For 6-year-old Eli Lebowitz, going to school on Monday evening was exciting because he got to attend a barbecue, meet all his friends before starting school on Wednesday and even receive a brand new backpack full of school supplies. 

“What was even more great about the backpack was that there were Z bars inside it,” said the first-grader from Rosa Parks Elementary School, excitedly. 

Rosa Parks has hosted the Annual New Families Barbecue for 15 years and given away free backpacks and school supplies for the past two years. 

Councilmember Darryl Moore started this initiative with the help of the West Berkeley Business Association and other companies in council district 5. 

“I have worked with Rosa Parks for years, and this just seemed like a special way to get the kindergartners on to a great start for the new school year,” Moore said. 

Moore thanked Rosa Parks Principal Pat Saddler, the PTA, the West Berkeley Business Alliance, the Bayer Corporation, Pacific Steel Casting and other businesses for helping make the event happen.  

“All the businesses in West Berkeley wrote out checks with open arms,” Moore said. 

Rosa Parks, at 920 Allston Way, has 58 percent of its students taking part in the free and reduced lunch program.  

Cody’s Books gave away bilingual (Spanish & English) Dora the Explorer books and Clif Bar distributed free children’s organic bars. Orchard Supplies donated terra-cotta pots for the kids to paint and provided them with earth and saplings. Crayons, pencils, and gluesticks were also distributed among the school supplies. 

“It was a lot of fun,” said PTA president Tracy Hollander. “New students and their families were welcomed and they also got to meet BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence, teachers and other families. Principal Saddler introduced many of the Rosa Parks teachers and staff and explained what parents could expect at Rosa Parks.”  

The PTA enrolled 67 members in the first day itself, Hollander said. 

“I am really proud of being a Rosa Parks parent,” she said. “The school’s commitment to community building is brought forward through events like this.” 

Hollander added that Rosa Parks has six new teachers this year.

When Jackie Tolbert sang “Amazing Grace” at the corner of Twelfth Street and Broadway in downtown Oakland on Tuesday, the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, tears welled in the eyes of several of the listeners from her hometown—New Orleans. 

The Katrina speak-out in front of the Federal Emergency Management Agency offices was called by The World Can’t Wait to chastise the Bush administration for what they said was a slow and inadequate response to the disaster. The New Orleans refugees who spoke shared both their frustration with disaster relief efforts and hope for a new day in the Bay Area. 

Before the hurricane, Tolbert made her living as a gospel singer and had even traveled in Europe to sing. She considers herself among the more fortunate: she owned a car and a cell phone and had a place out of town to take her children to. 

In the days following Katrina, Tolbert used that car and cell phone to try to get some help. “It took four days to get in touch with FEMA and FEMA would direct you to different organizations,” she said.  

Finally she got $2,000 from FEMA, $300 from the Red Cross and $200 from the Salvation Army—and that was all. Tolbert had lost her rented home and all her possessions except the few things she had taken with her when she left. 

“They are supposed to reimburse you for your losses—it never happened,” she said, adding that each time she followed up with papers she had filed, the various agencies would say they had no record of them and she would have to fill out the same forms again. 

Nobody gave her a plane ticket. “I drove from Louisiana to Oakland, California,” she said. She and her family stay in Oakland now with her brother. People along the way helped out with hotel expenses and Tolbert’s brother wired her money for gas. 

“I’m hurt and disappointed with our government,” she said. “I feel like a homeless person, a drifter, not able to find stability.” On the other hand, she said she found a welcome in Oakland. “Thank you, Bay Area,” she said. 

Tolbert has no plans to return to New Orleans. “There’s nothing to go back to,” she said. “If I go back, I need to fight. It’s too much. I want to put it behind me.” 

Denise Rothschild doesn’t want to go back either.  

She told a harrowing story. Without a car, Rothschild was unable to heed the warnings to evacuate. She and her 12-year-old son went to sleep the night of the hurricane—the other two children, age 14 and 15, were at relatives for the night. Rothschild woke up to find the water was several feet deep. She put her son on her back—he doesn’t swim—and she swam to a nearby three-story building. They climbed up the fire escape to the roof. 

“We slept on the roof for three days with no water and no food,” she said. The helicopters would fly over and seem to ignore them. They were finally evacuated by boat to a bridge where they had to wait on long lines, still with no food or water. Buses finally took them to an army base in Oklahoma. 

“We’d wake up in the morning with guns in our faces,” she said.  

During this time she did not know what had happened to her two other children. She was under such stress that she had to be hospitalized. While in the hospital, a nurse helped her find her other two children and obtain funds for bus tickets to the Bay Area. Rothschild has an aunt in Vallejo where she is staying now. She’s found a job cleaning rooms in a San Francisco hotel and her children are in school. 

“If I went back, there would be nothing there. Thank God for a new beginning,” she said.

A freelance journalist who has spent a month in prison was granted release on bail by a federal appeals court in San Francisco today while he appeals a subpoena requiring him to give a videotape of a demonstration to a U.S. grand jury. 

Attorney Dan Siegel said he expects Josh Wolf, 24, to be freed on his own recognizance from the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin either by Friday morning. 

Wolf has been imprisoned since U.S. District Judge William Alsup found him in civil contempt of court on Aug. 1 for refusing to give a grand jury unpublished sections of a videotape he took of an anarchist demonstration in San Francisco on July 8, 2005. 

Chief Judge Mary Schroeder and Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a one-page order that the government “has not shown that this appeal is frivolous or taken for purposes of delay.”  

The bail release will be in effect until a different three-judge panel of the appeals court rules on Wolf’s appeal of the contempt finding. 

Siegel said, “I’m very pleased. I’m optimistic the appeal will be resolved in his favor.” 

The grand jury is investigating possible attempted arson to a police car during the demonstration, which was held to protest the Group of Eight summit meeting then taking place in Scotland. 

While California has a state shield law that generally protects news reporters from disclosing materials, there is no federal shield law. 

Wolf contends the federal connection to the case is remote and that the government’s need for the information should be weighed against the harm to his constitutional First Amendment rights. 

Prosecutors say the federal grand jury probe is proper because the San Francisco Police Department receives some federal funds. 

U.S. attorney’s office spokesman Luke Macaulay declined to comment on the bail order, but noted that prosecutors have previously said, “We have an obligation to the community to investigate and gather relevant and material evidence of serious crimes.” 

Wolf is one of four people who have been challenging subpoenas to testify before federal grand juries in San Francisco in recent weeks. 

On Monday, Alsup found Greg Anderson, a personal trainer for San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds, in contempt of court and ordered him jailed for refusing to tell a grand jury whether Bonds used steroid drugs. Anderson, now in prison, is appealing.  

Last month, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White rejected a challenge by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada to a subpoena requiring them to tell a different grand jury their source of leaked grand jury transcripts in a sports steroids probe centered about the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO).  

The two reporters are appealing that ruling and could be found in contempt of court and jailed if they lose the appeal.  

The Indiana-based Society of Professional Journalists is paying $31,000 of Wolf’s $60,000 legal fees to fight the subpoena in his case. 

Society President David Carlson said last week, “This case is evidence of a disturbing trend in which federal prosecutors are attempting to turn journalists into arms of law enforcement.” 

If not granted bail, Wolf could have been kept in prison until the grand jury’s term expires next July. If he loses the appeal, he could be returned to prison unless he gives up the videotape. 

The name of its parent foundation is Pacifica. Nonetheless, during the more-than-half-century of progressive radio programming, KPFA has often been home to interpersonal tensions that periodically boil over into public view. 

The most recent clash is between the station’s Program Council and the KPFA Labor Collective. The collective has created ad hoc programming on labor issues for the last several years. 

The Program Council is a body of 14 people, including representatives of the paid staff, the unpaid staff, department heads and listeners. It meets weekly to review programming and to evaluate proposals for new programming.  

Citing “deteriorating relationships with the station staff,” in March the council banned the Labor Collective from offering program proposals for a year. The collective will hold a picket outside the station at 1 p.m. on Labor Day to protest the ban. 

“They say we can’t submit proposals. I’ve never heard of this before,” said Steve Zeltzer, Labor Collective chair. 

The collective has produced numerous shows, including those airing on Labor Day, May Day and International Women’s Day. While continuing to submit proposals for special programming, Zeltzer said his collective were also lobbying the council for a regular labor show.  

Much of the tension at the station over the years has been due to finite limitations in time and resources. Zeltzer pointed out that some people have had their programs for years. 

“They feel the space is their own personal time slot,” he said. 

While the Program Council voted 12-2 to support the ban, the two dissenters, Joe Wanzala and Sepideh Khosrowjah, both of whom represent the Local Station Board on the Program Council, pointed to resource allocation as the underlying factor in the dispute. 

In March they wrote: ”It is our opinion that the expressed concerns about the behavior of the Labor Collective mask a real problem at the station—a failure to re-assess KPFA’s entire programming grid to create more space for new programming and reduce the tensions and frustrations associated with access to airtime which is an artificial scarce resource at KPFA.” 

Program Council facilitator Tracy Rosenberg supports the ban. In a phone interview, Rosenberg accused the Labor Collective of overwhelming the council with work. 

“They submitted 16 to18 proposals in a 12-month period,” she said, noting that the council approved some proposals, modified some and rejected others.  

Furthermore, Rosenberg said that reports came to her of negative interpersonal interactions with station staff. She was more specific in a letter written to the Local Station Board, accusing the collective of “rude and confrontational language.” 

The complaints merited a 12-month “time out” she told the Daily Planet. 

No mediation has occurred, Rosenberg said, noting however: “That might be a good idea.” 

As a volunteer group, the Program Council does not have the time and resources to address interpersonal issues, she said. 

“No doubt had there been a stronger general manager, there would have been leadership on the issue,” she added. After the resignation of embattled General Manager Roy Campanella in January, there were a few months without a general manager; Lemlem Rijio was named acting general manager in April.  

Rijio said she did not want to comment on the Labor Collective situation at this time, but noted “a human resources consultant is looking into it.” 

In their letter to the local station board, dissenters Wanzala and Khosrowjah did not condone the negative behavior of some of the collective members, but said they were signaled out in an unfair way. 

“Many instances of such behavior remain unaddressed by the relevant authorities—making this action by the Program Council appear discriminatory and hypocritical,” they wrote. 

They concluded that rather than taking action to ban proposals, a complaint should have been lodged with KPFA management. 

Adding another layer of complexity to the picture, Acting Program Coordinator Vini Beacham said that, in fact, last week he accepted a proposal from the Labor Collective but returned it for more information, as is common with such proposals. In his role as program coordinator, Beacham said he turns completed proposals over to the Program Council for its consideration. The next step, he said, will be up to the council.

Total Academic Performance Index (API) scores for the Oakland Unified School District rose 19 points from 634 to 653 in scores released this week by the California Department of Education. 

But while there were significant gains of major minority student groups within the district—African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans—both the gains and overall performance scores for those groups lagged behind the district’s white students, a phenomenon known as the “achievement gap.” 

In addition, OUSD’s overall 653 API score this year was well below the state goal of 800, and some district schools did significantly worse. 

“The latest test results show a continued upward trend,” OUSD Interim State Administrator Kimberly Statham said in a statement sent out to district principals. “Challenging our students and ourselves to achieve excellence is working. That’s good news. Still, we all know there is much to do to improve our schools and to ensure that every student in Oakland receives the education he or she deserves.” 

In her statement, Statham noted that “more than half [of OUSD] schools raised their scores enough to meet growth targets, and said that “Oakland’s African American students and economically disadvantaged students made [the federally required] Adequate Yearly Progress [in test scores this year] in English and math.” 

“This year,” Statham said, “Oakland public schools continued to improve at a faster rate than the state as a whole,” with API scores rising 19 points in Oakland to 11 points statewide. 

Even with the faster increase, however, OUSD’s API scores trails the overall state score, 653 to 720. 

In contrast to Oakland’s 19 point jump to a 653 API score, adjoining school districts had smaller API increases but larger base scores, with San Francisco Unified rising 10 points (745 to 755), Berkeley Unified seven points (736 to 743), Emery Unified six points (665 to 671), and San Leandro one point (697 to 698). 

Meanwhile, there were mixed results for Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown’s two charter schools, the Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) and the Oakland Military Institute (OMI). While the two schools had the highest API scores for secondary schools within the district, both dropped significantly between 2005 and 2006, with OSA’s API dropping 18 points (738 down to 720) and OMI’s dropping 13 points (671 to 658) between 2005 and 2006. 

Brown has made the two charter schools one of the keystones of his two year administration as mayor of Oakland. 

API scores have become increasingly important in recent years in judging schools and school districts. In addition, the scores are used to calculate schools’ Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Under federal law, failure to meet AYP over a succession of years leads to the eventual dismantling and reorganization of the school. 

The API scores summarize school districts’ and individual schools’ performance on several state-mandated tests, including the state High School Exit Exam, and are rated on a scale of 200 to 1000. Under California law, schools are expected to show an increasing percentage API gain each year. Under the federal NCLB act, schools are only required to gain at least one point over the previous year’s AYP standing. 

Overall, white students did better on the API throughout the district, gaining 25 points from 859 to 884, with Asian American students jumping 19 (749 to 768), Latinos 17 (592 to 609), and non-Latino African Americans 16 (587 to 603). 

Native Americans and Alaskan Native OUSD student API scores rose 26 (662 to 688), Pacific Islanders rose 3 (594 to 597), and Filipinos rose 2 (729 to 731). 

Socioeconomically disadvantaged student API scores rose 16 points over the past year (611 to 627), English learners 22 points (605 to 627), and students with disabilities 1 point (473 to 474). 

Results from individual district schools were widely varying, showing continued discrepancies in the district. 

At the positive end of the scale, six district secondary schools (University Preparatory Charter Academy, Ralph Bunche, East Oakland School of the Arts, Oakland Unity High Charter, Business and Information Technology High, and Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy), three middle schools (Rudsdale Academy, Oakland Charter Academy, and Madison Middle), and seven elementary schools (Think College Now, Sobrante Park Elementary, Hawthorne Elementary, Monarch Academy, Parker Elementary, Dolores Huerta Learning Academy, and ASCEND) all had API gains this year of 50 points or more. 

At the opposite end, five district secondary schools (East Oakland Community High, Oakland School For The Arts, Oakland Military Institute, LIFE Academy, YES, Youth Empowerment), five middle schools KIPP Bridge College Preparatory, Explorer Middle, Cole Middle, Roosevelt Middle, and Frick Middle), and twenty elementary schools (Grass Valley, Sherman, Highland, Lockwood, Peralta, Lakeview, Education For Change At Cox, Cleveland, Maxwell Park, Stonehurst, Webster, Melrose, Emerson, ACORN Woodland, Joaquin Miller, Hoover, International Community, Sequoia, Redwood Heights, and Martin Luther King Jr.) not only failed to meet the 2006 API growth targets, their API scores dropped between 2005 and 2006. 

A Mercedes Sport Utility Vehicle rammed into a Berkeley school bus stopped at a red light on Sacramento Street Wednesday afternoon. 

The bus was carrying 20 students home from Jefferson Elementary School when it was hit near the Ashby Avenue intersection at 2:05 p.m. None of the students was hurt except for one child who received a small bump on the head.  

Berkeley paramedics and police officers arrived at the site of the accident promptly, according to BUSD superintendent Michele Lawrence. 

The children were picked up by another bus and taken home. The occupants of the SUV were taken to the hospital. 

Lawrence said the children called the incident their “most exciting first day of school so far.”

The question of changes to the law regulating condominium conversion is supposed to go before the voters in November. But Measure I is taking a detour to court today (Friday).  

The case will be heard at 9 a.m. in Dept. 31, Alameda County Superior Court, located at the U.S. Post Office, 201 13th St., Oakland. 

A decision on ballot language changes and subsequent changes in the city attorney’s analysis is time-sensitive, given that the new text must be at the Alameda County election offices by Sept. 7 in order to be printed in the voter handbook. 

Initially, it looked as if the process for putting the measure on the ballot was on track: proponents of the initiative collected the required signatures and the City Council fulfilled its duty by approving the measure for placement on the ballot.  

But it was subsequently discovered that the city attorney’s analysis of the measure and arguments in opposition to it were based on an early iteration of the ballot text and not the one the City Council had approved. 

Proponents and opponents blame each other for the error, opponents saying that the proponents changed the language of the text, while telling the city attorney they were changing only the title and proponents arguing that the changes were known to the city and the error was hers. 

How the problem was created, however, will not be the question before the judge. Rather, it is a correction, changing the old language to the new.  

However, according to Jesse Arreguin of the No on I Campaign, opponents fear proponents will take advantage of the hearing to challenge various aspects of the city attorney’s analysis and some of the language opponents have used. 

According to court documents, one key change that will be heard concerns the timeline for the right of first refusal when a unit is to be sold as a condominium. The original version said the tenant living in the unit would have “no less than 14 days from receipt of the notice to enter into a written agreement to buy such unit as their own principle residence.” 

The tenant would then have 30 days to go through escrow. 

The subsequent version talks about giving the tenant 30 days to enter into the agreement and is silent on escrow. 

Also, in the earlier version, it would be up to the city’s Housing Department to determine the vacancy rate (on which the number of units to be converted would depend). The later version talks about the determination being made by an impartial survey. 

Another question proponents may try to bring up in the court proceedings is the view that the city attorney’s analysis is wrong when she says that affordable housing fees the city will collect will be reduced by 90 percent. Currently the fee is 12.5 percent of the cost of the unit, which is collected when the property is sold. The initiative proposes a flat fee, to be collected at the time the unit is converted—not when it is sold. 

“The flat fee is much lower; it won’t dissuade people from converting,” said Michael Wilson, an attorney working with the proponents, but not representing them in court. 

Wilson further challenged a statement in Assemblymember Loni Hancock’s argument against the measure, which says that 60 percent of the children in Berkeley schools are in renter households. (Hancock’s point is that children will be displaced.)  

Another statement that proponents could challenge is the opponent’s assertion that “The measure won’t help ‘teachers … and blue-collar workers’ purchase homes. Berkeley’s average small condominium costs $500,000 requiring a yearly income of $120,000.” 

Wilson called the statement “preposterous,” saying that many condominiums cost considerably less than that price in Berkeley. 

Measure I’s Arreguin said he hopes the court procedure “will make sure the arguments are as factually correct as possible.”

The Downtown Area Planning Committee (DAPAC) voted on Wednesday to form a subcommittee that would deal specifically with issues related to Center Street and the new hotel planned for the intersection of Shattuck Avenue.  

The subcommittee would report to the main committee in November. 

Dan Marks, planning director, and Will Harper, DAPAC chair, were opposed to the idea and said that it was immature at this point to have a subcommittee. 

The final vote on the issue was 11-7. Helen Burke, DAPAC committee member, made the motion while DAPAC member Linda Gage seconded it. 

“It makes sense to break the committee into a subcommittee. I am very strongly for it,” said DAPAC member Patti Dacey. 

“We have just under a year to give our suggestions to the City Council about the Downtown Preservation Plan and we haven’t got any real work done yet,” she said. “The subcommittee will help to start work on different sections.” 

Rob Wrenn will be facilitating the first DAPAC subcommittee meeting at which guidelines about planning parameters for Center Street and the hotel will be discussed. 

A panel on economic development was also held in which realtor John Gordon spoke about the importance of having a clean and safe downtown.  

Gordon said that in order to improve the economic vitality of the downtown area, the city would need to deal with the dirt, graffiti and behavioral problems of the homeless people.

Green Machines, cleaner sidewalks, brighter lights, bicycle cops, and a brand new website are just some of the changes Berkeley has initiated to kick off the $360,000 Telegraph Avenue revitalization campaign. 

The effort was launched earlier this year by Mayor Tom Bates and councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Gordon Wozniak. 

The latest additions to the campaign are the two state-of-the-art “green machines,” which have already been set to the task of cleaning Telegraph since arriving last weekend.  

“It’s another great tool that the city has added to the effort of improving Telegraph,” said Cisco DeVries, chief-of-staff to Mayor Tom Bates. “The machines are quick, highly maneuverable and easy to get around people. That allows them to be used even during times of heavy pedestrian traffic, which was not possible with the older ones.” 

Manned by staff from the Public Works Department, the machines will clean downtown Berkeley, DeVries said. The machines will be used during early morning and evenings, when there is less traffic on the street. The City Council has increased the budget for Telegraph and downtown street and sidewalk cleaning by $70,000 to pay for staff overtime. 

“When we were putting together this plan with Councilmembers Worthington and Wozniak, city staff, health service providers, we understood that it would be some time before we would start seeing results,” DeVries said. “However, Telegraph is an incredible historic treasure. Most cities would die to have a gem like this; therefore, the city wants to do all it can to embrace its past. At the same time we want to find ways to attract the younger generation too.” 

Storefront improvements and more lenient zoning laws that would reduce red tape for new businesses trying to open in the Telegraph area are also things the mayor’s office is looking at implementing. 

The city staff has submitted zoning changes to the Planning Commission that are currently under review. After the Planning Commission votes on these changes, they could be coming up at the City Council as soon as late September or early October. 

A facade grant program has also been set up that includes $20,000 from the city, $20,000 from the UC Berkeley, and $40,000 from the Telegraph Business Improvement District. 

“Merchants on Telegraph Avenue who want new signage or brighter lights on storefronts which look old and worn can apply for these grants,” said Worthington. 

“This campaign is a way to put back resources that had been cut from Telegraph Avenue over the last three years,” he said. “There used to be two bike cops there and we should have something similar there within the next one year. Officers from the BPD are now training in the police academy so that they are ready to be patrolling the streets on bikes. This is something we’d like to see year round, even after elections get over in November.” 

Officers from the Berkeley Police Department who were previously assigned to desk jobs are being paid overtime to patrol the streets of the Telegraph/ Southside area and talk to merchants and pedestrians. The City Council approved $100,000 in overtime funding for the Berkeley Police. 

The UC Berkeley police have also brought in a new sergeant to assist and coordinate the efforts of five officers assigned to the Southside. 

Undercover drug sting operations which started last Friday have led to 40 arrests in the first couple of days of its operation, according to Worthington. 

“The city staff has also employed two additional social workers who are working on Telegraph at least three days a week to help homeless people and those with mental illness,” Worthington added. 

The City Council has authorized a $30,000 increase in funding for social service and mental health outreach.  

In an effort to improve marketing efforts for Telegraph, the university has also teamed up with avenue merchants and property owners and launched www.telegraphlive.com, a website that promises to be a guide to the culinary and shopping on the popular stretch. 

“I worked with the marketing committee to ensure that the student community got a chance to connect with the merchants electronically,” said councilmember Gordon Wozniak. “The merchants are also giving out blue and gold discounts to Cal students and I feel all this will help to improve the overall business climate on Telegraph.” 

Wozniak added that the recent Caltopia festival hosted by the university had been successful, drawing over 15,000 students to the area. 

“Telegraph and the area around People’s Park has definitely been neglected for awhile, but it’s time to tap into the energy of the place and being back some of the old vitality,” he said. “Cracked sidewalks and empty storefronts will not attract foot traffic. So we need to speed up the process of fixing them.” 

Roland Peterson, president of the Telegraph Improvement District, said that drawing students to Telegraph was one of the main priorities for the merchants. 

“We have been seeing a decline in sales tax in that area because of fewer shoppers and empty stores,” he said. “We want to help turn Telegraph into a place for them to have fun. If you are on campus, that’s the only logical place to hang out. This was the message we along with the UCB marketing folks sent out through brochures, poster/calendars and the new website at Caltopia.” 

The City Council further approved $65,000 to restore some parking on Telegraph. Worthington is also working to reorganize the Telegraph Area Association, which hasn’t met over a year now because of the lack of funds. 

The city plans to review the campaign efforts in six months to evaluate what changes need to be made.

Telegraph Avenue has been our Broadway, our Hollywood and Vine, our street of dreams, our own theater of excess. Is it still? Perhaps for some. Maybe for newcomers. It isn’t for me, not any more, even though I go there every once in awhile. It is where I shop for books or CDs I can’t find anywhere else. For me, the street doesn’t have its old aura. It doesn’t promise exciting developments in the arts or politics. I no longer expect anything of it except new chain stores and trouble.  

This is personal, no doubt, partly due to the changes in attitude that creep over a person with time and age. I remember mulling over the state of Berkeley with Jackie Maybeck once a long time ago (she was in her youthful mid-eighties then) and Telegraph came up. “It used to be a useful street,” she said. “I don’t go there anymore.” She meant Telegraph when it was neat and clean, frequented by students, university staff and high-style (sometimes affluent) bohemians. The restaurants were good and the stores carried excellent merchandise. Ceramics imported directly from Picasso’s pottery shop in France were displayed in a store window without any special protection. Young women could walk home from work after dark without being afraid. These changes speak volumes.  

But it’s not just a question of age. It is undeniable that Telegraph Avenue had a special aura in the early ’60s in the days when I arrived here as a student. I wasn’t alone in sensing it. Jerry Rubin has been quoted as saying our generation thought it could conquer the world from Telegraph Avenue. That’s a political way of speaking, but essentially correct. One of my friends was a poet, another an architect, another a novelist, and yet another a musician. Somehow or other the place cast a spell which made us all expect to be participants in great events and, individually, to accomplish great things. What Rubin expressed as conquest was our universal bond of confidence in the future.  

There was a lot of feeling (I stress feeling) that our generation could really change the world for the better. The passion in the vibrant Berkeley air, being American, had a moral tang. Of course, our ideas of peace and freedom and equality were not very well formed. We were susceptible to the excitement of the Kennedy administration with its emphasis on youth and its eagerness to sign us up for its own purposes. It wanted us to solve problems the older generation had found intractable. So did everyone else. All sorts of causes—some noble, some ignoble—crowded in on us, including the drug mountebanks. Out and out criminals were not far behind. All together, they scarcely left  

us time to define our own agenda.  

What brought Telegraph Avenue to the attention of the folks in Duluth was, more than anything else, the anti-war movement. It really was a question of generational survival. Johnson and Westmoreland, like the politicians and generals of World War I, were endlessly ready to throw living bodies into the fire they started rather than to take a single step back. Vietnam would have been—almost was—our Verdun. It is amazing to think that people who would normally have been content to sip coffee in the Mediterraneum and browse through books at Cody’s did so much to stop a horrible war. It was a marvelous achievement. Really astounding.  

But the anti-war movement was so difficult that even now we can hardly count the cost. We don’t want to consider seriously whether, for example, it had the unintended consequence of helping to elect Ronald Reagan to state and national offices. We’ll never read the splendid books that might have been written by people whose creative energies were deflected into resistance to the war.

Yes, we miss Cody’s on Telegraph. Its closing was like a death in the family. But contrary to the East Bay Express’ predictably snarky cover story, the independent bookstore scene is alive and well in the Bay Area. Bookbuyers are still holding out against the blandishments of Barnes & Noble and Borders, and the online convenience of Amazon. Berkeley is home to a whole constellation of bookstores, generalist and specialist, used and new, with something for just about everyone—and then there’s Oakland and San Francisco. 

Moe’s Books (2476 Telegraph Ave.) alone still justifies a visit to the block where Cody’s used to be. This Berkeley institution, the creation of the late Moe Moskowitz whose cigar-chomping likeness is prominently displayed, remains the used book Mecca. Moe’s prices are reasonable, and the stock is always changing (they often buy personal libraries, and reviewers’ copies of new hardbacks show up regularly). There are new titles downstairs at a discount, rarities and collectables on the fourth floor, and remainders throughout. 

Also worth cruising for used books is Black Oak Books (1491 Shattuck Ave.), although prices are a bit on the high side. And the store has a full schedule of author events. Half Price Books (2036 Shattuck Ave.), part of an Austin-based chain, is a crapshoot, but I’ve found some real bargains there. Pegasus (1855 Solano Ave.), Pegasus Downtown (2349 Shattuck Ave.), and Pendragon (5560 College Ave., in Oakland) make up a local mini-chain; mostly used, with a good stock of remainders and notable first-of-the-year calendar sales. The Friends of the Berkeley Public Library store (one location in the main library at 2090 Kittredge St.; another at 2433 Channing St., hidden in the ground floor of a parking garage off Telegraph) is another place where almost anything may turn up, and astonishingly cheap. 

But if you’re willing to spring for new-book prices, there are lots of options. University Press Books (2430 Bancroft Way) is just what it says it is, with a few titles from non-academic presses. It might be just the place to find that specialized tome on Byzantine hermeneutics. Mrs. Dalloway’s (2904 College Ave.) has strong gardening, poetry, and natural history sections, a choice selection of general titles, and its own author events—as does Diesel (5433 College, Oakland). Builder’s Booksource (1817 4th St.) specializes in architecture and design. And while the Telegraph store is gone, Cody’s Books on Fourth Street is still open. 

Other Berkeley and Oakland stores reflect the East Bay’s cultural diversity: Marcus Books (3900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way) for African-American history, culture, and literature; Change Makers (6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland) for feminist books; Eastwind (2066 University Ave.) for Asian and Asian-American subjects; Afikomen (3042 Claremont Blvd.) for Jewish-interest books. Although not a bookstore per se, The Spanish Table (1814 San Pablo Ave.) sells cookbooks and other works on Iberian and Latin American culture. 

You can buy legal advice in handy book form at the Nolo Press store (950 Parker St.). For jazz aficionados, The Basement @ JazzSchool (2087 Addison St.) purveys books and records. Down Home Music (10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito) has an extensive book section. Mr. Mopps (1405 Martin Luther King Jr. Way) has books for children. And don’t forget genre fiction: for science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery, as well as plush Cthulus and Monty Python action figures, there’s Dark Carnival (3086 Claremont Blvd.) and Other Change of Hobbit (2020 Shattuck Ave.). 

Reflecting a certain ambivalence, Walden Pond (3316 Grand Ave.) calls itself “a Berkeley bookstore in Oakland.” It has one of the East Bay’s best selections of new political/cultural titles, many from independent publishers, in addition to used books. Other Oakland used-book outlets include Spectator (4163 Piedmont Ave.) and Bibliomania (1816 Telegraph Ave.). 

Across the bay, San Francisco’s answer to Moe’s is Green Apple (506 Clement St.), a labyrinthine warren of mostly used books; the new stuff is downstairs. Kerouac and Ginsberg fans will want to make a pilgrimage to Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Books (261 Columbus). Modern Times (888 Valencia) works the political side of the street. For a Chaplin trifecta, Limelight (1803 Market) specializes in the theater arts. Alexander Books (50 2nd Street) has strong African-American literature and poetry sections. Kinokuniya (1581 Webster, in the Nihonmachi Center) offers Japanese titles in both Japanese and English. In the Mission, Dog Eared Books (900 Valencia) and Needles and Pens (3253 16th) showcase zines and independent publications, and Borderlands (866 Valencia) covers science fiction and related genres. And downtown, there’s Stacey’s (581 Market) and the shiny new San Francisco Cody’s (2 Stockton). 

This just scratches the surface, of course. There are noteworthy independent bookstores on the Peninsula (Kepler’s, back from the grave!), east of the Caldecott Tunnel, and north of the Golden Gate. The obituaries for the non-chain brick-and-mortar bookseller may be premature. But for God’s sake, get out there and buy some books! 

Though summer’s waning, one of its staples of performance spills over into the fall—outdoor theater. Traditionally, September and October feature the best weather of the year for coast and Bayside communities, the summer fog replaced by mellow warmth.  

In Berkeley, local favorite Shotgun Players’ annual plein air outing features an enjoyable original, Ragnarok—The Doom of the Gods, by Conrad Bishop & Elizabeth Fuller, which plays at 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 10 at John Hinkel Park, site of the old Berkeley Shakespeare Festival, in the hills of Berkeley. 

There you can sit in the terraced hillside amphitheater in a leafy glade, picnic and watch the bawdy, bloody Norse gods and their Mephistophelian trickster sidekick Loki prepare their “national security state” against the coming Last Day onslaught of The (red-nosed) Funny Ones, their primordial Frost Giant foes. Part pageant, part contemporized legend, and part burlesque. Admission’s free, with reserved seating for Shotgun members. There are food concessions.  

• CalShakes, as the California Shakespeare Theater’s popularly known, has an amphitheater tucked into the hills near Orinda, with a shuttle from BART, just the other side of the tunnel (or over Fish Ranch Road) from Berkeley. Through Sept. 3 they’re featuring Daniel Fish’s resetting of The Merchant of Venice into a modern, money-hungry, youthfully fashionable (and somewhat incestuous) international milieu, complete with Shylock bathing himself with play cash in a dumpster, techno-tunes and (at night-time performances) a liberal use of the video screens facing the four directions above the stage like townhall clockfaces. 

