trio, described as a 6’6” African American male with graying hair and green eyes who weighs about 240 pounds. 

Knife-flashing Robbers Steal Purse 

Two teenagers, one armed with a knife, stole a woman’s purse around 5:15 p.m. Saturday near the corner of Russell and Regent streets. 

Teenagers Display Pistol, Get Wallet 

A trio of teenage males clad in black hooded sweatshirts approached a man near the corner of Virginia and Acton about 9:54 p.m. Sunday and demanded cash. When the victim complied, the trio fled, at least one of them on a bicycle. 

Charcoal Ashes Ignite Deck 

A newspaper-wrapped bundle of charcoal ashes wasn’t quite as dead as a Berkeley resident believed when he dumped them into his plastic trash barrel Friday. 

Fire Department engines arriving at his 2901 Forest Ave. home at 2:36 a.m. Saturday found his rear fence ablaze and flames eating their way through the rear deck and beginning to scorch the rear door to the house. 

By the time the blaze was extinguished, the total damage had hit about $10,500, said Deputy Fire Marshal Wayne Inouye. 

“This happens fairly often here. People put their ashes into cardboard boxes, only to later discover that they weren’t all extinguished,” Inouye said.

At Scrabble last week Rose was telling us about the play she had just seen, Betrayal by Harold Pinter. “It was terrific. I highly recommend it. In fact, I went to see it twice.” 

“You went to see it twice?” I asked. 

“Yes,” said Rose, laying out the word jerboa, a small, leaping rodent of northern Africa. “I see everything the Aurora Theatre produces. If I like it, then I tell my friends and I go again with them. They can’t stay up late and they don’t want to waste time if it’s not really super. You know how some older people are.” 

“Wasn’t it outdated? I read the reviews and it sounded like it might be stuck in time.” 

“Not at all,” said Rose. “You should see it. Thirty points, by the way. Make sure you write that down.” 

Several days later, my friend Jane Juska called to say she had an extra ticket for Betrayal. Would I like to join her? 

“Sure,” I said. 

“Meet me at the restaurant Downtown on the corner of Shattuck and Addison. It’s a Pinter play, so we need to drink before we go.” 

Over martinis and fluffy house-made potato chips, Jane and I caught up. She had just returned from England, her second trip there since her book, A Round Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance, (Villard 2003), was published. This last visit was to promote the paperback edition. Vintage press had sold 33,000 British copies in the first week. 

A Round Heeled Woman is about the bedroom adventures of a woman of a certain age, kind of a nonfiction Bridget Jones for the over sixties set. Jane has been crisscrossing the country, and the Atlantic, for almost eighteen months now, spreading the word that sex isn’t just for whippersnappers. 

“Not a novel idea,” says Jane, “yet I meet single older women everywhere who are frustrated, who want more out of life than playing with their grandchildren. My book is dedicated to them.” 

Indeed, at a reading I attended at 2nd Edition Books (now called a Great Good Place for Books) in Montclair last year the room was packed with middle-aged women all anxious to hear Jane’s story. 

“Are you still seeing some of the men you wrote about?” they asked. 

“Yes,” said Jane. “And others as well.” 

“Are you having fun?” the crowd wanted to know.  

“You betcha,” said Jane. 

Back at Downtown, Jane looked at her watch. “Drink up,” she said, “it’s show time.” 

We hurried over to the Aurora just in time to find our seats. The lights went dim and the play began. Halfway through the production I heard a soft, saw-like noise to my right. Beside me a woman was asleep, her head forward and tilted to the left. But after two cups of coffee at 6 p.m. in order to get ready for two martinis at 7 p.m. in order to get ready for Harold Pinter and Jane, I was wide awake.  

“That was great,” I said to Jane when the was play over. “Did you enjoy it?” 

“Yes,” she said, “but really, what was the point? Four friends, two marriages, four children, several affairs, I mean where’s the meaning? 

“I don’t know if there was supposed to be a meaning. It’s just a slice of life tale, an inside view of several relationships. It’s true, you know, Pinter wrote it about himself. It’s a deconstruction of an affair he had for seven years. The point is…” 

“Wait,” said Jane, putting on her coat, “my point is.. oh damn, what was that point I was going to make? It’s gone. Maybe it will come back to me. Tell me your point.” 

“My point is… is… God, I can’t remember what my point was either.” 

“The hell with it,” said Jane, walking toward her car. “The point is we finally got together. The point is we’re friends and we spent a lovely evening with each other. The point is we stayed awake through the whole damn production, didn’t we?” 

“You betcha,” I said. 

Betrayal, written by Harold Pinter, directed by Tom Ross, has been extended through August 1. For more information contact the Aurora Theatre: 843.4822 or www.auroratheatre.org. 

Ù

ACTORS ENSEMBLE 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Your article about Actors Ensemble seemed to do a serious disservice to this theater company. 

In the first place, the article never stated when and where the production would be staged, thereby making it vague/difficult for interested theatergoers to go forward and buy tickets. In the second place, the writer put such an emphasis on the “amateur” status of the company, that it came through as disrespectful and undermining the high quality of this long-standing theater group. Statements like “these guys are obviously mildly insane...” may have been intended as humor, but came across to me as essentially demeaning. To write: “there’s even a bathroom...” in their performing space sounded downright silly. 

I am eager to see this Albee play directed by the experienced hand of Mikel Clifford. Perhaps you might assign a more mature journalist to your next coverage of the Actors Ensemble. 

Emily Loeb 

• 

OUTBACK PROJECT 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Some things never change. Yes, its déjà vu all over again for advocates of affordable housing in Berkeley. 

About 18 years ago I was a member of the Mayor’s Site Committee for Low Income Public Housing (LIPH). The 61 units of scattered Section 8 housing cost $6 million and was completed around 1990, but not before threatened lawsuits, picketing, and the threatened recall of school boardmembers who voted for the use of district land. I am proud of my small part in the completion of this project, though the struggle against the NIMBYS is one that I’ll never forget. 

Now the AHA/Outback project is being threatened by lawsuits. Why? Because of its housing for seniors and disabled. 

Ms. Bowman and her supporters protest that the lawsuits are about trees, parking and due process, and that housing advocates are being “used” by the Grey Panthers. Suuuuure, we’re just old folks ranting and raving because we have nothing else to do! 

It seems that no one mentions height limits or trees or parking until phrases like “affordable,” “low income” or “Section 8” come into play. Look around you, Ms. Bowman. There seem to be no standards for a lot of the housing east of Shattuck, both North and South of Campus. They aren’t particularly well built or affordable. If you and your friends aren’t NIMBYS, then I’m Hillary Clinton. 

I’d like to mention that there is particular need for this type of housing. The senior homes that I have visited, Harriet Tubman, Strawberry Creek Lodge, Redwood Gardens, are wonderful places, well-maintained and enjoyed by the seniors and even have a positive impact on the city as a whole. Yes these wonderful, activist, quiet neighbors deserve more of the same. We all benefit from this. 

So, let’s stop the nonsense and get the Outback project built! 

Edith Monk Hallberg 

• 

UNIVERSITY PROBLEMS 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

The university representative at a recent Berkeley City Council meeting rattled off several things the university does and provides from which Berkeley residents benefit, expressed in nonspecifics so vague as to be unimpressive. It reminded this voter of the slinky discontinuance of two services that cost the university little or nothing! Perhaps their elimination slipped by because then, as now, the university and the city were at busy junctures and they served populations that are not efficiently “political” or monied: (1) When the people’s Commute Store met its demise, the campus shuttle continued for university personnel, but free passes for community members were eliminated. (2) When the new campus main library facility became was opened, free library loan cards for senior citizens were eliminated. Lowell Moorcroft’s July 23 letter about library stacks belies the non-response I received alleging that only I objected to the library’s new policies. 

Helen Rippier Wheeler 

• 

A BRACE OF ITEMS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s good to see that, in the July 23-26 Police Blotter, Richard Brenneman has abandoned the flip remarks. But have they been replaced by impenetrable language? In that edition he refers to three teenagers who “braced” a woman, a gunman who “braced” a pedestrian, and four men who “braced” another man. The current edition of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary gives many uses and examples of the word brace, but Brenneman’s isn’t one of them. What on earth is he talking about? 

Revan Tranter 

• 

OHLONE PARK 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

As co-founder of Ohlone Park and People’s Park I wish to endorse and empirically support the wonderful Karl Linn’s statement that “Community gardens not only grow fresh produce close to home, they also grow community among neighbors and friends, which makes neighborhood life much more meaningful and secure. To fill every vacant lot...jeopardizes the opportunity for residents to develop a growing sense of community” (“Growing Soil and Community,” Daily Planet, July 23-26). 

Today I walked through the vibrant community garden in Ohlone Park and talked with the community gardeners as they harvested organic squash, strawberries, green beans, lettuce, chard, flowers and tomatoes, chili peppers, cilantro, Italian parsley and so much more from the individual and communal raised beds.  

The only reason this garden exists is through the active expression of members of the North Berkeley community over the years starting in 1969 when 500 people made a picnic and bonfire there and planted vegetables to show BART and other right of way owners that the land should not be fenced in just because of what may lie underneath. Over the years the Ohlone Greenway and Ohlone Park and Ohlone Community Garden have been enhanced with play structures, dog park, gardens and intimate paths and landscaping. Everyone is welcome; community input is desirable and essential. The soil is extremely fertile from long cultivation (as is the 12-are Gill Tract owned by UC Berkeley in Albany and threatened with extinction an eviction of community gardens and gardeners). 

The neighborhood is enhanced, both by the numerous cul-de-sacs (whose existence is due to the park) that keep traffic away and by the nightly and weekend meeting places that have sprung up informally. 

If anyone wants to see Karl Linn’s utopian vision in action, they would do well to visit Ohlone Park. Then please offer support to keep other community gardens vibrant and growing and look around for a place to start one near you.  

Success does not happen overnight; everyone is a volunteer with bustling lives of survival and many parents up to their eyeballs in childrearing. That is why the South Berkeley Community Garden needs a longer lease on life. 

