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An interview with journalism dean and China scholar Orville Schell For nearly 30 years Orville Schell has been a leading interpreter of Chinese culture and politics, authoring 14 books, including Virtual Tibet, Discos and Democracy, and Mandate of Heaven. Schell, who serves as dean of the Graduate School of Journalism, is now embarking on a Chancellor’s-level […]
New device improves cholesterol risk detection For decades, physicians have assessed patients’ heart disease risk by checking their cholesterol levels. They measure low-density lipoproteins, which are bad; high-density lipoproteins, which are good; and triglycerides, which should be low. But the tests are crude enough that at least half of all heart attacks strike people who appear to […]
Tiny conductors could lead to high-energy solar power After years of research and development, chemistry doctoral students Matt Law and Lori Greene shined a light on a cluster of 1×2-centimeter red squares, and, almost immediately, produced electricity. The jolt wasn’t much at first, but after continuous efforts, they coaxed the little chips into producing an electrical current […]
Computer-aided design brings an Oakland neighborhood back to life The year is 1946. The place is Seventh Street in West Oakland. Some call it “hell’s half acre.” Others call it the “Harlem of the East Bay.” Jazz, swing, and blues surround you. Within a few blocks of Seventh, near Chester and Wood streets, there are more than […]
Are you overvaluing yourself? After earning a Ph.D. from Cal in 2001, psychologist Cameron Anderson found that his favorite projects—studies of social dynamics in the workplace—were transcending the arcane realm of psychology and moving into the practical business world. Anderson, who joined the Haas School of Business last fall, immediately set out to study pomposity in […]
Moneymaker or not? It sounds too good to be true: you pay your workers a living wage, avoid pollution, and treat developing nations fairly. And though these tactics will cost you money, you’ll still improve profit as workers, investors, and shoppers reward your social responsibility. Yes, it is too good to be true, says business professor […]
New age airship to bring disaster relief As floods deluged the city of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, many of us wondered how many lives could have been saved with better disaster-relief equipment. Cal architecture professor Jean-Paul Bourdier is working on that problem by marrying two of Americans’ longtime obsessions: flying and spacecraft. Bourdier has designed […]
Or how to write 50,000 words in 30 days Four years after I graduated from Cal, I accidentally started a movement that now produces more fiction than all of America’s MFA programs combined. The year was 1999, and I was living in Oakland, still trying to figure out what to do with my degree in cultural […]
By the time Robert E. Lee was born in 1807, slavery had spread widely across the American landscape but was concentrated in the Deep South, in cotton-growing areas. Lee’s home in northern Virginia, the so-called Upper South, grew almost no cotton. The cash crops of Virginia were tobacco, corn, and wheat, and its beautiful and […]
The most exciting music in Peru these days mixes the traditional with the unexpected. Delicate, folksy guitar sounds blend with soft percussion beats, and then the velvety vocals come in strongly, belting out a chorus: “Black is my color, and proud I feel.” This is Perú Negro, or Black Peru, the musical troupe at the […]
A man of the campus Karl Pister’s sublime Berkeley moment arrives often and like an expected guest when he mounts the stepped bridge spanning the south fork of Strawberry Creek and crosses into Faculty Glade. There, on the pitched grass bowl that once hosted Ohlone campers, time defers to him. There, he keeps an appointment with […]
In myriad ways, California is moving West to East. Competition, cooperation, and assimilation—these characterize California’s ever-closer connections to greater China. For as the world grows smaller and China’s presence looms ever larger, no place feels this global convergence more than California, where more than 10 percent of the population is Asian; where California businesses send billions […]
When Bruce Lee first flew like an avenging god across the silver screen with his awe-inspiring kicks, he redefined cinematic action and brought the heroic Asian male onto the world stage. Picture this sun-drenched memory: I am five years old, in white pajamas, and swinging on a hammock. On the flame trees the cicadas are humming, […]
Voters want a governor who can unite the state, but California’s political structure encourages polarization. Schwarzenegger is just the latest victim. Standing before a podium in the Ronald Reagan Cabinet Room of the state capitol, with a bust of the former president peering over his left shoulder, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced on June 13 that he was […]
The traditional task of the writer in California has been to write about what it means to be human in a place advertised as paradise. Disappointment has always been the theme. The literature to come will begin with a different expectation.