The closing show of the year, As You Like It, directed by Jonathan Moscone with music by Gina Leishman, featuring such troupers as Peter Callendar, James Carpenter, Hector Correa and Delia MacDougall. Concessions. Prices vary.  

• Woodminster Amphitheater, in Oakland’s Joaquin Miller Park, specializing in musicals, is presenting the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast until Sept. 10 (prices vary).  

• Continuing through Sept. 24 (7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday and Labor Day) at the Presidio Parade Ground in San Francisco, San Francisco Shakespeare presents a delightful staging of The Bard’s last great play, The Tempest, with longtime favorite Julian Lopez-Morillas as exiled duke and magician Prospero, who conjures up a storm to wreck his enemies on his desert isle, where they’re enchanted by such spirits Ariel (the sprightly Julia Motyka, also ingenue Miranda), meet the strange half-human monster Caliban (Daveed Diggs, also playing romantic lead Ferdinand), and carouse (the excellent clowning of Brian Herndon and Michael Ray Wisely, who double as the heavies). 

A truly charming collaboration by director Kenneth Kelleher, his cast and designers, making full use of excellent set, costumes, choreography—and music for The Bard’s exquisite songs that waft on the open air. Free admission; concessions. 

• The San Francisco Mime Troupe’s been putting on politically loaded agit-prop comedies in local parks since the ’60s. Their latest vehicle’s an excellent showcase of their various talents: Godfellas, the turgid tale of a passel of shy civics teachers, spurred into action by a referendum backed by an evil Syndicate for prayer in the schools, making their own movement of secular outrage (“Kiss my black heinie!” the battle cry of lead player Velina Brown), which threatens becoming an authoritarian antireligion, addicted to the bright lights of the doting media. 

A swinging band opens and accompanies the show, with many satirical songs, dances and hilarious celebrity impressions. At at various other Northern California venues through Oct 1. Free.  

• A San Francisco tradition takes place at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 10 in Sharon Meadow, Golden Gate Park, as San Francisco Opera presents Opera In The Park, the popular annual free plein air picnic of song, with arias and ensembles sung by local and visiting performers (and opera is truly theatrical performance) with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles. 

• In the North Bay, Marin Shakespeare Company, which for the past 17 seasons under the direction of Robert and Lesley Currier has revived the old Marin Shakespeare Festival of the ’60s and ’70s, follows an estimable King Lear and Alice in Wonderland with The Bard’s Comedy of Errors, Sept. 1-24, helmed by Marin director emeritus James Dunn (who also directs the annual Mountain Play), in the delightful setting of the Forest Meadows Amphitheater of Dominican University, right off Highway 101 (and near the Richmond Bridge), close to central San Rafael. Prices vary (there is a “pay what you will” performance). Concessions.  

• Nearby the Bay Area, critically acclaimed Santa Cruz Shakespeare plays As You Like it, King Lear and Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion in repertory through Sept. 3. And in Monterey/Carmel, Pacific Rep performs the rarely-seen Shakespearean tragedy Timon of Athens, Beauty & The Beast and The Bard’s Measure for Measure in repertory, with closing dates ranging from Labor Day weekend till mid-October (with some shows at the lovely Forest Theatre in Carmel). Prices vary for both Central Coast companies. 

• Outside the Bay Area, two West Coast spots of pilgrimage for outdoor theater lovers, and drama aficionados generally, are Ashland, on Highway 5 in the mountains of southern Oregon, right over the California border north of Mt. Shasta, where the Oregon Shakespeare Festival presents Shakespeare’s Two Gentleman of Verona and The Winter’s Tale on the Elizabethan Stage, as well as a variety of older, modern and contemporary shows on theaters indoor and out, from Oscar Wilde and Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to Cyrano and Bus Stop, closing at different dates in October. The Old Globe in San Diego plays Midsummer NIght’s Dream, Othello and Titus Andronicus in repertory, with closing dates in September and October. Various prices for both companies.

Parents of students attending the Extended Day Care (EDC) program at Washington Elementary School in Berkeley are furious that their children had to sit outside in the cold last week because of a mix-up over moving to a new space.  

The children spent the entire day outdoors while the EDC relocated to the kindergarten classroom across the street from the program site. Since the school year begins Wednesday, the children had no regular classes to attend during the day. 

According to a letter parents received from the Berkeley Unified School District on Aug. 22, the reason behind this sudden relocation was a decision made in August to allow Berkeley High School to occupy the portable classrooms that had been used by the EDC program. 

The letter further stated that beginning Aug. 29, Washington EDC would be operating out of Washington Elementary School and that the two EDC classes would be sharing classrooms with the elementary school students.  

“I am furious that my son had to sit outside from 7:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday,” said Tracy Matthews, whose son attends EDC. “It was freezing when I dropped him off in the morning on Thursday. Why did they have to sit outside during the move? Is it because these are kids from lower-income families that nobody cares where they sit?” 

Paula Robertson, another parent, echoed her thoughts. 

John Santoro, principal of the program, said that the children had been given alternate accommodation in the elementary classrooms at Washington School during the move. 

“They didn’t have to spend the day outside,” he said. “Principal Rita Kimball has been very supportive in helping us coordinate services during this move. However, I understand that the teachers hadn’t spoken to her on Wednesday and this resulted in the kids having to sit outside.”  

Monique Moss, expressed her displeasure at the whole arrangement, when she picked up her daughter Alliya from EDC on Friday evening. 

“I think the teachers had like a week’s notice to pack up stuff and put them in storage,” she said. “Mr. Neil Smith from BUSD told us that they had to do this at the last minute. In the end it’s the kids who suffer ... who have to sit outside in the cold.” 

Six-year-old Alliya described her whereabouts in school on Friday: “We go outside, then eat breakfast, go outside, then eat lunch, and then go outside again. We only came in to keep our stuff.” 

When asked about the move, teachers of the EDC program told the Planet that they had been asked by school authorities to make no comment about the situation to the media. 

BUSD spokesperson Mark Coplan said that the increase in the number of the students at Berkeley High was the principal reason for having to move some classes to the bungalows.  

“There are currently 3,200 students at Berkeley High and they are increasing constantly,” Coplan said. “The move mainly has to do with the need for space and expansion. I understand that the kids had to sit outside for a certain period of time last week but that was because of the whole relocation phase. They will be sharing space with the elementary classes for this school year but other than last week’s disruption there will be no further changes in the Washington EDC program.” 

Coplan added that it was rare for EDC programs to have dedicated space because of space issues in the schools they operate out of. 

“Most EDC programs share spaces with other classrooms,” he said. “The program at Washington was one of the few to have been allocated its own space. But now that space needs to be used by the high school students when classes start on Wednesday. There is nowhere else for the high school students to go.” 

To day-care parents, however, last week’s disruption continues to be a frustrating experience. Floriana Santos, whose husband suffered a heart attack last week, said that the EDC program at Washington was the only place she could send her daughter Zoe to during the crisis. 

“When I called on Monday and told them that I had to take my husband to the hospital and needed to drop my daughter off at EDC, they said that things were very chaotic and this was not a good time,” she said. “This program has really helped parents like me in a lot of ways. They help with tutoring the kids and in taking care of them. I am worried about what’s going to happen from Wednesday onwards. How are they going to fit in all the stuff from EDC into those two elementary classrooms? Will my daughter have to go without all the artwork and puzzles she loves working on every afternoon?” 

Santoro said that all the materials from the EDC classrooms were being put into storage and teachers would be bringing out materials relevant to the day’s activities once the EDC program began. 

“We hope that there will be no overlapping in schedules but if there is, we can always move the EDC kids to the cafeteria,” he said. 

The portable classrooms are being cleaned before school starts on Wednesday. 

“My teacher told me that they are painting the rooms, shampooing the carpets and vacuuming the floors so that they can get everything ready for the Berkeley High students before school starts,” said 9-year-old Zoe. “The toilets used to stink earlier, but they are cleaning them up now.”

A Superior Court hearing on the ballot language for Berkeley’s landmark preservation initiative Measure J will be held on an expedited basis Sept. 5 for a decision to be made by the Sept. 7 deadline for finalizing the November ballot. 

A Superior Court judge changed the hearing this week from its originally scheduled Sept. 13 date after Tom Brown, the outside counsel representing the City of Berkeley in the appeal, agreed to the new date. Brown called expediting the date “routine in these types of matters.” 

A spokesperson for Berkeley City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said that Brown, a former Napa City attorney and staff attorney with the Berkeley City Attorney’s office, was hired because Albuquerque is tied up with a federal court brief and the assistant city attorney is on vacation. 

The judge is expected to make a ruling on the appeal immediately following the Sept. 5 hearing. 

Following the rescheduling of the hearing, Berkeley resident Laurie Bright, who co-sponsored the Measure J initiative along with Roger Marquis, said, “Now we’ll have our day in court.”  

Bright and Marquis are representing themselves in the appeal. 

Measure J seeks to amend Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance and Demolition Permit Application for Non-Residential Buildings Ordinance. 

Bright and Marquis requested the Superior Court to overturn the descriptive language that will appear on the November ballot after the Berkeley City Council approved the controversial language on a 6-3 vote at the Aug. 1 City Council meeting. The ballot language was written by the city attorney’s office but not submitted to councilmembers or the public until shortly before the vote. 

Councilmember Betty Olds, who voted against the ballot language, complained during the Aug. 1 debate that “City staff is continuing their line of giving us the facts so late that we don’t have time to make an informed decision.” 

The fight over the ballot language cut across Berkeley’s traditional progressive/moderate political lines. Former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, one of the longtime leaders of the moderate wing of Berkeley politics, spoke at the Aug. 1 council meeting against the original ballot language proposed for the measure, and progressives Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring joined the moderate Olds in voting against it. 

In addition to Dean, mayoral candidate Christian Pecaut, Landmarks Preservation Commission member Jill Korte, former LPC member Patti Dacey and Daily Planet Executive Editor Becky O’Malley, also a former LPC member, all spoke against the ballot language, along with several members of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. 

Deputy City Attorney Zack Cowan defended the ballot language at the meeting, saying, “We’re obligated to give you the full picture [on the ballot statement], warts and all, the good points and the bad points.” 

But in their appeal, Bright and Marquis charge that the ballot measure language drafted by the city attorney’s office misrepresents the measure in several instances, making it more likely that voters would cast their ballots against the measure. 

Brown has not yet filed the city’s answer to the appeal.

On Friday, the Inter-Neighborhood Hospital Review Committee (IHRC) met with Alta Bates administrators and city officials, regarding traffic issues, construction, and the Bateman Mall. 

Many concerns had been raised about the hospital’s difficulties in dealing with traffic problems. Under the environmental impact report for proposed construction at the hospital, Alta Bates promised that they would keep the number of vehicles on-site at 519. 

A June 2006 Fehrs and Peers annual traffic report found that Alta Bates had 562 employee cars on-site. Additionally, daily traffic around the hospital had grown by less than 1 percent and parking had grown by 8 percent, both increased for a second year.  

Deborah Pitts-Cameron, director of public affairs for Alta Bates Summit Medical Center (ABSMC), didn’t think that Alta Bates was entirely responsible for the increased traffic. 

“I am not saying that the numbers haven’t changed, but I don’t think that anyone can say that all the numbers are in fact associated with the medical center,” said Pitts-Cameron.  

Several ideas to reduce traffic were suggested at the meeting, including preferential parking for carpools and vanpools, carpool matching service, bicycle lockers and showers, more convenient remote parking in Oakland, increased shuttle service and transit subsidies for employees for BART and AC Transit. 

“In February, we purchased 150 spaces of additional parking off-site,” said Pitts-Cameron. “We also started to pay for 50 percent of a BART ticket for the employees.” 

Alta Bates must reduce traffic to the level it had originally proposed or must return to the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) for a public hearing. However, Wendy Cosin, deputy planning director for Berkeley, said intervention by the ZAB probably won’t be necessary. 

“The goal is a significant increase in mitigation,” said Cosin. “We hope to see a significant improvement.” 

Neighbors have been complaining about the loud noise from construction, mainly from a compressor, and have leveled accusations that Alta Bates violated their use permit. After an article was published in the Planet, a 24-hour contact sign for information and complaints was posted on-site, a concession that neighbors of the project had been seeking for months. 

The other big issue discussed at the meeting was the fate of the Bateman Mall, a grassy-area which has been turned into a temporary emergency access road to the chagrin of many area residents. 

The hospital hopes to finish construction of phase one for the Bateman Mall area between late October and early December, depending on the rain. A meeting is scheduled for Oct. 17 from 7-9 p.m. on the first floor of Alta Bates to discuss the Bateman mall situation. 

Another issue raised was the subject of the park benches at the Huntmont Park. Alta Bates has recently replaced park benches in the park. 

“I got a call from some neighbors who reported that people were sleeping on benches,” reported Pitts-Cameron. “The benches are not on our property, but we put some new benches there anyway. We maintain that area. There has been a big problem with people sleeping on the benches and making the place dirty. There was a lot of discussion around putting bars on the benches to discourage people from using the space to sleep.” 

Doctor speaks out 

Dr. John Friedberg, a neurologist at Alta Bates, said that the disruption from the construction has affected more than just the area residents, and that it has been difficult on the hospital staff as well. He said he has had to contend with the high levels of construction noise, which he called “upsetting.” 

“The noise is so bad, I’m on the third floor and I have to retreat to the bathroom to dictate reports,” said Friedberg. “I practice neurology and we can’t do this with noise so loud.” 

He says that the hospital has not been very responsive to his requests to curb the noise. 

“There’s nothing they can do,” Friedberg said. “I was told by Ms. Cosin that construction can’t be over 85 decibels rating. It must be above that, but I’m totally guessing. I just get so upset.” 

On Aug. 22, the Berkeley Health Department conducted a noise study on the Alta Bates property and found the noise levels were under the limit, said Cosin. 

“When it was measured at the compressor, the reading was between 79-81 dba (decibels),” she said. “When measured at residential neighborhoods, the readings were around 60 dba.”

Whenever Mark Hendrix, who lives near Telegraph Avenue and uses a wheelchair to get around, wants to go down Ashby Avenue to browse at Urban Ore on Seventh Street, he takes the bus.  

Others who use wheelchairs or who have low vision should do the same, Hendrix counsels, calling attention to the multiple hazards for the disabled as they walk or roll down Ashby. 

Berkeley-based Disability Rights Advocates has taken the issue a step further by filing a lawsuit last week in United States Federal Court, Northern District of California under Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The suit is aimed at the California Department of Transportation, better known as Caltrans, which is responsible for Ashby, State Highway 13, San Pablo Avenue, State Highway 123, and other streets around the state that are state highways.  

Many of these highways are fraught with danger for the disabled, says the class action lawsuit, which names Dmitiri Belser of Berkeley and Ben Rockwell of Southern California as plaintiffs, suing Caltrans in the name of all disabled people who use California state highways and park-and-ride facilities. 

In a phone interview Monday, Belser, chair of the Commission on Disability and executive director of Center for Accessible Technology, pointed to the lack of “detectable warnings” for visually-impaired persons. Belser has some vision, but is legally blind.  

“For blind people, curbs are important,” Belser said. They delineate the sidewalk from the street. Curb cuts can be dangerous to visually impaired people. 

The solution is the bright yellow plates that warn Belser that he’s at a curb cut and about to go into a street. The raised dots on the plates indicate to people with little or no vision that they are approaching the street. 

Many crossings on Ashby are not painted as crosswalks. No crosswalk traverses the intersection of Ashby and Stanton Street, near the South Berkeley Senior Center, for example. 

Belser pointed out that the number of hazards for disabled people on Ashby near the senior center is particularly egregious, given that many seniors gradually lose their sight and mobility and need especially good sidewalk access—without large cracks, poles, and cars blocking the sidewalk. 

Before filing the lawsuit, DRA attorney Mary-Lee Kimber said she had tried to work with Caltrans. 

“They were uncooperative,” she said. “We sent a letter saying what the problem is and asking for a meeting—they refused. We felt forced into this.” 

In response to quer-ies, David Anderson, Caltrans’ spokesperson, sent an email to the Daily Planet saying its legal division “has not been served with the lawsuit at this time, and therefore, has not had an opportunity to review it. It is the Department’s long-standing policy not to comment on any pending lawsuit.” 

Kimber noted additional problems on Ash-by. “At some points because of bus signs or light poles, the width is too small for a wheelchair,” Kimber said, noting that there are places where there is “uneven, crumbled pave-ment.” 

For example, down near Seventh Street, an apparently new sidewalk ends in dirt, weeds and trash at the former Santa Fe railroad crossing. 

City Councilmember Dona Spring, who uses a wheelchair, said some of the curb cuts on San Pablo Avenue are extremely dangerous. “They are too narrow and too steep for most electric wheelchairs,” she said. 

And Kimber pointed out that with a lot of construction on San Pablo, there is no warning that there is no sidewalk access ahead. 

Thoughts of many of the people interviewed for this story were with the two disabled people killed on Ashby Avenue. In 1999 Sharon Spencer was struck by a car as she was crossing Ashby at Piedmont Avenue in her wheelchair and died from her injuries a month after the accident.  

Fred Lupke was struck and killed while riding in his wheelchair in the street on the north side of Ashby Avenue between Martin Luther King Way and Ellis Street in order to avoid hazards on the sidewalk. 

“We had to wait until someone got killed to get Santa Rosa lights,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington, speaking of the flashing lights activated by pedestrians and wheelchair users, installed at Ashby and Piedmont after Spencer’s death.  

“The city paid for the Santa Rosa lights,” Spring said. “Caltrans has been extra stingy.”  

Spring recalled the state of the sidewalk that Lupke avoided by using the street. “That stretch of Ashby on the north side of the street to the senior center was in terrible condition. It was impassible. There was a big hole in the sidewalk.” 

Hendrix, who said that the sidewalk has since been repaired, recalled that in addition to other problems the sidewalk near where Lupke was out in the street slanted downward toward the street and was difficult for people using wheelchairs to manipulate. 

“I always knew it would take a lawsuit to make Caltrans responsive,” Spring said. “It will help every pedestrian.” 

The disabled community would like raised yellow dots like these at Ninth Street and Ashby Avenue at every intersection. Photograph by Judith Scherr.

Members of the Save Berkeley Housing Authority (Save BHA), low-income Berkeley residents and city officials got together at the South Berkeley Senior Center on Saturday to discuss the future of public housing and the Section 8 program in Berkeley. 

Currently in its fourth year of being listed as a “troubled agency” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the BHA was dropped from being listed as a standard performer because of errors in reports submitted to HUD and also because of its numerous errors in running the public housing and Section 8 programs. 

The Berkeley City Council sits as the governing board of the Berkeley Housing Authority. Councilmember Kriss Worthington acknowledged that the City Council has made mistakes with managing the BHA. 

“We should not have got the Housing Authority into trouble,” Worthington said. “We should have spent more than five to 10 minutes at each meeting to learn about what was going on with the Housing Authority. We definitely weren’t doing a good job of supervising the BHA. We need to spend at least an hour or two every month on supervising the management.” 

Councilmembers Max Anderson and Laurie Capitelli echoed his thoughts. 

“We need to make a major longterm commitment,” said Anderson. “We haven’t spent the kind of time we need to spend on oversight. We need to have a body which is dedicated full time to overseeing the BHA.” 

Steve Barton, BHA director, discussed some of the implications of HUD’s position. 

“Because of our troubled status, HUD has given us the following alternatives: We should consider abandoning BHA and merge our resources with the Alameda County Housing Authority or keep it in Berkeley and give it a separate board of directors and better management,” he said. 

The majority of the tenants who want to save the BHA seemed in favor of the latter suggestion.  

Members of Save BHA put forward their demands to the City of Berkeley: city replacement of all future HUD funding shortfalls out of the city general fund to properly maintain BHA, timely re-certifications and contract renewals, and a six month notice to tenants of any change in Section 8 vouchers. 

Tia Ingram, acting BHA manager, said BHA had scored 90 points out of 145 in a Section 8 Management Assessment Program (SEMAP) report that had been submitted to HUD on Friday. (SEMAP scores how well the Housing Authority is doing in running the Section 8 program and public housing operations.) BHA’s current score gives it the minimum 60 percent required for a passing grade on the report. 

Lower-income tenants were distressed when they heard from Barton that one-third of the more than 1,800 families in the BHA faced a reduction in Section 8 rent payments to their landlords beginning April 2007. As a result of this reduction, tenants might have to pay more rent or move into cheaper apartments. 

“We haven’t sent out a notice to the tenants or the landlords yet because we will know about HUD’s decision on this by the end of this year,” Barton said. “That gives us plenty of time to let people know. We don’t want people to start reacting from fear as if it’s definitely going to happen. We are trying our best to make sure that it does not happen.” 

Both tenants and city officials agreed to work to implement some changes. These included: 

• Promising that calls to BHA from Section 8 tenants would be acknowledged within 24 hours. (If not then complaints would be accepted at 981-5470.) 

• Publishing a newsletter by tenants containing contact numbers of BHA officials and other relevant information. (This would be separate from the BHA newsletter.) 

• Letting HUD know when BHS has “done it right.” 

• Putting development money towards vouchers. 

• Agreeing that inspections that would be confirmed in writing to tenants. 

It was also decided that tenants would: 

• Attend City Council meetings or BHA board meetings when it was time to vote on important issues. 

• Be prepared to submit correct paperwork for income verification at the right time. 

• Sign up for the BHA board meetings which meet the third Tuesday of each month. 

Jesse Arreguin, commissioner of Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board, said that Section 8 tenants should continue to work to lobby city officials and federal officials to save the Section 8 program. 

“We need to have an active Section 8 tenant’s movement which will address some of these issues,” he said. “Something like a citizen’s advisory commission which is separate from the ten members who are already on the BHA.” 

Peralta Community College District Trustee Alona Clifton moved to diffuse a potentially embarrassing campaign issue this week, filing a year’s worth of delinquent, semi-annual campaign finance disclosure reports with the Alameda County Registrar’s Office only days after a newly-formed citizens group had filed a complaint over the issue with the California Fair Political Practices Commission. 

Gary Bell of Richmond, treasurer of the Alona Clifton For Trustee Committee, said that the failure to file the two reports prior to this week was “my fault. There wasn’t a lot of campaign activity or money being raised, so I just neglected to file them. But once the questions and concerns started coming up, we got right on it.” 

The two-term incumbent Clifton is being challenged in the November election by school bond consultant Abel Guillen. 

In his August 25 letter to the FPPC, Berkeley attorney Myron Moskovitz wrote that the complaint was being filed “because Ms. Clifton might be attempting to conceal the possible receipt of donations from parties with business before the Board of Trustees … During the past year, she has participated in land-use decisions regarding the development of certain District properties. There has been considerable controversy about Ms. Clifton’s relationship with one of the developers who had a proposal before the Board. Peralta Watch would like to know if she received any donations from that developer.” 

The statement was a clear reference to Oakland developer Alan Dones, who won the exclusive right to negotiate a contract for the development of Peralta Administration and Laney properties in November of 2005  

While the contract negotiations were pending, Laney faculty representatives presented a resolution calling on board members to recuse themselves from the vote on the contract if they had a conflict of interest. 

Though Clifton was not named publicly in the statement, faculty and labor representatives said privately that she was the object of concern. Clifton is the president of the non-profit North County Center for Self Sufficiency Corporation (NCCSSC), which was scheduled to have its headquarters located in Dones’ $70 million downtown Oakland Thomas L. Berkeley Square project. 

Clifton consistently denied that she had a conflict of interest in the Dones matter, and was backed in that opinion by both the Peralta General Counsel and the FPPC. 

An August 2005 opinion by the FPPC in response to a query from Clifton concluded “that the facts you provided does not indicate that there is a substantial likelihood that North County Center for Self Sufficiency Corporation will incur any material financial effect as a result of the governmental decision you would like to make. Therefore, [state law] does not require you to disqualify yourself from making the decision in question and we do not further analyze your potential economic interest in NCCSSC.” 

Dones later voluntarily withdrew from the Peralta/Laney development plan contract negotiations after controversy caused Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris to put the negotiations on hold. 

Clifton’s two campaign donation reports filed this week did not reveal any money from Dones among the $4,470 in campaign contributions during the last six months of 2005 and $6,060 during the first six months of 2006. But they did show contributions from other developers doing business with Peralta. 

Clifton’s campaign received $1,000 from Davillier-Sloan of Oakland, a consultant company under contract with Peralta to assure company compliance with the Project Labor Agreement of the Berkeley City College construction project. 

She received $500 from Carl Hackney, president of the MSE Group that is managing the construction of the Laney College Art Building, and another $500 from the Alley Group & Associaties, a construction management firm that has worked on several contracts with the Peralta district.  

Speaking before the Clifton contribution reports were filed with the registrar’s office, Berkeley resident and former Peralta student trustee Peter Tannenbaum, founder of the Peralta Watch group that filed the FPPC complaint, said that there was “nothing illegal” about trustees getting contributions from developers. “The only impropriety is failure to file the reports,” he said. 

Tannenbaum added that his group was founded “to monitor the activities of the Peralta Community College Board” and to promote “campaign finance reform,” with the first project “specifically to look at the relationship with developers and Peralta.” 

He added that “Peralta Watch is not investigating [Clifton] to determine the nature of her relationship with Dones.” 

Tannenbaum said that he had not looked at any of the Peralta trustee filings himself and did not know if any other trustees had missed filings as well. He said that Clifton’s missing statements were “flagged” by a researcher for the organization. 

Tannenbaum also said that Peralta Watch had no affiliation with the campaign of Abel Guillen, who is running against Clifton. He said the group has no headquarters as yet, and about 10 members from Berkeley and Oakland.

An elderly woman died Thursday in central Contra Costa County from West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne disease transmitted to humans and animals through mosquito bites.  

Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds or squirrels. 

“The death is unfortunate,” said Wendel Brunner, director of public health for Contra Costa County. 

There have been three known cases this year in Contra Costa County. To date there have been two deaths in California and 96 human cases reported. The state’s first death this year was reported earlier this month in Butte County. 

There have been no human cases detected in Alameda County, though 10 birds were found with the virus, nine of them in the warmer Tri-Valley area of Livermore, Pleasanton and Dublin. The mosquito carrying the virus has also been detected in the city of Alameda. 

Two years ago, the virus was detected in a dead American Crow in Berkeley, but Berkeley has had no signs of the virus since that time, said Linda Rudolph, Berkeley’s public health officer. 

In Contra Costa 24 sentinel chickens in three flocks located in Martinez, Holland Tract, and Oakley tested positive for the virus. In response, the county sprayed adult mosquitoes from the air last week from Martinez to Pittsburg along the waterfront. Spraying was done by helicopter using pyrenone 25-5, applied at a rate of 0.75 ounces per acre, according to a press statement issued by the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District. 

“Spraying is less risky than the virus,” Brunner said. 

To date, spraying has not been necessary in Alameda County, said John Rusmisel, director of the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District. He said the district is able to control the mosquito population by killing or disabling the mosquito larvae in catch basins.  

Aerial spraying in Alameda County would be a last resort, Rusmisel said. If they had to spray, the mosquito district would also use pyrenone 25-5, which Rusmisel said is less toxic to non-targeted organisms than pyrethreum, which is sometimes used, 

The Mosquito Abatement Board, with one representative from each city, “decided if we do use aerial fogging, we will have a community meeting first,” he said, noting this delays the process, but gives people the information they need and allows them to make plans to leave the area for the day if they choose.  

Over the 12 years he’s managed the district, Rusmisel said he’s used less than five gallons of the substance. “One county used over 100 gallons in a three-week period,” he said, declining to name the county. 

The elderly and those with impaired immune systems are at the highest risk of West Nile Virus. “80 percent of those infected don’t have any symptoms at all,” Brunner said.  

People experiencing severe headache, high fever, stiff neck, confusion, tremors, convulsions or muscle weakness should contact their health care provider right away, Susan Farley, public health nurse for Contra Costa County said in a press statement. She said coma and paralysis are other possible symptoms. Symptoms generally appear three to 15 days from a bite of an infected mosquito.  

There are a number of things people can do to reduce the mosquito population and lessen the risk of being bitten: 

• Get mosquito-larvae eating fish for ponds (Rusmisel noted there are a lot of backyard fish ponds in Berkeley); 

• Report dead birds or squirrels: 1-877-WNV-BIRD; www.westnile. ca.gov; 

• Drain standing water that can support mosquito breeding; 

• Avoid spending time outside when mosquitoes are most active, especially at dawn and the first two hours after sunset;  

• Apply insect repellent.

Fay Twersky was not looking to leave BTW informing change, the West Berkeley consulting firm she co-founded eight years ago. But in a June meeting with her staff, she surprised them—and, to some extent, herself—with unexpected news: In September she would be packing up and moving to Seattle to join the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

She hadn’t sought the job; she was more than content to stay put, at least for the time being, continuing to lead the company she and her life partner Jill Blair had nurtured since 1998. But when presented with the opportunity to sign on with the world’s largest philanthropic organization, she simply couldn’t say no.  

Blair, Twersky and Paul Wisotzky co-founded BTW with the goal of doing their part to effect social change by providing consultation services for the non-profit and philanthropic sectors.  

“We wanted to have a values-based firm which would blend good data with good planning,” she said in a recent telephone interview. “BTW helps foundations and nonprofits of all sizes on program and initiative evaluation in the areas of community economic development, social enterpreneurship, public health, education, adolescent services, educational media and organizational capacity building.” 

“We work with nonprofits and philanthropic foundations to inform change through a variety of strategies including evaluation, strategic planning [and] applied research,” explained Kim Ammann Howard, BTW’s director of evaluation and organizational learning. 

The company provides a number of services, from helping foundations and nonprofits to craft and articulate their missions, to setting up evaluation processes by which the organizations can get an accurate measurement of their progress, thereby better enabling them to meet their intended goals and ensure that the services they provide are reaching their targeted populations. 

Other companies provide similar services but Twersky and Blair sought to bring another dimension to their work by making it more of a collaborative process. They didn’t want to simply write up a report and hand it to a client only to have it filed away and forgotten; instead, they work with their clients to interpret the data and to develop methods for applying the lessons learned.  

“Fay has been an integral part in shaping our company culture,” said BTW Senior Associate Rayna Caplan. “[M]any of her innovations are now BTW signature products.”  

After spending more than a decade helping others plan for change, the dramatic and sudden personal change sparked by the Gates offer caught Twersky by surprise.  

“I got a phone call from the Gates Foundation saying that they were looking for someone to head up their impact assessment department,” Twersky recounted. “I initially referred them to someone else. But then they expressed an interest in my work and wanted to know more about it … [O]nce I got to know more about their work and their level of commitment, I was really impressed with who they were and what they did. The opportunity became very compelling and I decided that I was ready for a change.” 

Twersky will serve as the foundation’s impact assessment and improvement officer. 

“I will be there to make sure that their grant-making system is working in the best possible way and to put in place a system of measurement,” she said. “It is exciting to think that these strategies will be affecting lives at a global level, which makes them all the more important.” 

A double major in Middle Eastern studies and rhetoric at the University of California at Berkeley, Twersky took a year off after graduation in 1981 to visit Israel. Upon her return, she worked for the Red Cross in Richmond. 

“It was then that I realized that I wanted to do something for social change,” she said. 

She then went on to pursue a master’s degree in city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after which she consulted for nonprofits and philanthropic organizations while working for the Center for Applied Local Research in Richmond and later for Harder+Company Community Research in San Francisco. She also co-edited the 1998 book New Social Entrepreneurs: The Success, Challenge and Lessons of Non-Profit Enterprise Creation.  

It was while working for Harder+Company that Wisotzky, Twersky and Blair all came together and set out to create BTW, founding the company on three core principles: intelligence, integrity and compassion.  

Wisotzky retired from consulting in 2002 to devote his time to volunteer work for global HIV/AIDS issues.  

It’s no insult to Twersky when her staff says the company will do fine without her. Indeed, it was her confidence in her employees that allowed her to ultimately decide to take the job with the Gates Foundation. In the June meeting, she praised the BTW staff as the strongest team the company has ever assembled, giving her the confidence to leave the business in their hands. And the staff, in turn, gives all the credit to Twersky. 

“Fay is a true mentor and role model,” said BTW Associate Kris Helé. “She inspires her colleagues with her passion, knowledge, wit and respect for our clients and the important work they are engaged in. Fay is one of the brightest minds in the field … She has certainly left her mark on BTW, and she will be an incredible asset to the Gates Foundation.” 

While Jill Blair will continue her role as principal, working from the couple’s new Seattle home, Ellen Irie has been promoted from vice president to managing partner. Irie too has nothing but praise for Twersky. 