Wendy Schlesinger, 

Chairman, Gardens on Wheels Association 

• 

PARKING METERS 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Did you know you can receive a $30 parking ticket in Berkeley even if your meter is not expired? In my case, I had been to the YMCA and then decided to shop at the Berkeley Farmers Market and have lunch. I put more money in the meter, but when I returned to my car I found a ticket for “extending meter time.” Apparently, even if you later put more money in, you cannot park in a spot longer than the normal maximum meter time. I have lived in Berkeley for more than 30 years and neither I nor several of my friends were aware of this policy. Tickets of this kind seem extremely unwise when downtown Berkeley wants to compete with other shopping areas that offer completely free parking (examples: Fourth Street, El Cerrito Plaza, Emeryville). 

Michael Fullerton 

• 

BALLOT CONTROVERSY 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for your reporting and explaining of last Tuesday’s City Council voter initiative machinations. As a 30-year Berkeley resident and homeowner, as well as a disabled medical cannabis medical patient, kindly entertain briefly a few of my impressions. 

As a citizen, I appreciate and respect the amount of work and the number of issues each of our City Council members must deal with. However, I believe the medical cannabis voter initiative, Patients’ Access to Medical Cannabis (PAMCA), with more effort from the BCC last April, wouldn’t be necessary. The hastily called “ad hoc” subcommittee meeting on PAMCA language shut out the public and again stifled the discussion and further displayed the BCC’s reluctance to address medical cannabis patients’ concerns. On C-Span Book TV this past weekend, I saw William F. Buckley support medical cannabis use and state that practically no American politician wanted to face directly this particular issue . Amen. 

As a medical cannabis patient, it seems clear that earlier fears and mistrust from the BCC have turned to outright hostility- sharp, shrill, and uncompassionate. This was just as evident in City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque’s subcommittee decision. To my way of thinking (and bless you Kriss Worthington), patients’ access to and the dispensing of their medicine is important and difficult enough to deserve full, complete public hearing and consideration. I wish the BCC previously had been so eager to learn more and understand better and act accordingly, regarding medical cannabis issues, as they were Tuesday night to vote their opposition to PAMCA. 

I strongly urge Berkeley voters to support PAMCA, and I welcome in the upcoming voter initiative campaign discussion, the sharing of facts, information, and points of view.  

Charles Pappas

NO CLUE 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Your diatribe (“Talking About What Pictures Say,” Editorial, Daily Planet, July 20-22) denying your editorial hostility against Israel rings false, hollow and shrill. You have never opined that Palestinian terrorist murder of innocent Israeli civilians is inexcusable. You have never written against the Palestinian’s institutional policy of recruiting, arming and sending pre-teen children to blow up as many Israeli civilians as possible. You have never suggested that Palestinian factions openly and vocally dedicated to Israel’s annihilation, and denying any border behind which Israelis may live without the threat and reality of terrorist murder, deserve no place of power or authority in the region. You have never addressed the corruption that diverts aid from the Palestinian people. Your rancor is reserved solely for Israel. 

Israel seeks a way to avoid the moral conflict of responding to the Palestinians in kind, so it built a fence to keep the suicide bombers away. But you complain about that, because the inconvenience caused by the fence is more compelling to you than Israeli lives. One understands why the International Court ruled that way—because its members are political patsies of regimes dedicated to removing any vestige of a Jewish state from the region (or the world). It’s harder to understand why you take that cruel and inhuman position—which is why so many (no, not just a few) readers chalk it up to your anti-Semitism. That is not an unreasonable conclusion. 

I, for one, don’t necessarily believe your views are the product of anti-Semitism. For the moment, I’m willing to chalk up your misunderstanding to the simple ignorance which jumps off your editorial pages—which is why I was so pleased when you declared a moratorium on Daily Planet discussion about Israel. I hope you reinstate it, and devote more attention to local issues; you have enough trouble getting Berkeley news right, without editorializing about matters regarding which you apparently have no clue. 

Mark I. Schickman 

• 

TESTING ASSUMPTIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The July 20-22 issue includes a letter from Fred Lisker which features a map of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. All but two of the countries 

are named, the exceptions being Israel and Palestine, which Mr. Lisker has crowned with the Israeli flag. Mr. Lisker’s message is that Palestine is not an independent state and that if the Palestinians are unhappy with their status under Israeli rule they can just move on to any of the other countries depicted on his map.  

Mr. Lisker seems to be of the opinion that “an Arab is an Arab” and that, consequently, Palestinians should be content thousands of miles from their ancestral homeland in, say, Tajikistan or Sudan.  

As a test of his underlying assumption I’d like Mr. Lisker to immediately evacuate his own home. He can choose to relocate anywhere else in the Americas, such as the Yukon Territories or, perhaps, Bolivia. To be sure, he and his family may find themselves in a foreign and hostile environment and be ignorant of the culture, language and customs, but that’s the lot of refugees and I’m sure that they will find some way to survive.  

In their absence, I’ll occupy the family home, to which, in any event, I have an overriding claim based on my superior religious and political pedigree, and besides, I know I’ll be able to make his property more productive. If Mr. Lisker is reluctant to move perhaps he would agree to my encircling his property with a 10-foot-high wall, incidentally, disconnecting his access to water and electricity, and digging up the road leading to the house. Of course, I’d provide a checkpoint in the wall so that he could leave to forage for food and to obtain medical care, but only if he applied for permission well in advance. Even then he’d have to be willing to wait for hours, sometimes days, never knowing whether or not the unsupervised teenage guard at the checkpoint would agree to let him through, leave him standing in the sun, or simply shoot him.  

Oh and one other thing: I’d hold Mr. Lisker personally liable for any misbehavior by his neighbors. If the dog next door so much as barked, the bulldozers would be at Mr. Lisker’s door early next morning—and I mean early. 

Joseph Stein 

• 

CONTEXT AND HISTORY 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Regarding Becky O’Malley’s editorial in the July 20-22 edition, I have to say that it is sad to counter the mistakes of a reader with one’s own. Fred Lisker’s uncritical purveyance of the attempted irony (in fact more of a self-parody) and demographic absurdities (counting Turkey and the countries east of Iraq as “Arab”) of the cartoon map and its caption was properly exposed by O’Malley. Unfortunately, her own attempt to use irony to turn the tables on Lisker falls on its face. Like most journalists, O’Malley prefers to use prefabricated statements removed from any kind of context (in this case a dictionary definition) instead of having to do real research and historical analysis. Forget for a moment that “Semite” and “Semitic” are terms that are inseparable from the history and practice of Eurosupremacist colonialism; forget for a moment that these terms were invented by the same people who invented “Aryan”; forget for a moment that these terms were invented as “objective” linguistic props to hold up the division of people into the racist categories “Negroid,” “Mongoloid,” and “Caucasoid”; forget for a moment that the presence of Arabs and Ethiopians (speakers of Arabic and Amharic, the other “Semitic” languages mentioned in the dictionary) in Europe never resulted in the same kind of uneasiness and suspicions as the presense of Jews. The historical fact, put in its proper context, is that the term “Anti-Semitism” was invented by a politician to describe the political movement he created whose expressed goal was to curtail, and hopefully reverse, the “undue” influence of Jews in public life (politics, culture, commerce). Since then, anti-Semitism has always and only referred to hostility and discrimination directed at Jews. O’Malley’s assertion that “consistency (like some other dictionaries) suggests that it’s also a form of anti-Semitism to exhibit hostility toward or discrimination against Arabs as a religious [sic], ethnic, or racial group” is plainly contradicted by the facts of context and history. 

C. Boles 

• 

CHUTZPAH 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

You write in your editorial of July 20 that “Jewish or not, Israel is not everybody else. Our expectations are simply higher for Israel...” 

What Chutzpah! What do you mean by saying that “Jews and Israel are not like everybody else?” Of course Jews are like everybody else, we are humans just like “everybody else.” Your statement implies that Jews are outside the human race. Who gave you the authority to have higher expectations of Israel than of any other state? This is not a “mark of respect” but a blatantly anti-Israel statement. All states must conform to international law and all states have the right and duty to protect their citizens. If this means building a security fence then it is right and proper. 

In the same paragraph of your editorial about Jews not being “like everybody else” you say about Israel that “...we care about you.” On the surface that might sound like an endorsement of Zionism. In fact, if you care about Israel, you would have to endorse its right to protect both its citizens and other residents against suicide bombers. I question your statement that you care about Israel. If Israel cannot defend its own citizens its very existence is imperiled. 

Sanne DeWitt 

• 

CHUTZPAH 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

In her editorial, Talking About What Pictures Say, Becky O'Malley completely misses the point. The illustration she refers to (Stop the Unjust Occupation of Arab Lands!) was created by the pro-America, pro-Israel activist group Protest Warrior. Like all their signs and T-shirts, it was meant to poke fun at what members see as the hypocrisy of the left, through the use of sarcasm and irony.  

Much like the confused reaction of protesters when they first encounter these signs, O'Malley simply doesn't get it. She does allude to the sign's true meaning, but then goes off on a rambling diatribe about how "anti-Semitic" it is. In fact, the sign uses the language of the anti-Israel crowd (they are the ones who believe Israel is "occupying Arab lands") and juxtaposes it with the graphic (tiny Israel surrounded by huge Arab countries) to make a point. But to no avail.  

O'Malley's obtuse comments demonstrate a profound lack of comprehension, not to mention a sense of humor. Lighten up, lady!  

Cinnamon Stillwell 

San Francisco

Many readers will ask why anyone in their right mind would go to either the Democratic or Republican convention, why I would willingly submit to endless queues for security checks, only to spend even more hours enduring formulaic political harangues. The answer is that I’m here because at age 63, after forty plus years of voting for Democratic candidates, I still nourish the hope that my party will emerge as the DEMOCRATS—as the unmistakable champions of human dignity, peace and justice, and saving the planet. From my experience at the 2000 convention, held in Los Angles, I know that I will not be alone in nurturing these hopes, that for every professional politician, lobbyist, or celebrity groupie, there will be several participants that want to take back our country, who continue to believe that America can be a beacon of democracy.  

There will be three signals as to whether or not the 2004 version of the Democratic Party intends to defend what some have called “deep” democracy and stand as a real alternative to the Busheviks. The first is the Democratic platform, the second their slate of candidates for the House and Senate, and finally, their presidential candidate, John Kerry. This article surveys the Democratic platform (available at www.democrats.org/about/platform.html). 

