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Independence Bowl: Cal vs. Texas Tech

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Dawn over moais at Ahu Tongariki Easter Island Chile
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December 30, 2023 - January 22, 2024
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Cover of the latest California Magazine issue.
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2023 Fall/Winter

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Ken Goldberg Isn’t Scared of Artificial Intelligence

Robots can do a great many things, but they can’t make art. That view, common even among AI boosters, has taken a hit.
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For Our Print Readers

Changes to Our Print Distribution

In 2023, the magazine will appear in print twice per year instead of quarterly. Learn why.

Featured

Berkeley Space Center trellis rendering / Field Operations and HOK

To Silicon Valley and Beyond!

Since its founding in 1930, Moffett Field has had multiple incarnations. Now, it’s poised for another role: the Berkeley Space Center.
Susan (left) and her daughter, Nora, in 1998. / Courtesy of Susan Stern

The Original Barbie Movie was Created by a Cal Alum

Long before Margot Robbie entered the Barbie Dreamhouse, another Barbie movie had attempted to tackle the cultural phenomenon that is Mattel’s tip-toeing doll.

Current Issue

2023 Fall/Winter
Unabomber Cabin, Sacramento, CA, 1998

The Man Who Shot the Unabomber’s Cabin

By Leah Worthington

The hideout was evidence, a symbol, and in Richard Barnes’s photos, art.

Ken Goldberg Isn’t Scared of Artificial Intelligence

By Coby McDonald

Robots can do a great many things, but they can’t make art. That view, common even among AI boosters, has taken a hit.

What’s on Your Berkeley-Inspired Playlist?

By Pat Joseph

While music may not be the first thing most people think of when they think of Berkeley, both the campus and town have been home to an enormously influential and eclectic music scene across the years, one with deep roots in the folk and blues revivals of the mid-20th century. 

How the Pac-12 Meltdown Sent Cal Packing

By Margie Cullen

It was July 25, and the schools of the Pac-12 were anxious and restless. 

Fiat Lux

Stories from University Development and Alumni Relations highlighting the positive impact of donor support on our students, faculty, research, and facilities.

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Top Stories

Mona Simpson’s Literary Commitment

Through her writing, Simpson explores characters and locales both ordinary and extraordinary, her novels probing the nooks and crannies of family dynamics, lingering in the details of how we choose to give and receive love.
Cal Performances presents the Bay Area premiere of Pina Bausch's The Rite of Spring performed by dancers from 14 African countries, February 16-18, 2024, at Zellerbach Hall. / Maarten Vanden Abeele

Coming to Zellerbach: Individual, Community and the Performing Arts

It’s a striking scene: Dozens of men and women, wearing simple dresses and pants, dance across a dirt-covered stage.
Matthew Zapruder / Kari Easton

The Working Poet: Catching Up with Matthew Zapruder on the Road in Portland

Sitting in the coffee shop at Portland’s famous Powell’s Books, his name on the marquee outside, Matthew Zapruder seems surprised when asked how it feels to be an emergent public figure in poetry. 
Texas Rangers' Marcus Semien celebrates his two-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the World Series. / AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

Good News Bear: Marcus Semien Wins it All in the World Series

On November 1, in the ninth inning of Game Five of the World Series at Chase Field in Phoenix, former Cal standout Marcus Semien planted an Arizona fastball deep into the left field bleachers for a two-run homer, sealing a 5-0 win and a series clincher for the Texas Rangers. 

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California magazine's Laura Smith and Leah Worthington host The Edge, a podcast for surviving today's modern world.

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Quick Reads

National Gun Violence Awareness Day Press Conference / Courtesy of Jesse Gabriel

‘A very big deal’: Proposed legislation would tax California gun sales to fund violence prevention

“I joined the gun violence prevention movement because of school shootings like Uvalde and Parkland. Shootings that left me terrified to go to school. Shootings that left me worried that I was going to be the next headline."
San Quentin / Pat Joseph

Stuck in the Middle

Kevin Sawyer is a man of many parts. He's a certified commercial and residential electrician. A trained paralegal. A skilled guitarist and pianist. He's also an inmate at San Quentin State Prison serving an indeterminate life sentence for burglary and sexual assault.
A photo of the ruins of the Berkeley Fire, set up at the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association's 1923 Berkeley Fire House Tour.

Berkeley Will Burn Again

When 24-year-old Hildegarde Flanner and her mother first noticed the scent of smoke coming down from the eucalyptus groves on the hills above their home in Berkeley on September 17, 1923, they watched it with curiosity, rather than fear. But less than an hour later, the darkening plume pushed them to vacate.
Memorial Stadium, sans conference logo / Cal Athletics

From Kumbaya to Lord of the Flies

The Pac-12 fell apart slowly, then all at once.

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From the Archives

The Free Agent

For years, Joe Kapp fought the NFL. Now he’s tackling his memoirs. Joe Kapp is finally ready to get it all down on paper—the whole thing, from his hardscrabble upbringing in Salinas to his heyday in the pros; from his first appearance in Memorial Stadium in 1956 to his return, 25 years later, as the head […]
Image source: Illustration by Johanna Goodman

Engendering Sons: Is It Doable—or Even Desirable—to Raise Gender-Neutral Children?

I grew up in Los Angeles in the 1960s and ’70s as the middle of three sisters—no brothers—and I took the “boy role.” I was athletic, did more of the outside chores (although we all had to weed the lawn), and wore pants in elementary school as soon as school rules changed allowing us to […]

The Selfless Quarterback: Cancer Intercepted Joe Roth’s Career, Not His Enduring Legacy

In 1975, two years before Tom Brady was born, another Golden Boy burst upon the football scene.
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