“She is an enduring optimist,” said Irie, “who firmly believes that individuals and organizations, given the right tools and supports, can make positive change.” 

Photograph: Fay Twersky and Jill Blair founded BTW informing change in Berkeley in 1998.

RIO DE JANEIRO—In dingy Brazilian offices and outdoor cafes, President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva’s disappointed supporters are huddling around their moment of truth. People are trying to figure out how to relate to a man and political party that were supposed to represent them but have failed to do so on many levels. Conversations often begin, but do not end, with the question of whether to vote for Lula again in October. 

Marcus Arruda, stuffed between pamphlets and posters in the back room of the Institute for Policy Alternatives, is arriving at a decision different from that of American activists who sit out elections and sulk. 

“Withholding my vote wouldn’t just be punishing Lula. It would be punishing the Brazilian poor,” he begins, unwilling, from the comfort of his middle-class life, to deny those living in the shamble of favelas the marginal ease a Lula victory would bring. 

Even some who had hoped Lula’s election in 2002 would begin a major transformation of society are willing to put their disillusion on hold. Mario Goldman, an anthropologist working with a poor black community in the Northeast, says with slouched resignation, “What we have now is the Americanization of Brazilian politics. It is a choice between small differences.” But, he concedes, “I will chose the small differences.” 

Those small differences could be the envy of liberals and progressives in the rest of the world. The Brazilian legislature passed a law requiring public universities to set a quota of 40 percent for students who are black, Indian or poor. All tuition is free. A new mandate requires the teaching of Afro-Brazilian history and culture even in elementary grades. 

Luiz Magalhaes, an instructor at a Protestant school, waited for the first day of class with wicked glee, imagining some of his evangelical colleagues forced to explain the African gods of the Candomble religion. These gestures of Lula, along with a strong black movement, are forcing Brazil to finally face issues of race and poverty. 

The debate on Lula’s accomplishments and what to do about him has taken to the newsstands. Epoca, a glossy magazine comparable to Time, rates the president on his 20 main promises and gives him a score of 57 percent on promise-keeping. Jazzy graphics show that he created 4 million new jobs instead of 10 million. He settled 235,000 landless families on farmland, not 400,000. He raised the minimum wage only 25 percent, not the 50 percent he pledged. By the end of his term, Lula was expected to provide health care for 85 million people, not his original promise of 120 million. 

The most passionate and legitimate complaint of Lula’s critics on the left is his failure to challenge the economic policy demanded by Washington and foreign investors, leaving few financial resources for human equity. There’s wistful talk of the might-have-beens had Lula used his mandate and the social movements allied with his Workers’ Party to fight for better terms on debt repayment. It was a bit strange for all these grassroots organizers to have put so much faith in a leader. It seemed like a 12-step program with everyone wanting to turn their power over to a higher authority. 

It is only late in conversations around draft beers and salty fried snacks that activists get past the issue of Lula to look at their own responsibility for how little basic change was made. Francisco Whitaker, a wiry founder of the World Social Forum, says loyalty restrained their criticism of the president. There was also co-option through government subsidies and jobs. “The Workers’ Party took much of the leadership of the social movements and that was a disaster for us,” he confesses. “They also tried to involve us in protecting the government by lessening pressure on it. We began to lose the power to control our movement and our way.” 

To find a new direction and decide what to do about Lula’s re-election, Whitaker and 15,000 activists held a Brazilian Social Forum in the late spring. It was a ritual end to the blurred line between the social movements and the government, an untangling of identities. There will be a qualitatively different relationship with a second Lula administration, promised Jaime Amorim, a leader of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST). This new view sees Lula as neither a brave nor a confrontational man. Instead, he always was a negotiator. They would have to assertively and publicly present their demands to force Lula to negotiate issues with them. 

It was fitting that Amorim was the one to talk about taking a more rambunctious approach. After being quiescent during the first year of the administration, MST was the first to break from the role of cheerleader for Lula. It began pressing him for change by occupying farmland. The black movement also recognized that a good president caught up in the logic of elections needs organizers to push him further than he wants to go. In 2005, they ignored Lula’s pleas to stay home and brought 20,000 demonstrators to the capital. The march was ostensibly to celebrate a black hero, but the display of defiant, independent politics led to the passage of the quota bill. 

For most of the other people at the forum and in the months that followed, it was catch-up time, a belated move away from their oxymoronic position as passive activists. Instead of waiting for Lula to clean up government corruption, 200 groups created the Citizens Network for Political Reform to push for public financing of elections and a reduction of the 20,000 patronage jobs the president controls. Instead of hoping he would change his economic policy, labor leaders began to develop an alternative economic plan to be presented to whoever wins the election. 

In the excitement of trying to reshape the future, however, these activists never forgot the immediate question of Lula’s re-election. By the time of the forum plenary and in the months of the campaign, the consensus of the discontented was that the re-election of Lula was the best option.  

It was more than the lesser of two evils. It was about consciously deromanticizing both politicians and elections. They no longer see a leader like Lula as a savior, but as just one part of the effort to alter society. The election is only a starting point, the thing that opens more hospitable political space in which independent activists can do the essential work. 

Today, the Brazilian movement is becoming too sophisticated to choose between electing a perfect president or working only in protest vehicles. It is putting an end to simple absolutes and offering a new model of change to the disillusioned around the world. 

Marlene Nadle is a foreign affairs journalist and an associate of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.

The following is a list of upcoming meetings with candidates for various public offices in Contra Costa County. 

August 29 

El Cerrito Democratic Club 

Members will listen to and question candidates for the El Cerrito City Council, Kensington Police Protection and Community Services Board, and the East Bay Regional Parks Board, then decide whether to endorse any among them. 

NorthMinster Presbyterian Church Sanctuary, 545 Ashbury Ave., El Cerrito. 7 p.m. 

Sept. 13 

Marina Bay Neighborhood Council 

Harbor Master’s Building, 1340 Marina Way South. 7:15 p.m. 

Sept. 27 and Oct. 29 

Point Richmond Neighborhood Council 

Point Richmond Community Center.  

8 p.m.

Larceny 

On Aug. 23, just after midnight, a group of four males beat up a Larkspur man. The perpetrators took his watch and wallet. The suspects have not been identified. 

Sex with a minor 

At 3 a.m. on Aug. 21, police squad cars making rounds in Aquatic Park discovered a minor and an adult having sex in a car. 

Assault with a deadly paintball 

On Aug. 20, at 12:42 p.m., a 56-year-old Berkeley woman was walking down the 1800 block of University Avenue when a dark car, heading westbound, shot a paintball gun at her. The suspects have not been identified, and the victim is reported to be in good condition. 

Red car on fire 

The Berkeley Fire Department reported that a red car was set on fire at 1287 University Ave. across from the Shell gas station after midnight on Aug. 20. No suspects have been identified. 

Sexual assault reported 

A woman called in at 5 a.m. on Aug. 19 to report that she had been sexually assaulted by a male acquaintance two hours prior, reported Ed Galvan, Berkeley police spokesperson. 

Another paintball conflict 

A Berkeley male in a Blazer or an Explorer was driving eastbound on University Avenue at California Street just after 4 p.m. on Aug. 16 when he shot a paintball at a Berkeley resident. The next day the victim came to the police station to file a report. 

Attempted kidnapping 

Almost near midnight on Aug. 14, a grandmother called in to report that her grandchild’s father threatened to kidnap the child, of whom he did not have custody. The father did not follow through on his threat. 

Knife threat 

A homeless man reportedly threatened another man with a piece of pipe and a knife at around 4:50 p.m. on Aug. 11. Nobody was hurt and the suspect has not been identified.

With Oakland Unified School District officials confirming a report that an extension is being considered on a deadline to reach a contract agreement over the sale of OUSD downtown properties, local activists continue to escalate activities to stop the sale altogether. 

OUSD Deputy Director of Communications Alex Katz confirmed a Montclarion newspaper report that California Superintendent for Public Instruction Jack O’Connell and representatives of east coast developers TerraMark and UrbanAmerica are considering extending the deadline past the Sept. 15 date called for in the exclusive negotiating agreement signed last June between the two parties. 

Katz said he was in a meeting in Sacramento last week in which the proposed extension was discussed. 

Katz also said that the superintendent’s office is “paying close attention to events in Oakland. This thing is on their minds. They’re listening.” He would make no prediction as to what action the state superintendent might take, however. 

If no contract agreement is reached by the Sept. 15 deadline and no extension to the deadline is agreed to by the parties, the proposed deal with TerraMark/Urban America would die, and the state superintendent would have the option of pursuing contract negotiations with other developers who submitted proposals, or else drop the sale plans altogether. 

The proposal to sell 8.25 acres of prime Lake Merritt-area OUSD property—including the administration building and five school sites—has drawn a firestorm of criticism from Oakland activists and politicians, including all eight members of the Oakland City Council and six of the seven members of the advisory OUSD Board of Trustees. 

Most of the opposition has centered around the fact that legal authority to sell the land is held by state superintendent O’Connell, not by the local school district, under the terms of the 2003 state takeover of the Oakland Unified School District. 

The Montclarion quoted OUSD School Board President David Kakashiba, a vocal property sale opponent, as throwing cold water on the extension. “Why would we need more time?” Kakashiba was quoted as saying. “Just terminate (the process) and start over.” 

But a key member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Restore Local Control/Governance to Oakland Schools, the citizens coalition that has been leading the fight against the proposed sale, said that “while it would be better to reject the deal out of hand, extending the deadline would be a small victory. Clearly, it would mean that the state superintendent and the developers are trying to make a show of listening to the community.” 

The Ad Hoc Committee representative asked that their name not be used because they had not gotten clearance to speak about the extension proposal from the organization. 

Meanwhile, Ad Hoc Committee members are gearing up for the final public hearing on the proposed sale, scheduled for next Wednesday, Sept. 6, 5:30 p.m., at district’s administration headquarters at 1025 Second Ave. 

At the conclusion of that hearing, trustees are scheduled to vote on Trustee Noel Gallo’s proposal to recommend an educational center for the downtown site, to include a new administration building and a multi-grade school complex in place of the residential high-rise development proposed by the developers. In addition, OUSD staff members have promised a presentation on the fair market value of the OUSD properties, as well as a long-term projection of student attendance in the West Lake/Chinatown area. 

Committee members have been circulating petitions calling for immediate restoration of local control of the Oakland schools, a freeze on any OUSD property sales, and a freeze on the use of the final $35 million borrowed from the state by former State Administrator Randolph Ward in his last days on the job. Members said they plan to send the completed petitions to O’Connell.

BROWER CENTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am writing in response to several comments from the Aug. 18 Michael Katz op-ed piece regarding the Brower Center. First, speaking for the housing portion of the development (Oxford Plaza), the project is clearly not “too far in the red.” Oxford Plaza is currently within budget, with reasonable construction contingencies, has secured 97 percent of its required funding, and is scheduled to begin construction by the end of 2006. 

It is also wrong to say that the project has lacked serious scrutiny. Actually, it has undergone much greater risk analysis and public airing of potential downside scenarios at City Council meetings than any other city-funded affordable housing project. This is not inappropriate, given the size and complexity of the development. But we should not jump to the conclusion that a challenging project is one that cannot be built, particularly in light of the tremendous progress that has been made moving the Brower Center/Oxford Plaza forward in 2006. 

In February HUD committed a $1.76 million grant for the commercial component of the development. In April, Wells Fargo provided a commitment for $23 million in construction loan financing and $5.5 million of permanent loan financing for the Oxford Plaza Apartments. In June, Oxford Plaza received a loan commitment of $6.6 million from the State of California from its highly competitive Multifamily Housing Program. We recently received several bids from potential investors to provide up to $17 million in equity to the project in exchange for the Low Income Housing Tax Credits it will generate. These funders strictly underwrite both the viability of the project and the capacity of the sponsor to build it, and have many years of experience evaluating the feasibility of affordable housing projects and the strength of their developers. Over $32 million in permanent financing has been committed to the financing of Oxford Plaza by banks, foundations, government, and investors. Each of them will take on different risks and rewards, but all are excited to invest in a development that truly is being seen as a national model. 

Dan Sawislak 

Executive Director 

Resources for Community Development 

• 

BUSD POLICY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley’s Aug. 25 editorial on Berkeley for the Berkeleyans is an astonishing defense of the school district’s policy of admitting Oakland students to Berkeley High with little apparent accountability. The numbers she cites suggest that about a fifth of BHS students are African-American kids from Oakland, whose schooling is paid for by Berkeley taxpayers. 

She defends this situation with the absurdly racist suggestion that the education of the Berkeley students would be deficient if they were surrounded by a student body made up of less than a third African-Americans, and were thus unprepared to function in the wider world. She then personalizes this contention by extolling the excellent education her three daughters received at BHS in the 1970s and ’80s. My personal response is that, like her daughters, my son and daughter both acquired an excellent education at BHS in the ’80s and both went on to college degrees. My daughter also received a broken nose from a belligerent African-American girl—which surely broadened her education, and for which I had to pay the cost of corrective surgery. For years it has been common anecdotal knowledge that there are certain corners and corridors at BHS that white students may not venture into without fear of physical abuse. I assume that the failure of the administration to deal with this situation is another aspect of an education broadening policy. 

O’Malley asks School Board candidates to address these issues, and I hope they will. Meanwhile, I offer a suggestion to satisfy her and others who may feel that it is Berkeley’s manifest destiny to educate the world, beginning with Oakland. Let the School Board determine a fair annual cost for attendance at BHS, then establish a policy whereby Berkeley residents, like Ms. O’Malley, can legally become the patrons of out-of-district students and pay their tuition. 

Jerry Landis 

• 

BACK DOOR DRAFT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Do you guys know that there’s a “back door draft” going on? Do you guys realize that Bush and the military are having an increasingly difficult time in getting people to join the military? Many of those who have already enlisted, including lots who have already fought in Iraq, are being re-deployed again to Iraq, whether they like it or not! This is a waste of taxpayer dollars. It negatively impacts American families. Lots of veterans come back from Iraq and other battle-torn counties, with severe mental health problems. People who kill, rape, torture, maim, and rudely break into other people’s homes or use guns, bombs, and deadly chemicals to kill and conquer, return to their home with severe mental health issues. They can end up divorced, homeless, hooked on booze and drugs, unemployed, medicated, in a mental hospital, or killing themselves. This is the price of war. Let’s all forgive us for being foolish enough to be talked into a war for no good reason. I wish that everybody had just “known” the truth years ago, before so many went off to fight. Do you realize that many sign up for the military not to kill or rape, but because they believe they will be of service? They are told, “Oh you will just inventory pencils and toilet tissues! You won’t even have to carry a gun! You get a free cell phone and laptop!” Thank God We the People are aware, doing something, and spreading the truth. I hope the military will get rid of the racist, sexist, neo-Nazi skinheads that they are said to have attracted. People who probably dislike Jews, blacks, women, and most of all, themselves. Pray for all of us. Pray for the skinheads and bigots. Pray for me and you. Know that war and suffering are an illusion, but if you’re caught in the middle of it, the illusion feels very intensely real and painful. Only when we substitute the reality of our love and essential unity for the illusion of war and suffering, will we eradicate war from Earth! 

The end of poverty is the beginning of everybody looking out for each other, and not just for yourself or the family and friends. What you and I do, affects the people living on the other side of the planet as much as the other side of the Bay. Our thoughts and feelings likewise affect all of life. Cleanse your thoughts and feelings of all anger, hate, grudges, holding on to old traumas and those who have hurt you. This makes room for new life, new friends, new love, health, prosperity, forgiveness, and fun. 

Linda Smith 

• 

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I wonder why people forget their social responsibility for fellow beings. I find sharp pieces of broken glass bottles all over the pavement, especially near bus stops and in front of the stores in Albany and Berkeley (especially in San Pablo). Is this to terrify people who want to enjoy walking or create a barrier for those would love to help others? Is it an expression of violence? I fail to understand why such uncivilized acts are tolerated. These pavements could be not just a walkway for pedestrians but a place to meet and chat for old neighbors and new friends. We must think about how our actions will affect others as we think about their consequences for ourselves. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

• 

SIDESHOWS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding the Aug. 25 UnderCurrents column titled “‘Sydewayz’ Video Celebrates Sideshow Culture,” I wanted to point out a few points that were made by the author. 

1. The author refers to Spanish culture and how sideshows aren’t part of it. Is he referring to Latino (Mexican, Salvadorian, Guatemalan, etc.) culture? In addition, many Latino students at the high school where I work (in East Oakland) do participate in sideshow activity. 

2. The author refers to African roots of sideshows: rhythmic car maneuvers. Is he serious? What about Monster Truck Shows: pounding truck maneuvers. Perhaps a glimpse of Caucusoid culture? 

3. The author refers to “incredible talent hidden in our midst.” As an educator who works in East Oakland, I believe the debate has very little to do with what happens at sideshows. The debate needs to focus on the astronomical drop-out rate (black and brown) that Oakland is experiencing. Engaging youth in the classroom so that they realize the necessity of an education should be the community priority. Then we can see their true talents. 

David Castillo 

• 

CONSTRUCTIVE OR INFLAMMATORY? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am writing in response to LA Wood’s Aug. 25 op-ed, “LBNL: 75 Years of Science, 75 Years of Pollution.” I am a graduate student at UC Berkeley, and I work in an LBNL building. Although my perspective is that of a peon in the system, I think at least half the blame for any environmental issues must be shared by people, like La Wood, who use inflammatory language ("self-righteous rhetoric,” “egregiously,” “environmental atrocity,” etc.) that results in a confrontational attitude that does not lead to satisfactory resolution of any issues. 

LA Wood can blame LBNL for the rest of eternity, but Berkeley is a city where the development of a second Berkeley Bowl, a locally owned grocery store championed by the city at large, was held up for so many years that its developer Glen Yasuda decided to give up six months ago (although thankfully he was cajoled back). Who can blame anyone for wanting to bypass that process? 

One significant point LA Wood seems to miss is that many of the environmental issues are “legacy” problems—the result of unintentional contamination 50 years ago or more by people who were not aware of the risks of what they were doing (many of whom died from cancers consequently). That aspect of science in general has changed, and today most risks are well-known and understood, and options exist for dangerous situations even when the exact nature of a hazardous activity may not be fully understood. Thus, inside the scientific enterprise, the nature of safe science is to understand, mitigate, avoid, and contain any hazardous activities. This process critically relies on trust and effective communication between all parties involved. 

From my admittedly low-level view of the system, the (extraordinarily) large safety bureaucracy inside LBNL would be open to dialogue, but La Wood, in my opinion representative of the city at large, seems torn in the op-ed between rational discussion and criticism and a hostile “self-righteous rhetoric” that will lead nowhere. Given the way things (don’t) get done when the city and activists of Berkeley are involved, and the hostile attitudes evinced by them, I am not surprised at all that both the campus and the lab choose to bypass both whenever possible.  

Modi Wetzler 

• 

EXITING IS NOT GRADUATING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Jack O’Connell, Superintendent of Public Instruction, wants my vote in November so that he can close the “achievement gap,” a fissure superbly measured by an exit exam, a number-producing instrument that separates a class of poor, black. Latino and English-learning students from another class not so financially, culturally or linguistically down-classed.  

Twelve years ago I retired after 30 years of teaching and from the sidelines in my recliner chair I watch confusion and idiocy infect managerial levels of the California school system. Administrators who in my day were merely inept have advanced to become cost/effective, tough-minded business managers. They say they can’t manage what they don’t measure and proceed to deploy a variety of standardized tests to track the growth of young minds advancing toward the climactic high school exit exam. 

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that the experience of four years in high school is not enhanced, advanced nor measured in a few hours of testing. 

It takes only common sense to appreciate that the high school diploma, like the flag, is a symbol of that for which it stands and, just as the flag is not the nation, a diploma is not an education.  

Every teacher worthy of the name knows that the ratio of right marks to wrong ones on multiple choice questions electronically scored no more encompasses achievement than a book’s illustrations encompass its content.  

Finally, Mr. O’Connell, it’s impossible to assess the efficacy of a system unless you understand it. Teachers, the heart of the system, work to affect the minds of students. Their tests measure the responses to questions, responses that may suggest but in no way measure the content and capability of their students’ minds. 

Marvin Chacere 

San Pablo 

• 

INFLAMMATORY ACCUSATIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Ms. O’Malley’s equating support of stricter residency requirements at Berkeley High School with racism misses the real issue for Berkeley: how to manage limited resources to provide the best education for Berkeley students of all races.  

In fact, my experience of transfer students from Oakland and Richmond is that white students, whose parents often have move resources to work the system, are overrepresented as students from other districts. For example, many Oakland kids come to BHS to take Latin, which is not offered elsewhere—is this a ruse or a need for these students? Should affluent kids from Rockridge, Montclair and El Cerrito get to come to BHS because they don’t want to attend their local high schools? Does this migration add to the educational experience of all students at BHS? 

O’Malley also opines that much of Berkeley’s renowned diversity is attributable to out-of-city students. However, there is no evidence for this position. Simply because 13 percent of Berkeley’s total population is African-American and the African-American school population is much higher does not support her statement. What percentage of school age children are African American?  

O’Malley should refrain from making race an issue and, instead, investigate the facts that surround this complicated issue. How many students are there from other districts? What is the cost to Berkeley tax payers? What is the effect of the magnet of BHS on students of all races and backgrounds? Is BHS cherry picking the best students of all races from neighboring districts and actually hurting those districts who desperately need committed students and their involved parents?  

O’Malley should base her opinions in facts—rather than speculation—and should certainly not accuse David Baggins of racism without more evidence for such an inflammatory label. 

Paul S. Lecky 

• 

RIGHT ON TARGET 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley’s editorial comments about demagoguery and racial profiling in Berkeley public schools is right on target. 

It is illustrative to trace how we got to this awful place. Historically most school systems have reciprocal agreements with neighboring districts, i.e. a policy to allow students from near-by areas to attend each other’s schools. The same has been usually true of adjacent library systems. Under this agreement there are many students who live in Berkeley but attend Albany schools, provided that space is available. 

In the late l970s BUSD’s relationship with Oakland students took on a special dimension. At that point the number of Afro-American families in Oakland grew rapidly as they, like many other people before them, pursued the quintessential American dream of moving to California. Unfortunately, when the public schools began to reflect this new reality, the general White reaction was to flee to the suburbs. At this point many of those families who stayed in Oakland started to look to the Berkeley public schools as an educational alternative. Applications to transfer to BUSD climbed and quite a few parents used whatever means it took, legal and illegal, to get their children what they hoped would be a better education. Unlike 2006, there was no outrage about the non-residency of these new students. If anything there was a kind of co-conspiratorial silence, and frequently more than a few offers to allow Berkeley addresses to be used under the table. 

In fact, even today at the close of classes at Berkeley High, we can see many White students lining up for bus 51 or 7 on their return trip to Rockridge.  

Likewise, before the school day begins, many of Berkeley Afro-American students are boarding buses to hill or charter schools in Oakland. 

Incidentally one of the reasons that there are openings in the Berkeley public schools is that about 30 percent of Berkeley families opt to not send their children to Berkeley public schools. If they did, there would be almost no room for just about any out-of-district transfers. 

About three years ago I served as an aide to Councilmember Margaret Breland, for District 2. It’s bounded by Sacramento Avenue, and the bay, from University Avenue to the Oakland border. I became well acquainted with the large number of people from outside Berkeley, non-residents, who chose to use our excellent public recreational facilities. Almost never do we hear threatening outrage about denying them use of our parks and tennis courts because they are not from Berkeley. In some places in Berkeley, e.g. Rosa Parks Field, so many non-Berkeley residents rent the facilities that often the neighborhood people are literally shut out of its usage. Are the people so upset about residency of our BUSD students willing to extend that anger to other non-residents using our community resources that are financed by Berkeley tax payers? 

In summary, it’s time to stop harassing Afro-Americans who are merely doing what so many white predecessors showed them how to do, struggle for a better life for their families. 

Mel Martynn 

• 

VISITING INMATES  

AT SANTA RITA JAIL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I want to describe as briefly as possible what its like to visit an inmate at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. I think someone has to. 

First, there really isn’t a place for visitors to wait. We line up down a long cement entryway with no seats or benches--are not allowed to sit on the grass. This is in front of the building which houses the jail. Yesterday, (Sunday) visiting hours had two shifts: from 12 to 3 and 6 to 9 p.m. At about 4 (for the later shift) the deputies took pity on the scorching people waiting in line all the way down almost to the parking lot and took names sequentially and the unit each person wanted to visit. We were told to be back no later than 5:45, when we would be given numbers and pass forms. We all did so. Visiting hours are from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The deputies did not begin the processing until after 6. The first 11 people get to visit first—each for 20 minutes. I was number 13. I had arrived at Santa Rita at 1:30 p.m. just so I’d get in that day and be out by 9 when the last bus to BART leaves. I was able to get that bus—was at the bus stop at around 8:15. 

So, I—like many others—had arrived 5 hours before visiting was supposed to begin—to sit in the hot sun and either on the cement—searching for shade—or inside the lobby of the jail where there is one bench and lots of floor space upon which to sit—up against the wall. Is this a way to treat a visitor? 

The love and devotion of the crowd which gathers is as evident as the suffering and frustration.  

To spend 20 mins with a loved one, behind a plastic window, talking on the phone—there is hell to pay. 

Is punishment the way to help?  

Name withheld 

• 

TAKE BACK OUR GOVERNMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regime change in these United States is protected by our Constitution, and is mandated when the president oversteps his authority. The Bush administration has not only overstepped its authority in wiretapping innocent civilians for unprincipled data mining over private concerns outside the scope of any possible national security excuses, but has lied the United States into war, itself a high crime, punishable by impeachment. We the people rule this country, not the demagogues of the extreme right wing currently residing in power. We must take back our government, and we must begin now before it is too late! 

Ron Sullivan 

• 

THE LEGWORK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Joanne Kowalski should have done her legwork (“The University of Oakland: An Impossible Dream?” Aug. 29), instead of simply dashing off a commentary about the state of Oakland’s higher education. She would have answered her own question about the state of urban education, bilingual education, child development and public administration in Oakland and discovered there is already Pacific Oaks College, WASC-certified, that answers this call to service. They offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees in human development; master’s in marriage, family and child counseling (marriage and family therapy, MFT); MFCC specializations in African American and Latina/o family studies; and a teacher education program. Its marriage, family, and child counseling master’s degree satisfies all of the requirements of the Board of Behavioral Sciences for licensing in marriage and family therapy; and its teacher education program is certified by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) for certification in education specialist credential, mild to moderate disabilities Level I and Level II and preliminary multiple subject English learner teaching credential. 

John Parman 

Berkeley and College Park, MD 

• 

RUMSFELD’S REMARKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Associated Press reported Donald Rumsfeld’s concern that Islamic extremist groups are successful at “actively manipulating the media in this country… (because) they can lie with impunity.” The implication of this remark is that the propaganda of Mr. Rumsfeld and his group is at a disadvantage because U.S. leaders are held accountable to a higher standard when they lie. I surely hope this is true so that we may see Rumsfeld and others behind bars for their lies and crimes against humanity and Americas young recruits. That alone would lower the world burden of terror substantially.  

Marc Sapir 

• 

TICKET INFORMATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My colleagues at work have informed me that your paper ran incorrect information regarding an event on Sept. 19, 2006. I have been told you printed that tickets for this event can be found at the journalism school. This is untrue.  

Tickets will go on sale Sept. 1 at the Cal Performances Box Office: 642- 9988. General admission tickets for this event can be purchased for $10 and UC Berkeley students with ID can pick up tickets for free. http://journalism.berkeley.edu/events/details.php?ID=327 

Caely Cusick  

Event Coordinator 

Graduate School of Journalism 

• 

JOE EATON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have written to you before, but directed most of my concerns toward the local and world strife and local mismanagement goings on in Berkeley. However this time I wish to commend Mr. Joe Eaton on the excellent columns he has been writing—most frequently seen on the last page of your newspaper—on natural history miscellany, this last commentary was on the paper wasps that live in our area.  

The life habits of these fascinating paper wasps described by Mr. Eaton reminded me of the marvelous writings of Nobel Prize award winners ethnologists Niko Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch on their (respective) discoveries on how and why wasps find their way around and how they build their nests. 

Thank you Mr. Eaton. 

Mark K. Bayless

Local public schools, well supported and integral to the community, are at the heart of the progressive tradition. Perhaps only in Berkeley is this a controversial statement. When I decided just weeks ago to campaign for School Board service I did so with a sense that a whole election season would otherwise go by without discussion of the meaningful issues that affect the schools. 

Berkeley schools are unrepresentative of this diverse, quirky, marvelous place we live. There are many factors to this phenomenon, including birth rates, differing ages of demographic groups, and use rates of private schools. However, a leading factor, and certainly the factor most tied to public policy, is the under-reaction of the district to false registration. 

Berkeley’s is overall a pretty good school system, with some spectacular accomplishments, located between much larger failing districts. If there ever was a district with deep need for a robust system of validation it is in Berkeley. Yet as we compare our city’s residency enforcement protocol, attitude and resources to other districts we are demonstrably anemic. Rampant false registration threatens every aspect of Berkeley’s schools 

Who are the losers of the status quo? The very first group must be Berkeley’s own at-risk population. There is no doubt, based on extensive research, that a leading factor determining whether at-risk students succeed or fail is the accomplishment rate of surrounding students. Berkeley’s extensive placement program is based on this truth. As well-intentioned school leaders have increased the achievement gap through under-enforcement of residency they have jeopardized the population most in need of support. Simply, a one-third underperforming cohort generates more negative force than intervention can hope to alter. Superintendent Michele Laurence stated “almost the entire work we do is to address equity and achievement.” Yet the achievement gap remains. If Berkeley insists on staying the course of non-enforcement it is only likely to reproduce current results.  

The second loser group is of course taxpayers. They have generously supported the schools with the promise that education would become better for Berkeley’s kids. Little did they know the real priority for funding was for out-of-district low performance students. As funding is increasingly raised from local sources, the problem of parents outside the city wanting to access city schools can only increase. 

Third, given the policies that have created the achievement gap, it is difficult to advance all other priorities. As the Superintendent said, almost all energies go to dealing with the achievement gap. What then for average students? Berkeley’s privileged kids, while deserving a fine education and inclusive rights in the schools, will find a way to educate themselves. Average students of Berkeley, however, are under considered in their education needs. Doesn’t every child of the community deserve an education based on the best interest of the child? 

Finally, the community as a whole loses as resources are drained to service the larger East Bay. Schools ought to have the resources to serve as playground, park, and cultural center. Yet as resources are diverted to serving the much larger East Bay, this function is drained.  

So what is to be done? 

First Berkeleyans, congratulate yourselves. The achievement gap, rather than a failure of curriculum, increasingly is the creation of a generosity of spirit. No other community that I know of has given from its tax base so liberally. 

But Director Shirley Issel’s point is well taken, “it is not possible to give a child a successful education if it is based on a lie.” In my experience the kids falsely registered resent the whole mess it causes. Berkeley needs a validation office that ends false registration as a norm. Other districts think the task is perfectly achievable. Teachers must be encouraged to believe that at their own discretion they can contact that office when they know a student to be out of district. If after this the city is committed to high external access, the way to that end is increased valid transfers. But transfer policy should not be used to the disadvantage of local at-risk youths by exacerbating the achievement gap.  

I recommend one further change. The most expensive and difficult level of education is high school. Berkeley High is clearly impacted. We should require re-registration with transition from middle school.  

I began this campaign with the hope of getting the city to focus on the policies that have created the most difficult problems in our public schools. If the city is thinking about this issue, I am satisfied. I must correct two aspects of Becky O’Malley’s editorial. My own analysis does not agree with the claim that without out-of-district infusion African-American composition would fall below 13 percent. Also, she seems to infer that cheating in registration is limited to one ethnic group. My observation is that every demographic group feels entitled to cheat, including of course well-off neighbors in Rockridge and Kensington. Berkeley’s students and tax payers are the losers. Berkeley is best served when Berkeley schools are for Berkeley’s kids. 

Cal State East Bay professor David Baggins is a candidate for the Berkeley School Board.  

Recently, and without much fanfare, the cities of Berkeley and Oakland adopted zero waste policy statements and have begun the long task of designing programs to implement that policy; Palo Alto, about to close its local dump, is a year ahead of them. As these local policies slipped through the decision-making process with little acrimony, it’s appropriate to look at the roots of these actions.  