A couple of months ago I was at a party in the Berkeley hills and had a conversation with UC professor George Lakoff, the author of the notable Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think. George is interested in fine-tuning the Democratic message and had been trying to get access to the Kerry inner circle so that he could sell them on a possible campaign slogan, “Help Us Make America Strong Again.” 

I haven’t talked to George since, but his slogan seems to have been well received; on the campaign trail Kerry is using “Let America be America Again,” and the title of the Democratic platform is “Strong at Home, Respected in the World.” The platform preamble asserts that Democrats want “a strong, growing economy,” “strong, healthy families,” and “a strong American community.” One can almost envision an advertisement claiming, “Eat Democrat and build a healthy body eight ways!” 

One of the problems for the Democrats is how to build upon the energy generated by the Dean campaign without turning off swing voters, to capture that sense of outrage without the manic outbursts. The Democratic platform won’t accomplish this. I can’t envision anyone reading this document, jumping up and yelling, “Give me a Democratic victory, or give me death!” It is a safe document, one that contains something for all wings of the party, but it lacks the bite that a truly progressive document would bring and, therefore, it won’t generate new enthusiasm.  

The most interesting platform item is the inclusion of “Energy Independence” as an important aspect of national security policy. It’s impossible to imagine a similar item in the Republican platform. 

The biggest disappointment is the section on the war in Iraq. The platform writers begin by noting that everything about this war has been flawed: “this administration badly exaggerated its case…did not build a true international coalition…disdained the United Nations weapons inspection process… did not send sufficient forces into Iraq…[and] went into Iraq without a plan to win the peace.” Rather than state the obvious, “You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit” (to quote LBJ), the Demos wimp out; their plan is not to withdraw troops but rather to internationalize the mission. The document warns, “If we fail to create viable Iraqi security forces…there is no successful exit for us and other nations.” Unfortunately this is what seems likely to happen—Iraqi security will worsen, leading to civil war. The Democrats give no hint as to what they would do if this occurs. It’s deeply ironic that John Kerry’s famous speech to Congress, against the Vietnam War, was in response to the policies of Richard Nixon, who won the 1968 presidential election, in part, by saying that he had “a secret plan” to end that war. Now it appears that Kerry and his advisors have their own version of a secret plan if the situation in Iraq further deteriorates. 

Republicans bluster on about the military being our best defense, but Democrats believe that a strong America depends upon the resolution of domestic issues such as the creation of meaningful jobs and provision of a healthcare system that works for all Americans. It’s easy to see these issues as differentiators in the election: Bush will continue to advocate tax cuts as his sole economic policy, along with further privatization of health care; Kerry will focus on specific programs for job creation and government mandates to extend healthcare to all children and most Americans in need. 

In summary, the 2004 Democratic platform is one that Kerry can comfortably run on, but one that is unlikely to win over voters who are fed up with the war. However, if the economy continues to be shaky, the domestic policies may help the Democrats win over undecided voters. Of course, besides the substantive issues of the war and the economy, voters will have to make an assessment of character: Is John Kerry a thoughtful, pragmatic statesman or a flip-flopper? The Democratic platform will not help voters answer these questions. Maybe Kerry’s speech will. Stay tuned. 

Bob Burnett is a retired Cisco Systems executive and a Berkeley resident. 

j

In this era of university expansion and controversies over damaging encroachments on residential neighborhoods, Berkeleyans might look to how the current illegal use of the campus of the American Baptist Seminary of the West (ABSW) will be resolved to see how Berkeley will protect its neighborhoods. On July 12, the City of Berkeley’s legal and planning staff declared the ABSW to be clearly in violation of both “the intent [and] the letter of [its] existing use permit,” which is solely to educate up to 250 graduate ministry students. The University of California is the other major participant in this violation, which is surely not in keeping with UC’s stated intent to respect municipal codes and enhance community livability. 

As regular readers of the Daily Planet will recall, for almost 20 years the ABSW has been leasing out excess institutional space on its 2.35-acre campus south of Dwight Way between Hillegass and Benvenue Avenues. This is because the seminary, in its heyday with about 180 students, has gradually shrunk to a handful of mostly evening, part-time students. What has it done with its extra space? In violation of its use permit and its own written promises to cease rentals, the ABSW has rented classroom and office space to various private, religious, and UC entities, most notably the UC Extension Freshman Extension program, with almost 700 students, and the recently expired English Language Program. The total campus head count of about 1000 has therefore been 90 percent illegal. 

Nevertheless, in 2001 the city planning staff advocated allowing the ABSW to build a huge new institutional/residential building on Benvenue Avenue, raising the hackles of area residents, mostly renters, who joined to form the Benvenue Neighbors Association (BNA), of which I am part. After over a year of hard work by the neighbors, the City Council realized that something was amiss in this picture and successfully discouraged the new development. 

Now the neighbors are working to bring the ABSW into compliance with the intent of their existing use permit. The BNA has presented to the seminary, to UC, and to the City our “WIN-WIN-WIN” plan, which would permit the seminary to continue to lease space to UC on an interim, non-legalized basis, as long as the intensity of use is reduced promptly to a level compatible with the existing use permit and the needs of the neighborhood. Under this plan, nobody loses: The seminary can continue to receive income into the indefinite future by leasing space, probably to its primary natural market—UC; UC continues to have use of the space; and the neighborhood will be relieved of the damaging parking and other impacts. As some of the existing institutional buildings reach the ends of their useful lives, institutional land not needed by the seminary would return to residential use, as encouraged by the Southside Plan and good city planning. 

The extremely generous WIN-WIN-WIN plan does not ask for strict enforcement of the existing use permit, nor for revocation of that permit, nor for compensation for damages—although all of these things are available legal remedies. But circumstances change: The seminary will probably never again fill its own quarters, and of course vacant buildings serve nobody. Changing circumstances are best met with creative cooperation, not legal wrangling. Although a use permit modification or revocation hearing must follow if the ABSW refuses to enter into negotiations with the community, the adversarial course is not ideal.  

This is why both councilmembers Worthington and Wozniak, who represent the local neighborhood, support the principles of the WIN-WIN-WIN plan. On July 20, the council voted to ask the seminary to respond by fall to the BNA plan, accompanied by a referral from Councilmember Worthington that states in part: 

“The council believes that it is in the public interest of the City of Berkeley to ensure that uses (and mitigations) specified in use permits are honored and enforced, and to assiduously protect the city’s power to control land uses. This is especially important in the face of increasing institutional expansion in Berkeley….Council considers the Benvenue Neighbors Association plan a constructive approach to resolving a difficult land use problem for the long term,… [and] the council strongly encourages the ABSW to negotiate a plan for ABSW campus use with the Benvenue Neighbors in a timely manner.”  

Removal of institutional use from areas south of Dwight Way is mandated by the Southside Plan. This is reiterated in the city’s recent response to UC’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP): “…the city believes [that UC growth next to the core campus] should be accompanied by the University’s withdrawal from leased space elsewhere in the Southside, such as the American Baptist Seminary of the West…” As a matter of fact, UC’s own LRDP suggests moving UC Extension programs out of Berkeley entirely.  

The LRDP contains plenty of highfalutin statements about its commitment to enhancing community livability. Now it’s time for UC to honor its words. The WIN-WIN-WIN plan is best implemented with the active cooperation of UC. This means being creative and flexible, working across departments, and not being hidebound by old patterns. The WIN-WIN-WIN plan would give UC the best opportunity to help craft a plan to meet its needs. All the plan asks is that UC select lower intensity, more neighborhood-friendly uses from among its vast and diverse domain. UC has already placed uses of modest intensity at ABSW and elsewhere. It is not difficult, and it will presage the sensitivity and cooperation that UC would apply to its desired 2.2 million square feet of expansion. Unfortunately, so far UC officials have refused to engage with the community on this matter.  

Finally and most important, we ask the seminary to re-join its neighborhood. For two years the seminary has failed to respond to BNA’s efforts to start a dialogue, and ignored an earlier July, 2003 request by the council to enter into discussions with the neighbors. The new council referral warns: “BMC Section 23B.60.030 allows the city to revoke or modify a use permit if ‘the use, structure or building permitted has been substantially expanded or changed in character beyond that set forth in the permit.’ This action can be initiated by a resolution of the council.” The better alternative is the WIN-WIN-WIN plan, but if all three parties don’t participate, a similar but more difficult plan for both the ABSW and UC will likely be enacted. Berkeleyans are now uniting to protect their neighborhoods from unwarranted and damaging institutional expansion. And we look to City Hall for proactive support. 

Sharon Hudson is president of the Benvenue Neighbors Association. The full text of the WIN-WIN-WIN plan can be seen at www.berkeleydailyplanet.com. 

(

When I first heard James Carter, then 26 years old, at the old Yoshi’s on Claremont in 1995, it felt like what I imagine it would have been like to hear Charlie Parker in 1945 or Ornette Coleman in 1960. I was too young to have experienced the halcyon days of bop or free jazz and did not start listening consciously to jazz until 1962, but I did see Roland Kirk in 1965, Archie Shepp in 1966 and John Coltrane in 1967. Carter had that same kind of energy, as if you were present at the birth of something new and exciting, something that could make you begin all over again. My notes from that first Bay Area appearance by Carter include these words: beautiful, remarkable, phenomenal freedom, weird, experimental, totally accessible, unending stream of ideas, incredible, passionate. This was heady stuff. 

Since then, Carter has visited the Bay Area often and has released many excellent albums, though none of them have been able to capture what I heard that night at Yoshi’s. For that matter, Carter’s live performances have never quite reached the heights he achieved at his Yoshi’s première. His technical abilities are unparalleled whether he’s playing any of the saxophones (soprano, f mezzo, alto, tenor, baritone, bass), clarinet, bass clarinet or flute. No performance is without rewarding moments, but no performance has ever seemed as fully realized, as immediate, as that initial experience. His last appearance at Yoshi’s in April of this year ranged from a volcanic tenor solo on “Don’s Idea,” when he seemed to be channeling tenor saxophone great Don Byas, to an overly-intentional performance of “Strange Fruit.” The performance, although sincere, was so literary, dramatic, historical and emotional that it became something less than musical. 

