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As pioneers of social and political justice, UC Berkeley students have always had a reputation as advocates for change. Now, however, some are organizing to halt change—in this case, a proposed downtown development that critics say would block the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the foot of Cal’s Campanile. The proposal that would […]
Nearly every 12 hours, on average in 2014, there was an institutional data breach somewhere in the United States—a record 783 cases reported last year, according to the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center. And the dire consequence is that these attacks give criminals access to what security experts call “the keys to the kingdom”: our […]
The drought is worrisome, of course. In response to state demands for a 25 percent reduction in urban consumption, municipal water districts are enforcing strictures on usage. Homeowners have steeled themselves, however unwillingly, to withering lawns and wilting hydrangeas. Most people have seen the news reports about some kind of fish or another dying in […]
Raffaella Falchi is the epitome of a Renaissance woman: The quadrilingual dancer, architect, educator, and director is artistic director of the Sambaxé Dance Company, which will be parading through San Francisco’s Mission District during this weekend’s Carnaval. For the past decade, Carnaval has become a place where she can combine all of her artistic interests […]
Predictions had ricocheted like pinballs among obsessed fans of AMC’s Mad Men in the countdown to the show’s Sunday finale—but it’s safe to say nobody expected Don Draper in a lotus position chanting “ohm”—or was it “home”? Since the hit series’ inception, some viewers had speculated that it would all end with tormented adman Don Draper […]
If the drought is hard on California’s lawns, it’s sheer murder on the state’s fish—especially the “salmonids,” that family of cold-water fishes that includes trout and salmon. But one rare salmon species is doing fairly well in the current water crisis. And it’s being helped by the kind of project usually associated with the wholesale […]
At the start of her senior year in high school, Lily Colby was at a loss. Her classmates were taking tests, planning campus tours and compiling their resumes. She just knew she wanted to go to college. Any college. It seemed unlikely. Her parents, who both struggled with mental illness, could not help, and since […]
When the UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science Policy Management holds its commencement ceremony at the Greek Theater on Saturday, the first person in line to receive his diploma will be 22-year-old Valle Rogers, a molecular environmental biology major. He has earned pride of place because, thanks to a 3.975 GPA and rave reviews from […]
Though Governor Brown has since lifted restrictions on water use, Californians still might want to think twice about a thirsty traditional lawn. Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent drought response declaration confirmed what we all knew—there’s not enough water to go around—but it was as light as helium on the details. Oh, sure, it decreed a 25 […]
UC Berkeley journalism professor Bill Drummond once met a nun who counseled Catholic priests bereft of their faith. Drummond was empathetic—with the priests, that is. “Actually, I don’t think I know anyone in journalism education who hasn’t suffered a loss of faith,” says Drummond, who in a decades-long career covered the White House, worked as […]
Two women face each other at a small table at the back of a café in Berkeley. A hot autumn sun pulses through the glass. One of the women, sturdy in a chambray shirt and large glasses, shakes her head with a false smile: “Then I just lost it.” Her friend, a slightly older 60-something […]
Antibiotics were once a doctor’s best weapon against infections, but now some 2 million people a year become infected with bacteria that are resistant to them. On Tuesday, a panel of experts hosted by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism largely blamed the crisis—23,000 people die a year from infections that can’t be cured, […]
When news broke last December that a sick Disneyland visitor sparked an outbreak of measles, opponents of the anti-vaccination movement took to Twitter and Facebook in outrage. But as the disease laid low more than a hundred people in seven states, some turned instead to Amazon. Online shoppers left over a thousand negative reviews for […]
UC Berkeley is sharing a bit of the glory at this year’s Goldman Prize ceremonies: One of the recipients, Myint Zaw of Myanmar, was a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism from 2007 to 2008. Presented on Earth Day by the San Francisco-based Goldman Foundation, the prize is often cited as the “Green Nobel,” […]
It’s been 50 years since that memorable Thanksgiving Day in 1965 when Arlo Guthrie was busted for littering in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, an event that seemed trivial at the time but eventually led to his being rejected for military service by his draft board—to his great relief—because of that “criminal record.” The whole episode was […]
If there’s an appropriate place to apply the Precautionary Principle, beaming high-powered messages to exoplanets that could support intelligent life might seem a good place to start. Or maybe not. It all depends on one’s cosmic perspective. As most ET buffs know, the idea of METI (Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial […]
“If you can’t beat ’em, eat ’em!” That was UC Berkeley professor and ethnobotanist Tom Carlson’s advice to a crowd of 100 who gathered for a walk in the Berkeley hills to learn which weeds on the street—and in their backyards—could become ingredients in their next meal. The April 4 walk kicked off Wild Food […]
I asked the lady at the post office if she was serious. Is there really no food in this town? No gas station, no restaurant, no grocery store? She nodded again, and offered me a water bottle. I was several months into a cross-country hitchhiking trip. On this particular morning I had set out on […]
Things are looking up a bit for the Emma Goldman Papers Project, a long-running effort to archive the letters and ephemera documenting the vivid life and heady times of the eponymous radical immigrant, feminist and anarchist. Publicity about the project’s imperiled condition has generated a wave of financial support that will keep it going at […]