When the great environmental laws were written in this country (now a generation ago), there was no thought or plan to reduce garbage or, as it’s been called since the 1960s, “solid waste.” The primary concern in 1976 was to bury garbage better so that there would be no open burning, no landfills leaking into ground water, no hazardous materials mixed in with the household garbage, etc. By the mid-1980s, recycling, a grassroots activity after Earth Day 1970 that slowly gained support in local governments, had become sufficiently wide-spread and successful and landfills and waste incinerators (the two other disposal options of our time) were having a tough time in the court of public opinion, so it became time for something new. Many of the various states each adopted so-called “rate and date” laws wherein a state would commit to reducing its garbage a certain amount (the rate) by a certain date (the date). In 1989 California was the ninth state to so enact and promised and planned 25 percent less garbage by 1995 and 50 percent less by the year 2000. Unfortunately, over the next several years, maneuvered by cry-baby cities that didn’t really want to do anything, and led by public works officials who had no confidence that a waste-reduced society could ever be constructed, the California legislature carved up the law to grant enough loop-holes, exemptions, exceptions, etc. so that unachieving local governments became the objects of pity and training rather than enforcement and compliance. The recent declaration that we have reached 50 percent recycling in California is based on many suppositions and extrapolations to have little credibility among informed opinion makers. 

The result of the wobbly-kneed enforcement (blame the legislature, not the enforcers) has been that currently we have ten million more tons of garbage in the state than we did ten years ago (44 million tons now, not 34 as then). (A million tons of garbage, by the way, is a row of sea containers, end to end, stretching 310 miles; California’s annual garbage now would cover a twenty lane highway from Oregon to Mexico.) The purported measurement tool the state developed looks at certain actual numbers and various hypotheticals and concludes significant recycling is taking place. The state actually abandoned measuring recycling in 1991 when local governments complained it was “too hard” to figure out. No one can explain how the hypotheticals yield 50 percent more trash when the population has only increased 15 percent but that’s a side note because most of the elected and appointed officials are more concerned about looking good than doing good; unlike air and water pollution which really hurt all of us directly, too much garbage in the short term simply means more trucks, more landfills probably further away, etc.  

In recent times the old true blue recyclers, now reduced in numbers by age and infirmity and the young people wandering off into other green goodness work (hemp clothing, bioaromatics, endangered species, tall trees, etc.) have realized that the numbers game was lost a few years back and have adopted the zero waste rallying cry. “Zero accidents, zero emissions, zero waste; makes sense to me” said a recent DuPont president. Individuals and some small groups have achieved zero waste or at least 99-plus percent recycling in fact as well as theory but no one yet has applied this model to entire communities. What lurks in the details of zero waste is the question of who will be required to do how much when, and for what ends.  

Our growing appreciation of the negative environmental consequences of 1) placing rottable materials in landfills where they make greenhouse gases that are poorly captured by so-called landfill gas [LFG] collection programs (current science says 20 percent is captured and burned, not the 75 to 80 percent that the landfill apologists tout); 2) the increasing awareness of the truly limited success of existing recycling programs (when you recycle 55 percent of the aluminum cans, it doesn’t mean 55 percent of all cans are preserved forever, it means that 45 percent of the existing cans are lost every 90 days (typical cycle time from brewery dock to retail to frig to consumption to recycling to remanufacturing and back to the brewery dock). If you do the math, you realize that 98 percent of all the cans made 15 months ago are now in the dump (you get to keep 55 percent of 55 percent of 55 percent of 55 percent of 55 percent), and that 99.5 percent of all aluminum cans ever made (it’s been 30 years now) are now at the dump.  

3) Then, of course, there’s the energy wasted by dumping materials rather than recycling them: making paper from wood chips vs. from old paper means more chemicals, more heat/energy, more water, etc. Recent USEPA calculations indicate that if all the recycling done in America today were to stop tonight, we would need 100 regular sized power plants tomorrow to make the electricity that would be required by starting from scratch rather than with post-consumer goods. Despite fifty years of writing reports, no one in Washington has calculated, much less proposed, what the resource savings (water, materials, energy, etc.) would be gained if all materials were forever recycled. The economic benefits of completing high school are well known, the economic benefit of keeping all materials out of the dump has no policy analysts, much less advocates. 

And so, into this new consciousness of some big problems out there, our aging recyclers issue a clarion call for “zero waste.” What they mean by the term varies; some want to focus on the fact that 90 percent of what’s in today’s garbage is materials for which ready recycling markets exist. If the simple answer to AIDS is abstinence, the simple answer to garbage gluts is make those garbage-makers recycle. Others want to look at materials for which markets don’t yet exist (adhesives, foil-paper combinations, lots of plastics, alkaline batteries, etc.) and find a way to keep the cost of recycling on the backs of manufacturers and consumers and not on everybody (variously called “product stewardship” or “producer responsibility”). Still others want to maximize reuse and voluntary simplicity programs so that we all buy less new stuff and reduce and reuse more. (One calculation says for every ton of material in currency in our economy there are 70 tons of mine tailings, tree trimmings, waste pits, etc.) Not inconsiderable portions of the landscape have been denuded or overgrown with industrial residues, see Borax, California or Ajo, Arizona.  

Palo Alto and now, just starting out, cities like Oakland and Berkeley, are designing programs to put these zero waste policies into place, but at this point there’s little uniformity of opinion about how the planned or hoped-for future will be delivered into the present. But a sizable number of our local governments are trying to make it work so the future will indeed be better than the past. 

Oakland resident Arthur Boone ran the North Oakland Recycling Center on  

Telegraph Avenue from 1983 to 1989, and now sits on the Alameda County  

Recycling Board. He can be reached at arboone3@yahoo.com.

Local papers are reporting that Burning Man is addressing its energy usage in a scheme called Cooling Man (coolingman.org) wherein Burners can pay for their energy usage by purchasing “carbon offsets” and reduce the festival’s global warming impacts. A fine idea, but the claim that participants will “offset” their global warming impact “the same way as a large corporations do” by investing in clean energy projects is not exactly correct. It hides the larger problem of current free-market answers to global warming. 

While Burners are being asked to pay for their pollution, today’s increasingly internationalized carbon trading plans reward large corporate polluters with “carbon credits” based on their historical pollution levels, usually in tons, which they can then trade on the open market to other corporate polluters. Trading pollution credits in a market-based system includes the buying of so-called carbon sinks that are supposed to “sequester” CO2 and supporting no-greenhouse gas energy production. In the US, there is even an “acid rain” trading system for sulfur dioxide emissions. 

Unfortunately, this plan financially compensates heavy polluters and only redistributes pollution by giving them credit for polluting in the first place. 

Every American, as citizens of the country that spews more than a third the world’s pollution, is more or less responsible for a portion of the pollution our country produces. So, if we think about pollution trading in a more democratic way, why can’t each and every American, from the president on down to the newborn infant, be given a piece of the pollution market, just like the polluting corporations? We could each take responsibility for our own environmental footprint. By choice or by necessity we would be rewarded for living a low energy lifestyle. 

I walk a lot and ride a bike to work. I haven’t owned a car in three years and haven’t flown in five. I eat low on the food chain and try to avoid products that add to air pollution. I took Al Gore’s test on my yearly CO2 production. The average in the USA is 15,000 pounds. Mine is far below average at about 2,100. In a personalized carbon trading scheme, I would be a rich man. I could sell my credits to my neighbor who drives an SUV and owns a speedboat. But we’d both be rich if we could barter our credits to industry. 

Think this is a dream? Reuters reported in July that there are already proposals in the United Kingdom to do just that. Environment minister David Milband is studying the possibility of issuing consumers a personal energy use card representing a citizen’s portion of the entire pollution output of the UK. The card would be used as a debit card that track’s personal energy use. Use more, you would have to spend you carbon credits and perhaps buy more. Consume less and you could sell or bank your carbon credits, maybe even draw interest. You could trade your credits to a person who wants to travel on energy intensive modes of transport, eat meat, burn gas and oil and dry clothes in a clothes dryer instead of on a clothesline. And you would get healthier and slimmer for all the walking. 

Another plan, similar but less personalized, would be to increase taxes, across the board or selectively based on social needs, on polluting activities while reducing taxes on non-polluting activities and things we want to support, like employment. This is called “true-cost pricing” but it only works if you earmark the funds for reinvestment into alternative energy projects. True-cost pricing would go a long way to rationalizing our insane energy economy where nobody, the corporation or the consumer, pays the costs of our American lifestyle. And for the free-marketeers, true-cost pricing can be seen as another market-force that will drive innovation and improve efficiency. 

Hank Chapot is a Berkeley resident.

Opponents of the Oak to 9th development project in Oakland have made one thing clear—they can make their voices heard (“Can Oakland Re-Think Oak to 9th?” Editorial, Daily Planet, Aug. 18). However, being vocal is not the same thing as being accurate.  

Unfortunately, much of the inaccurate information about the project being put out by opponents made it into Becky O’Malley’s editorial. The Oak to 9th Community Benefits Coalition, an alliance of community-based organizations representing low-income residents near the Oak to 9th site, would like to set the record straight on how this project will benefit the community. 

So what did local residents win for the community? Perhaps the most groundbreaking and precedent-setting affordable housing and local hire programs of any large-scale development project in Oakland. The Oak to 9th project will create a pipeline for 300 Oakland residents to go from low-wage jobs to starting a career in the building trades and create 465 units of affordable housing for families making less than $50,000 a year. 

Yet, some project opponents have publicly criticized the local hire commitment made by the developer. They point out that Oakland’s existing policy requires developers to hire 50 percent Oakland residents for construction of their projects, yet the Oak to 9th commitment is for only 6 percent. 

Bad news? Only if you don’t understand the goals of the community or how Oakland’s local hire policy works. What residents want is an opportunity to start careers in the hard-to-break-into building and construction trades. Based on this goal, what the Oak to 9th coalition negotiated is better than the city’s policy and an innovative model that we hope to replicate with other projects. 

So how does a 6 percent commitment translate into innovation? On most construction sites, one out of every five workers (20 percent) is an apprentice, still learning the trade. The Oak to 9th developer, Oakland Harbor Partners LLC, has committed to reserving nearly one out of three of those apprenticeship jobs for people new to the trades (30 percent). The math works out to 6 percent, or about 300 opportunities for local residents to start a career in the building trades. And, furthermore, the developer’s local hire commitment is backed up by heavy monetary penalties and innovative incentives. 

Contrast this with the city’s local hire policy, which is considered by most a failure in giving Oakland residents a chance to enter the building trades. While a 50 percent local hire requirement seems high, it often results in contractors simply reassigning existing Oakland workers from projects in other cities to meet their local hire obligations. As a result, we may get Oakland residents on construction sites in Oakland, but we get no new construction job opportunities for Oaklanders. 

But that’s not all. Ramping up the skills of local residents, often stuck in low-wage, dead-end jobs, requires training. The residents won a commitment of $1.65 million from the developer for the extra training needed before workers even become apprentices. No other developer in Oakland has provided the training money needed to get new workers into the trades. 

In fact, this comprehensive local hire approach, with money up front for training and hiring only new, local apprentices—may be the best local hire requirement of any project in the East Bay for giving low-income workers a start in the building trades. 

Another argument being made against the project, and reflected in Becky O’Malley’s editorial, is that the affordable housing plans are “sketchy” or will not provide any more affordable housing than is mandated by city policy. 

It is hard to imagine a deal less sketchy than this one. The development agreement, signed between the city and the developer, spells out the requirements in specific, targeted, and legally binding language. The community coalition engaged the developer and the city for two years in negotiations to ensure that the deal was strong, binding, and met the real needs of local residents. 

Eight hundred residents from three organizations in the working class neighborhoods surrounding the Oak to 9th site came together almost three years ago and proposed priorities for affordable housing at the project: 1) affordable housing should prioritize very and extremely low income households, and 2) housing units should have 2-3 bedrooms, or be large enough to accommodate families.  

The final Development Agreement reflects these priorities—for 465 units of mostly family-sized, affordable units for people who make $25,000 to $50,000 for a family of four. The affordable housing must be built as part of the project unless there is other land available and the community coalition gives the city its consent to move units off-site. 

By contrast, state law and city policy doesn’t require that any affordable housing be built as part of this project—only that it be built sometime, somewhere by someone in the redevelopment area over the next decade. And most of those units can be reserved for people making as much as $100,000 per year. Again, there is no comparison between city policy and what was won in this agreement. 

This level of housing affordability and family unit size requirements break new ground for Oakland and for many other cities in the East Bay. These landmark achievements of affordable housing, local hiring, and job training on the Oak to 9th project make it a project well worth moving forward. Thanks for this opportunity to set the record straight. 

Gabriel de Leon is a member of Oakland Community Organizations. Howard Greenwich is research director for the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy.  

UNION CITY—“He got into an accident. That will be our story,” my father said to me. “You can’t tell anyone what really happened. It will shame our family. Your uncle was a coward. He didn’t think of anyone but himself. But he was sick, I suppose. He had to have been to have done what he did.” 

When people asked me how my uncle died, I lied to them. My lies were contradictory and they left many loose ends. People in the tight-knit Afghan community in “Little Kabul,” California, were suspicious. They knew something had happened other than what my family was telling them.  

My uncle lived with bipolar disorder. He lived in a world where his uncontrollable mood swings dictated his life. During his manic periods, he was euphoric. He would work day and night and never feel tired. But then, as quickly as he had climbed to the top of the heavens, he would fall. He would become irritable, confused, and feel enclosed in a prison.  

My uncle never spoke of his illness. None of us did. Often, in the Afghan community, issues that are taboo are swept under the rug. 

My father thought if he hid the way my uncle died, people would talk less. He thought he might be able to sustain my uncle’s pride even in death. He was wrong. People made up their own stories. In some of the rumors, my father’s hands are tainted with my uncle’s blood.  

Suicide is a sin in Islam, and mental illness is taboo in Afghan culture. Often, those who have mental disorders are frowned upon. They are called “daywana,” a foul word for insane. Antidepressants are considered pills that Western doctors give patients to make them crazy. Anxiety attacks are defined as occurrences where evil Jin—spirits—take over the body. 

Because of this attitude, even to this day, I am bound by this secret. That it is why I cannot, for the sake of my family, publish this piece under my real name. 

My uncle’s illness went untreated primarily because his disease was ignored and misunderstood. He was ashamed, as was the rest of my family, to admit to an illness involving the mind. 

I squint my eyes sometimes, mimicking the dazed sensation I had that night when my uncle called. I repeat the deep breaths I took, try to feel the cold of the room, and even make my heart race just as it had when my dad handed me the phone while I was still half-asleep. I want to relive it, so I can understand it.  

I can hear my father’s voice repeating, “Mahtab, your uncle is on the phone. Mahtab, wake up, he’s sick!” I hear my dad saying. 

I had not talked to my uncle in two years. I had so much pent up anger toward him. As my dad handed me the phone, I couldn’t remember what I was angry about.  

The pit of my stomach felt cold and hollow because I missed him, but my pride stood in the way of forgiving him. It is this pride, “ghairat,” at times excessive, that will forever define an Afghan. Ghairat kept my uncle from seeking treatment and my dad from voicing the problem and the truth.  

“I love you, kaka jaan.” I spoke the empty words to try to make things better again. 

“How are you my little, mosecha (bird)?” His voice was soft and hopeless. 

“I miss you kaka jaan.” I felt tears gathering in my throat. 

“I am not good, jaan eh kaka,” he said. 

“Be strong kaka jaan,” I stuttered. 

My uncle was often a pessimist. I never knew him to talk kindly of many people. I do, however, remember his smile, the way he would gaze at me as if he were genuinely happy to see me, and tell me he loved me. Frustrated, I handed the phone to my father. 

My father quivered like a child. His veins were visible in his eyes. My uncle handed the phone to his wife. I could imagine her tall slender figure and dark hair. She was only 23 years old. She had been married to my uncle since she was 17.  

“He has been like this for a week now,” she said rapidly. 

“Why? I don’t understand?” said my father. 

“He lost his job,” she said. 

“People always lose their jobs,” my father said. “Does he have to lose his mind as a result of it?” But now I know my uncle hadn’t lost his mind as a result of losing his job; he had lost his job as a result of his low from his disease.  

My uncle got on the phone one more time that night. “Mahtab, send your dad tomorrow. I am not well. And promise me you will come tomorrow.”  

The next morning I awoke to my uncle’s phone call. “Where is your father?” he asked without salutations. “When are you coming to Florida?” I could not have guessed that would be my last conversation with him.  

He had a plan. He had arranged for my dad to come to Florida so my dad could take care of his wife when he killed himself, and for me to join my father so that I could support him. But my father went alone. 

When my father arrived in Florida he intended to take my uncle to the hospital. Instead, he was fooled. My uncle seemed fine. No one spoke of the conversation from the night before. No one spoke of mental illness or bipolar disease. They went to eat together.  

The next morning, my uncle took the keys to his car and said he was going to the post office. Instead, he jumped off of a five-story building. To this day, my extended family holds on to the story that my uncle died in a car accident, burying his disease along with the truth.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We got a lot of letters about our decision to print an anti-Jewish letter on our opinion pages, and about the letters we ran last Tuesday from some Jewish leaders and some politicians denouncing that decision. Many of our readers are tired of hearing about this topic and would like us to get back to other matters. In these pages we attempt to run most of the comments which came in before our deadline at one time and be done with it. We’re holding letters on other matters until Friday to make space. 

In these pages we are also experimenting with the idea of making short editor’s comments on individual opinions, a la the Anderson Valley Advertiser.  

Readers of our opinion pages (letters and commentary) should be aware of these disclaimers: the owners, management and staff of the Berkeley Daily Planet do not agree with everything printed in our opinion section even when we don’t say explicitly that we disagree. Editorials are the opinion of the owners of the paper unless otherwise stated. By-lined columns and cartoons in the rest of the paper are the opinion of the authors, not necessarily those of the paper. The editors decide which opinions are most likely to interest our readers, and they are published on a space-available basis, with overflow on our website.  

MEETING 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

In her Aug. 22 editorial, Ms. O’Malley denied that she turned down a request to meet with representatives of the Jewish community about what they saw as a blatantly anti-Semitic commentary printed in the Daily Planet on Aug. 8. 

Ms. O’Malley, did, in fact, refuse such a meeting. That is an indisputable fact. How do I know? I know because I am the representative from the Jewish community who called her asking for the meeting. She even mentions me by name in the Aug. 11 issue of the Daily Planet: 

“We also got a call from a young sounding woman with a San Francisco number who said she was ‘Tami from the ADL.’ I expected that meant she represented the Anti-defamation League. When I called her back, she said, ‘We’d like to meet with you.’ I’d just fielded a similar request for a meeting from the manager of a political candidate. In both cases, I’m assuming they hoped to affect the way the paper covers stories and issues that they care about, and frankly, the answer to both has to be sorry, no dice. 

“I told Tami that if she was hoping to persuade us to self-censor our opinion coverage, a meeting would be a waste of time for both parties (italics added), but if her organization wanted to submit a commentary, we’d be happy to print it.” 

Ms. O’Malley told me, in a clear unmistakable way, that she was unwilling to meet. She even published her reaction in her own paper. 

Tami Holzman 

Assistant Director, Anti-Defamation League 

Oakland  

I sent the following e-mail over the weekend replying to Ms. Holzman and the two rabbis who forwarded last Tuesday’s two letters from Jewish leaders and politicians: 

Dear Rabbi Brandt, Rabbi Raj and Ms. Holzman, 

You have taken part, perhaps unknowingly, in an unjust act.  

As Ms. Holzman knows and can tell you if she thinks about it, in our brief conversation I did not say that I refused to meet with all leaders of the Jewish community. What I did say is that it was unlikely that a meeting with people she represented only as “we” (by which I assumed she meant Anti-Defamation League members and/or staff) would change my mind regarding the propriety of printing admittedly racist and unkind letters. I did say I thought it would be a waste of time, but that’s not a refusal, just an opinion. I was then, and am still, willing to meet with anyone to discuss the topic. Ms. Holzman, if she thinks back on the conversation, will I’m sure acknowledge that she might have misinterpreted my words. As I said in my editorial last Tuesday, which I hope you all have read by now, I offered her space in the paper, she wrote a letter which was published, and I assumed that she (and her principals, whoever they were) were satisfied, that they agreed with me that a meeting would be a waste of time for all concerned.  

I am still ready to meet. 

Regarding a public or private meeting: you may or may not be aware that the reputation of the Anti-Defamation League is not the same as it was when I was growing up in University City, Missouri, in the ’50s. If you look it up on Wikipedia, you can find reproduced some of the criticisms it has received in the last few years—that’s what caused me to feel apprehensive about a closed-door meeting with today’s ADL.  

I don’t have the same apprehension about everyone who signed your two letters, however. I am ready to meet with any or all of those who signed the letters you transmitted. I would prefer to meet in front of witnesses, as I said in the editorial, but I’d even be willing to meet behind closed doors with designated representatives of the whole Jewish community if there’s some reason they’re apprehensive about expressing their views in public.  

Any or all of you or your signers could have checked with me on this matter before signing a letter denouncing me. My office phone number and e-mail addresses are printed in every issue of the paper, and my home phone number has been listed in every Berkeley phone book since 1973. I don’t know any of the religious leaders, but I do know most of the politicians, and (whether or not they like me or what the paper has reported about them) they know I’m not afraid of controversy. Most of them have called me when they wanted something from me, and they could have called me to ask if it was true that I refused to meet with the religious leaders.  

But even after the letters were published last Tuesday along with my response none of the signers has seen fit to get in touch with me regarding my offer to meet. I would like to believe that their expressed desire for a meeting was a good faith offer. Please forward this letter to all signers of both letters.  

Becky O’Malley 

Executive Editor 

Berkeley Daily Planet 

• 

WORDS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As I read your editorial, “It’s Time for a Meeting,” I began to realize it was mostly a bunch of words. Well-written as usual, but still a lot of words. Under all the sophisticated phrasing (except maybe for “put up or shut up”), a few major things caught my attention. 

One is the idea that you, Becky O’Malley, are a victim being picked on by the big bad people who are simply asking you to clean up the mess you helped make (“I was being set up” “I don’t like to be bullied”). This is not only wrong, but also irrelevant, as the real issue is not about ego. Second, all those intellectual rationalizations for allowing the letter to be printed strike me as little more than noise. The simple, undeniable fact is that a piece of blatant religious/ethnic bigotry has been allowed in this newspaper. 

But the thing that surprises and saddens me the most, as I read through your editorial, is what seems like a near-complete lack of empathy for the people who have been hurt (never mind the couple of gee-I’m-sorry-you-feel-that-way-but statements). In the mass of words, I could find nothing that sounded like a true apology. Your one “personal opinion,” in which you state that you found the Arianpour letter “very nasty,” is quickly followed up with more rationalizing. Echoing a previous writer, I have to ask: Would you use all these words to justify printing a similar letter that pushed blatant racial stereotypes about blacks? On the heels of that: If not, why not? 

Alexis Johnson 

Oakland 

Ms. Johnson’s point was also made to me in a somewhat different way by an African-American friend who asked to meet with me shortly after the Arianpour letter appeared. He felt required in good conscience as a member of another often-discriminated-against minority to point out that generalizations attributing bad behaviors to large groups and saying that evil done to them is their own fault are both untrue and hurtful, and that therefore they shouldn’t be given space in the paper. It’s a good point, which deserves serious consideration, but having thought about it, I respectfully disagree. Racist generalizations about blacks, Jews and other groups will be made behind closed doors no matter what we do in the press, but if they’re put on the table they can at least be refuted. See the next letter. 

• 

APOLOGY NEEDED 

To Don Perata et al: 

I write, as a Jew, to protest strongly the letter to which you signed your name calling on Becky O’Malley, executive editor of the Berkeley Daily Planet, to “apologize to the community” for printing the anti-Semitic Arianpour op-ed on Aug. 8. 

O’Malley made an editorial decision with which you may or may not agree but to call for an apology is equivalent to imposing censorship ex post facto. Shall we have the newspaper police sitting in the Planet offices henceforward, making sure this never happens again? Hey, if you didn’t like something you read, write in and say so—Kris Worthington did—or stop reading the paper (duh) but don’t “call for” an act of public abasement to the “community,” whatever that is. 

Context rules. All kinds of racist nonsense gets printed in the Planet all the time—and for good reason, since racist thinking pervades American culture. My favorite is the letter last year following the incident in which a good Samaritan rescued a young African-American woman who was giving premature birth to triplets on the steps of the downtown BART station. Sure enough, someone actually went to the trouble of writing in to point out that these babies were going to be a burden on the public (Eisenman, Oct. 11, 2005). Should they have been left to die? Is this racist enough for you? Or did the same nasty thought briefly flash through your mind when you read the original item?  

Or consider the story, not letter, that appeared in the Aug. 18 Planet, in which first-time Berkeley School Board candidate David Baggins explained that he was running to address “violence in the schools,” “under-enforcement of residency” and “not holding back” the “bright youths.” Since my child went through Berkeley schools not long ago, I immediately recognized this platform as barely veiled code for “Berkeley High would be a great school if we could just get the black kids out of my kid’s classes and out of the hallways, where they jack him for his lunch money.” I also know that if I were an African-American parent or grandparent struggling to shepherd my child through a school system run by white people for white people and essentially indifferent to my child’s well-being, I would feel as if a knife had gone through my heart when I read this, particularly because, not only is it not recognized as racism, but, on the contrary, exemplifies mainstream thinking and acceptable discourse. And then I would toss the paper in the trash and get on with my day because this would be my reality in America. 

On the other hand, twice in the last year or so I have sat in a roomful of middle-class Jews while an “anti-racism/anti-anti-Semitism activist” urged us to seek in our hearts for the anti-Semitism we must surely be experiencing. One woman in one group had escaped the Holocaust, the worst outbreak of anti-Semitism in history, and I had been frightened or discomforted a few times, mostly during my childhood, but no one else could think of any actual instances! Yet everyone present was convinced that he or she was surrounded by a pervasive anti-Semitism which could reach threat level at any moment if ever our vigilance fails. 

Why is it that African-Americans, for whom racism, embedded as it is in our culture, is ubiquitous in daily life, do not demand “apologies,” whereas Jews, the most successful minority in U.S. history, any cross-section of whom can’t at any particular moment think of actual experiences of oppression, do so at the drop of a hat? 

Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve been had. Neither Rabbi Raj nor any of the other people who may possibly have contacted you in an effort to obtain your signature felt either fear or shame (the key effects of racism) as a result of Mr. Arianpour’s diatribe, but rather that agreeably triumphal feeling of a-ha, the moment has come to get Becky. 

It turns out that Lebanon War II had been planned for over a year, the border incident of July 12 merely providing a pretext. Mr. Arianpour’s op-ed is the border incident of the long-planned Daily Planet campaign. O’Malley’s sin is giving folks like me, who criticize Israel, a platform. The apology which you demand has nothing to do with anti-Semitism and everything to do with the hyper-vigilant Zionist lobby, which will not permit any narrative contrary to the Zionist narrative to see the light of day. 

Twice in the past two weeks, because of the Lebanon war, I argued about Israel with two people with whom I had never before discussed it: an old friend of my husband’s and my sister-in-law. Both are middle-class, mainstream, non-Jewish Americans of rather conservative opinion and both of them told me fervently that Israel is a tiny beleaguered country surrounded by barbarian Arab terrorists who want only to push it into the sea. Neither understands that there are millions of displaced and/or occupied Palestinians, let alone has the slightest clue as to their plight. 

When I think of those Palestinians, nearly all of them in straits of dire poverty and oppression and hopelessness, and know that, not only did people from my tribe, the Jews, cause their situation to begin with (and deliberately and continually worsen their situation and refuse to address their situation), but also that people from my tribe, the Jews, work overtime to ensure that their situation will be erased from human discourse, erased from the minds of living people, and ultimately erased from history, then I understand that I’m back in 1930s Germany, but this time, maybe because there is a God who wants us to learn compassion, I’m on the other side. It is this reversal of roles that Zionists (successfully, as the above paragraph illustrates) do not want Americans to comprehend. Thus, the calls for apologies at every ridiculous hint of “anti-Semitism” form a part of the ongoing project of keeping the Jews, in their own minds as well as the minds of others, essential and eternal victims—the archetype of victimization. 

I will keep doing what I can to fix an historic wrong—one that, I might mention just in passing, with its constant threat of wider war such as we have just now seen, poses a grave danger to the United States as well as to the region and the world. What you need to do is write a letter of apology to Becky O’Malley for interfering with the way she does her job. I bet she doesn’t interfere with yours. 

Joanna Graham 

Well, I do try to influence the way elected officials do their jobs, but then taxpayers like me pay their salary, while they don’t pay mine. 

We’ve received a letter in response to our last editorial on the Berkeley schools from a parent who says that his kids did get a good education in Berkeley schools, but his daughter also had her nose broken by an African-American girl. And therefore…??? Is this an unintentionally racist letter, because it invites generalizations about a large group of people from the bad behavior of one member of the group? Should we print it on Friday? Should we point out what we think is wrong with his reasoning? 

• 

EGG ON THEIR FACES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

All the East Bay mayors and the conservative wing of the Berkeley City Council who signed the letter excoriating Daily Planet editor Becky O’Malley must be quite busy now, and using a ton of soap washing the egg off their faces. 

Their letter lambasted Becky for printing a vile hate letter and failing to meet with pro-Israeli supporters. Yet Becky in her Aug. 22 editorial showed that she wasn’t taken up on her offer to meet in a public venue with any or all of them. I guess the public venue thing was a bit too challenging. 

All this sound and fury points to the long unaddressed need in Berkeley to hold town hall meetings to air all sides over hot issues. The town hall meeting used to be a standard democratic practice in the U.S. of A. 

How about it, Mayor Tom? He has some democratic dues to pay to Berkeley. Holding a public meeting on the Middle East mess would be a good start. 

And to Becky, hold on to your ideals of free speech as your policy. It is that policy that makes the Daily Planet one of the few facets of Berkeley political life I’m proud of. 

Maris Arnold 

• 

O’MALLEY’S WEAK REASONING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley’s defense of her decision to publish the commentary by Mr. Arianpour, which contained blatant anti-Semitic remarks, rests on weak reasoning. She wrote that keeping sentiments like his out of the Daily Planet won’t make him or people like him go away. The same could be said for the racist and anti-female sentiments that are standard fare on American “hate” radio. 

Absolute free speech exists only in the privacy of one’s home (and not always there). An editor of any media outlet is always a gatekeeper. Some kinds of speech are outside the bounds of what any given community feels is tolerable. It’s fine for an editor to push the edges, lest the community become too smug. But an editor who wants to keep a community’s respect must also recognize when she has gone too far. And in this case, Ms. O’Malley did. 

Steve Meyers 

• 

POWER AND FAIRNESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I support your decision to publish letters from your readers. I support your right to use your judgment in deciding which letters to publish. I felt moved to let you know that you have my support after reading the letter from a reader who found it necessary to marshal the support of a number of rabbis, heads of Jewish organizations, and publicly elected officials to denounce your decision to print a letter from another of your readers whose opinion was found objectionable. 

Within a few days the letter to which there was objection appearing in the Daily Planet, this person was able to contact numerous heads of organizations and publicly elected officials to sanction his rejoinder. To me that is power. I am reminded of the many publicly elected officials and business owners who cower at the mention of certain political action committees. And I am reminded of those who refuse to be cowered. You are of the latter.  

Thank you for a publication that I look forward to reading. I have been involved in Berkeley life since 1959. Your commitment to fairness is why I enjoy and appreciated living in Berkeley. 

James L. Lacy 

• 

GO TO THE SOURCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While not questioning the Daily Planet’s right to publish vulgar, hate-filled statements, local political leaders question the propriety of publishing them in a community newspaper (letters, Aug. 22). As disturbing as it may be to read such venom, and realizing that in war the first casualty is truth, we need to be exposed to views held by many as a result of U.S. policy and realize what hatred has been generated. Rather than being disturbed at the Daily Planet for publishing these words, we should be asking why there is such hatred generated, and what we can do about it. 

Tom Miller 

Miller & Ngo, PLC 

Attorneys at Law 

Oakland 

• 

TRUE INTENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Despite publisher/editor Becky O’Malley’s hiding her true intent behind the facade of free speech, she chose to print the anti-Semitic tract by Kurosh Arianpour. And she knows full well that she would never print similar commentary from the hate groups like the KKK about blacks or any other minority. 

Let there be no mistake about it, the fact that O’Malley decided to publish such garbage—a missive of astounding bigotry which would never be printed in any other American journals save neo-Nazi rags—reflects her own pronounced anti-Semitism. 

Unfortunately, O’Malley has used her money to create a publication, passing for a community newspaper, which regurgitates such unmitigated prejudice in our community. Correspondingly her newspaper, always less than professional, has become something far darker. 