One of Carter’s best albums to date is Chasing the Gypsy (Atlantic), a 2000 homage to the great Gypsy guitarist, Django Reinhardt (1910-1953). Although he will not have the same side players as he did on the album, this date will be focused on the music and memory of Django, certainly the first great non-American jazz musician. Carter is listed as a special guest of the Django Reinhardt Project which features Dorado Schmitt, a Gypsy guitarist and violinist from the Lorraine region of France, French guitarist Samson Schmitt, Ludovic Beier, virtuoso accordionist, and Stephane Grappelli alum Brian Torff on bass. Grappelli was Django’s long-time collaborator in the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. 

Django’s music was lyrical, swinging, free, inventive and technically astounding. People are always surprised to find out that the fingers of his left hand had been mutilated in a conflagration of wax flowers in his caravan. He subsequently had the use of only two fingers of that hand. In spite of, or because of, this limitation, he could play runs of notes on the guitar that still seem impossible, even for those with 10 fingers.  

It is equally surprising to imagine an African-American saxophonist born in Detroit in the late ‘60s being attracted to this music. Jazz musicians have always surprised fans by looking at ignored elements of their own tradition for new directions. As we arrive at the fifth generation of this unique music, we see all of these elements of renewal, surprise and the simultaneous tension of conservative synthesis and revolutionary exploration in the playing of Carter. Whether he plays in the galvanic manner of a genie who has just popped out of a lamp or in the more conventionally romantic-melodic style of the Django Reinhardt Project, Carter is the most promising player of his generation and what he plays is cutting edge jazz. 

There is a commodity in life that is more precious than gold, and that is water. In the Golden State of California water is more than precious, it is endangered, because we have but two seasons, wet and dry, and in some years the wet season is a dry one too. 

A couple of weeks ago, at the Lawrence Hall of Science, East Bay Municipal Utility District launched a new book three years in the making, Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates of the San Francisco Bay Region. 

This is EBMUD”s second horticu ltural volume. The first, Water-Conserving Plants and Landscapes of the Bay Area, sold 50,000 copies. The new one is more sumptuously produced, with gorgeous color photography by Saxon Holt on every page, and equally vibrant, lucid schema by watercolorist and botanical illustrator Richard Pembroke. 

The book aims to conserve habitat as well as water, to protect the wildlife therein, and to diminish fire risk. How to do it can be found within the book’s four sections, which address locale, design, individu al plants, and cultivation. These broad categories are subdivided under appropriate headings in the table of contents. Together with a big index, the book has everything one needs for easy navigation. Designer Beth Hansen-Winter and author-editor Nora Har low have given clear form to what could have been an unwieldy jumble of material. 

The conservation of water turns out to be a controversial topic. People who can afford to pay high water bills apparently do not care how much water they waste on their acres of property. Such woeful ignorance relates water to economics, when it actually concerns life—for all. Many cultures have vanished with few traces when their water supply, for whatever reason, ceased. Knowingly squandering water in any wet-dry climate is ethically indefensible. 

We should be grateful for EBMUD’s stewardship of our priceless water supply, clean and tasty, conveyed by their clever engineering from the purity of the high Sierras to our faucets, and pay heed to how we can play our part in its conservation. The book seems to have something for everyone, being not only a serious reference for the professional, and an array of tempting delights for the amateur, but also giving pleasure to non-gardeners because of its beauty. Its advice might even save our lives.  

Native plants are well represented, as they should be, since they have adapted to our wet-dry landscapes. Words like “adapted” and “tolerant” betray their human formulation. Some plants will die if watered at the wrong (for them) ti me of year. “Drought-thriving” might be a truer term. And not all native plants bloom early in order to set seed before summer drought. Epilobium, formerly Zauschneria, adds useful color to the garden at the end of summer. Its nectar-rich scarlet trumpets are beloved by hummingbirds, and its silvery foliage indicates its dry-summer preference, since white leaves deflect insolation, the sun’s rays. 

While sitting in my garden on the Fourth of July, browsing through the handsome volume, I looked up from tim e to time with new eyes. It seemed that many of the plants flowering nearby were listed in the book. That they are also drought-tolerant is entirely accidental. 

Some people love to water their gardens, manipulating soaker-hoses, creating complex irrigati on systems, reveling in wetness. I am not of that ilk. If I had to live in a desert, that would be fine with me. Cactuses are the only indoor plants I’ve never killed. Outdoors, my attitude is live and let live, if it can. Once a week I water everything w ithout discrimination, by hand-held hose. I enjoy this opportunity to see how things are doing. That’s about it, in summer. My passion for gardening only emerges at the equinoxes, spring and fall. 

This does not mean that I do not adore whatever is willin g to grow and bloom in these circumstances. The perimeter of the garden yields fruit: blackberries (no water), plums (likewise), pears, apples and quince (soaked every one or two weeks). I have a young nectarine smothered in bright red miniature cannon ba lls. This is a volunteer, a consequence of my spitting out a pit a few summers ago. One of the master gardeners at EBMUD’s book launch told me that if a fruiting tree is grown from a seed, it is a new variety. Will the fruits soften, will they be deliciou s, and will I know this before the squirrel, the opossum and the tree rat? This tree I hover over, deterring ants with a Tanglefoot barrier and watering it weekly without fail. 

In the middle of the garden is the fenced vegetable plot, focus of my attenti on. Between perimeter and plot, flowers are randomly disposed. Penstemons that began as one small potted nursery plant now cover an area four feet by five, and still spreading. They get a splash of water as I drag the hose to the nectarine, and deadheadin g rather than EBMUD’s recommended shearing, which I will try next. The oregano, more slowly expanding, blooms twice if I shear it in midsummer. I wait as long as possible, as it is much visited by native bumblebees. This too receives a little incidental w atering. Osteospermum, a perennial in the vast compositae (daisy, sunflower) family, tries to cascade into the vegetable plot, thriving on the food and water available there, rooting into and smothering everything. In leaner ground outside the plot, it st ill seems to like water, although its origin, a small rooted shoot from a naturalized patch by the bay, must have survived with none. Another, unknown, dry-summer compositae member, an annual, originally grown from seed also collected by the bay, self-sows each year in a different location, bringing a touch of the unexpected into an already disorganized lot. I took a sprig of its daisy flowers, both pale and butter yellow, to a nursery once for identification, and was told it is a Little Cutie. 

Erigeron, a daisy commonly called fleabane, yet another slow spreader, makes the most trouble-free ground cover. Fairly hard shearing keeps it controlled, done when it looks as though it needs it. Such haphazard methods are an embarrassment to confess, so I was reassured by EBMUD’s comment that learning to “read” one’s plants is a good thing. Of course if one has read wrongly, the garden will rapidly teach one the meaning of cause and effect. Erigeron never seems to stop flowering entirely, making it hard to read correctly, and will dry up and die without some summer moisture. 

Of the native plants in my garden, a sprawling ceanothus accepts incidental water. Whether it really needs this, I do not know. It is water-tolerant, perhaps. It has grown slowly, taking se ven years to produce a flower, and I learned from EBMUD’s book that slow growth can mean a longer life. I hope so. “Soon ripe, soon rotten” is of course a horticultural tag. Flowers or no, my ceanothus is always worthwhile for its distinctive dark green l eathery leaves covering an area I’d rather look at than cultivate.  

A friend told me that redwoods are easy to grow from seed. I was delighted to find this was true. I’ve never watered mine, although EBMUD says I should. It is too tall to measure without mathematics, and seems unstressed. Perhaps the water table is high in my neighborhood. Old maps show creeks everywhere, mostly now hidden, and I’m fairly sure one runs directly beneath, and in very rainy years through, my house, as is true of many in Ber keley.  

What my garden obviously lacks is a plan, a design, and to this end, I determined to stop browsing and to read the book from beginning to end. It is a visual delight, with 650 plants photographed and described, each with a cluster of icons that give information at a glance about watering and other horticultural needs. EBMUD has adopted (with acknowledgments) Sunset’s Western Garden Book’s gardening zones and alphabetical listing of plants. There the resemblance between the two books ends, for if I had to describe EBMUD’s book in one word, I would say, “ours.” Whereas Sunset’s recommendations range over hundreds of square miles, making them inevitably chancy and even irrelevant, EBMUD’s specific focus on our Bay area, its knowledgeable and concise descriptions of our microclimates and our plant communities, its absorbing exposition of our ecology in all its facets, make its recommendations entirely and reliably credible. This is more than a book about plants, it’s a good read. 

And when I reached the end of the book I received a wonderful surprise. It turns out that my kind of garden and method of working in it has a name. My garden is a natural garden, and I am a natural gardener. I immediately recognized that this definition by itself would help me to improve my garden design. With the book as well, it’s a done deed. Like an alien on the Fourth of July who has lost identity, when I read those words, I felt a sense of homecoming.  

Now isn’t that summer-dry Berkeley all over? 

b

When Avenue Books, long a favorite on College Avenue in Elmwood, fell victim to the post-9/11 economic crunch, neighbors mourned the loss. 

Marion Bundy, a writer and editor, and Ann Leyhe, who writes regularly for gardening publications, lent their sympathetic ears to the laments, and soon found they were getting more than mere grousing. 

“We were approached by people who urged us to open a bookstore,” said Leyhe. 

And so, like Orlando, the title character in Virginia Woolf’s novels, one of Berkeley’s favorite bookstores is back in a different form—though while Orlando switched gender, the new bookstore store will emerge with a new name, new content and a different focus. 

Thus, sometime in late September, Avenue Books will be reborn as Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, renamed for the title character in another Woolf opus. 

“We’ve both lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, I was looking for a place to sell gardening books and supplies, so we decided to make the plunge,” she said. 

“About a third of the space will be devoted to books on gardening, regional gardening and garden design, along with reference books and plants in artistic containers,” Leyhe said. 

But the majority of the store’s 2,000 square feet will be devoted to fiction and quality literature, as the new name would suggest, along with top notch mysteries, a selection of non-fiction (current affairs, history, politics, biographies and memories), travel writing, culinary and oenophile works, texts on design and the home, children’s books and a selection of local authors.  

“Marion and I met in Boston in 1975 at a summer session of the Publishing Procedures Course at Radcliffe, ” said Leyhe. “Neither of us has ever done any retail, but one of our professors from that session now has a consulting business helping people to open bookstores. 

“Marion called him and said, ‘Please convince me that I shouldn’t do it.’ But he did a feasibility study of our neighborhood and said it was a good place to open a bookstore.” 

The neighborhood boasts a high percentage of very literate readers, including many families with UC connections. 

“We’ll be offering a high level of service. We’ll order anything for our customers, and we’re offering free delivery in the Elmwood neighborhood.” 

The new owners are currently completing the process of obtaining all the necessary permits and approvals, and they’ve negotiated the complex quota system imposed by the neighborhood commercial district. 

“There was already an open slot for books,” Leyhe said, “and there’s no quotas selling plants.” 

The next stage, just beginning, is the installation of the interior improvements needed to make the store work. 

“We’re already placing orders with book companies, and we’re going to put up a web site. Customers won’t be able to order and pay for books online, at least for now, but we’ll have e-mail and we’ll be posting the events we’ll be having at the store,” Leyhe said. 

“We’ll have a lot of events in the evenings. There’ll be readings by local authors and we’ll have seasonally relating gardening events. When it’s time for bulb-planting, we may have a demonstration. But all the events will be centered around books.” 

A graduate of Princeton and Mills College, Bundy is married to Boalt Hall Law Professor Steve Bundy. They and their two children live in Elmwood. 

Layhe graduated from Scripps College. She and spouse, builder Andy Pauley, have raised three children in the neighborhood. 

“It’s a huge challenge,” Leyhe said. “Neither of us has ever done any retail.” 

Fortunately, the pair have recruited a pro to assist them—Elise White, a familiar face to customers of the old Avenue Books, where she worked for 15 years. 

“She was an important part of Avenue Books then, and she’ll be of great help to Mrs. Dalloway’s,” Leyhe said.

The number one seller on Amazon.com, The 9/11 Commission Report, is flying off the bookstore shelves across the country. A bookstore in my little Indiana town sold out its first 100 copies in two days. Barnes and Noble on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley is out, too. 

Skim the first pages and you will see why: This is a powerful story. Step after step it unwinds, from the minute-to-minute account of the four planes’ final hour back through the intricate maze that led to that hour.  

Across America’s intellig ence network in the summer of 2001, individuals and units knew something serious was up, but no one—or at least no one with the power to compel belief—could figure out what it was. 

An Aug. 6 briefing to President Bush warned, “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in U.S.” and mentioned hijacking as a possibility—but not the possibility of using airplanes as missiles. The failure to see that possibility was, the commission says, a “failure of imagination.” President Bush received the report—and did nothing. 

A conspiracy theory making the rounds holds that Bush and company did not respond to the crisis because they had cooked it up, providing an excuse for the Patriot Act and the attack on Iraq. Why else, the theorists ask, did the military not shoot down the h ijacked planes?  

The commission’s report answers that question in compelling detail, dramatizing the confusion that left planes circling over the ocean while the hijacked planes moved toward their targets.  

The commission’s own story line is disturbing enough: A large, complex society, made up of many institutions, is sadly vulnerable. That, of course, is not quite what the commission says. It prefers to believe that rearranging the intelligence bureaucracy will make us secure. 

But in focusing on intelligence failures, the report reenacts the conceptual failure that made 9/11 more likely: the tendency to see only one small part of the picture. 

Fixing its eyes on Islamic militants from abroad, the commission fails to imagine all the other threats to our security. Should we not fear America’s own capacity for terrorism, the American nuclear arsenal, its military might? Should we not worry about the power in the hands of our president to order, not just the shooting down of hijacked jets, but a rain of missiles on foreign cities?  

In the first few hours after Sept. 11, I had the naïve idea that this evidence of our vulnerability might lead us to reflect on our way of life and our role in the world. Do not look to the 9/11 Commission Report for that reflection. Its strength is its narrative, not its vision. Its chapter on “What to Do? A Global Strategy” is a grab bag of suggestions, positioned in the political mainstream and carefully phrased for approval by commission members from both sides of the political aisle. 

For instance, taking up the question of how the Islamic world views American support for Israel, the report says, carefully, “Right or wrong, it is simply a fact that American policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and American actions in Iraq are dominant staples of popular commentary across the Arab and Muslim world. This does not mean U.S. choices have been wrong. It means those choices must be integrated with America’s message of opportunity to the Arab and Muslim world.”  

The commission might have done better to stay away from the large political realities that led to 9/11 since it could not begin to do them justice—especially given the narrow political frame within which the commission was working: the common ground oc cupied by Democrats and Republicans (themselves only a narrow strip of the American political spectrum). On the other hand, perhaps even the gesture, weak as it is, is important: a reminder of how big the picture is. 

Whatever its limitations, The 9/11 Co mmission Report will give hundreds of thousands of Americans insight into the way our government works. The section on the Clinton administration’s attempts to capture bin Ladin (or kill him, if that were to happen—accidentally of course) reminds us of all that goes on beyond our line of sight, and that alone is worth the modest price of the book.  

Carol Polsgrove is the author of Divided Minds: Intellectuals and the Civil Rights Movement.?o

It’s my firm conviction that you can’t have too many field guides. They’re indispensable to anyone who’s intrigued by the names and relationships of living things: birds, trees, dragonflies, mushrooms, whatever. Although you can find guides for almost every group of organisms (with some gaps; I know a park ranger who was so frustrated by the absence of a guide to freshwater invertebrates that she wrote and published her own), the bird books far outnumber the rest. 

Roger Tory Peterson invented the genre to allow the identification of birds with binoculars rather than shotguns, and he’s had worthy successors like David Sibley and Kenn Kauffman. There are bird guides for every level of sophistication, novice to advanced; for different geographical regions; for specific bird families (hummingbirds, warblers, hawks); even for nests, eggs, and nestlings. 

So is there a place on this crowded shelf for yet another guidebook? I think so. Sierra Birds: A Hiker’s Guide is intended to fill a special niche, and succeeds admirably. John Muir Laws, an artist-naturalist in the tradition of Peterson and Sibley, has produced a visually appealing, hip-pocket-sized book covering the resident and migrant birds of the Sierra Nevada. It’s ideal in some ways for beginning birders or hikers with only a casual interest in birds, but seasoned watchers will also find it useful. 

Unlike some guides—the National Geographic’s North American Birds for one—Laws’ book doesn’t assume a knowledge of bird taxonomy: Birds are grouped by appearance as well as by relationship. The red males and streaky brown females of the three red finches—house, purple, and Cassin’s—are illustrated together, but the females are also shown with other streaky brown birds like sparrows, pipits, and female blackbirds. Laws shows the age-specific plumages of gulls and eagles, and there are handy visual keys to identifying birds by family and by predominant color. 

Although Sierra Birds is heavy on pictures, light on text, Laws uses pointers to indicate key plumage features, and has concise notes on habitat, voice, and behavior. There are other sources for those who want more detail, like Edward Beedy and Stephen Granholm’s Discovering Sierra Birds, or David Gaines’ Birds of Yosemite. A chart of seasonal occurrence would have been useful, as would range maps (since some birds have very local or patchy distributions within the Sierra, or are confined to either the east or west slopes). 

The new guide is the product of what seems like a natural partnership between the California Academy of Sciences, where Laws is an educator, and Berkeley’s Heyday Books. It’s the first of a projected series of guides covering Sierra natural history, from mammals to rocks. It’s fitting that a namesake of the Range of Light’s greatest celebrant has taken on the job. And why stop with the Sierra? I’d like to see the same approach to California’s other regions (how about the North Coast? the Mojave Desert?) and ecosystems. 

Disclaimer time: I took Sierra Birds with me on a recent trip to Mount Lassen, where it helped convince me that the gray-and-yellow songbird I saw at Hat Lake was a Nashville warbler rather than a McGillivray’s warbler. As unlikely as it may seem, I ran into Laws (who prefers to be called Jack) at the park’s Summit Lake campground. He says he was inspired to create the kind of guidebook he always wished he had along on Sierra backpacking trips but could never find. Laws is field-testing the mammal and fish segments of the series and doing the illustrations for the wildflower guide. He seems like the ideal person for this ambitious undertaking: young, enthusiastic, curious about all aspects of the natural world. And he agrees that you can never have too many field guides. 

M

The National Arbor Day Foundation has issued a pocket-sized booklet titled What Tree Is That? that’s worth the modest investment if you order in bulk—$3 for one, $25.25 for 35, $189.00 for 270, plus $4.95 for shipping and handling of any quantity. It calls itself a guide to the more common trees found in the western United States, from the Rockies to the Pacific shore. It’s one of those dichotomous keys—“If A, go to 13BS”—that drive me nuts to use but are useful for things that sit still for examination. 

The guide doesn’t start by distinguishing between wildland trees and city, park, or garden trees, which would be my first question. It does, however, mention, as italicized hints, whether some of the trees are native here; I guess that conveys some of the same information. The pictorial identifiers are all line drawings of leaves, some with fruit (nuts, acorns, samaras), on representative twigs. Some key questions (“Is it deciduous?”) assume an ongoing acquaintance with the tree. There’s a handy ruler (in inches) on the back cover. 

I have minor quarrels with fine points of a few sketches—those interior live oak leaves look more like willow—but using it in conjunction with a photographic field guide or something as thorough as the Peterson Western Trees guide by George and Olivia Petrides or UC Press’s Trees and Shrubs of California (natives only, but Hallelujah, it includes shrubs!) by John Stuart and John Sawyer, you can get a handle on the names and life histories of most of the trees around you. The little booklet is a good first step if you’re at ease with keying out species, or if you’re completely bewildered by the green thing in front of you. And it’s small enough to stick in your pack or glove compartment. Good for the Arbor Day Foundation for using soy ink and recycled paper. I do wonder why those folks seem determined to blanket the country in Colorado blue spruce, though—their perpetual offer for ten seedlings with membership is included in the book—but if you clip the coupon, you lose the single rangemap on its back. 

To order, call (402) 474-5655, go to www.arborday.org, or write to the National Arbor Day Foundation, P.O. Box 85784, Lincoln, NE., 68501-5784.