Dan Spitzer 

Kensington 

• 

GET YER OWN PAPER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

These self-styled Jewish leaders need to get their own newspaper if they dislike the Daily Planet. They don’t get to set the parameters or decide what’s politically correct. 

The Iranian was crude and he did generalize, as if your Israeli apologists’ letter writers don’t do that every day about “Arabs”! 

I disagree more often than not with your editorials but it’s your paper and your money and you, properly, get to call the shots. 

People who don’t like that, for any reason, need to be told to take a long walk off a short pier. 

Michael Hardesty 

Oakland  

• 

UNIMPRESSED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a determined advocate of the First Amendment and no fan of hate speech legislation, I was unimpressed by Becky O’Malley’s disingenuous defense of the Planet’s decision to publish Kurosh Arianpour’s bigoted and unenlightening commentary in the Aug. 8 edition. 

O’Malley’s editorial suggests that running Arianpour’s piece was an act of integrity, or even of public service. It contends that beyond simply offering up equal space for the battle of ideas, the Planet did readers a favor by educating us on the insidiousness of extremist thought. 

Nonsense. By this logic, it is the Planet’s editorial duty to publish in every issue a racist, sexist, or homophobic diatribe. Reasoned arguments need not apply; only the basest bigotry can enlighten the audience as to hate’s myriad forms. 

O’Malley’s piece relies on what is known in the magic business as “misdirection”: I’ll wave a hand over here, defending free speech, so that the audience misses what is actually happening over there: the Planet’s attempt to evade responsibility for its editorial decisions. 

The editors might easily have found an anti-war Israeli, a Lebanese, or a Palestinian to offer their impassioned criticism of Israeli military action in Lebanon. Such a piece could have offered a useful counterpoint to Mr. Glickman’s defense of Israel. Instead, the editors chose—and I emphasize the verb “to choose”—a philippic that Ehud Appel, quoting Halper, aptly summarized as “plain old-fashioned stupid racism.” In making this deliberate selection the Planet most certainly sought to either paint all defenders of Israel as racists equal in bigotry to Mr. Arianpour, or to legitimize Arianpour’s tired blame-the-victim logic. 

Planet editors should take care not to confuse their constitutional precepts. The freedoms of speech and of the press are called out individually in the First Amendment because they are distinct rights with different obligations. I support absolutely the right of people like Mr. Arianpour to shout their ideas from a soapbox, publish a blog, or print up pamphlets, however odious I may find such expression. 

But the press is not a purely public space, and the Planet doesn’t publish every commentary it receives. It intentionally selected Arianpour’s essay from among many. (Of course, the decision to run an inflammatory, misleading headline (“Criticizing Israel = Anti-Semitism”) atop Mr. Glickman’s commentary was also deliberate.) Ms. O’Malley claims independence from those who would use any “form of persuasion to suppress speech you don’t like” but then waves the grand banner of free expression to “misdirect” readers from the fact that the paper most recently demonstrated that same independence by choosing to publish unvarnished (if unoriginal) racism. 

Adam F. Block 

The headline over Mr. Glickman’s commentary was a mistake—it was intended for another letter which came in at the same time. We ran his letter pointing out the error. 

• 

WASTE OF WORDS, PAPER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

To all those honorable religious and political leaders who are named in a collective condemnation of this paper’s approval of free speech (Aug. 22): Your cries of anti-Semitism do not turn our eyes away from the truth. You join the ignorant anti-Semites in their waste of precious words and paper.  

If you are defending Jewish people then you must include the millions of us Jews who are horrified by Israel’s slaughter of innocents! I am distressed and shocked to assume that you, who have signed this complaint to the editor, are by your silences, approving of these atrocities. 

While you argue the danger of language, there are, to this day, universal reports by “Human Rights Watch” on the continuous use of thousands of illegal cluster bombs and land mines, in the killing and maiming of civilians in Lebanan. 

Please use Editor O’Malley’s invitation to defend your attacks. This is one paper that is not putting truth on a “back page”! 

Gerta Farber 

• 

TWO SIDES TO THE STORY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In regards to Kurosh Arianpour’s comment about the Jews: “....they do wrong to other people to the point that others turn against them.” Like all half-truths, this statement is baldly false at face value. But speaking of half-truths, here’s something else for Rabbi James Brandt to consider: During the Jews’ long, and often tragic history, the Jews have had trouble get along with many, many different tribes, during many, many different times and many, many different places. A fact that nobody disputes. In regards to this, there are entire libraries of Jewish-written books on the subject of “anti-Semitism", almost all of which can be summed up in six little words: “Its all the other person’s fault.” This is possible, but highly unlikely. As shocking as this notion might be for certain people in certain circles to consider, perhaps there really is two sides to the story.  

Peter Labriola 

P.S.: I hope my many, clear-thinking Jewish friends will consider what I’ve written here, as opposed to just attacking me out of hand. For I’ve written it for your benefit not mine.  

P.P.S.: The Berkeley Daily Planet should be commended for printing a wide and divergent spectrum of opinions, as opposed to just the politically correct version of reality. This is an almost unprecedented example of journalistic integrity among Bay Area publications. And if you don’t think so, just look at all the knee-jerk liberal pablum spewing out of virtually every other Bay Area publication in the guise of journalism. 

See above comments re: problems with generalizations. Everyone has always had trouble getting along with their neighbors, unfortunately—recent examples are ex-Yugoslavia and many in Africa. Jews are no different from the rest of humanity in this respect. 

• 

FIRST AMENDMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks for having the guts to print diverse opinions. Keep the First Amendment alive, 

Daryl Lura 

El Cerrito 

• 

VOICE OF REASON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’d like to applaud Kriss Worthington for his tempered criticism of the anti-Semitic commentary by Kurosh Arianpour in your Aug. 8 edition. Instead of attacking the Planet, as did a small group which professes to speak “on behalf of the Berkeley Jewish community” and another small group of pro-development politicians eager, no doubt, to get their licks in, Councilmember Worthington criticized the source, not our free-speech newspaper. There have been countless letters from Israel-right-or-wrong supporters that have been printed in the Planet, with a lesser number of brave souls supporting the Palestinians’ right to a free state of their own, not a land that is occupied or fenced or bantustaned. This Jewish community of rabbis and professionals does not speak for me or many other Jewish people I know in Berkeley and the Bay Area who support a two state solution and do not think that any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism. I do not hold with Mr. Arianpour’s views, but now we have a very concrete example of what others think of Israel and Jews and why we have to work even harder to change U.S. and Israeli policies. Both these elite groups in Berkeley are the ones who owe Becky O’Malley and the Planet an apology for attacking her and its integrity and their great service to our community. 

Estelle Jelinek 

• 

WHO DEFINES A FREE PRESS? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Who would disagree with the importance of decrying and exposing racist remarks (including anti-Semitic remarks) and behaviors whenever and wherever they appear? I found myself in strong agreement with those sentiments as I read them in letters printed in the Planet. I’m pleased that the earlier article’s author was taken to task for his inappropriate and inaccurate remarks about Jews. However, a question or two for the rabbis and self-righteous politicos who signed those two letters. Tell us, the public, if and how you have used the weight of your positions and your public and private voices to declaim against Israel’s destruction of Lebanon and her people, against the systematic decimation and dehumanization of the Palestinian people? As far as I can tell almost all U.S. politicians jumped to defend Israel’s behavior, which Amnesty International claims amounted to war crimes against an entire nation. Can you be unaware that Israel’s disrespect for the lives of millions of others (unlike the fraud of historical revisionism) is providing documentable evidence for the rise of yet another round of the scourge of anti-Semitism?  

I find the rabbis and politicos finger wagging at the Planet and its editor misplaced and self-serving. And there is a hidden warning. I have no doubt that Becky O’Malley will continue to run a free press, printing your opinions as well as mine. But if the Planet were to attempt to censor all inaccurate stereotypes and potential hate-speech, you know, the Planet would be unable to print many of the remarks of this nation’s highest officials; and would have to hire a team of censors.  

Some years ago a group called the Network against Disinformation picketed the Chronicle based on its censorship. We had Alison Weir’s (www.ifamericansknew.org ) research proving that U.S. media consistently failed to cover the Palestinian plight, while giving overwhelming attention to Israel’s views and personal losses. By chance, Phil Bronstein, the editor, entered the building through our line and we engaged him. If you want us to pay attention to what you are saying, he said in a moment of frankness, bring down 1,500 people and threaten to boycott us like Zionist organizations can and do do.  

Reflect on that idea of an open society, suggesting the truth isn’t important. People who do believe in real democracy ought to be quite pleased with the Planet for not emulating that cowardly view of journalism and the free press. 

Marc Sapir 

• 

PROFOUND REPUDIATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley says that she is willing to meet with Jewish community so long as it is in a public forum. She names me as the one member of the organized Jewish community with whom she has already met. Although I hold no formal position in the Jewish community, Becky did agree to accept my invitation to take her to lunch. I wanted to discuss a cartoon that she published. O’Malley characterizes this as a cartoon with which I did not agree. In fact, this was the now infamous cartoon depicting Jews as being in control of the United States. To say, blandly, that I disagreed with it, is not the point. It, like the Iranian commentary she has published, was an overt call to anti-Semitism. This goes beyond just disagreement. It was as if she had published the statement, “blacks are sub-human.” This is not a proposition open to debate, only to profound repudiation. Similarly, the most recent hatred published by the Planet to the effect that Jews have caused their own misery because they are inherently racists, is not a proposition anyone should have to debate in public. What happened at our lunch maybe instructive to the Jewish community at large as it weighs O’Malley’s invitation to an open public meeting. O’Malley came to the lunch with a guest. Remember, I was buying, which normally means that I am at least informed in advance of the added freight. She introduced her guest, Anita, as her Middle East expert. I didn’t even sit down before this guest launched into an invective that did not stop, at times screaming, and was comprised of most every piece of information and misinformation in the Hamas textbook. It got so bad, that O’Malley took to apologizing for her guest’s behavior, and offered that she in fact had herself just met this woman and didn’t really know her all that well.  

I presume the public forum O’Malley seeks will be stacked with every radical lunatic in Berkeley, and maybe some out of town skin heads and neo-Nazis to boot, ready to debate the Daily Planet’s proposition that Jews have brought their historical persecution upon themselves. At a minimum, the audience will be filled with Berkeley’s anti-Israel community, even though the topic is not or should not be Israel, pro or con, but the Planet’s publication of ani-Semitic garbage. That O’Malley is ready to stack the audience is apparent by her recent behavior in these pages, where, when faced with a blizzard of letters protesting the use of the Planet for the propagation of anti-Semitism, she actually published a letter in her defense by Rio Bauce, one of her own reporters (the letters section in any reputable paper is off limits to staff), while failing even to identify him as such. In any event, such a public meeting would almost certainly devolve quickly into a shouting match, leaving O’Malley to smugly lean back and take in the fun. 

Finally, I have no personal knowledge of who in the Jewish community did or did not recently ask O’Malley for a meeting. However, I do know that Councilmember Linda Maio, was explicitly asked to sign the letter denouncing anti-Semitism which appeared in the Aug. 22 Planet and pointedly refused to do so. She defended O’Malley’s right to be a purveyor of hate in Berkeley. Recall, that Maio supported the Corrie Resolution, in support of Hamas, which has been so divisive in this community. The Jewish community and other fair-minded citizens of Berkeley will remember this if and when Maio runs for mayor. 

John Gertz 

Much in this letter, right down to the name of the friend, a Holocaust survivor active in reconciliation activities who generously offered to accompany me to lunch with Gertz, is wrong. We do allow our staff writers, even high school interns like Rio, to write signed opinions, and yes, I do know that other papers don’t. They also don’t usually print letters like Gertz’s. Neither the paper nor the cartoonist believes that Jews control the United States, or has ever said or implied that. Gertz has admitted on at least one occasion that he does not know the events which inspired the cartoon (it was published early in April of 2004, if he’d like to do some research). The cartoon used three national flags to depict the three nations involved and was a criticism of the Bush administration’s hypocrisy in posing as a mediator while expressing unquestioning and unconditional support for one side. No stereotypes or generalizations were involved, just flags. Incidentally, Gertz has never taken into account the cartoonist’s other work, offering up nary a word when we ran three consecutive cartoons condemning the election of Hamas and branding it a terrorist organization. See the “International” category at jfdefreitas.com.  

And I don’t sell myself for the price of lunch. I don’t remember who paid the tab, but if it really bothers Gertz I’ll send him a twenty if he’ll give me his mailing address. 

• 

THE GOOD WITH THE BAD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Though I’m reluctant to invite more hate-filled rants from the Daily Planet’s most prolific letter writers, I’d be interested to know how Gertz, Spitzer, Altschul, et al would respond to the recent news that the invasion of Lebanon was in fact planned much earlier, and in partnership with the United States. These letter writers are forever lecturing others for not placing events in context, yet in this instance they insisted that the war was simply sparked by Hezbollah’s kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. Now that Seymour Hersh has revealed the context, it would seem that the rather moderate points made over the years in Planet editorials, columns and cartoons—that Israel is not entirely free from blame, that the situation is not black and white, good vs. evil, and that U.S. involvement is at best disingenuous and at worst wildly destructive—have been confirmed as accurate. And not for the first time, I might add. 

I’d also be curious to know what these writers think of A Jewish Voice For Peace, a group whose position, as stated in one of their slogans, is that there can be no peace for Israel without justice for Palestinians. Are they also, as Spitzer is so fond of saying, victims of Hezbollah’s propaganda machine? Are they leftist Israel-hating radicals masquerading as Jews? Do they have some sort of hidden agenda? 

Again, context is everything. Yes, Editor O’Malley published a racist, anti-Semitic rant. And I cannot offer a defense of that decision. I don’t believe she is an anti-Semite herself, though I do believe she can be faulted for poor editorial judgment. But what the aforementioned letter writers fail to understand is that the same editorial policy that would ban the hate of Mr. Arianpour from getting published would likewise entail the banning of Gertz and Spitzer from these pages, for they have little to say that doesn’t involve systematically trashing those who disagree with them by painting the opposition with the broad brush of “anti-Semitism.” Can you think of any other newspaper that would allow such crass, destructive and infantile language? For or better or for worse, the Planet grants them that privilege. Frequently. 

Yet that’s not to say that these men are not intelligent, articulate people. I don’t know them, I can only judge them by their letters, and despite all the bile, they’re decent writers and more than capable of expressing their views . But just once I would like to see one of them apply his gifts to a proactive piece of writing, a clear and simple statement of his views, without personal attacks. For all I ever see of them are reactionary letters written in response to others, attacking ruthlessly and all the while accusing the Planet of not representing their views. I would argue that the Planet has always allowed them space, too much of it in fact, and that the decision to publish Arianpour’s particular brand of hate is merely the logical extension of that lax editorial policy, a policy that some would praise as open-minded, but one that I would suggest as been misguided from the start. 

That said, I admit that read the Planet in part for just this reason—that they publish views that you can’t find in the tepid, bland mainstream newspapers. That is part of their identity. And if that’s what you want, you have to take the good with the bad. And again, if the politicians and rabbis who recently lambasted the paper had taken the time to consider the context, to learn something of the Planet’s history, to ask for an explanation of editorial policy before rushing to judgment, they might have contributed something positive to the debate rather just another condemnation.  

Steve Reichner 

North Oakland 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Amazing! Becky O’Malley has managed to turn the attack on Jews that appeared in her paper into a situation where she is somehow the aggrieved victim of a “setup.” She even denies that she ever turned down a meeting with representatives of the Jewish community to discuss the hateful commentary she published. 

Yet she admitted her refusal to meet in an Aug. 11 editorial. Here’s what she wrote: 

“We also got a call from a young-sounding woman with a San Francisco number who said she was “Tami from ADL.” I expected that meant she represented the Anti-Defamation League. When I called her back, she said “We’d like to meet with you.” I’d just fielded a similar request for a meeting from the manager of a political candidate. In both cases, I’m assuming they hope to affect the way the paper covers stories and issues that they care about, and the answer to both has to be sorry, but no dice.” 

Clearly, in her own words, Ms. O’Malley says she wouldn’t meet with anyone who “hopes to affect the way the paper covers stories and issues they care about.” The problem is that she does not understand the difference between a political candidate who wants to meet with her to spin a particular issue and a minority group that is offended by a vicious, racist attack. 

And what is her proposed solution? A public meeting. Once again, she thinks that whether or not genocide against the Jews is a good thing is a matter for public debate. She just doesn’t understand that this is not a discussion of land-marking buildings or the creek ordinance or the validity of the war in Iraq.  

This is a question of whether it is appropriate to print a commentary that singles out an ethnic group and vilifies it in the most egregious manner. The representative of the Jewish community who called Ms. O’Malley was simply asking to bring that concern to her attention and to hear her response. 

Ms. O’Malley’s reaction was to divert attention from the real question by launching yet another attack on the Jews. Even more amazing!  

Jerry Weintraub 

• 

THE PROBABLE SOURCE OF ARIANPOUR’S ANTI-SEMITISM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I just read the Aug. 8 op-ed of Kurosh Arianpour, an Iranian student studying in India. 

My reactions follow. I was not surprised to read the words of someone with education in essay composition but factually ignorant and obviously in need of an emotional spleen-venting, the cause of which I think I recognize more than many other Americans. You see, I have read Dr. Alice Miller’s “For Your Own Good,” which talks about brutalized children who are given socially acceptable targets for vilification because it was forbidden to question parents and other elders. They grow up to bigots. Most Arab governments are brutal parents. They have intentionally kept their children in poverty the way the Catholic Church kept its congregants illiterate and used the passion play for more than a thousand years to teach hate of Jesus’ brothers and sisters, with its distorted version of history. It’s important for all Americans to recognize the educational and sociological and nutritional poverty into which most of the children of the Middle East have been born and in which they have been growing to adulthood. The level of historical, academic ignorance and the mentality to blame the victim are natural products of children born into that poisonous-for-children environment. Add to it a religion that, to a great extent, forbids questioning of higher thinking on a spiritual and/or academic level. I don’t think it’s any wonder at the disparity in number of (Christian) Nobel awards given to Jews within the wide array academic fields. My heart breaks for the children born into these conditions, just as my heart bleeds for the African 6-year olds who break big rocks into little pebbles to be able to eat two meals a day. 

Another reaction I had to the op-ed is the same reaction I have when I see news films and photos of people in other countries burning American flags. I smirk. Even when I’m alone, I say out loud: “I can do that. I can burn the U.S. flag to protest a governmental act and not be imprisoned for it because I live under the U.S. Constitution that protects my right to freedom of thought and disagreeing speech. Let me see you, burner of an American flag, protest something your government does by burning your own flag and I’ll see film at 11 on your being shot on the spot or dragged away by your police.” 

Many Americans just don’t grasp the difference in environments in which we and these non-American flag-burners live. Without education about their daily lives and recognition of their abuse by their leaders, we, on both sides, are doomed to destroying the Earth’s ecosystems, one acre at a time. We who live under freedom-of-speech laws can’t build a wall high or long enough to keep them and their hate-propelled munitions on the other side. We have to use the Internet to spread the concept of exchange of ideas. 

My third reaction was to resolve to write this op-ed to make sure that, somehow, Kurosh Arianpour would became aware that photos of dead Lebanese babies with pacifiers were run in the U.S. papers as well as on local, national, and cable TV news in the United States, along with photos of dead Israeli babies with pacifiers, the latter of which I doubt are ever run in most Arabic countries. So when we talk about censorship, let’s be honest on both sides. 

Many people are aware Gold Meier said that “Arabs will make peace with Israel when they loves their children more than they hate the Jews and the State of Israel”; but are Kurosh Arianpour and others aware of what she said after that? “I can forgive you for killing my children. What I can’t forgive is your making me kill yours.” Since Arafat was a young man, enemies of Israel, have intentionally hidden munitions in families’ nurseries in hopes of the babies’ being killed. Some parents welcome those soldiers. Other parents are bullied into hosting them. Who killed the babies under whose cribs bombs are stored and next to whose cribs rockets are launched into Israel’s civilian neighborhoods with the specific purpose of having the launchers targeted while the babies are made to wait for the retaliation. 

There is currently only one state in the corner of the Middle East designated by Romans as Palestine, the State of Israel. Does Kurosh know that Arab/Moslem political and religious leaders refused a state for the Palestinian Moslems in 1947/48. Blood cousins of different faiths whose people had been in the region for what 10,000 years. There was an opportunity to live side-by-side in peace in response to Chaim Weitzman’s call that the non-Jews stay and help to make the desert bloom. Instead of the sickle, the sword was grabbed. How sad. How many children have died since the first fateful refusal of a State of Palestine? Is Kurosh allowed to ask that out loud? 

Jews were known as the Chosen People because they had a book to protect, a book, the first five sections of which are the basis of democratic law but which laws Arabic citizens either aren’t educated about or don’t comprehend because they’ve never been given the opportunity to make choices for themselves, an essential aspect of a democratic society for people who have to take responsibility for their daily decisions and governance of themselves. We have laws that aspire to equal protection and providing due process in a criminal justice system along with our civil contract and negligence laws. These are foreign concepts to most people of most of the Arabic countries. Certainly, Kurosh Arianpour is unaware of democratic political science except for the lesson received by the publication of the op-ed. 

If Kurosh Arianpour were in the US, there would be no arrest for the op-ed just as there is no arrest for the people who decided to publish the it. This is America and that is the difference between “us” and “them.” This is the biggest lesson to be taken from the publication of this hateful op-ed filled with blatant ignorance which purports to explain grounds for hate. What it clearly portrays is the impoverished life in which far too many children are born. 

I wonder whether Kurosh Arianpour is talking to anyone about the fact of the publication of the op-ed and the exchange of ideas which it precipitated. 

Is that allowed in Iran? 

C.J. Kingsley 

Wow. Too many factual errors in this one to correct in the available space. Just a couple: Iranians are not Arabs. Neither Catholics nor Moslems are illiterate. Many would disagree with most of his “history.”  

• 

WHERE ARE THE  

PEACMAKERS? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We stand at the brink of never ending war and hate. Those who should come forward to stand against tyranny have failed to do so. 

The liberal peace movement has embraced the cause of occupation. They march together even though the occupied also advocate destruction, repression and death as legitimate tools. 

The Just moralize the destruction of the innocent and the repression of others in the name of self defense. 

We bring war and chaos to the world in the name of freedom and defeating terror. 

Where are the Martin L. Kings, the Nelson Mandelas, and the Gandhis? Where is the social outcry for peace though nonviolence? 

A man in China stands unarmed against a tank, and the world sees. A farm worker organizes and a country changes. A young student has her life crushed opposing injustice, and the world cries. 

These are the real heroes. Those who advocate and practice unrelenting non-violent social action to achieve peace and change. 

We must hold our government and ourselves accountable and stand up against all violence and hate. We must never embrace it for any reason or advantage. 

We should demand that the words “never again” be embraced by Israel’s neighbors. The peacemakers there must own this truth. And from Israel, should flow uncompromising protection of social justice for all, regardless of the cost. 

Peace and freedom of speech trump any ideology or religion. 

We are the peace makers. Who will stand up? Stop the violence, hate and injustice. 

Robert Lieber 

Albany 

“Oakland Unified School District trustees ... introduc(ed) a proposal to build a ‘new, permanent, state of the art education center’ on the 8.25-acre property ... (that) would house a kindergarten through high school program, the two early childhood development centers ... and the district administrative office.” 

—From “Oakland School District Trustees Release Counterproposal to Downtown Property Sale,” Berkeley Daily Planet, Aug. 18, 2006. 

When I read this, I wondered why not carry the proposal one step further and create a world class preschool through post-grad educational center that, in addition to the above facilities, would also house A.A., B.A. and graduate programs in urban education, bilingual education, child development and public administration? With such a center, educators and researchers could collaborate on building first class urban schools in Oakland, OUSD personnel could work and go to school at the same time and Oakland would be assured of having a future supply of well trained teachers and administrators. 

Oakland, after all, has been woefully short changed when it comes to higher education. It is one of the very few cities in the country to not have a publicly funded four-year college or university within its borders. Not only does it lack upper division and graduate programs, it has no public medical, dental or law schools. Only two of Peralta’s four community college campuses are in Oakland. One of these (Merritt) was originally built to replace an inner city school but is so high in the hills it is really suburban. This leaves Oakland with only Laney, three private colleges of any size (Mills, Holy Names and California College of the Arts) all of which serve special populations and a bare handful of small religious and technical schools. 

San Francisco, by comparison, is teeming with higher educational opportunities. There is San Francisco State, UC Medical and Dental, Hastings Law and the University of the Pacific Dental. City College, the San Francisco community college system, has nine campuses in the city of which at least four (Chinatown, Mission, Castro and Fort Mason) are located near downtown. San Francisco also has Golden Gate, the University of San Francisco and New College (all with graduate, professional and law programs), the San Francisco Art Institute and a virtual smorgasbord of specialized colleges ranging from psychology to business, design, culinary arts, digital arts and photography. 

It could be argued, I guess, that Oakland is served by both Cal State East Bay and UCB. But Cal State East Bay (really Cal State Hayward) was not designed as an urban school and sitting as it does at the top of the Hayward hills, it is far removed from Oakland’s city life. UCB, while closer, is much more akin to exurban schools that cater to the cream of students statewide such as the Universities of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Wisconsin (Madison), Texas (Austin) or Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) than it is to any free standing urban university like CUNY, the University of D.C., Wayne State (Detroit) or the University of Houston. And unlike other exurban schools, neither UC nor Cal State has campuses or schools located in Oakland expressly designed to serve students living there. 

I grew up in Midwestern cities where urban universities are a common part of city life. I know they do much more for their communities than simply train the local workforce or provide educational opportunities for students whose families cannot afford to send them away to school. Their professional schools provide needed services to low income communities through teaching hospitals, clinics and practicums. Their campuses serve as focal points for local intellectual leadership and can stimulate an urban area both culturally and economically through their programs, lectures, research, exhibits, performances and athletic events. 

Most importantly, urban universities share a mission and focus schools like UCB decidedly do not have, such as a commitment to reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of their metropolitan area in both their faculty and students. 

Urban universities also strive to provide education relevant to the well being of the urban environment. The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee campus, for example, has schools of social welfare, urban studies, urban education, and architecture and urban planning and works with local schools in disadvantaged areas on pre-college programs from the fourth grade up. And the University of Michigan/Dearborn emphasizes education programs for a multicultural society and the teaching of science and math in inner city schools. 

UC Berkeley also lacks the typical urban university’s goal of strengthening the metropolitan area in which it is located. For instance, along with numerous urban programs, the University of Illinois/Chicago hosts both the Center for Urban Economic Development and the Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement along with the Great Cities Institute and the Neighborhood Initiative—a partnership between UIC and organizations in the neighborhoods adjacent to it. Indiana University Northwest in Gary has both a Center for Sustainable Regional Vitality and one for Cultural Discovery and Learning which explores regional culture and history. Even the University of Nebraska has a ‘metropolitan campus’ in Omaha with a College of Public Affairs and Community Services. 

If I felt they could be trusted to do a righteous job, I would suggest that UCB partner with OUSD to create an urban educational campus in Oakland. After all, in an era of ever diminishing public moneys for education, the ever expanding UCB has shown itself to be a first class fund raiser for projects it gets behind. And as the OUSD is currently under state supervision and as UC is a state supported institution, the state superintendent of public instruction is in a perfect position to broker the deal. By creating such a school, UCB would be able to increase its diversity and relevance to the community, two things it sorely needs, while Oakland would get at least a downpayment on the kind of public education it deserves. 

Joanne Kowalski is a Berkeley resident who worked for many years in the higher education industry. 

We got a thousand points of light, For the homeless man 

We got a kinder, gentler, Machine gun hand 

We got department stores, and toilet paper 

Got styrofoam boxes, for the ozone layer 

Got a man of the people, says keep hope alive 

Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive.” 

—Neil Young and Crazy Horse 

“Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World” (1989) 

I made the wondrous leap into sustainability about three months ago. It felt like a good wrap for all of my past mistakes and a chance to re-birth into the groovy green world of Bates, Schwarzenegger and Gore. Interesting three-some, eh? Since then I’ve learned that the rhetoric is far out-pacing real change but we’ve got tons of visions, festivals, organic crunchies and sustainable MBA programs ready to go when the planet shifts. By the way, on the evening of Aug. 25, there were a total of 18 full- and part-time sustainable/green jobs listed in the Bay Area section of craigslist. 

Tom Bates whistled himself Green in his Aug. 25 campaign shout in the Daily Planet: “I am running for re-election to ensure we continue to make Berkeley as green as it can be.” (Commentary, “Rolling Out Berkeley’s Green Carpet”) but completely avoids the ashtray from Pacific Steel Casting’s (PSC) decade of air pollution in West Berkeley—and he now sits in judgment of PSC as a member of the Bay Area Air Management District Board who just sued the company. What will Bates do to re-Green the citizens in the three-city dead zone that has been toxified by PSC’s crud? Beware wolves in Jolly Green Giant suits. 

The city is assisting Berkeley businesses to get Green. There are nearly 100 Berkeley Sustainable Businesses which market environmental products or services in sectors such as recycling, energy efficiency, green building and design, manufacturing, and environmental consulting. In addition, there are more than 50 companies which maintain eco-efficient operations in sectors such as restaurants, auto repair, printing, consumer products and light industrial manufacturing. I did join this group recently. 

There are a plethora of institutions and groupies promoting the new shift. At the Rocky Mt. Institute in Boulder, Lovins and gang are serving up Natural Capitalism—a new business model that synergizes four major elements: 

1. Radically increase the productivity of resource use. Get more from less! 

2. Find nature-based production processes with closed loops, no waste, and no toxicity.  

3. Shift the business model away from the making and selling of “things” to providing the service that the “thing” delivers.  

4. Reinvest in natural and human capital. (www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid564.php) 

The pending 2006 San Francisco Green Festival (http://greenfestivals.org) is gonna preach and reach: “green means safe, healthy communities and strong, local economies. Green is the color of hope, of social and economic justice, of ecological balance. Join us for these huge parties with a purpose. You’ll enjoy more than 200 visionary speakers and 400 green businesses in each city, great how-to workshops, green films, yoga and movement classes, green careers sessions, organic beer and wine, delicious organic cuisine and live music.” Yum! 

Have you heard that Burning Man has spawned Cooling Man (an attempt to use pollution credits to offset the smoke and electricity use at the party)? 

Grist Magazine, a popular green speak, is targeting the relationship between environmentalism and minority community issues. “Minority communities, now comprising 55 percent of California’s population, bear the burden of dumping by dirty industries, and will benefit most from cleaner waste management and recycling approaches. Likewise, since minority communities pay the largest percentage of their incomes for energy (both at home and in their automobiles), they will benefit most from the development of alternative energy sources. And minority communities would benefit most from the construction of affordable housing using green building materials and practices.” (http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/8/25/15931/5148) 

In the East Bay, the Sustainable Business Alliance is a green group committed to greater sustainability in their business policies and practices. (http://sustainablebiz.org) 

Looking for training? Certification? Check-out the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy Santa Rosa (www.ecoleader.org/index.html). Or contact the Bay Area Green Business Program to get your certification started (www.greenbiz.ca.gov). 

The American Dream is dead. Can we build a new global Green? 

• Green is pushing a push mower. 

• Green is teaching sustainable values to our parents and employers. 

• Green is in the streets, fighting for clean air and historic landmarks. 

• Green is watering the free trees that the City put on your curb strip. 

• Green is taking your bike to the store and handing out flyers in support of Proposition 87. 

• Green your Self; green your home office, kitchen and yard.  

This is where Green begins. 

Willi Paul is Berkeley activist.

The Middle East has always been a place where illusion paves the road to disaster. 

In 1095, Pope Urban’s religious mania launched the Crusades, the reverberations of which still echo through the region. In 1915, Winston Churchill’s arrogance led to the World War I bloodbath at Gallipoli. In 2003, George Bush’s hubris ignited a spiral of chaos and civil war in Iraq. Illusion tends to be a deadly business in those parts. 

And once again, illusions threaten to plunge the Middle East into catastrophe. The central hallucination this time is that the war in Lebanon was a “proxy war” with the mullahs in Teheran, what one senior Israeli commander called “Iran’s western front.” 

At the heart of this is what William O. Beeman, a professor of anthropology and Middle East studies at Brown University, calls “a longstanding U.S. foreign policy myth that believes terrorism cannot exist without state support.” In short, if Hezbollah exists, it is solely because of Iran. 

This particular illusion, according to a number of journalists, is behind the carte blanche the White House handed the Israelis during the war in Lebanon. 