TUESDAY, JULY 27 

FILM 

Time’s Shadow: “The Way Things Go” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Frank Foer describes “How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poets Gone Wild, open mic night, at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Creole Belles and Andrew Carriere at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Diana Castillo at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Fourtet plays jazz standards and originals at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Jazz House Jam, hosted by Darrell Green and Geechy Taylor at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. www.thejazz- 

house.com 

Charnett Moffett Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Wed. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Augúst August” Group show with new works by Carol Dalton and others to Sept. 5 at The Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St., upstairs. 549-1018. www.cecilemoochnek.com 

FILM 

Exploit-O-Scope: “Homocidal” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

China Mieville introduces his new novel, “Iron Council” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

D’Arcy Fallon describes the Christian commune she called home in “So Late, So Soon” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

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

Bay Area Writing Project, summer reading featuring teachers who are also authors from Berkeley and Oakland, at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sandfly performs reggae at noon at Oakland City Center at the 12th St. BART. www.oaklandcitycenter.com 

Jules Broussard, Ned Boynton and Bing Nathan at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Balkan Folkdance at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Eric & Suzy Thompson, W.B Reid and Bonnie Zahnow at 8 p.m. at Strings, 6320 San Pablo Ave. All ages welcome. Donation $10. www.strings.org 

Bryan Girard Quintet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Swing Mine plays 40s and 50s western swing at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Keith Terry’s “Slammin’” at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Poor Bailey, The Apt, Mr. Loveless, Mike Rogers at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

THURSDAY, JULY 29 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Muchas Culturas, Una Communidad: Many Cultures, One Community” paper maché and ceramic artworks by students from Le Conte and Longfellow Schools. Reception 6 to 8 p.m. Addison St. Windows, 2018 Addison St. 981-7533. 

FILM 

Time’s Shadow: “Fellini Satyricon” at 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lawrence Ferlinghetti will read from “Americus: Book I” the first part of his epic poem of American consciousness at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Ward Churchill introduces “On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality” at 7 p.m. at AK Press Warehouse, 674 A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Jerry Stahl reads from his new novel, “I, Fatty” based on the life of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with Terry McCarty and Mark States, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

Brad Blanton discusses lying in “The Truthtellers” at 7:30 p.m. Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Summer Noon Concert with SoVoSó at the Berkeley BART. Sponsored by the Downtown Berkeley Association. 

“What a Day!” The students of the 2004 Berkeley/Oakland Alvin Ailey Dance Camp exhibit their work at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. 642-0212. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu  

Liam McCormick Sings the Blues at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Donation of $7-$10. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Samba Ngo, Congolese guitarist, with a lecture by CK Ladzekpo, at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Country Joe Band, with former members of Country Joe and the Fish at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ismael “Bandolero” Duran at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Katie Jay Band at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Frisky Frolics, The Green Cards at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Mimi Fox plays the music of Rogers and Hart at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Ducksan Distones, featuring Donald “Duck” Bailey and guest vocalist Lorin Benedict, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $8-$15. www.thejazz- 

house.com 

Django Reinhardt Project, with special guest James Carter, at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Witches Brew at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

FRIDAY, JULY 30 

CHILDREN 

Mood Swings with a reading of “When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry” by Molly Bang at 10:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-3635. 

FILM 

The Invention of the Western Film: “Ride Lonesome” at 7:30 p.m. and “The Searchers” at 9:05 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “A Delicate Balance” by Edward Albee. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, through Aug 14. Tickets are $10, available from 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Aurora Theatre “Betrayal,” by Harold Pinter, directed by Tom Ross. Runs through August 1. Tickets are $34-$36. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org  

California Shakespeare Theater, “Henry IV” Tues.-Fri. at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. at the Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, through August 1. Tickets are $13-$32. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

Central Works “The Mysterious Mr. Looney” a new play about the man who wrote the plays of Shakespeare, at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m., through Aug. 5. Tickets are $8-$20, sliding scale. For reservations call 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

“Spanglish 101” with Bill Santiago at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7-$12 sliding scale. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Adrian Tomine, author of the comic book series “Optic Nerve” in conversation with Eli Horowitz on “Scrapbook” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Jim Hightower introduces his latest book “Let’s Stop Beating Around the Bush: More Political Subversion” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Midsummer Mozart Festival at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $28-$48. 415-627-9140. www.midsummermozart.org 

Moonrise & Shekhinah at the 1923 Teahouse at 9 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson at 8 p.m. with Belinda Ricklefs. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, traditional folk singer and raconteur, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The People, Orixa, Awesome Cool Dudes at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Robbie Fulks, Scout of Firecracker at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Mal Sharp Big Money in Jazz at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Henry Kaiser, solo guitar, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Research and Development at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Blown to Bits, Death Toll, Against Empire, Holokaust at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, JULY 31 

THEATER 

The Oakland Playhouse Improv Troupe A night of improv comedy at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby at MLK. Tickets are $15 at the door. 595-5597. www.theoaklandplayhouse.com 

FILM 

Jewish Film Festival runs from July 31 to Aug. 5 at Wheeler auditorium, UC Campus. 925-275-9490. www.sfjff.org 

Bergman on a Summer Night: “Smiles of a Summer Night” at 5 and 9 p.m., and “Wild Strawberries” at 7:10 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash reading for “Mercy of Tides: Poems for a Beach House” with contributors Alex Green, Zack Rogow and Hannah Stein at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam Fundraiser at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Port Chicago,” a musical-theater performance commemorating the 60th anniversary of the worst home-front disaster in World War II, will be staged by the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra from 3 to 5 p.m., at the African-American Museum and Library at Oakland, 659 14th St. 637-0200. www.oakland 

library.org  

Quasi Nada, live Brazilian music, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

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

Sarah Manning Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

John Reyburn, folk, Baroque guitar, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Kekele, Congolese rumba, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15, with $5 discount for those who have their receipt from the June 29 lecture. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Naked Barbies at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Insolence, Unjust, Jynx at 8:45 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

John Stowell, guitar, at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com  

Dan Zimmelman on piano at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Blair Hanson at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Scott Amendola Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Allegiance, Cast Aside, More to Pride, In Your Face at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Tim Barsky at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$10, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 

FILM 

The Invention of the Western Film: “Lonely Are the Brace” at 5:30 p.m., “The Wild Bunch” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Conspirare, Craig Hella Johnson & Company of Voices, from Austin,Texas, at 4 p.m. at St. Marks Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $15. www.conspirare.org 

Sacred Geometry and Dances of India with Malathi Iyengar and Rangoli Dance Company at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Tickets are $12-$20 available from 925-798-1300. 

Americana Unplugged: Joe Craven, mandolinist and percussionist, at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bush-Be-Gone Bash with the Funky Nixons and the Gary Gates Band at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jacqui Naylor at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com  

MONDAY, AUGUST 2 

CHILDREN 

“Tales from the Enchanted Forest” with puppeteer Nick Barone at 11 a.m. at Habitot Children’s Museum’ Fairy Tale Day celebration. Children can come dressed as their favorite fairytale character and act in impromptu skits. Fairy dust painting will take place in the Art Studio. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Alfred Henry Jacobs” photographs, documents and original artwork on Jacobs’ contribution to the architecture of Bay Area movie palaces, at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. 549-6950. www.magnes.org 

FILM 

“My Sister, My Bride” a documentary about same-sex marriage by Bonnie Burt at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus at 6:30 p.m. www.sfjff.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Last Word Poetry Series with John Rowe and Michael Kelly at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave.  

Julie Smith introduces her new detective book, “Louisana Lament” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Actors Reading Writers “America at War” a story by Tim O'Brien and letters from Andrew Carroll’s book, “War Letters” at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave.  

Poetry Express featuring Terry McCarty from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Greg Osby Four at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 3 

FILM 

Time’s Shadow: “Corridor” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Evan Wolfson on “Why Marriage Matters” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Jay Brunhouse introduces us to “Travelling the Eurail Express” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 843-3533. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jazz House Jam hosted by Darrell Green and Geechy Taylor at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. www.thejazz- 

house.com 

Courtableu at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Pattie Whitehurst at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Greg Osby Four at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazz- 

school at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Œ

You can hear it over the traffic on Shattuck Avenue: a high-pitched chittering, coming from somewhere overhead. Looking up, you may be able to spot a couple of small, torpedo-shaped black-and-white birds with an elegant Art Deco look, looping through the air above the downtown buildings. They’re white-throated swifts, foraging the urban canyons for airborne insects. 

Swifts are odd birds. Although they have a superficial resemblance to swallows, hummingbirds are their closest relatives (the fossil record suggests hummers had swift-like ancestors). They’re built for speed, with cylindrical bodies and long, narrow wings like miniature sailplanes. They have short legs and pamprodactyl feet, the first and fourth toes capable of pivoting either forward or backward—a good design for clinging to vertical surfaces, like cave walls or cliffs. 

I’ve wondered for years where the downtown swifts built their nests and only recently learned that they use the building across the street from the main library. Like most swifts, white-throats construct shelf-like structures of moss, grass, and feathers, glued together with saliva. Some of their relatives, like the edible-nest swiftlet of Southeast Asia and Indonesia, have nests that are almost pure congealed spit, the active ingredient of bird’s-nest soup. Unregulated harvesting of the nests—mostly in hard-to-reach sea caves, although one flock reportedly uses the roof of a Chinese restaurant—has caused drastic population declines in that species. 

Although it’s a relatively common bird, the white-throated swift hasn’t had much attention from ornithologists. We do know that it’s highly social, nesting in colonies and sometimes gathering in flocks of over a thousand. We know that it’s migratory in part of its range, and that—again, like some hummingbirds—it can enter a torpid state when temperatures drop. We know the swift is an insect-eater, sustained by “aerial plankton” that includes both flying insects and others that drift passively on the wind. White-throated swifts have been seen following a combine harvester and scarfing the insects flushed by the machine. 

But there have been few descriptions of the bird’s social behavior. Thomas Ryan and Charles Collins of California State University, Long Beach have filled some of that gap with a recent series of articles in Western Birds. Ryan and Collins observed flocks of white-throated swifts at two Southern California sites, near San Juan Capistrano and Rancho Palos Verdes, monitoring their activity patterns: arrivals at and departures from their overnight roosts. Collins, with other researchers, also intercepted the food parent swifts brought their young and analyzed the contents—mostly flies and true bugs, with a smattering of weevils and the occasional spider or silverfish. (The less common black swift was found to specialize in flying ants, a patchy but rich food source). 

Back to behavior, though: Ryan and Collins describe several characteristic things white-throated swifts do, including the Courtship Fall, the Screaming Party, and the Silent Dread. “Courtship Fall” makes me think of a Butch Hancock song: 

Fools fall in love 

Wise men they fall too 

Wise men hit the bottom 

Fools just fall on through 

I’ve seen Courtship Falls myself, down at Pinnacles National Monument, and they’re pretty spectacular. Here’s W. Leon Dawson, from the 1920s: “The birds come together from opposite directions, engage with the axes of their bodies held at a decided angle laterally, and begin to tumble slowly downward, turning over and over the while for several seconds, or until earth impends, whereupon they separate without further ado.” They’ve been known to plummet for 500 feet. Mating likely takes place during these falls, although it’s also been observed at the nest site. 

Screaming Parties involve large groups of swifts flying past a roost site or nesting colony, all yelling their heads off. Other birds may emerge from the roost to join them. Then they break and go back to foraging. Ryan and Collins don’t provide a context for the behavior, but I have to wonder if it’s anything like the flock screams Mark Bittner has seen the cherry-headed conures of Telegraph Hill perform. Maybe it’s just avian exuberance. 

Silent Dreads: Who among us hasn’t experienced those? In a Silent Dread, a group of swifts “stops calling and…departs in an uncoordinated rush, regrouping at a substantial distance from the previous center of activity.” They sometimes take place when a credible predator, a peregrine falcon or Cooper’s hawk, is nearby, although never during an actual attack. There’s a higher frequency of Silent Dreads near or after sunset, just before a flock of swifts re-enters a night roost. A swift sees something in the fading light that could be a stooping falcon and somehow, silently, communicates its panic to the whole flock. 

Are these false alarms adaptive? A bird that lives such a high-velocity existence has to be able to react quickly—when a cliff looms up in the fog, when a peregrine comes at you at 200 miles an hour. That may be worth an occasional bout of the gratuitous jitters. 

›

TUESDAY, JULY 27 

“Global Implications of US Nuclear Weapons” with Jacqueline Cabasso, executive director, Western States Legal Foundation, at 3 p.m. at Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St. Admission is free. 

Farm Fresh Choice Celebration with fresh food tasting, including freshly roasted organic corn, and watermelon, and children’s games. From 3:30 to 6 p.m. at the BAHIA School, at the James Kenney Recreation Center on 8th and Virginia in West Berkeley. 848-1704. 

Twilight Hike: The Creekside Nightshift As twilight descends, many of our residents begin their busy “day.” Deer, raccoons, woodrats, and several kinds of bats are all part of the night shift. You will be rewarded with sights of sounds of these animals on our quiet hike. Bring a flashlight for the walk back to your car. From 7 to 9 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Backpacking and Day Hiking the Sierra’s Feather River Country with author/explorer Tom DeMund, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Suggested donation $3. 549-1564. 

Phone Banking to ReDefeat Bush on Tuesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Bring your cell phones. Please RSVP if you can join us. 233-2144. dan@redefeatbush.com 

“The Gift of Shabbat: Philosophy and Practice” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237, ext. 112. 

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. 845-6830. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672.  

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28 

Organize! Organize! Organize! Creating Social Change with the Berkeley Gray Panthers and Sandra Weese, organizer for SEIU Local 250 at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 548-9696. 

Twilight Tour “Agaves to Zephyranthes” A tour of select monocots, including woody lilies, grasses, and grass-like plants at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$17. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

“Autonomous Education” a film by the Chiapas Media Project, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St. in downtown Oakland. 654-9587. 

Manifest Destiny Edition Highlights of ten politically moving films at 8 p.m. at 21 Grand, Oakland, $5-$10 sliding scale. 

Bayswater Book Club meets at 6:30 p.m. in the Barnes and Noble Coffee Shop, El Cerrito Plaza. We are reading “Titans and Olympians: Greek and Roman Myths.” 433-2911. 

Tilden Tots A nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds each accompanied by an adult. We’ll capture and release butterflies, moths and other insects. From 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Tilden Nature Area. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Suggested donation $3. 549-1564. 

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

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around the restored 1870s business district. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of G.B. Ratto’s at 827 Washington St. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet. 

com/wallkingtours 

“Eyewitness Haiti” with members of the Haiti Action Committee speaking on their recent visit, at 7 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10 sliding scale. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

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

Fun with Acting Class every Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Free, all are welcome, no experience necessary.  

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, JULY 29 

Tilden Explorers A nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds who may be accompanied by an adult, no younger siblings, please. We’ll learn about insects, their body parts, and families. From 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Donation $3. 549-1564. 

Twilight Tour “Plants for Your Landscape and Garden” Expand your plant palette with reliable bloomers and drought tolerant plants at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$17. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

FRIDAY, JULY 30 

Free Compost for Berkeley Residents Open to the general public at 11:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Berkeley Marina Maintenance Yard, 201 University Ave., next to Adventure Playground. 644-6566.  

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Players at all levels are welcome. 652-5324. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 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. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

Overeaters Anonymous meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. 525-5231. 

SATURDAY, JULY 31 

Fifth Annual Urban Sustainability Bike Tour We’ll tour several houses in the East Bay that demonstrate some aspect of lighter living in the city. Join us at the east side of the Ashby BART Station at 10 a.m. Please bring lunch and water with you. 548-2220, ext. 233. www.ecologycenter.org 

Sunset Walk in Emeryville Marina with Solo Sierrans. Meet for an hour’s walk on paved trail through the Emery- 

ville Marina with quiet views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Meet behind Chevy’s Restaurant at 5:30 p.m. 234-8949. 

United Nations Association 40th Anniversary Celebration, with music, dance and food, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1403B Addison St. in the University Ave. Andronico’s parking lot. 849-1752. 

“Port Chicago,” a musical-theater performance commemorating the 60th anniversary of the worst home-front disaster in World War II, will be staged by the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra from 3 to 5 p.m., at the African-American Museum and Library at Oakland, 659 14th St. 637-0200. www.oaklandlibrary.org  

Summer Pond Plunge With dip-nets and maginifiers we’ll search for backswimmers, dragonflies and more. For ages 4 and up. From 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Berkeley International Kite Festival at Cesar Chavez Park, Berkeley Marina. 235-5483. www.highlinekites.com  

Rockridge to the Hills Explore historic neighborhoods of Oakland and Berkeley, with beautiful old homes, gardens, and a creek. Ascend to Claremont Open Space for a picnic and views before returning to Rockridge. A challenging, seven mile hike with an elevation gain between 1,000 and 2,000 feet. From 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 415- 543-6771, ext. 302. www.greenbelt.org 

Full Moon Peak Hike for youth and families to Wildcat Peak to see the moonrise. From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“Butterflies: Flying Flowers” from 1 to 4 p.m. at Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden park. Cost is $30-$35. For reservations call 845-4116. www.nativeplants.org 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Glenview From 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at Gleview Elementary School, corner of Hampel and La Cresta. Tour is limited to 20 persons. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. For reservations call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. For reservations call 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours 

The Bay Area Dry Climate Garden Learn what to plant in our winter-wet, summer-dry climate, choosing from plants from similar climates around the world. At 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Trivial Pursuit Booklover’s Edition Join this interactive event and test your knowledge of book and author trivia at 2 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Disaster First Aid Class from 9 a.m. to noon at the Fire Dept. Training Center, 997 Cedar St. Part of Berkeley Community Emergency Response Training series, open to anyone who lives or works in Berkeley. To register, call 981-5506. 

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. for $8. 848-7800. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 

Guided Trails Challenge Hike in Kennedy Grove from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Fruitval Commercial from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meet at the Pedestrian Plaza at East 12th St and 34th Ave. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. For reservations call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

“Justice For All” with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, organizer of the UUFETA, at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. 525-0302.  

Tibetan Buddhism, with Sylvia Gretchen on “Heroic Lives of Bodhisattvas” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Celebrating Recovery at New Spirit Community Church A special worship service honoring and celebrating the journey of recovery, at 11 a.m. at Pacific School of Religion Chapel, 1798 Scenic Ave. 704-7729. www.newspiritchurch.org 

MONDAY, AUGUST 2 

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter meets at 6 p.m. the first Monday of each month at the Oakland YWCA, 1515 Webster St. Our August speakers will be three lesbian authors who will discuss the similarities and differences gays and straights encounter in getting published. 287-8948.  

The Coalition for a democratic Pacifica looks at Russia at 7:30 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita.  

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 1:15 p.m. every Monday at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

Iyengar Yoga on Mondays from from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $12. 528-9909. gay@yogagarden.org 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. 524-9122. 

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. 

A Celebration of Diversity in Families To explore both biblical and modern concepts of family for children from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Aug 6. Sponsored by the Arlington Community Church. To register call 526-9146. 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 3 

Tomato Tastings at the Tuesday Farmers Market, Derby St. at MLK, Jr Way from 2 to 7 p.m. Sample about 35 tomato varieties. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Mid-Day Meander Hike Rare manzanitas, cool mosses and delicious berries all in a compact park off Skyline Blvd., from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. registration required. 525-2233. 

Tales of Your Amazing Body at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shatuck Ave., lower level. For ages 3-10. Suggested donation $3. 549-1564. 

Bicycle Maintenance 101 Learn how to identify and fix your bike’s simple mechanical problems at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

American Red Cross Blood Services is holding a volunteer orientation from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave. Volunteers are needed to support the more than 40 blood drives held each month. Advance sign-up needed. 594-5165. 

“There’s Something About W” takes a look at the state of our nation in light of the policies of the Bush Administration over the past 3 years. at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Phone Banking to ReDefeat Bush on Tuesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Bring your cell phones. Please RSVP if you can join us. 415-336 8736. dan@redefeatbush.com 

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. 845-6830. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672.  

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4 

Twilight Tour “Latin America: The Least Grown and Least Known” A tour of Latin American plants that are typically under-represented in commercial nurseries, at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$17. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

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

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours 

Point Molate Restoration A presentation by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command at 6 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library, 325 Civic Center Plaza. 620-6561.  