In an Aug. 21 New Yorker article, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh claims that, “The Bush administration was closely involved in the planning of Israel’s retaliatory attacks,” and that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney saw the assault on Hezbollah as “a prelude to a potential American pre-emptive attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations.” 

Former Associated Press and Newsweek ace Robert Perry reports that, not only did Bush push the Israelis to strike Hezbollah, but the U.S. president lobbied Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to include Syria in the attack, an idea the Israelis thought “was nuts.” 

According to Perry, a number of Israeli officials are “privately blaming” Bush for pushing the inexperienced Olmert into “the ill-conceived military adventure,” although one needs to take that statement with a grain of salt. Everyone in Tel Aviv is busy pointing fingers and passing the buck these days to avoid taking the blame for the debacle. 

And debacle it was.  

Olmert’s Kadima Party is almost certainly dead. A Dahaf Institute poll found that 63 percent of Israelis want the prime minister out, and 74 percent want to oust defense minister and Labor Party leader Amir Peretz. The latter is busy trying to shift the blame to Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. General Dan Halutz (54 percent want him to resign) for claiming that Hezbollah could be destroyed from the air. The army is whispering that the politicians held them back, and the politicians are grumbling the army mishandled its budget. 

Olmert is stonewalling a formal inquiry on the war, but almost 70 percent of the population is demanding it, and the reservists are up in arms. After 34 days of war, Hezbollah is intact, and the two soldiers whose capture kicked the whole thing off are still in its hands. And last, but not least, the war knocked 1 percent off Israel’s GNP.  

The war’s outcome is giving some Israelis pause, and there are some interesting straws in the wind. Peretz, for instance, has called for negotiations with the Palestinians and “preparing” for talks with Damascus. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni says she is willing to “explore” the idea of talks with Syria. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter has gone even further and says Israel should give up the Golan Heights.  

It is not clear where these discussions are going, but, if nothing else, the war has energized an Israeli peace movement, one rather more inclusive than such movements in the past. 

But for the Bush administration and its neoconservative allies, the ceasefire is just a break between rounds in the president’s war on “Islamofascism.” Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says the United States is “in the early stages of World War III (Norman Podhoretz, editor-at-large of Commentary, says it’s World War IV). William Kristol calls the Lebanon war an “act of Iranian aggression” and suggests the U.S. attack Iranian nuclear sites. Writing in the Los Angeles Times neo-con heavy Max Boot called for a U.S. attack on Syria.  

According to journalist Sidney Blumenthal, the neocons in the administration, specifically Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Agency Middle East Director Elliot Abrams, have been funneling U.S. intelligence intercepts to the Israelis as part of a plan to target Syria and Iran. 

Those intercepts were behind the recent House Intelligence Committee report blasting U.S. spy agencies for being reluctant to say that Hezbollah is nothing more than an extension of Iran, that Tehran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, and that Iran poses a clear and present danger to the United States. 

The author of the House report, Frederick Fleitz, was a former special assistant to current U.N. Ambassador John Bolton. Bolton was a key figure in gathering the now discredited intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. 

According to Blumenthal, Cheney and his Middle East aide David Wurmster have dusted off a 1996 document called “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm.” The study was authored by Wurmster, ex-Pentagon official Douglas Feith, and Richard Perle, disgraced former head of the Defense Policy Board. 

The “Break”—originally written for then Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—advocates that the Israelis, with support from the United States, dump the 1992 Oslo Agreement with the Palestinians, target Syria and Iraq, and redesign the Middle East.  

A key ingredient in the document, and one central to current administration thinking, is that since terrorism is state-supported, the war on terrorism can be won by changing regimes. Hence, to defeat Hezbollah, you have to overthrow Syria and Iran. 

However, Beeman argues that Iran has no direct control over Hezbollah. While Iran does provide the organization some $200 million a year, that money “makes up a fraction of Hezbollah’s operating budget.” The major source of the group’s funding is the “sakat,” or tithe required of all Muslims. 

Georgetown University professor Daniel Byman, writing in Foreign Affairs, says that Iran “lacks the means to force significant change in the [Hezbollah] movement and its goals. It [Iran] has no real presence on the ground in Lebanon and a call to disarm or cease resistance would likely cause Hezbollah’s leadership, or at least its most militant elements, to simply sever ties with Tehran’s leadership.” 

If a wider war is to be avoided, argues Christopher Layne of Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service, and author of “The Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the present,” the U.S. “will have to engage in direct diplomacy with Syria and Iran—both of which have important stakes in the outcome of security issues in the Middle East, including those involving Israel’s relations with the Palestinians and with Hezbollah in Lebanon.” 

Recently a group of 21 former generals, admirals, ambassadors and high ranking security advisors proposed exactly that, calling on the Bush administration to “engage immediately in direct talks with the government of Iran without preconditions.” The group warned “an attack on Iran would have disastrous consequences for security in the region and U.S. forces in Iraq. It would inflame hatred and violence in the Middle East and among Muslims everywhere.”  

Just as Middle East illusions have done for almost a millennium. 

Some years ago, when I lived in South Carolina, two black men reportedly got into a fight on someone’s front porch over who had eaten the largest portion of a watermelon they were supposed to be sharing, the result being that one of the men went into the house and got his pistol and shot the other one to death. This being South Carolina, there were a lot of sniggering comments in some circles about “Well, you know, you can’t mess with a black man’s watermelon,” the incident passing on into story and legend as “the time the man got shot over a watermelon.” 

Of course, nobody actually gets shot over a watermelon. In a courtroom, that is what is called “proximate cause,” sometimes defined in tort law as “the primary or moving cause that produces the injury and without which the incident could not have happened.” The fight over the watermelon is what led directly to the shooting. But that is not what actually caused it. 

The late and astute chronicler of African-American life, August Wilson, once wrote a play—Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom—in which one musician stabs another musician to death in the last scene. If you walked in on that last scene and missed the rest of the play, you might walk out believing that the stabbing took place because one musician stepped on the other musician’s shoes. If you came for the whole play, you would understand that the stabbing was the culmination of a long series of events, pressures building up in the stabber, almost none of which were caused by or even involved with the musician who ended up getting stabbed. 

Unfortunately, in Oakland, we have too many people who seem to have missed the play, and run in only for the last scene. Even more unfortunately, some of these folks are charged with coming up with solutions to Oakland’s most serious problems. 

This week, the 96th homicide of this murderous year in Oakland occurred when 52-year-old Wakeel Shakir was shot to death outside his 84th Avenue home in East Oakland, allegedly by 43-year-old Vernon Brown. The shooting, we learn from Oakland Police Sgt. Todd Crutchfield through the Tribune, supposedly rose out of a “conflict over $30 worth of cable work” which Mr. Brown was supposed to have done for Mr. Shakir, but which Mr. Shakir is supposed to have then failed to pay. The Tribune explained the murder in a headline entitled “Man Shot Dead Over $30 Bill, Police Say.” 

The day before Mr. Brown was shot dead on 84th Avenue, 24-year-old Nicole Tucker and 36-year-old Corey Keyes were both shot and killed by an unknown assailant near the corner of 78th Avenue and Rudsdale, only a few blocks away. Even though this is one of Oakland’s longtime, ongoing Oakland drug-dealing areas police, this time according to the San Francisco Chronicle, “believe both victims were targeted as a result of a love-triangle dispute.” They became Oakland’s 94th and 95th homicides of 2006, notable in local news accounts because, before August’s end, they pushed the total for this year’s deaths ahead of the total Oakland homicides for all of 2005. 

How are we responding? 

Normally, the police response to a murder would be to identify the suspected murderer, apprehend that person, and try to gather enough evidence to win a conviction in court. Serious attempts at looking at the root causes of the murders—not the proximate causes—are well beyond either the mandate or the ability of the local police. But these are extraordinary times, with homicides for the year nearing the magic number of 100, and Oakland’s top city official-Mayor Jerry Brown-running for the state’s top law enforcement job and being roundly criticized by his law-and-order opponent for not doing “something” about law-and-order in Oakland. Oakland police are, therefore, under considerable pressure from City Hall to “do something” about the murders, or, at least, make some appearance that they are “doing something” more than just walking behind the dead bodies to put down those ghastly yellow numbered cones to mark the bullet casings left in the street. 

And so, last week, we were told in the newspapers and on television news bulletins of the police sweep of Oakland’s open air drug markets, in which they arrested 30 people out of 65 they were seeking on felony arrest warrants for dealing in crack, ecstasy and marijuana. According to the Tribune, Oakland authorities involved in the crackdown said “the drug sweep will help make a dent in the city’s homicide rate since the majority of violent crime is linked in some way to the narcotics trade.” 

Last week’s 65 Felony Warrant Sweep should not be confused with the city’s “Operation Ceasfire” crackdown on what police and city officials call Oakland’s “top 100 offenders.” The Chronicle reported that last week’s 65 Sweep “was unrelated to [the ongoing top 100 offenders Operation Ceasfire] crackdown.” If so, one wonders why not. If Operation Ceasfire was designed to cut down on Oakland’s homicide rate, and if “the majority of violent crime [in Oakland] is linked in some way to the narcotics trade,” wouldn’t you think that at least some portion of the “top 100 offenders” on the city’s Operation Ceasfire list would have felony warrants for dealing in crack, ecstasy, and marijuana? If not, how did they qualify to get on the list of “top 100 offenders?” 

But perhaps that is asking for too much logic in a dog-and-pony show, in which we, the audience, after all, are merely expected to sit and applaud enthusiastically as the little cart goes around the rink. No questions, please. 

Meantime, the targets of last week’s crackdown—the open air drug markets—are an easy target, the reason being that the dealers involved stand out on the corner and sell drugs, sometimes in plain view. Some of the street corner drug dealing locations mentioned in the news accounts of last week’s police actions have been operating for decades, openly and brazenly. Sometimes it gets so brazen that some dealers carry little flashlights that they shine at cars going by so that you know where to stop if you’re looking. Even worse, once, a couple of years ago, I drove down one of these streets after hours and as I reached the corner, I noticed a car had taken off behind me and was honking his horn to get my attention. Since I’m not in the game and it’s not my habit to stop in the middle of strange East Oakland neighborhoods for people I don’t know, I kept on driving. The driver caught up to me after I stopped at a light on International Boulevard, pulled up beside me, rolled down his passenger side window, waving a miniature ziplock plastic baggie at me and giving a questioning look. (For those who don’t know, miniature baggies typically hold crack rocks.) Clearly, this was not a dealer especially in fear of apprehension by the police. 

Given this seeming inattention to covering their tracks by at least some of these dealers, the question is not why Oakland police chose to crack down on these operations last week, but, rather, why so many of operations have been going on in such a manner, at the same, identifiable locations, for so long. That is a subject for another column. Meanwhile, you are free to come up with your own conclusions. 

As for last week’s crackdown, the police—under pressure from Oakland’s top politician—have to crack down on somebody. Because rounding up all the jealous boyfriends and shade tree cable installers is not a feasible plan, the boyz on the corner get rousted. 

Will this new attention to the top 100 and the drug-dealing 65 stop Oakland’s murders, or even slow them down? 

To answer that question, we would have to understand why the murders are taking place. That means doing more than merely accepting the “proximate cause” theory that it was an argument over a watermelon that is causing the carnage, or an unpaid cable installation bill, or a love triangle, or even disputes over the drug trade. It means—first and foremost—a serious, sober, long-range study of the actual causes of Oakland’s violence. We have offered—and will continue to offer—a number of thoughts on the subject. But meanwhile, this is another of the many tasks left by the outgoing mayor for Oakland’s citizens and the incoming mayor to take on. 

Feeling at home in a new location requires time, effort and a little luck. Where to go for quality foods, reasonable eats and outdoor pursuits? To minimize time and effort and maximize pleasure, take the advice of every travel guide writer and look for the locals. Patrons eagerly waiting for doors to open, long lines and a mixed bag of clientele are sure signs that Berkeley’s favorites are poorly kept secrets. 

Berkeley Bowl has been serving its fans since 1977, moving from a former bowling alley to the major space it occupies today. While a full service grocery in every sense of the word, its produce and Asian departments are beyond compare. Choose among organic, pesticide-free and heirloom for stone fruits, cherries and tomatoes. Products abound for Japanese, Chinese and Thai specialties. Harris Ranch meats, Straus Family Creamery, bulk grains—all combine to present the highest quality at the lowest prices. 

For al-fresco marketing experiences you can’t beat Berkeley Farmers Market where strolling the aisles emulates travel through Northern California. Produce from Watsonville’s Happy Boy Farms and Yolo County’s River Dog Farm; Bennett Valley Breads from Santa Rosa and wood fired Morell’s Breads on the Marin Headlands; Cedar Creek Salmon, Highland Hills lamb, Tunitas Creek wildflower honey. Serenaded by music in blue-grass and Andean mode and surrounded by shoppers with bicycles, strollers, backpacks, wagons and wicker baskets attached to luggage carriers. The people watching value equals the quality of the goods. 

The Cheeseboard Collective will draw you like a magnet six days a week, offering specialties you can’t resist. Though only one pizza choice is offered daily—roasted bell-goat cheese, tomato-caper, zucchini-corn—Berkeleyans seem to love them all. The bakery selections are more varied, requiring serious decisions among scones, muffins, sweet rolls and breads. While baguettes, both seeded and plain, are baked daily, Cheese Curry Onion Bread only appears on Tuesday, Sesame Sunflower on Wednesday and Provolone Olive on Saturday. Their selection of cheeses, too numerous to count are sold daily, with samples offered before purchase.  

The need for good food that doesn’t need to be cooked occurs on a regular basis and choices are as numerous as Netflix offerings. Often described as ‘blue-collar comfort food’, Brennan’s Restaurant has been a Berkeley institution since 1959. Dark green walls, wood tables and a long central bar allow long escapes from everyday responsibilities. Sliding your tray past steam table pans of entire turkeys, hams, roast and corned beef, you can order sandwiches, dipped au jus, and plates, enjoying Thanksgiving dinner any day of the year. Soups are hardy, salads fresh, deserts are worthy of their calories and the servings are substantial. Come once for the food and return often for the Irish coffee and the laid-back ambience. 

Neither Tex-Mex, new-Mex nor fresh-Mex, Juan’s Place is family-style Mexican food at its best. A place where you’d expect to see a multi-generational family celebrating ‘feliz cumpleanos’. Though almost always full, the service is efficient and the plates are hot. Many would be happy to make a meal of the freshly made chips, both flour and corn, and the red and green salsa that appear on your table. Try to save room for plate-size burritos, chicken mole enchiladas, chile rellenos and guacamole tostadas. What you can’t finish will make a great lunch. 

To experience the great food and atmosphere of an Indian Bazaar, you can’t beat Viks Chaat Corner. Traditionally a roadside snack served on a leaf, Viks chaat offerings are so good you’ll want to lick your fingers. On weekdays full plate curry meals are offered for vegetarians and meat eaters accompanied by naan and lentil stew. Weekends give center stage to an enticing assortment of chaats—spiced lamb, puffed puris, lentil dumplings, crepes stuffed with potatoes, served with chutney or raita. Since the servings are hearty and the prices low, the two large rooms are usually full. At lunch time, don’t let the lines scare you away; the food and experience are worth the wait. 

Every Sunday the Thai Buddhist Temple puts on a party and everyone’s invited. Prepared by monks and donated by area restaurants, a Thai smorgasbord perfumes the air. Tables are fitted in wherever there’s room, between buildings, under a funky Plexiglas patio roof, around the parking lot. Patrons exchange dollars for tokens and feast on sweet mango rice, coconut milk fried pancakes, spicy green beans and tofu, green, red and yellow curries, pad thai, green papaya salad, fried chicken and more. Curry at 9am may dislodge your timing for the day, but the lines grow as the hours tick toward noon. 

When the need for activity beckons three locations stand out, with enough on board for a multitude of outings. One visit can’t do them justice. The UC Botanical Garden invites you to get lost in the world of plants, literally. With areas devoted to Australasia, Mexico, South America and Eastern North America, your senses can travel miles. Follow pathways to the Garden of Old Roses and look out at the bay, and then wander through monkey puzzle trees, gigantic bromeliads and wild fuchsias from Argentina and Chile. Walk downhill to the California natives bordering Strawberry Creek. Find a bench and contemplate the m’s: manzanita, mahonia, mountain mahogany and mesquite. Seasonal specials will call you back. 

Two expansive recreational facilities border Berkeley on the east and west. In the East Bay Hills lies Tilden Regional Park, encompassing over two thousand acres and endless miles of trails for hiking, horseback riding, bicycling and observing nature. Cool off or cast your line in the waters of Lake Anza; tour the Nature Study Area stopping at the Little Farm, the Environmental Education Center and Jewel Lake; enjoy a family cook-out at Lone Oak or Indian Camp; revisit childhood riding the Hershell Spillman merry-go-round; join the engineers on the miniature Steam Train. 

Hugging the coastline of San Francisco Bay is the Berkeley Marina, home to a cornucopia of water-related activities. At Shorebird Park you can tour the ‘green’ Straw Bale Nature Center, create fantasies at Adventure Playground or join the Cal Sailing Club. Out on the Public Fishing Pier, catch dinner or stroll the length savoring brisk winds and expansive views, wander paved paths admiring water craft, then pop into the Marina Deli for a hot dog. On the northern boundary run your dog and watch the kites soar at Cesar Chavez Park. 

Follow the locals and sample their favorites, make them your own. You may soon find yourself a repeat customer, at home in Berkeley. 

UC Botanical Garden has plants native to different areas of the world. Photograph by Marta Yamamoto. 

Berkeley Bowl 

2020 Oregon St., 843-6929. 

9 a.m.–8 p.m.Monday–Saturday; 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Sunday. 

Berkeley Farmers Market 

Saturdays: 10 a.m.–2 p.m., Center Street above Martin Luther King. 

Tuesdays: 1–7 p.m., Derby at Martin Luther King. 

Thursdays: 3–7 p.m., Shattuck at Rose. 

The Cheeseboard 

1512 Shattuck Ave., 549-3055.  

Open Monday through Saturday. 

Brennan’s Restaurant 

720 University Ave., 841-0960. 

11 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Sunday– 

Wednesday; 11 a.m.–10:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday. 

Juan’s Place 

941 Carleton St., 845-6904. 

11 a.m.–10 p.m. Monday–Friday; 2–10 p.m. Saturday, Sunday.  

Viks Chaat Corner 

724 Allston Way, 644-4412. 

11 a.m.–6 p.m. Tuesday–Sunday. 

Thai Buddhist Temple 

1911 Russell St, 849-3419. 

Sunday brunch, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive, 643-2755. 

Open every day, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu. 

Tilden Regional Park 

Entrances off Wildcat Canyon Road and Grizzly Peak Blvd, 562-PARK. www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden.  

Berkeley Marina  

201 University Ave, 981-6740. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/marina.  

This is a good time of year to take a look at our furnaces. One reason is that that’s true is that servicing can lead to repairs (or, Oh No, replacement) and this can take your furnace off line for some days and it’s better to face such an eventuality when it’s sunny and warm than when you really need the heat. Also, the best service folks (HVAC or Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning technicians) are busy when the winter hits and everyone’s turned on their furnace for the first time only to discover something that’s gone awry. In fact, you’ll have your pick of the best HVAC folks if you get them at this time of year. 

But before we get to professional servicing, let’s see what you can do for yourself. I’ll start with common mid-efficiency forced air heating and then will devote just a little time to small gas heaters before we’re though. 

If you have central gas heat, which is what most of us, on the West Coast have for heat, you probably have a mid-efficiency furnace. This is large box, often found in the basement, garage or under the house. This unit usually has two metal doors on the front face and a set of visible burners somewhere near the middle of the unit. 

These units heat air which is fed to them through large ducts or tubes which are generally between 6 and 14 inches in diameter. One side usually has one very large duct which draws cooler air in from the house and the other end of the unit will have a trunk and branches that lead out to the various extremities of the house. The analogy of a circulatory system, like a bloodstream is apropos. 

If you have this sort of system, there are a number of things you can do yourself to help your forced air heating system to operate well. If you have the gumption to do so, I’d start by examining every part with the layman’s eye. Crawl or walk around so as to see every bit of the ducting that’s not buried in the walls. If a grill can be removed from the floor or wall with ease. Take it off and look inside. Check to make sure that the ducts or tubes aren’t loose from the fittings at either end. 

A good way to check is to turn the furnace on or run the fan-only setting. Some but not all furnaces are wired this way, although nearly all can be wired this way. A nice upgrade is to have your HVAC person upgrade the wiring to allow for the fan to be run without running the furnace. In this way, you’ll gain a secondary cooling and cleaning feature. 

The simple act of running air through the house provides some level of cooling, albeit minimal and the operation of the fan setting also carries air though your filter system, thus providing some cleaning of the air, and thereby the house. This is especially true for those who smoke or have animals. A really good filtration system, such as an electronic air cleaner can reduce the amount of cleaning you have to do inside, although this is not its intended function. 

When you run the fan or furnace, you’ll be inflating the system and it will be easier to see where air blows out of leaking ducts. Don’t be surprised if you crawl under your house and find a duct completely detached and heating the crawlspace (the mice really appreciate it! Be sure to look for the tiny beds and lawn furniture near the open duct). I see detached ducting and partially disconnected ducting all the time. 

Regulations now in force in our state now require most communities to repair any ducting with more than 15% leakage when any other servicing or work is being performed. It’s important that this be done by a professional since improper repairs can result in foreign substances being drawn into the living-space. Half of your furnace system is a vacuum cleaner and half is a blower. 

The vacuum cleaner half may have one or two large ducts running through the crawlspace (most do) and if detached or damaged in this space, can draw damp air, mold, fungus or other wondrous elements into the house. 

This can be happening now if the ducts are damaged, so it’s best to have a professional check for leaks. Nonetheless, many openings can be easily identified by an intrepid explorer with a bright flashlight and guts to examine all side of each duct.  

Next, look inside the registers or grills in the floors or walls or ceilings (most are in floors around here). Many grills simply slip out of the “boot” but some older ones have two or four screws. This is well worth the effort for the small change alone. Maybe you’ll find that missing earring or 53 cents. You will almost certainly find dirt and debris and this is your chance to vacuum out what you can readily see. 

The cold air intake (that’s the big one usually found somewhere near the middle of the house, often in a hallway or dining room floor) is often the main place that you’ll strike it big. You’ll find toys, Monopoly houses, more change and lots of dirt, dog hair and other splendid fortunes. Cleaning this out will help your air supply and the life of the furnace. 

Next it’s time to remove the doors to the furnace and vacuum there. Be careful with the vacuum in all these places, ducts are often quite fragile and it’s not too hard to rip through them with a bare vacuum wand. Don’t be too surprised if you find dead critters in the blower compartment of the furnace. If you note signs of corrosion in the furnace, it’s a very good idea to get it cleaned and examined. 

Make sure the blower (usually a squirrel-cage type fan) moves freely, be sure it’s turned off before you meddle. Older units have bushings along the axle that can be oiled (and should) but most modern ones do not. 

Some furnaces have anti-nitrous oxide rods that are mounted just above the burner (these burners are easily identified when the unit is running because the flames come right out of them just as in your gas oven) and these are often bent or burned through. If you see these pencil sized rods falling down on the burners or burned through, definitely call it to the attention of your HVAC guy or gal. 

Take a look at the flue which comes off your furnace (that’s the very hot pipe that comes off the furnace and heads toward the roof or chimney (usually about 4” in diameter) and make sure that nothing flammable is resting on or very near it. Double wall flues are better in this respect and are usually identified by a mark stamped upon them. They’re called B vents and look fatter than a single tube of metal that was more common 40 years ago. 

The last item we’ll tackle on the FAU (forced air unit) is the filter. If you have a common 1” disposable filter, change it now and often. 

These should be changed at least twice a year, although the cleanliness of the house atmosphere can make this vary quite a lot. A large dog may necessitate replacement 3 or 4 times a year. Filters are cheap and good ones are a bargain. I recommend the school of pleated filters that are usually electrostatically charged. Filtrete is one brand but many hardware stores carry a store brand for much less. 

The $8 filter is will worth it when you consider your lungs. These filters can capture very tiny harbingers of disease including mold spores, virus and pollen. They’re not perfect but they’re a big step above the common $2 filter. If you have a fiberglass mesh “reusable” filter, I’d suggest tossing it. They catch dust bunnies but not too much more. 

If you’re really interested in your health or have a household member who has allergies, consider installing a higher quality filter such as a media filter system (mid-priced upgrade), an electronic air-cleaner (higher priced upgrade-about $800) or a combination system. Some even have negative ion generator built into them designed to precipitate solid matter out of the indoor air. 

No matter what kind of gas heater you have, it’s a darned good idea to have an annual professional examination of the unit. It’s usually less than $200 and well worth it. 

As promised, here are a couple of words on gas wall and floor furnaces. While I’ve written more extensively on this in the past and won’t get deeply into these lower duty heater, I will say that cleaning of the accessible parts of any of these is wise and can reduce burned dander and other particulate in your home. 

If you have a furnace that doesn’t have a thermostat consider an upgrade. A furnace that can be left on full bore with no control related to temperature is unnecessarily dangerous and an upgrade isn’t ridiculously expensive (It’s just expensive). 

Make sure that nothing flammable is kept on or near the wall or floor furnace. I was once inspecting a rental unit with a small wall furnace mounted low on the wall. This was a direct-vent model and, while these are generally safer than most, the tenant had, in all her glorious hippyhood, chosen to burn lots of candles on top of this unit and the inside was coated with paraffin. 

We also had the de rigueur madras just above on the wall and various gods and goddesses arrayed beside said candles. As Harrod Blank’s license plate says “OMYGAWD.” Even Ganesha can’t help everyone. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.

Flowers are the most obvious way to scent a garden, but they have lots of company. Fragrance in other plant parts is generally a side effect of strategies for things other than reproduction: water conservation, pest protection, even fire resistance.  

Some trees have so much native scent that a single specimen can evoke whole forests. There’s an incense cedar in a yard a few blocks from me that throws me mentally into the deep dark woods every time I walk past. 

California native bay laurel has a musky intriguing scent that works best in the fallen, dried leaves. One of either in a backyard is all it takes to evoke a forest, which is fortunate because that’s all the average yard has room for.  

Large trees’ odors can work against us, of course. Blue gum eucalyptus are camphorish enough most of the time, but they have a distinct aura of cat urine when they bask in the sun.  

Coleonema, “breath-of-heaven” and myrtle—Myrtis communis, the bush, not the groundcover—are shrubs whose leaves reward you with a spicy odor a bit like carnations’ when you rub them. I don’t know why anyone bothers to plant boxwood when these are available. 

Some of our native sages, especially Salvia clevelandii, emit marvelous scent when touched and have good hummingbird flowers too. Sniff before you buy; species and varieties have different scents, and, like cilantro, they can be a matter of individual taste. 

I planted scented geraniums along the narrow part of our driveway. Every time I back out I perfume the truck and I can tell by nose if I’ve steered badly. They’re tough plants, handsome, with varied textures and nice small flowers. And they come in so many scents that there must be something for everyone.  

For scent underfoot, intersperse steppingstones or pavers with groundcovers like the prostrate thymes. They come in flavors labeled as (and somewhat resembling) caraway, lemon, and lime as well as in different leaf colors with variations on the culinary thyme we’re used to. 

They can be used in cooking too, of course. If you have a wetter spot, try prostrate chamomile or Corsican mint.  

Fresh redwood-chip mulch is a most Proustian scent. It sends me right back to my days of gardening for a living, of changing some bit of California landscape by myself, by hand, and finishing the job by spreading mulch like baby-bunting and tucking the new plants in. 

Depending on where you grew up, you might get that same rush from tanbark, pine, even eucalyptus chips—from that last you’ll get a good sinus-clearing too.  

Since I grew up ten miles from Hershey, Pennsylvania there’s another memory-lane mulch for me: cocoa-bean hulls. 

They’re natural, available here too, add fertility, and smell like the hometown of the Hershey Bar. (Yes it does. And yes it has streetlamps shaped like Hershey’s Kisses, alternately silver-“wrapped” and brown. The silver ones have metal weathervane tags.) 

I mulched my mint bed with them once. I’ve since heard they’re toxic to dogs, so confine them to Spot-free spots.  

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in East Bay Home & Real Estate. Her column on East Bay trees appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet.

Over the summer we halted a flea invasion by taking the dog to the vet and hiring an exterminator. We removed the rodent population by cutting down a vine and carefully placing poison in humanly inaccessible places. We foiled a fly infestation by discovering the source, removing it, and scouring the house. We survived a trip to the emergency room and the follow-up recovery by administering antibiotics through a PIC line at home. We thwarted the return from jail of an unwanted visitor by calling the cops and taking out a restraining order.  

We went to the funeral of our dear friend Cleo Liggons, and to an 80th birthday party for the father of a good friend. The party was held at The V.I.P., a beach club along the Long Island Sound owned by a man of Italian descent indicted on tax fraud. While there we were entertained by a Frank Sinatra impersonator singing “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Strangers in the Night.” We did the Hokey Pokey, the Macarena, and the hand motions to “YMCA.” We stood in a circle and sang “Kum Ba Yah.”  

As usual, our 16-year-old friend Jernae spent her summer vacation at our house. She got a volunteer job at the Emeryville Recreation Center, the same Leader-in-Training position she held last year. Everyday she walked to the rec center wearing a white and blue Leader-in-Training T-shirt and a plastic whistle around her neck. She spent evenings talking non-stop on the phone with her friends and perusing My Space on the computer. Occasionally she acknowledged that my husband and I existed.  

It was, by our modest standards, and despite fleas, flies, and the Frank Sinatra impersonator, a good summer.  

And then it turned bad.  

Jernae came home from the rec center at noon one day and announced she’d been fired.  

“What happened?” I asked.  

“Nothing,” she said, closing the bedroom door and thereby signaling that our chat was over.  

“My door, my house,” I reminded her. “We need to talk about this.”  

It was not a fun discussion. From what I could gather, Jernae had misbehaved in a way unbecoming to a Leader-in-Training. She felt awful. I felt awful. She needed to go to bed, and so did I.  

I felt I had done something wrong, as if I was a failure at parenting, even though I’m not Jernae’s parent. She’s just a friend, I reminded myself, and a kid who made a small mistake, so why should I suddenly feel like Jeffrey Dahmer’s mother?  

But I couldn’t help myself. I was suffering every parent’s nightmare: guilt by association.  

I called Jernae’s supervisor at the rec department and left a message. Two unpleasant days went by before I was able to speak with him. I thought about the bad things I’d done as a teenager that must have made my parents feel like losers. How could I have caused them so much undeserved pain and anguish? Was this the payback?  

I was sure that Jernae’s dismissal was somehow my fault; that I was to blame for her inability to hold down a volunteer Leader-In-Training job. What would happen to her in the future? What would happen to me? Would she have to return the whistle?  

“It was a kid thing,” explained the supervisor when we finally spoke. He instantly became my new best friend when he added, “It’s no big deal. Jernae needed to stay home and chill for a few days. These things happen. It’s part of growing up, of learning how to take on responsibility.”  

“You mean she can come back?” I asked.  

“Of course,” he said.  

What a relief. I wasn’t a bad mother after all! Then I reminded myself again that I wasn’t a mother.  

Mother-in-Training, maybe. And I still have a lot to learn.

It was an impressive object: somewhere between soccer ball- and basketball-sized, hanging just above eye level in a tanoak tree. A couple of its inhabitants, big black wasps with white markings, were at work on its outer surface. They were white-faced or bald-faced hornets, and the corrugated gray spheroid was their nest. 

Hornets and their close relatives, the yellowjackets, represent one of the pinnacles of social evolution among insects. The vast majority of wasps are solitary, but one group of species has all the hallmarks of what biologists call eusociality. Only one female in the colony, the queen, reproduces; her daughters build, maintain, and provision the nest, and care for their younger siblings in their larval state. This state of affairs has evolved several times among insects—in ants and social bees, and the more distantly related termites—as well as in some species of reef-dwelling shrimp and that disconcerting rodent, the naked mole-rat. (Some spiders are colonial but not truly eusocial, and that’s probably a good thing). 

Hornets and yellowjackets differ in their architectural style and preferred location. Hornets build out in the open, yellowjackets underground. Although their name is a byword for ferocity—think of the Hornet’s Nest at Shiloh, from which Union troops raked attacking Confederates with gunfire—hornets are actually somewhat less likely to attack humans than yellowjackets are. But neither is to be trifled with. 