“What the #$*! Do We Know?!” a film on the convergence of science and spiritality opens at UA Berkeley. www.whatthebleep.com 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets at 7:15 a.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. For information call 524-3765. 

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

Fun with Acting Class every Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Free, all are welcome, no experience necessary.  

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

ONGOING 

Free Summer Lunch Programs are offered to youth age 18 and under at various sites in Berkeley, including James Kenny Rec. Center, Frances Albrier Center, Strawberry Creek, Longfellow School, Rosa Parks School and Washington School, Mon. - Fri. 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. until Aug. 20. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Health Dept. 981-5351.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., July 28, 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., July 28, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. Carol Lopes, 981-5514. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Energy Commission meets Wed., July 28, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/energy 

Mental Health Commission meets Wed., July 28 at 6:30 p.m. at 2640 MLK Jr. Way, at Derby. Harvey Turek, 981-5213. www.ci.erkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/mentalhealth 

Planning Commission meets Wed., July 28, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruth Grimes, 981-7481. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning?

In olden times King Midas of Phrygia made the mistake of preferring the music made by the god Pan, playing reed pipes, to that of Apollo on the lyre. Big mistake. Apollo changed Midas’s ears to those of an ass (a comment on his taste, no doubt), so the king was forced to wear his hat pulled down over his ears, and no one knew except his barber, who was sworn to secrecy. After a while the secret got to be too much for the barber, so he went down to the river and whispered it into a hole in the bank to relieve himself. But reeds grew on the spot where the barber had deposited his secret, and as the wind blew through them they whispered the secret again and again: Midas has ass’s ears, Midas has ass’s ears, Midas has ass’s ears. 

It’s getting harder and harder to keep a secret these days. The sudden proliferation of multiple media outlets with technology accessible to “amateurs” and “professionals” of all stripes has created a vast marsh of whispering reeds which are disclosing all kinds of secrets willy-nilly. Little papers like ours can now get copy from far away, along with digital pictures, within minutes after events. And because we’re also on the Internet, we can send it around the world almost as quickly.  

The Democratic Convention is a case in point. Reports say there were only 5,000 delegates, but 15,000 accredited media personnel, another 15,000 accredited hangers-on, and about three dozen bloggers (no one seems to have been able to make the bloggers stand still long enough to count them accurately). Perennial gadfly Medea Benjamin managed to get on the floor, with credentials, to reveal, at least to a limited audience, the Democrats’ biggest unspoken secret: they’re still tiptoeing around the question of the Iraq war. We quickly checked other media on the Internet and didn’t see another picture or report of her escapade, but now it’s on our front page and our website, and can be found in the future by anyone who wants to know about it. (Whether voters care or not is a different question, but that’s up to them.) 

We got a request from a Japanese schoolgirl for a “Berkeley Dairy Planet” t-shirt. One of our writers (based in Indiana) mentioned that it’s impossible to find a copy of Condoleeza Rice’s curriculum vita, and she’s gotten a query on the topic from an academic researcher at a college in Oregon. We ran a favorable review of the latest Harry Potter novel last August, and got a letter in November from a 17-year-old home-schooled Jane Austen fan in the South who took issue with our literary taste.  

Consolidation of major media is still a problem, insofar as media consumers get their news primarily from the big guys. Wolves in sheep’s clothing are a subset of the problem: corporate media masquerading as independents, a la the New Times chain out of Phoenix. New Times has swallowed up many of the small fry: at least two of the formerly alternative weeklies in the Bay Area, including the East Bay Express (which recently ran a shrill and smug cover story trashing author Ben Bagdikian’s classic book on media ownership.) 

We got a press release from a Berkeley company hawking what seems like a very alternative distribution medium: “MobiTV, the only television network for mobile phone users, will carry 14 weeks of news programming featuring Peter Jennings’ anchored coverage of the Democratic and Republican Conventions on…. the first time mobile phone users can watch live political convention news while on the move.” Sounds edgy, all right, but it’s just the same old network news in a new wrapper. 

On the other hand, C-Span, bless them, has been running gavel-to-gavel podium coverage viewable on cable and streamed to a computer near you. If you’ve been tied up during the speeches, and you have the right technology, you can watch them later at your convenience. The real unvarnished convention itself is much more interesting than what the networks wanted us to see, mostly talking airheads: poorly informed newsies and associate professors at second-rate colleges. 

The chart reproduced below shows how fast visits to the Berkeley Daily Planet website have been increasing in the last few months. We haven’t hyped our site very much, since our first love is print. We’re still most thrilled to see readers with the printed Planet on the bus and in cafes and hospital waiting rooms, but we’re also delighted to know that our message is reaching an even wider audience on the Internet. We’re just one of many reeds on the riverbank, but we’re trying to do our part to spread the news. 

—Becky O’Malleyª

BOSTON — The air inside St. Paul’s Church next to Boston Common was sultry on Monday, laden with east coast humidity and heat from national progressive politics. United States Rep. Dennis Kucinich from Ohio and several featured speakers including Reverend Jesse Jackson, James Zogby, President of the Arab-American Institute, Margaret Prescod of Pacifica’s KPFK and co-coordinator of the Global Women’s Strike and actors Mimi Kennedy and James Cromwell kicked off four days of political dialogue. 

The presidential aspirations for one Dennis Kucinich have ended—he endorsed John Kerry last Thursday night in Detroit—but the campaign lives on. Kucinich joins dozens of national figures this week in a series of “social forums” discussing almost everything: bringing the troops home, restoring Jean Bertrand Aristide to the presidency of Haiti, creating a universal healthcare plan, endorsing gay marriage, supporting Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. The agenda goes all the way to defining, in the words of Zogby, “what America will become.” This new organization is called PDA, or Progressive Democrats of America, and most of the issues raised by the progressives in Monday’s two-hour opening forum aren’t in the Democratic Party platform. 

This was the first of nine such events during this convention week for Kucinich and the 300 supporter-entourage he has brought with him to Boston. The list of scheduled speakers for the week reads like a national progressive who’s who all-star team: Prof. Angela Davis, former California State Sen. and ‘60s icon Tom Hayden, U.S. Rep. John Conyers from Michigan, Sen. Dick Durban from Illinois, Actor Sean Penn, Global Exchange Executive Director Medea Benjamin, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., new-age author Marianne Williamson, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, and former LBJ press secretary and television personality Bill Moyers. It has become an ambitious project, to say the least. 

The packed church was warmed up even more as Kucinich true-believers offered standing ovations for each speaker. Martin Martinez of the Boston AIDS Coalition raised the roof first when he said, “I represent the grassroots folks who are working on dual fronts, the homophobia of some in the Latino community and racism within the Gay community.” KPFK’s Prescod was next, receiving her applause when she spoke of the abduction “with the support of the US” of Jean Bertrand Aristide, former President of Haiti. “Those of us in the Caribbean feel very threatened about what happened in Haiti ... an elected leader was kidnapped,” she said. 

The actors were up next. Mimi Kennedy of the Dharma and Greg show stood in for Congressmember John Conyers “who moments ago was called to New York by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.” Kennedy used the time to talk about “non-violence in a nuclear age.” James Cromwell, Secretary-Treasurer of the Screen Actors Guild, said he was involved with “radical politics back in the ‘60s, but I became disillusioned until (Dennis) Kucinich.” He told the group that in 1964 he and others created the Southern Theatre Project and produced shows like Waiting for Godot for “people who had no radio, no TV, and had never been to the movie theater or a playhouse before.” Cromwell said that access to information was the great dividing line in America today. “We are divided along the lines of people who have access to information and those that do not…without the ability to be seen and heard there can be no equality.” The Arab-American Institute’s Zogby, also a pollster, was equally pointed: “Will they (Republicans) define America or will we (Democrats)?”  

When Kucinich came to the podium he and the crowd were already in a frenzied state. It didn’t take long for him to get the crowd standing again. “This is a country that fled an empire, but we didn’t flee an empire to become an empire,” he said. He also talked about civil liberties, and how he is tired of all the spot searches by police around Boston during the convention. He can’t even enter his hotel without having to show his plastic key, he said.  

The progressive choir was back on its feet again when Kucinich jabbed the air with his finger saying, “What better place to talk about the Patriot Act than in Boston.” Another standing ovation. Dennis then laid down the gauntlet:“It is so essential that we stand up. We are not going peacefully into the night…when the Patriot Act was passed it was passed in the middle of the night and most members of Congress did not know what was in it.”  

The atmosphere was almost bedlam when who should appear, unannounced, through a side door in the front of the church, but the Rev. Jesse Jackson, executive director of Operation Push in Chicago. Now there was bedlam. 

As Jackson took the stage to the first of several ovations, he first praised Dennis Kucinich and his campaign for the issues they keep alive and then got right to work critiquing the Bush administration. “I’ve been searching in my mind,” said Jackson, “for what John Kerry and George Bush have in common, and the only thing I can come up with is that they’re both seeking to be elected president for the first time.”  

He touched on numerous critical progressive issues during his 20-minute talk: the voting rights act, a “stolen” 2000 election, one million disenfranchised African-American voters nationwide, the good fortune of late of senatorial candidate Barrack Obama in Illinois, the comeback candidacy of Cynthia McKinney in Georgia, the Bush snub of the NAACP (“It’s also the Sierra Club, NOW and the National Black Caucus.”), single-payer healthcare, and his tour this fall with Willie Nelson in Appalachia looking for votes for the Democrats. But it was when Jackson said “we must end the war in Iraq,” those simple words, that the house came down. People were standing, applauding, and pumping their arms in the air for at least two minutes. The Rev. Jackson was connecting with the audience in a big way. He appeared to enjoy it as much as his listeners. 

In a press conference following the first forum Kucinich was asked by this reporter about the war: Why is there no timetable in the Democratic Party platform concerning the number one issue for Democrats? Kucinich immediately cited the morning’s New York Times poll of Democratic delegates: “Nine out of 10 are opposed to this war.” Then why is it not in the party platform? “Progressives are going to elect John Kerry,” he said. “We hold the balance right now…progressives want to hold onto their identity then merge into the Democratic Party.” But where are the teeth? What assurances will Democrats have? “The platform is insufficient. The platform is not to be taken as a finished product. We’re going to unite behind John Kerry and we will continue to become stronger after the election,” said Kucinich. 

›