The nests of both types are similar in basic structure and construction material. They’re made of paper—wood pulp chewed up by the powerful jaws of the wasps and moistened with saliva—and contain tiers of cells, each built to house one of the queen’s eggs. Yellowjackets build to fill whatever nook or cranny they’re in; hornets add one tier below another, encasing the whole assemblage in a tough outer rind. 

The project begins in spring, with a single female wasp who has mated the previous fall and overwintered. She makes a small paper disc, then builds it into a pedicel to which a row of cells is attached. Then she surrounds the whole thing with a paper envelope, leaving a hole in the bottom. She lays an egg in each cell; when the larvae hatch, she feeds them chewed-up insects. (Unlike solitary wasps, the social wasps don’t provision their brood cells with paralyzed spiders or caterpillars). After about 12 days as larvae and another 12 as pupae, the queen’s daughter’s emerge. They’re the work force now. The queen no longer hunts, builds, or feeds the brood; all she does is lay more eggs. 

And more eggs, and more eggs. The paper city grows, tier after tier. One nest in California—and my hat is off to the man or woman who conducted this study—was found to have 4,768 workers in midseason, and over 10,000 cells. The workers dutifully kill more insects—I’ve seen yellowjackets literally cut a stick insect apart—and bring them home to feed the new mouths. 

Then in late summer, a couple of things happen. The queen, who has stored last fall’s sperm and doled it out to fertilize the eggs that hatch into workers, lays a batch of unfertilized eggs that will hatch into male wasps. Other eggs, laid in larger-than-usual cells, get extra rations from the workers and develop into fertile females. They exit and mate. Those of the females who survive the winter will be next year’s queens. The males, having served their purpose, die off. 

At some point after this exodus, the colony begins to come unraveled. Discipline breaks down. Instead of hunting insects to feed the larvae, the workers gorge on nectar and overripe fruit, and harass picnickers. They may even ransack the cells and eat any larvae that remain. During this period of anarchy, the queen, who has already ceased to lay eggs, dies. What’s interesting is that this all happens well before the first cold snap of the year. There will still be warm days in which the colony could have flourished. But like the superfluous males, the queen and the workers have done what they needed to do: created a new generation of queens. If it isn’t cleaned out first by a marauding skunk or raccoon, the paper city will be abandoned. 

So the hornets I saw performing maintenance duty on that recent day on the downhill side of August were—although they had no way of knowing it—near the end of their road. All that work, all those wasp-hours of chewing paper and tending the brood, as part of a superorganismal queen-making machine, impelled, according to theory, by the drive to perpetuate the genes they shared with their fertile sisters. I just hope they were wired to experience some kind of job satisfaction. 

This hornet colony may be home to thousands of workers. Photograph by Ron Sullivan.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre “Salome” at 8 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. and runs Wed. - Sun. through Oct. 1. Tickets are $38. 843-4822.  

California Shakespeare Theater “The Merchant of Venice” at the Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda. Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. through Sept. 3. Tickets are $15 and up. 548-9666. 

Encore Theatre Company and Shotgun Players “The Typographer’s Dream” at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Sept. 17. Tickets are $15-$30. 841-6500.  

Masquers Playhouse “Diary of a Scoundrel” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond across from the Hotel Mac. Through Sept. 30. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Jugglers of Color” Works by Albert Hwang, Douglas Light, and Sue Averell opens at Estaban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St. at Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 444-7411. 

“A Balanced Life” sculptures by Will Furth and “Ma Vie en Rose” paintings by Jennifer L. Jones at the Community Art Gallery, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, 2450 Ashby Ave. through Nov. 10. 204-1667.  

Anna W. Edwards Abstract Paintings Opening reception at 5:30 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. Exhibition runs to Sept. 30. 465-8928. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Los Rakas, reggae, dancehall and hip hop at 10 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$12. 849-2568.  

Ellen Honert at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston WAy. 841-JAZZ. 

Junior Reid, Everton Blender and The Reggae Angels at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $17-$20. 525-5054.  

The Dave Matthews Blues Band at 8 p.m. at The Warehouse Bar, at 4th & Webster, Oakland. 451-3161.  

Steve Taylor-Ramirez, acoustic folk-country-blues, at 7 p.m. at A Cuppa Tea, 3200 College Ave. 420-0196.  

J-Soul at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Jon Steiner Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

The Ravines and Gery Tinelenberg at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

D Tox, The Few at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. 

The Hooks, Joel Streeter, Nine Pound Shadow at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Eskapo, Acts of Sedition, Deconditioned at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Dynamic, jazz-funk, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bayonics, 40 Watt Hype, latin, fusion, soul, funk at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

The Moanin Dove, jungle jazz rock, at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Elvin Jones Birthday Salute with Delfeayo Marsalis, Dave Liebman, Nicholas Payton, Anthony Wonsey and Jason Marsalis at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 2 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players “Ragnarok: Doom of the Gods” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at John Hinkle Park, through Sept. 10. Free, with pass the hat donation after the show. 841-6500.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Educate to Liberate: A Retrospective of the Black Panther Community News Service” Exhibition in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party, on diplay in the Oakland History Room at the Oakland Main Library, 125 14th St. 238-3222.  

FILM 

A Theater Near You “Blue Velvet” at 6:30 p.m. and “Notorious” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Art & Soul Oakland Festival Sat. - Mon. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Cost is $5, children under 12 free. www.ArtandSoulOakland.com 

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

Ray Abshire at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Rachel Effron Quintet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

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

Rebirth of the East Bay Music Scene at 8 p.m., at Historic Sweet’s Ballroom, 1933 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $16.50. Ticketweb.com  

Hip Hop Competition at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Three Apparitions and Theo Hartman at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Tre Hardson, Tracey Amos, Space Monkey Gangsta’s at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. 

Macy Blackman Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Blind Lemon Phillips & the Lemon Squeezers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Will Bernard Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Hellshock, Wartorn at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 3 

EXHIBITIONS  

“Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India” Guided tour at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. 

FILM 

The Mechanical Age “Metropolis” at 3 p.m. and “Modern Times” at 6 p.m.at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Twang Cafe with Davis Morreales 2 Wheel Tour and Crooked Roads at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

Mauro Correa’s Brazillian Soul at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. 841-JAZZ.  

Game Bros at 10 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10-$15. 848-0886. 

Paul H. Taylor & The Montara Mountin Boys at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

Americana Unplugged: The Blind Willies at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

MONDAY, SEPT. 4 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Marc Elihu Hofstadter and Eliot Schain at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Art & Soul Oakland Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Cost is $5, children under 12 free.  

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

TUESDAY, SEPT. 5 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Geographic Premonitions” Group show of fifteen emerging artists opens at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. Exhibition runs through Nov. 11. 620-6772.  

FILM 

Alternative Visions: Recent Avanat-Garde Films at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Works In Progress” Women’s open mic at 7:30 p.m. at Montclair Women's Cultural Center, 1650 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. Donation $5.  

Susan Alcorn talks about “Camino Chronicle: Walking to Santiago” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bert Lams, classical guitar and Tom Griesgraber, Chapman Stick at 7:30 p.m. at A Cheerfull Noyse, 1228 Solano Ave., Albany. Seating is limited. Please bring a folding chair. 524-0411. 

Singers’ Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Mal Sharp at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Oscar Peterson at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $85-$100. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6 

FILM 

2nd Annual International Small Film Festival to Sept. 10 at Berkeley Art Center Gallery, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. Cost is $2-$10. 644-6893.  

Pirates and Piracy “The Sea Hawk” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Andrew Lam will discuss ”Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora” at 6:30 p.m. at Bookmark Bookstore, 721 Washington St. Space is limited, please RSVP to 531-3420. 

Robert Fuller will discuss “All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies and the Politics of Dignity” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, faculty recital performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864.  

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

Sean Smith, Matt Baldwin, and Adam Snider, acoustic guitars, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Gerard Landry and the Lariats at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

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

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

Chirgilchin, throat singers from Tuva, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

Ten Ton Chicken, groove-rock, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Lady Soul, Sonny, Mista Kista at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886.  

THURSDAY, SEPT. 7 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Chroma” works by artists of the Chroma Collective opens with a reception at 5 p.m. at the Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Exhibition runs to Oct. 1. 848-1228. 

Kala Art Institute Residency Projects Part Two Opening reception at 6 p.m. at 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhibition runs to Oct. 14. Gallery hours are Tues.-Fri. noon to 5:30 p.m., Sat. noon to 4:30 p.m. 549-2977. 

“Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India” Guided tour at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. 

Works by Erin McGuiness, ceramicist. Reception at 6 p.m. at Earthworks Clay Co-op, 2547 8th St., at Dwight. 841-9810. 

“2 the Nines” Photography by Stephen Keller. Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Lavezzo Designs Studio, 5751 Horton St., Emeryville. 428-2384. 

“Vibration” Sound photographs of Hiroshi Morimoto and the Japanese calligraphy of Sara Morimoto. Opening reception at 5 p.m. at Transmissions Gallery, 1177 San Pablo Ave. Exhibition runs to Oct. 5. www.transmissions-gallery.com 

THEATER 

“Color Stuck” a one-man show by Donald E. Lacy, Jr. at 8 p.m. at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. Benefit for LoveLife Foundation. Tickets are $50. 663-5683. 

FILM 

The Mechanical Age “The Mechanical Man” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free screening. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Riddle of Tabo: The Origin and Fate of a West Tibetan Manuscript Collection” A colloquium with Paul Harrison, Visiting Professor, Dept of Religious Studies, Stanford at 5 p.m. at the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Flr. 643-6492. 

Phyllis Stowell, poet at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Leonard Pitt shows slides and talks about “Walks Through Lost Paris” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

John Sumser will introduce his lastest book, “A Land Without Time: A Peace Corps Volunteer in Afghanistan,” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Blue Roots, blues, gospel, New Orleans jazz and soul at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Duamuxa & Ricardo Cuevas at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

David Berkeley, alt folk country, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Joe Beck & Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Mitch Landy at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Tom Huebner, Kitty Rose at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Buffalo Field Campaign Road Show with music by 7th Generation Rise at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220. 

Glass Candy, The Chromatics, Death of a Party, dance rock, at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $7. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com

Pacific Film Archive is taking a look back at the mechanical age from the vantage point of the digital age, screening films that in one way or another exemplify cinematic obsessions with machines. The films range from the silent era—including works by Fritz Lang and comedians Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin—to more recent fare such as Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990) and David Cronenberg’s Crash (1996). 

The series ties in with the concurrent “Measure of Time” exhibit at the Berkeley Art Museum. 

Lang’s Metropolis starts things off at 3 p.m. Sunday, followed by Chaplin’s Modern Times at 6 p.m. Both films as categorized by PFA as depictions of “machine anxiety.” 

Metropolis, one of the most influential of all science fiction films, is a dystopian nightmare in which the age of machines enables a repressive societal structure in which workers are forced underground to work as slaves, running the machinery that enables the ruling class to thrive above ground. The film is full of typical Langian imagery—stark, symmetric compositions, grand in size and scope—including the iconic moment when the protagonist is bound to a machine that resembles a large clock, trying to keep up with the never-ending task of matching the movement of the machine’s arms to a series of flashing lights. The purpose of the machine is never explained but used merely as an Expressionistic and symbolic device: Mankind enslaved to both time and its own machines. 

Later in the film the mad scientist Rotwang sends his robot down into the workers’ netherworld, disguised as their saintly leader Maria, with the intent of using the machine-woman to spark a revolt. Again, man’s demise is threatened by the specter of his own machines run amok.  

Pairing Metropolis with Chaplin’s Modern Times makes for an interesting double feature. Neither film represents the best work of its creator, but both feature iconic moments that have stood the test of time. One of the most memorable images of Chaplin’s career comes when his beleaguered assembly line worker, in a mad frenzy of widget-tightening glee, hurls himself onto a conveyor belt and gets caught in the machine’s giant gears, only to single-mindedly begin tightening their bolts.  

Other themes in the series include “Mechanical Men,” featuring Edward Scissorhands as well as more silent films such as The Mechanical Man (1921) and the work of animator/comedian Charely Bowers; “Soviet Social Mechanics,” featuring Sergie Eisenstein’s The General Line (1929), and Pandora’s Box, Episode One: The Engineer’s Plot (1992); and “Terminal Machines,” featuring Stanley Kubrick’s experimental masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Cronenberg’s Crash (1996), in which a married couple discovers the thrill of having sex while watching or participating in car accidents.  

Two more silent films turn the camera’s gaze back on itself under the category of “The Mechanics of Cinema.” Dziga Vertov’s The Man with a Movie Camera (1929) is a dizzying work which attempts to grant the camera the agility of the human eye. In another inspired double feature, it will be preceded by Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. (1924), which is not only a brilliant and clever piece of filmmaking, with elaborately choreographed action and comedy sequences, but also a great piece of film criticism, employing innovative special effects techniques in a self-reflexive statement on the nature of film and filmgoing. It’s film-within-a-film structure, in which Buster, a projectionist, leaves the booth and walks onto the screen (a theme which later inspired Woody Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo), sets up a series of masterly cinematic illusions which highlight the gaps in reality that come to light when three-dimensional action is relegated to the flat, two-dimensional surface of a movie screen.  

“The Mechanical Age” runs through Sunday, Oct. 22 at Pacific Film Archive’s theater at 2575 Bancroft Way. For a complete schedule, as well as information on the Berkeley Art Museum’s “Measure of Time” exhibit, see www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. 

By Ken Bullock 

An ambitious young man from a ruined family of Russian gentry decides, in the decade after the freeing of the serfs in 1861, that the way to get on in the world is to milk the self-love of those in position, to listen to their inane chatter (everybody knows in Moscow people only talk, they don’t work), and not to speak his own sarcastic mind, just to commit his acid observations to his journal. 

Thus, Diary of a Scoundrel, the classic satire by Alexander Ostrovsky, now onstage at the Masquers Playhouse in Pt. Richmond. 

Aided and abetted by his widowed mother (Joyce Thrift) and their ex-serf manservant (Alex Shafer), Yegor (Ulysses Popple) launches his climb to the top, the first rungs being a government job and a socially advantageous betrothal. 

He begins by tricking the blustery Mamaev (John Hutchinson) into his squalid little apartment so the young man—a second cousin—can humbly ask his “uncle” for advice (with which the fatuous Mamaev’s overflowing) and insinuate himself into “uncle’s” professional life and contacts--as well as into the affections of lonely socialite “Auntie” Kleopatra (Adele Margrave). 

Posing as a pleasant young idiot (as everybody in Moscow knows that only the insipid and lazy are accorded respect), the scheming Yegor’s path upward seems almost too easy, as he finds himself ghostwriting speeches and articles for the doddering Kroutitsky (David J. Suhl) and the affable, opportunistic Gorodoulin (Mark Shepard), and supplants a hussar officer with an enormous shako (Paul J. White as another Yegor) in the affections of not so much the gushing, youthful Mashanka (Heather Morrison) as her superstitiously pious benefactress aunt Sofia with the wild past (Amy Landino), achieving his desirable engagement. 

But then again, there’s that diary with the caustic truth written in it floating around. 

The Masquers make hay with this surgical yet absurd satire, revving up a packed house into explosions of laughter as the Moscow hoi polloi go through the motions of their eccentric rituals, telling anybody who’ll listen (as well as talking to themselves) about their well-considered, off-the-wall “reasons” for their wildly askew way of life. 

Carlene Collier Coury and Marilyn Kamelgarn have co-directed a tight little show that makes use of a fine script and of the Masquers’ small, floor-level proscenium stage and apron/orchestra “pit” to spin out this droll tale of cupidity with an economy rare in community theater. 

They’ve been ably abetted by designers John Hull (set), Adam Fry (lights), Carol Wood (costumes) and Linda Bradshaw (properties--though a manilla envelope containing a suspiciously modern newspaper stands out strangely from the otherwise pleasant period feel of the show). 

The most successful feature is the portrayal of the grotesques that pass for characters. The younger folk are a little bland and flat, and 15-year-old Ulysees Popple, with a good look for the part, isn’t experienced enough vocally or in movement to more than pantomime and intone the mannerisms of a con-man who should syncopate his flagrant but deadpan trickery with peekaboo signs of malice. 

But the older folk he tricks are sharper in their turns and in the case of that fine actor John Hutchinson, delicious. His Mamaev textures the sound and the action with every feline movement and wide-eyed verbal absurdity. Joyce Thrift, Adele Margrave, Mark Shepard, and especially Amy Landino, add to this menagerie of caricatures, and Alex Shafer makes a nice routine of his other role, ostensibly a small one, of a disapproving butler announcing the constant arrival of conniving “holy” mendicants. 

Jo Lusk as an offbeat, drunken seeress, “free from the vanities of this world,” who stumbles in and out of the otherwise clockwork action, and C. Conrad Cady as genial blackmailer Golutvin, “a man without an occupation,” also deserve mention, adding their own flavor to this rich yet piquant borscht of a play. 

One only wishes they’d taken it a little farther. The director’s notes in the program mime surprise at a 19th century Russian comedy, but it all began with Gogol’s gargoyles and the early Dostoyevsky’s strange, funny creatures, who quickly found their way to the stage, culminating in the grotesque, often acrobatic “events” of Meyerhold in the 1920s. 

The complaint of many a Western audience, looking for the much-touted “realism” of Russian theater (and film) is a note of surprise, even shock, at the almost burlesque cartoonishness of the humor the actors bring to their characters. 

A bit more of this would’ve made for an even better ensemble feel to the Masquers’ show, more of a sense of culmination when each of the “wronged” blowhards explodes with outrage when the truth is put to them, and the cool con-man high-handedly dismisses them as hypocrites, himself the single honest man! 

But the Masquers have put together quite an evening of theater, with the true community spirit of contributions from all (a cast of 14 and staff and crew of more than a dozen), as so often, a very pleasant surprise from this little company that began in El Cerrito in 1955, and has been housed in Pt. Richmond for 45 years now, raving up an evening with a mock-serious cry of “Stupidity? That’s nonsense!” 

Diary of a Scoundrel runs through Sept. 30 at the Masquers Playhouse,105 Park Place, Richmond. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2:30 p.m. Tickets $15. For more information, call 232-4031.

Feeling at home in a new location requires time, effort and a little luck. Where to go for quality foods, reasonable eats and outdoor pursuits? To minimize time and effort and maximize pleasure, take the advice of every travel guide writer and look for the locals. Patrons eagerly waiting for doors to open, long lines and a mixed bag of clientele are sure signs that Berkeley’s favorites are poorly kept secrets. 

Berkeley Bowl has been serving its fans since 1977, moving from a former bowling alley to the major space it occupies today. While a full service grocery in every sense of the word, its produce and Asian departments are beyond compare. Choose among organic, pesticide-free and heirloom for stone fruits, cherries and tomatoes. Products abound for Japanese, Chinese and Thai specialties. Harris Ranch meats, Straus Family Creamery, bulk grains—all combine to present the highest quality at the lowest prices. 

For al-fresco marketing experiences you can’t beat Berkeley Farmers Market where strolling the aisles emulates travel through Northern California. Produce from Watsonville’s Happy Boy Farms and Yolo County’s River Dog Farm; Bennett Valley Breads from Santa Rosa and wood fired Morell’s Breads on the Marin Headlands; Cedar Creek Salmon, Highland Hills lamb, Tunitas Creek wildflower honey. Serenaded by music in blue-grass and Andean mode and surrounded by shoppers with bicycles, strollers, backpacks, wagons and wicker baskets attached to luggage carriers. The people watching value equals the quality of the goods. 

The Cheeseboard Collective will draw you like a magnet six days a week, offering specialties you can’t resist. Though only one pizza choice is offered daily—roasted bell-goat cheese, tomato-caper, zucchini-corn—Berkeleyans seem to love them all. The bakery selections are more varied, requiring serious decisions among scones, muffins, sweet rolls and breads. While baguettes, both seeded and plain, are baked daily, Cheese Curry Onion Bread only appears on Tuesday, Sesame Sunflower on Wednesday and Provolone Olive on Saturday. Their selection of cheeses, too numerous to count are sold daily, with samples offered before purchase.  

The need for good food that doesn’t need to be cooked occurs on a regular basis and choices are as numerous as Netflix offerings. Often described as ‘blue-collar comfort food’, Brennan’s Restaurant has been a Berkeley institution since 1959. Dark green walls, wood tables and a long central bar allow long escapes from everyday responsibilities. Sliding your tray past steam table pans of entire turkeys, hams, roast and corned beef, you can order sandwiches, dipped au jus, and plates, enjoying Thanksgiving dinner any day of the year. Soups are hardy, salads fresh, deserts are worthy of their calories and the servings are substantial. Come once for the food and return often for the Irish coffee and the laid-back ambience. 

Neither Tex-Mex, new-Mex nor fresh-Mex, Juan’s Place is family-style Mexican food at its best. A place where you’d expect to see a multi-generational family celebrating ‘feliz cumpleanos’. Though almost always full, the service is efficient and the plates are hot. Many would be happy to make a meal of the freshly made chips, both flour and corn, and the red and green salsa that appear on your table. Try to save room for plate-size burritos, chicken mole enchiladas, chile rellenos and guacamole tostadas. What you can’t finish will make a great lunch. 

To experience the great food and atmosphere of an Indian Bazaar, you can’t beat Viks Chaat Corner. Traditionally a roadside snack served on a leaf, Viks chaat offerings are so good you’ll want to lick your fingers. On weekdays full plate curry meals are offered for vegetarians and meat eaters accompanied by naan and lentil stew. Weekends give center stage to an enticing assortment of chaats—spiced lamb, puffed puris, lentil dumplings, crepes stuffed with potatoes, served with chutney or raita. Since the servings are hearty and the prices low, the two large rooms are usually full. At lunch time, don’t let the lines scare you away; the food and experience are worth the wait. 

Every Sunday the Thai Buddhist Temple puts on a party and everyone’s invited. Prepared by monks and donated by area restaurants, a Thai smorgasbord perfumes the air. Tables are fitted in wherever there’s room, between buildings, under a funky Plexiglas patio roof, around the parking lot. Patrons exchange dollars for tokens and feast on sweet mango rice, coconut milk fried pancakes, spicy green beans and tofu, green, red and yellow curries, pad thai, green papaya salad, fried chicken and more. Curry at 9am may dislodge your timing for the day, but the lines grow as the hours tick toward noon. 

When the need for activity beckons three locations stand out, with enough on board for a multitude of outings. One visit can’t do them justice. The UC Botanical Garden invites you to get lost in the world of plants, literally. With areas devoted to Australasia, Mexico, South America and Eastern North America, your senses can travel miles. Follow pathways to the Garden of Old Roses and look out at the bay, and then wander through monkey puzzle trees, gigantic bromeliads and wild fuchsias from Argentina and Chile. Walk downhill to the California natives bordering Strawberry Creek. Find a bench and contemplate the m’s: manzanita, mahonia, mountain mahogany and mesquite. Seasonal specials will call you back. 

Two expansive recreational facilities border Berkeley on the east and west. In the East Bay Hills lies Tilden Regional Park, encompassing over two thousand acres and endless miles of trails for hiking, horseback riding, bicycling and observing nature. Cool off or cast your line in the waters of Lake Anza; tour the Nature Study Area stopping at the Little Farm, the Environmental Education Center and Jewel Lake; enjoy a family cook-out at Lone Oak or Indian Camp; revisit childhood riding the Hershell Spillman merry-go-round; join the engineers on the miniature Steam Train. 

Hugging the coastline of San Francisco Bay is the Berkeley Marina, home to a cornucopia of water-related activities. At Shorebird Park you can tour the ‘green’ Straw Bale Nature Center, create fantasies at Adventure Playground or join the Cal Sailing Club. Out on the Public Fishing Pier, catch dinner or stroll the length savoring brisk winds and expansive views, wander paved paths admiring water craft, then pop into the Marina Deli for a hot dog. On the northern boundary run your dog and watch the kites soar at Cesar Chavez Park. 

Follow the locals and sample their favorites, make them your own. You may soon find yourself a repeat customer, at home in Berkeley. 

UC Botanical Garden has plants native to different areas of the world. Photograph by Marta Yamamoto. 

Berkeley Bowl 

2020 Oregon St., 843-6929. 

9 a.m.–8 p.m.Monday–Saturday; 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Sunday. 

Berkeley Farmers Market 

Saturdays: 10 a.m.–2 p.m., Center Street above Martin Luther King. 

Tuesdays: 1–7 p.m., Derby at Martin Luther King. 

Thursdays: 3–7 p.m., Shattuck at Rose. 

The Cheeseboard 

1512 Shattuck Ave., 549-3055.  

Open Monday through Saturday. 

Brennan’s Restaurant 

720 University Ave., 841-0960. 

11 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Sunday– 

Wednesday; 11 a.m.–10:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday. 

Juan’s Place 

941 Carleton St., 845-6904. 

11 a.m.–10 p.m. Monday–Friday; 2–10 p.m. Saturday, Sunday.  

Viks Chaat Corner 

724 Allston Way, 644-4412. 

11 a.m.–6 p.m. Tuesday–Sunday. 

Thai Buddhist Temple 

1911 Russell St, 849-3419. 

Sunday brunch, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden 

200 Centennial Drive, 643-2755. 

Open every day, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu. 

Tilden Regional Park 

Entrances off Wildcat Canyon Road and Grizzly Peak Blvd, 562-PARK. www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden.  

Berkeley Marina  

201 University Ave, 981-6740. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/marina.  

This is a good time of year to take a look at our furnaces. One reason is that that’s true is that servicing can lead to repairs (or, Oh No, replacement) and this can take your furnace off line for some days and it’s better to face such an eventuality when it’s sunny and warm than when you really need the heat. Also, the best service folks (HVAC or Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning technicians) are busy when the winter hits and everyone’s turned on their furnace for the first time only to discover something that’s gone awry. In fact, you’ll have your pick of the best HVAC folks if you get them at this time of year. 

But before we get to professional servicing, let’s see what you can do for yourself. I’ll start with common mid-efficiency forced air heating and then will devote just a little time to small gas heaters before we’re though. 

If you have central gas heat, which is what most of us, on the West Coast have for heat, you probably have a mid-efficiency furnace. This is large box, often found in the basement, garage or under the house. This unit usually has two metal doors on the front face and a set of visible burners somewhere near the middle of the unit. 

These units heat air which is fed to them through large ducts or tubes which are generally between 6 and 14 inches in diameter. One side usually has one very large duct which draws cooler air in from the house and the other end of the unit will have a trunk and branches that lead out to the various extremities of the house. The analogy of a circulatory system, like a bloodstream is apropos. 

If you have this sort of system, there are a number of things you can do yourself to help your forced air heating system to operate well. If you have the gumption to do so, I’d start by examining every part with the layman’s eye. Crawl or walk around so as to see every bit of the ducting that’s not buried in the walls. If a grill can be removed from the floor or wall with ease. Take it off and look inside. Check to make sure that the ducts or tubes aren’t loose from the fittings at either end. 

A good way to check is to turn the furnace on or run the fan-only setting. Some but not all furnaces are wired this way, although nearly all can be wired this way. A nice upgrade is to have your HVAC person upgrade the wiring to allow for the fan to be run without running the furnace. In this way, you’ll gain a secondary cooling and cleaning feature. 

The simple act of running air through the house provides some level of cooling, albeit minimal and the operation of the fan setting also carries air though your filter system, thus providing some cleaning of the air, and thereby the house. This is especially true for those who smoke or have animals. A really good filtration system, such as an electronic air cleaner can reduce the amount of cleaning you have to do inside, although this is not its intended function. 

When you run the fan or furnace, you’ll be inflating the system and it will be easier to see where air blows out of leaking ducts. Don’t be surprised if you crawl under your house and find a duct completely detached and heating the crawlspace (the mice really appreciate it! Be sure to look for the tiny beds and lawn furniture near the open duct). I see detached ducting and partially disconnected ducting all the time. 

Regulations now in force in our state now require most communities to repair any ducting with more than 15% leakage when any other servicing or work is being performed. It’s important that this be done by a professional since improper repairs can result in foreign substances being drawn into the living-space. Half of your furnace system is a vacuum cleaner and half is a blower. 

The vacuum cleaner half may have one or two large ducts running through the crawlspace (most do) and if detached or damaged in this space, can draw damp air, mold, fungus or other wondrous elements into the house. 

This can be happening now if the ducts are damaged, so it’s best to have a professional check for leaks. Nonetheless, many openings can be easily identified by an intrepid explorer with a bright flashlight and guts to examine all side of each duct.  

Next, look inside the registers or grills in the floors or walls or ceilings (most are in floors around here). Many grills simply slip out of the “boot” but some older ones have two or four screws. This is well worth the effort for the small change alone. Maybe you’ll find that missing earring or 53 cents. You will almost certainly find dirt and debris and this is your chance to vacuum out what you can readily see. 

The cold air intake (that’s the big one usually found somewhere near the middle of the house, often in a hallway or dining room floor) is often the main place that you’ll strike it big. You’ll find toys, Monopoly houses, more change and lots of dirt, dog hair and other splendid fortunes. Cleaning this out will help your air supply and the life of the furnace. 

Next it’s time to remove the doors to the furnace and vacuum there. Be careful with the vacuum in all these places, ducts are often quite fragile and it’s not too hard to rip through them with a bare vacuum wand. Don’t be too surprised if you find dead critters in the blower compartment of the furnace. If you note signs of corrosion in the furnace, it’s a very good idea to get it cleaned and examined. 

Make sure the blower (usually a squirrel-cage type fan) moves freely, be sure it’s turned off before you meddle. Older units have bushings along the axle that can be oiled (and should) but most modern ones do not. 

Some furnaces have anti-nitrous oxide rods that are mounted just above the burner (these burners are easily identified when the unit is running because the flames come right out of them just as in your gas oven) and these are often bent or burned through. If you see these pencil sized rods falling down on the burners or burned through, definitely call it to the attention of your HVAC guy or gal. 

Take a look at the flue which comes off your furnace (that’s the very hot pipe that comes off the furnace and heads toward the roof or chimney (usually about 4” in diameter) and make sure that nothing flammable is resting on or very near it. Double wall flues are better in this respect and are usually identified by a mark stamped upon them. They’re called B vents and look fatter than a single tube of metal that was more common 40 years ago. 

The last item we’ll tackle on the FAU (forced air unit) is the filter. If you have a common 1” disposable filter, change it now and often. 

These should be changed at least twice a year, although the cleanliness of the house atmosphere can make this vary quite a lot. A large dog may necessitate replacement 3 or 4 times a year. Filters are cheap and good ones are a bargain. I recommend the school of pleated filters that are usually electrostatically charged. Filtrete is one brand but many hardware stores carry a store brand for much less. 

The $8 filter is will worth it when you consider your lungs. These filters can capture very tiny harbingers of disease including mold spores, virus and pollen. They’re not perfect but they’re a big step above the common $2 filter. If you have a fiberglass mesh “reusable” filter, I’d suggest tossing it. They catch dust bunnies but not too much more. 

If you’re really interested in your health or have a household member who has allergies, consider installing a higher quality filter such as a media filter system (mid-priced upgrade), an electronic air-cleaner (higher priced upgrade-about $800) or a combination system. Some even have negative ion generator built into them designed to precipitate solid matter out of the indoor air. 

No matter what kind of gas heater you have, it’s a darned good idea to have an annual professional examination of the unit. It’s usually less than $200 and well worth it. 

As promised, here are a couple of words on gas wall and floor furnaces. While I’ve written more extensively on this in the past and won’t get deeply into these lower duty heater, I will say that cleaning of the accessible parts of any of these is wise and can reduce burned dander and other particulate in your home. 

If you have a furnace that doesn’t have a thermostat consider an upgrade. A furnace that can be left on full bore with no control related to temperature is unnecessarily dangerous and an upgrade isn’t ridiculously expensive (It’s just expensive). 

Make sure that nothing flammable is kept on or near the wall or floor furnace. I was once inspecting a rental unit with a small wall furnace mounted low on the wall. This was a direct-vent model and, while these are generally safer than most, the tenant had, in all her glorious hippyhood, chosen to burn lots of candles on top of this unit and the inside was coated with paraffin. 

We also had the de rigueur madras just above on the wall and various gods and goddesses arrayed beside said candles. As Harrod Blank’s license plate says “OMYGAWD.” Even Ganesha can’t help everyone. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.

Flowers are the most obvious way to scent a garden, but they have lots of company. Fragrance in other plant parts is generally a side effect of strategies for things other than reproduction: water conservation, pest protection, even fire resistance.  

Some trees have so much native scent that a single specimen can evoke whole forests. There’s an incense cedar in a yard a few blocks from me that throws me mentally into the deep dark woods every time I walk past. 

California native bay laurel has a musky intriguing scent that works best in the fallen, dried leaves. One of either in a backyard is all it takes to evoke a forest, which is fortunate because that’s all the average yard has room for.  

Large trees’ odors can work against us, of course. Blue gum eucalyptus are camphorish enough most of the time, but they have a distinct aura of cat urine when they bask in the sun.  

Coleonema, “breath-of-heaven” and myrtle—Myrtis communis, the bush, not the groundcover—are shrubs whose leaves reward you with a spicy odor a bit like carnations’ when you rub them. I don’t know why anyone bothers to plant boxwood when these are available. 

Some of our native sages, especially Salvia clevelandii, emit marvelous scent when touched and have good hummingbird flowers too. Sniff before you buy; species and varieties have different scents, and, like cilantro, they can be a matter of individual taste. 

I planted scented geraniums along the narrow part of our driveway. Every time I back out I perfume the truck and I can tell by nose if I’ve steered badly. They’re tough plants, handsome, with varied textures and nice small flowers. And they come in so many scents that there must be something for everyone.  

For scent underfoot, intersperse steppingstones or pavers with groundcovers like the prostrate thymes. They come in flavors labeled as (and somewhat resembling) caraway, lemon, and lime as well as in different leaf colors with variations on the culinary thyme we’re used to. 

They can be used in cooking too, of course. If you have a wetter spot, try prostrate chamomile or Corsican mint.  

Fresh redwood-chip mulch is a most Proustian scent. It sends me right back to my days of gardening for a living, of changing some bit of California landscape by myself, by hand, and finishing the job by spreading mulch like baby-bunting and tucking the new plants in. 

Depending on where you grew up, you might get that same rush from tanbark, pine, even eucalyptus chips—from that last you’ll get a good sinus-clearing too.  

Since I grew up ten miles from Hershey, Pennsylvania there’s another memory-lane mulch for me: cocoa-bean hulls. 

They’re natural, available here too, add fertility, and smell like the hometown of the Hershey Bar. (Yes it does. And yes it has streetlamps shaped like Hershey’s Kisses, alternately silver-“wrapped” and brown. The silver ones have metal weathervane tags.) 

I mulched my mint bed with them once. I’ve since heard they’re toxic to dogs, so confine them to Spot-free spots.  

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in East Bay Home & Real Estate. Her column on East Bay trees appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 1 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

“Engaging a New Generation of Activists” An Anti-Poverty Teach-in and Strategy Forum with speakers, Frank Chong, Van Jones, Sharon Cornu, Hallie Montoya and others, at 6 p.m. at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. Free, but RSVP requested, fightpoverty@youthlaw.org 

Circle Dancing Simple folkdancing, beginners welcome, no partners needed, at 8 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. at University Ave. 528-4253. Donation $5. www.circledancing.com 

“Architects at Play” An opportunity for children to build free-form structures at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. 

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

SATURDAY, SEPT. 2 

Art & Soul Oakland Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Mon. at the Frank Ogawa Plaza and City Center. Cost is $5. www.artandsouloakland.com 

Walking Tour of Historic Oakland Churches and Temples Meet at 10 a.m. at the front of the First Presbyterian Church at 2619 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

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

Spiritwalking: Aqua Chi(TM) at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Also Wed. at 3:30 p.m. Cost is $5.50, $3.50 seniors & disabled. Bring your own towels. 526-0312. 

Yoga for Peace at 9:30 a.m. at Ohlone Park, MLK at Hearst. Bring a yoga mat, warm blanket, and peace sign.  

Adult Fast Pitch Softball at noon. For location call 204-9500.  

Urban Releaf Tree Tour of Oakland and workshops in urban forestry that teach tree planting, maintenance, GIS/GPS systems, and community advocacy. For information call 601-9062. www.urbanreleaf.org 

Produce Stand at Spiral Gardens Food Security Project from 1 to 6 p.m. at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon St. 

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

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

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

SUNDAY, SEPT. 3 

Gala Convergence of Storytellers from 1 to 4 p.m. at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Jack London Square, 98 Broadway, Oakland. 238-8585. 

East Bay Atheists shows the video,"The Root of All Evil," Part 1, by Richard Dawkins, the renowned evolutionary biologist, at 1:30 p.m. Berkeley's Main Library, 2090 Kittredge Street, 3rd floor. 222-7580. 

Free Sailboat Rides from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring change of clothes, windbreaker, sneakers. For ages 5 and up. cal-sailing.org  

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

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

Balinese Dance Class with Tjokorda Istri Putra Padmini at 11 a.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 237-6849. 

Kickabout at Codornices Park Soccer for all, skill and talent not required. For more information contact cambour@hotmail.com  

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “Ancient Wisdom; Modern Application” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, SEPT. 4 

Art & Soul Oakland Festival Sat. - Mon. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Cost is $5, children under 12 free. www.ArtandSoulOakland.com 

TUESDAY, SEPT. 5 

“The Politics of Bones: Dr. Owens Wiwa and the Struggle for Nigeria’s Oil” with J. Tompthy Hunt, Michael Watts, and Anna Zalik at 4 p.m. at 150 University Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Center for African Studies and the Center for Human Rights. 642-0721. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 3 to 4 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

“Taste of Judaism: Are you Curious?” Explore Jewish spirituality, ethics and community, open to all. Tues. evenings, Sept. 5, 12, 19, in Berkeley. Free but registration required. 839-2900 ext 347. 

Torture Teach-in and Vigil every Tues. at 12:30 p.m. at the fountain on UC Campus, Bancroft at College. 

Discussion Salon on Humor at 7 p.m. at 1414 Walnut.  

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

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

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

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6  

Strawberry Creek Greenway Proposal Community discussion on daylighting the creek at the abandonned West Campus Schoolyard, at 6:30 p.m. in the Green Room, City Corporation Yard, 1326 Allston Way. For information call Carole Schemmerling 512 4005. carole 

schem@hotmail.com 

Walking Tour of Oakland City Center Meet at 10 a.m. in front Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

“The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror” A documentary at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., between Broadway and Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 393-5685. 

Density Bonus Workshop with the Planning Commission, Housing Advisory Commission, Zoning Adjustments Board at 6 p.m. at the West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 SIxth St. at Hearst. 981-7490. 

“Homegrown Tomatoes Are Great, Unless They Are Toxic,” with Christopher Harkness of the San Jose Redevelopment Agency at 1 p.m. in Room 315A, Wurster Hall, UC Campus.  

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 10 a.m. at the Oakland headquarters. Various East Bay opportunities available. Advanced sign-up is required please call 594-5165.  

East Bay Food Not Bombs Volunteer Meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Long Haul Infoshop, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 644-4187. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

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

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

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

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 7 

Buffalo Field Campaign Road Show discussion the plight of Yellowstone’s wild buffalo, with music by 7th Generation Rise at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220. 

9/11 Press for Truth A documentary and Q & A with Co-Executive Producer, Ken Ellis, at 7 and 9 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$10. Proceeds benefit Cooperative Research and Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance. 

Full Moon Walk at John Miur National Historic Site See nocturnal animal and plant life and walk the same trail John Muir walked with his daughters. For reservations and details of meeting time and locations, call 925-228-8860. 

Street Fair and Farmer’s Market at Fruitvale Village, Fruitvale BART, Oakland, from 5 to 8 p.m. with live music, melon and jicama tastings, and activities for children.  

Poetry Workshop with Donna Davis from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Offered by the Berkeley Adult School. 644-6130. 

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

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club at 6:45 p.m. at Spud's Pizza, 3290 Adeline at Alcatraz. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed. Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

Berkeley Unified School Board meets Wed. Sept. 6, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. Mark Coplan 644-6320. 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5190.  

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400.  

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Thurs. Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419.  

Mental Health Commission meets Thurs., Sept. 7, at 6:30 p.m. at 2640 MLK Jr. Way, at Derby. Harvey Turek, 981-5213.  

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., Sept. 7, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406.  

ONGOING 

Each One Teach One Mentoring Program of the Oakland Unified School District is curbing student absenteeism, decreasing suspensions and increasing student participation with the help of volunteer mentors like you. For more information call 495-4010, 495-4011.  

Berkeley Adult School Register for programs in High School Diploma, GED Preparation, Citizenship and ESL classes, Mon.-Thurs. 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., Fri. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1701 San Pablo Ave. 644-6130. http://bas.berkeley.net

TUESDAY, AUGUST 29 

FILM 

Screenagers “a.k.a. Don Bonus” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

A Night of Poetry with Chris Hoffman and Robert Lipton at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Tell It On Tuesday, storytelling at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $8-$12 at the door. www.juliamorgan.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Swamp Coolers, cajun/western swing at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

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

Plena Libre at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s. Cost is $10-$18. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30 

THEATER 

Unconditional Theatre “Voices of Activism: Crawford” documentary theater, storytelling and dialoge at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $2-$20, sliding scale. www.untheatre.org 

FILM 

Kenji Mizoguchi “The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

David Simpson, author of “9/11: The Culture of Commemoration” in conversation with T. J. Clark at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Reggae Showcase with Abba Yahudah, Honourebel Nasambu, Buddha, Bobby Tenor and others, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

The Estate at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886. 

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

Wish Inflicted at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Michael Coleman Trio Jazz Jam at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Bring your instrument. 451-8100.  

Plena Libre at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$18. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, AUGUST 31 

THEATER 

East Bay Improv “Not the Same Old Song & Dance” at 8 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Donation $7. 597-0795. 

FILM 

Beyond Bollywood “Company” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region” Geologist Doris Sloan and photographer John Karachewski talk about their new book at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. 

Tom Spanbauer reads form “Now is the Hour” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Not the Same Old Song and Dance” Improv at 8 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 597-0795. 

KTO Music Project with Musekiwa Chingodza from Zimbabwe, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

David Ross MacDonald at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Vermillion Lies, The Peculiar Pretzelman at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Lucas Carpenter’s Friggin’ Fiasco of Fabulousness at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

Elvin Jones Birthday Salute with Delfeayo Marsalis, Dave Liebman, Nicholas Payton and others at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $16-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Slydini, Innerear Brigade, Stanley at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre “Salome” at 8 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. and runs Wed. - Sun. through Oct. 1. Tickets are $38. 843-4822.  

California Shakespeare Theater “The Merchant of Venice” at the Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda. Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. through Sept. 3. Tickets are $15 and up. 548-9666. 

Encore Theatre Company and Shotgun Players “The Typographer’s Dream” at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Sept. 17. Tickets are $15-$30. 841-6500.  

Masquers Playhouse “Diary of a Scoundrel” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond across from the Hotel Mac. Through Sept. 30. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Jugglers of Color” Works by Albert Hwang, Douglas Light, and Sue Averell opens at Estaban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St. at Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 444-7411. 

“A Balanced Life” sculptures by Will Furth and “Ma Vie en Rose” paintings by Jennifer L. Jones at the Community Art Gallery, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, 2450 Ashby Ave. through Nov. 10. 204-1667.  

Anna W. Edwards Abstract Paintings Opening reception at 5:30 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. Exhibition runs to Sept. 30. 465-8928. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Los Rakas, reggae, dancehall and hip hop at 10 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$12. 849-2568.  

Ellen Honert at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston WAy. 841-JAZZ. 

Junior Reid, Everton Blender and The Reggae Angels at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $17-$20. 525-5054.  

The Dave Matthews Blues Band at 8 p.m. at The Warehouse Bar, at 4th & Webster, Oakland. 451-3161.  

Steve Taylor-Ramirez, acoustic folk-country-blues, at 7 p.m. at A Cuppa Tea, 3200 College Ave. 420-0196.  

R at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Jon Steiner Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

The Ravines and Gery Tinelenberg at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

The Hooks, Joel Streeter, Nine Pound Shadow at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Eskapo, Acts of Sedition, Deconditioned at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Dynamic, jazz-funk, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bayonics, 40 Watt Hype, latin, fusion, soul, funk at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

The Moanin Dove, jungle jazz rock, at 9 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Elvin Jones Birthday Salute with Delfeayo Marsalis, Dave Liebman, Nicholas Payton, Anthony Wonsey and Jason Marsalis at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 2 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players “Ragnarok: Doom of the Gods” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at John Hinkle Park, through Sept. 10. Free, with pass the hat donation after the show. 841-6500.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Educate to Liberate: A Retrospective of the Black Panther Community News Service” Exhibition in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party, on diplay in the Oakland History Room at the Oakland Main Library, 125 14th St. 238-3222. www.oaklandlibrary.org 

FILM 

A Theater Near You “Blue Velvet” at 6:30 p.m. and “Notorious” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Art & Soul Oakland Festival Sat. - Mon. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Cost is $5, children under 12 free. www.ArtandSoulOakland.com 

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

Ray Abshire at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

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

Rebirth of the East Bay Music Scene at 8 p.m., at Historic Sweet’s Ballroom, 1933 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $16.50. Ticketweb.com  

Hip Hop Competition at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Three Apparitions and Theo Hartman at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Macy Blackman Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Blind Lemon Phillips & the Lemon Squeezers, Diablo’s Dust, Adam Traum at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Will Bernard Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Hellshock, Wartorn at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 3 

EXHIBITIONS  

“Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India” Guided tour at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. 

FILM 

The Mechanical Age “Metropolis” at 3 p.m. and “Modern Times” at 6 p.m.at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Twang Cafe with Davis Morreales 2 Wheel Tour and Crooked Roads at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

Paul H. Taylor & The Montara Mountin Boys at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

Americana Unplugged: The Blind Willies at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

MONDAY, SEPT. 4 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Marc Elihu Hofstadter and Eliot Schain at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

If you are new to Berkeley, chances are that up to now you’ve done your book shopping online or at a giant chain store in the nearest mall. 

The same chain stores serve the Bay Area, but they are far outnumbered by independent bookstores of all types and sizes, with a staff of one to 25. 

The Yellow Pages list, within the borders of Berkeley alone, over 30 independent bookstores—new, used, and mixed—general and specialized: children’s books, sci-fi/mystery, builder/landscaper, legal, comics, political, metaphysical/religious, antiquarian/rare, environmental, erotica, and one devoted to books published by university presses. 

These bookshops are not only retail stores, but hangouts for booklovers who come to buy or just to browse and maybe to schmooze with the frantically busy people who work in them. These are the people who will (only if asked, mind you) tell you if that new hot novel is really worth reading, or which is the best book on repairing antique furniture. 

They delight in playing Sherlock Holmes to locate the book that—well, all you can remember is that it’s a translation from Lithuanian and has the word “waterfall” in the title? After you’ve been in Berkeley for a while, you and they will begin to recognize each other and greet one other like old friends—as, in a way, you have become, although—while catering to your reading taste—they have ended up knowing a lot more about you than you know about them. 

I decided it was time to correct that imbalance, so I barged into seven or eight stores, notepad in hand, grabbed whoever happened to be working, and announced, with my usual tact, “I’m here to interview some of the weird people who work in bookstores.” 

As soon as they found out I wasn’t asking for yet another lament on how high rents, chain stores, and the Internet are killing the independent bookstores, people were willing to answer questions like, who are you, and how did you end up working here?  

Bookstore people have come here from all over. Michele is that rarity, a native Californian; Roger is from Illinois; Tatsuya came 10 years ago from Japan, Stas, 13 years ago from Russia. They range in age from early 20s to well past the usual retirement age. 

Some had one or two family members with experience in bookselling—most obviously Doris, who owns and works in the store named after her father, Moe. “It took me seven years to persuade my father to give me a job in the store; he fired me twice, but then apologized and rehired me.” 

Others, like Kay, grew up with no books and no readers in her home. Yet, “I can’t remember a time, an existence, before I could read, and did, constantly.” 

Typical of over-credentialed Berkeley, most of the people I spoke to had at least a B.A., and a sprinkling had completed most or all of an M.A. or Ph.D. 

Clay is an exception, who “always haunted bookstores in Massachusetts, but could never get a job in one because everyone they hired had degrees, and I couldn’t afford to stay in college. Ten years ago I came to Berkeley, and got what I always wanted—this job.” 

Most of the others drifted into bookselling because, after finishing a B.A., they needed a job while they made up their minds what to do next. “And so here I am,” says Nick, “thirty-five years later, realizing there’s no place else I’d rather be.” 

Others have more specific reasons for starting and staying in bookstores, like flexible hours. Amy and Laura cite more hours spent with their children, even, Laura says, “taking one to work with me in the stroller, and keeping an eye on her between the shelves.” 

Peter is grateful to be able to juggle care of his son, working at both Analog Books and University Press Books, and writing, while his wife, an M.D., brings home the major income. 

A primary attraction, mentioned by all, was, “I don’t have to get dressed up to go to work.” 

Lewis started off teaching English at Yale, then hopped from one college to another, across the country, to land as a research consultant for a large firm in San Francisco, plus some hours at Black Oak. 

“One day I came straight from the office to my shift at the store, wearing a business suit. One of my fellow workers stopped me at the door and said, ‘Hey, you can’t come in here dressed like that!’ and I knew I’d found my home.” 

Jon followed a strangely logical zig-zag path to his bookstore. 

“In 1978 I was majoring in music at Sonoma State and living in a trailer with a couple thousand books,” he said. “I’d bike to the campus, spread a few books out on the lawn, sell a few, enough to get by. Sometimes I hitchhiked to flea markets to buy books for resale. One day Harvey, then a professor at SSU, picked me up, and we got acquainted. By the time he left teaching and bought Shakespeare & Co. from Bill Cartwright, I had my own store in Cotati. He asked me to wholesale books to him, then, later, to work nights for him in Berkeley. In 2004, he was ready to retire and sell Shakespeare & Co. So here I am!” 

The main reason for staying, mentioned by everyone, was “the books, just being around books all day,” and the word used over and over again was “excitement,” at the arrival of a fascinating book by an old or new author, introducing a new subject or a new take on an old one, with a new or old design or a typeface, a style, a quality of paper or binding rarely seen.  

Katsuya, whose interest has shifted from his college major, French literature, to history, and recently to philosophy, says, “I am surrounded by my university, with access to life-long learning.” 

Kimn catches her breath when she says, “Every book is someone’s mind.” Her degree in Anthropology was broadened by her independent study of Jung. Lately her interest has shifted to “design, in everything we use, because beauty is so essential to our lives.” 

Only one person I interviewed had plans to move on to another profession: Patrice is finishing an external (on-line) degree, after which she hopes (after 25 years in bookstores) to go to divinity school. 

Nearly everyone had worked for many bookstores, wholesalers, publishers, libraries, printers, newspapers, magazines. The bookstores they named echo in memory like lost mythological kingdoms: Pellucidar, A Woman’s Place, Books Unlimited, Holmes, Bookpeople, Mama Bears, Upstart Crow, Paper Tiger, Shambhala. With a few exceptions, bookstores come and go. Continuity is provided by the people who work in one, then another store.  

Many have known each other over the long-term (“Ever since my now-20-year-old son peed on Kay’s counter at Paper Tiger” says Amy) like a nomadic tribe or clan with shared cultural roots. The shared culture goes beyond Berkeley, East Bay, Bay Area, to form a nation-wide tribe that gathers at annual trade shows and book fairs.  

“At an ABA dinner, oh, 30 years ago I ran into a friend from Northwestern U. who knew Andy, and that’s how I ended up at Cody’s,” says Michele. 

These broad ties run deep as well. “When my husband died,” says Amy, “there I was with our three young sons, and my three Pegasus/Pendragon stores. The staff was wonderful, a real family. I don’t know how I would have made it without them.”  

Everyone can name famous artists or poets or novelists who have at one time or another worked in a bookstore. These are part of a tiny percentage of practicing artists; most, no matter how accomplished and respected, must keep their day jobs. A couple of well-known local people who juggled parallel artistic/bookstore careers for many years are artist Susan Jokelson (whose cards you can still buy at Cody’s Books) and radio broadcaster Denny Smithson, whose eye-witness-reporter voice you will hear whenever anyone presents a documentary of 1960s political demonstrations. People working in the bookstores now will modestly admit to keeping up that tradition. 

Kay used to perform with “The Mother Pluckers” and still plays guitar weekly with informal groups. In fact, there are enough musicians and singers to form a few booksellers’ bands. As Laura puts it, “part of my soul is in books and the rest of it wants to sing in a smoky old dive.”  

Matthew paints in oils and does pen and ink drawings. Isla works mostly in pencil. Russ modestly denies being an artist, but “yes, I sew. I make aloha shirts, like the one I’m wearing, for me and my friends.” 

Robert is studying film-making when he’s not reading or playing sports. “I have a wrestling mat in my basement” (good training for hauling and shelving books). Roger has edited anthologies and is in demand by university libraries to do appraisals of rare and learned collections. Bruno is the publisher of AK Books, which specializes in handsomely produced reprints of “books by and about outsiders, drifters, marginal people.” 

He also is a mainstay of the Prison Literature Project. (You can donate books and money at Moe’s.) Carla edits the literature/art magazine Kitchen Sink. Stan’s Subterranean Shakespeare Co. used to perform in the basement of LaVal’s Pizza (dishwashers thumping and swishing overhead). “My first cast was half pizza makers and half booksellers.” He is now directing for Live Oak Theater. “Hey, plug my new adaptation of Hedda Gabbler, will you? We open Oct. 20.” 

Owen may be the most active poet, but definitely not the only one. Almost everyone—if pressed—will admit that s/he is writing or has written poetry or has “a novel on the back burner.” Clay insists modestly, “I write poetry but I think I serve poetry just as much by arranging the readings at Pegasus.” 

Lewis, in charge of the well-attended calendar of readings at Black Oak, prepares the most unpretentiously authoritative introductions of writers I’ve ever heard. Some of his introductions have been incorporated into his published book reviews, and people are always urging him to collect the best of them in a book. 

Lewis not only arranges readings requested by publishers, but goes after admired hard-to-get writers, and is not above bribery. He tells me of the very famous poet who, he learned, is a foodie. 

“Now, if I can persuade Alice Waters to cook a special meal for him, maybe I can get him to come and read here,” he said. 

Lewis receives interesting phone messages, like a recent one: “Lewis. Single mom seeking. Call Rachel.” He laughs and says he was relieved to learn that “Single Mom Seeking was the title of a book that Rachel wanted me to schedule for a reading.” Speaking of phone callers, Michele loves them all, including “the people who call us to ask for the name of a good restaurant or the best movie or play in town this week.” 

I asked the same question of everyone: what do you like best about working here, and what do you like least? Universally named as best were the people, customers and co-workers. “Intelligent people ask my advice all day,” says Russ. “And they say please and thank you,” says Charles. 

Isla was inspired by her co-worker Carla to find her direction in art, and Elliot credits a co-worker for introducing him to his great love, opera. 

“I love writers,” says Nick. “You know, they work alone, they have trouble with their publishers, sometimes with their agents, with their lives—and when they come here to do a reading, they greet us like their best friends. And maybe we are.” 

Under what they liked least about the job, nearly everyone said “money,” the comparatively low wages, though Russ said, “I’m broke now, but I was broke when I was earning ten times more, doing work I hated, and compensating myself by buying and spending.” 

Complaints about money went beyond the personal to store-budget constraints, the necessary limits on stock, the expense (not to mention regret) of shipping returns, the limits on advertising and promoting books and authors. Everyone felt “kind of squeamish” about collecting money from customers—as if they shrank from trading a sacred object like a book for cold cash. (Which doesn’t mean theft is okay: “Depressing, as if you welcome someone into your church, and he spits on it.”) 

Depending on location, there were the problems posed by street people, mentioned with a shrug, like a inevitable rainy weather. 

One answer to “liked least” was given on condition of strict anonymity. “It’s when someone comes in to sell us a trashy book, and I have to take it because I know we can sell it, or when somebody buys a book, and I want to tell him, ‘look, you don’t want this, we have a much better book on the subject.’ I try not to show those feelings in my face or my eyes or any gesture.” The reason for this person’s concern is the reputation of booksellers, “that we’re snotty and arrogant.” 

Gino says, “There’s some basis in history for this, you know, the old one-man-owner-alcoholic-crank who sat behind his counter and growled at you as if you were an intruder. He was real enough.” (No more lone curmudgeons. Wayne at Cartesian Books is shyly civil, while Roger at Turtle Island is expansively cordial.) 

Yet the negative image, says Laura, of “not checking my personality at the door,” lives on. (Laura needed plenty of “personality” in the ‘70s, when she broke the gender barrier both at Holmes Books/San Francisco, and at Moe’s, becoming the first woman visible on their selling floors.) 

Of course, Moe (who had been an actor in his youth) created an imitation of the old grump, but everyone knew his gruffness covered pure cream-puff generosity. Besides, Amy says, “customers need a little eccentricity, and we offer it for free.”  

I thought I noticed a general discomfort among the bookstore people about what to call their job. They were willing to settle for the title Bookseller, though they wished there were some way to indicate that their interest lay in books, rather than in a career in “sales.” Book Clerk? Too stuffy and pretentious.  

“I suppose,” said Roger, “you could just call us users, junkies, pushers, trying to spread our addiction to books.” 

Coming Friday: A guide to Bay Area booksellers in our Back to Berkeley section. 

It was an impressive object: somewhere between soccer ball- and basketball-sized, hanging just above eye level in a tanoak tree. A couple of its inhabitants, big black wasps with white markings, were at work on its outer surface. They were white-faced or bald-faced hornets, and the corrugated gray spheroid was their nest. 

Hornets and their close relatives, the yellowjackets, represent one of the pinnacles of social evolution among insects. The vast majority of wasps are solitary, but one group of species has all the hallmarks of what biologists call eusociality. Only one female in the colony, the queen, reproduces; her daughters build, maintain, and provision the nest, and care for their younger siblings in their larval state. This state of affairs has evolved several times among insects—in ants and social bees, and the more distantly related termites—as well as in some species of reef-dwelling shrimp and that disconcerting rodent, the naked mole-rat. (Some spiders are colonial but not truly eusocial, and that’s probably a good thing). 

Hornets and yellowjackets differ in their architectural style and preferred location. Hornets build out in the open, yellowjackets underground. Although their name is a byword for ferocity—think of the Hornet’s Nest at Shiloh, from which Union troops raked attacking Confederates with gunfire—hornets are actually somewhat less likely to attack humans than yellowjackets are. But neither is to be trifled with. 

The nests of both types are similar in basic structure and construction material. They’re made of paper—wood pulp chewed up by the powerful jaws of the wasps and moistened with saliva—and contain tiers of cells, each built to house one of the queen’s eggs. Yellowjackets build to fill whatever nook or cranny they’re in; hornets add one tier below another, encasing the whole assemblage in a tough outer rind. 

The project begins in spring, with a single female wasp who has mated the previous fall and overwintered. She makes a small paper disc, then builds it into a pedicel to which a row of cells is attached. Then she surrounds the whole thing with a paper envelope, leaving a hole in the bottom. She lays an egg in each cell; when the larvae hatch, she feeds them chewed-up insects. (Unlike solitary wasps, the social wasps don’t provision their brood cells with paralyzed spiders or caterpillars). After about 12 days as larvae and another 12 as pupae, the queen’s daughter’s emerge. They’re the work force now. The queen no longer hunts, builds, or feeds the brood; all she does is lay more eggs. 

And more eggs, and more eggs. The paper city grows, tier after tier. One nest in California—and my hat is off to the man or woman who conducted this study—was found to have 4,768 workers in midseason, and over 10,000 cells. The workers dutifully kill more insects—I’ve seen yellowjackets literally cut a stick insect apart—and bring them home to feed the new mouths. 

Then in late summer, a couple of things happen. The queen, who has stored last fall’s sperm and doled it out to fertilize the eggs that hatch into workers, lays a batch of unfertilized eggs that will hatch into male wasps. Other eggs, laid in larger-than-usual cells, get extra rations from the workers and develop into fertile females. They exit and mate. Those of the females who survive the winter will be next year’s queens. The males, having served their purpose, die off. 

At some point after this exodus, the colony begins to come unraveled. Discipline breaks down. Instead of hunting insects to feed the larvae, the workers gorge on nectar and overripe fruit, and harass picnickers. They may even ransack the cells and eat any larvae that remain. During this period of anarchy, the queen, who has already ceased to lay eggs, dies. What’s interesting is that this all happens well before the first cold snap of the year. There will still be warm days in which the colony could have flourished. But like the superfluous males, the queen and the workers have done what they needed to do: created a new generation of queens. If it isn’t cleaned out first by a marauding skunk or raccoon, the paper city will be abandoned. 

So the hornets I saw performing maintenance duty on that recent day on the downhill side of August were—although they had no way of knowing it—near the end of their road. All that work, all those wasp-hours of chewing paper and tending the brood, as part of a superorganismal queen-making machine, impelled, according to theory, by the drive to perpetuate the genes they shared with their fertile sisters. I just hope they were wired to experience some kind of job satisfaction. 

This hornet colony may be home to thousands of workers. Photograph by Ron Sullivan.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 29 

Tuesday is for the Birds A tranquil early morning walk in Miller Knox Park. Bring water, sunscreen, binoculars and a snack. Call for meeting place. 525-2233. 

Tilden Explorers An after-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds, who may be accompanied by an adult. Meet at 3:15 p.m. at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park, to look for reptiles. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Asian Brush and Ink Painting for ages 8 and up from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Asian Branch of the Oakland Public Library, 388 Ninth St. Registration required. 238-3400.  

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

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

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30  

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“Soylent Green” A film of a grim, bleak vision of New York City in the future, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. 

Holistic Pet Care at 7:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

“Voices of Activism: Crawford” documentary theater, storytelling and dialoge at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $2-$20, sliding scale. www.untheatre.org 

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

New to DVD “Inside Man” at 7 p.m. at JCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “Debunking 9/11 Myths” at 6:30 p.m at Barnes and Noble, El Cerrito. 433-2911. 

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

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

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

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 31 

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

FRIDAY, SEPT. 1 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

“Engaging a New Generation of Activists” An Anti-Poverty Teach-in and Strategy Forum with speakers, Frank Chong, Van Jones, Sharon Cornu, Hallie Montoya and others, at 6 p.m. at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. Free, but RSVP requested, fightpoverty@youthlaw.org 

“Architects at Play” An opportunity for children to build free-form structures at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. 

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

SATURDAY, SEPT. 2 

Art & Soul Oakland Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Mon. at the Frank Ogawa Plaza and City Center. Cost is $5. www.artandsouloakland.com 

Walking Tour of Historic Oakland Churches and Temples Meet at 10 a.m. at the front of the First Presbyterian Church at 2619 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

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

Spiritwalking: Aqua Chi(TM) at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Also Wed. at 3:30 p.m. Cost is $5.50, $3.50 seniors & disabled. Bring your own towels. 526-0312. 

Yoga for Peace at 9:30 a.m. at Ohlone Park, MLK at Hearst. Bring a yoga mat, warm blanket, and peace sign.  

Adult Fast Pitch Softball at noon. For location call 204-9500.  

Urban Releaf Tree Tour of Oakland and workshops in urban forestry that teach tree planting, maintenance, GIS/GPS systems, and community advocacy. For information call 601-9062. www.urbanreleaf.org 

Produce Stand at Spiral Gardens Food Security Project from 1 to 6 p.m. at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon St. 

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

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

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

SUNDAY, SEPT. 3 

Gala Convergence of Storytellers from 1 to 4 p.m. at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Jack London Square, 98 Broadway, Oakland. 238-8585. 

East Bay Atheists shows the video,"The Root of All Evil," Part 1, by Richard Dawkins, the renowned evolutionary biologist, at 1:30 p.m. Berkeley's Main Library, 2090 Kittredge Street, 3rd floor. 222-7580. 

Free Sailboat Rides from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring change of clothes, windbreaker, sneakers. For ages 5 and up. cal-sailing.org  

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

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

Balinese Dance Class with Tjokorda Istri Putra Padmini at 11 a.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 237-6849. 

Kickabout at Codornices Park Soccer for all, skill and talent not required. For more information contact cambour@hotmail.com  

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “Ancient Wisdom; Modern Application” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

ONGOING 

Each One Teach One Mentoring Program of the Oakland Unified School District is curbing student absenteeism, decreasing suspensions and increasing student participation with the help of volunteer mentors like you. For more information call 495-4010, 495-4011.  

Energy Saving Program for Residents CYES is running its 7th annual summer program, providing direct-installation of CFLs, retractable clotheslines, showerheads, and more. Services available in Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond. Free. 665-1501. 

Child Care Food Program is available without charge to all children enrolled in the BUSD Early Childhood Education progam, based on income eligibility guidelines. Please call for details, 644-6358. 

Berkeley Adult School Register for programs in High School Diploma, GED Preparation, Citizenship and ESL classes, Mon.-Thurs. 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., Fri. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1701 San Pablo Ave. 644-6130. http://bas.berkeley.net