2012 Summer North South Archives - Cal Alumni Association

Splitsville: Californians Have Tried—and Failed—200 Times to Divide the State

The seething Northern Californians had decided enough was enough—it was time to quit the state for good. Rancor bubbled through the counties of Siskiyou, Shasta, Del Norte, and Modoc in 1941. Chief among residents’ grievances: Their roads were like washboards in the summer and mud baths in the winter. They felt overtaxed—steamrollered by Southern California […]

A Vacation Goes South

Seeking Mayan ruins, a reporter instead stumbles into America’s drug war. I knew we were in trouble as soon as our minivan crested the hill at 8 a.m., about 30 miles south of Guatemala’s border with Mexico. A band of heavily armed men suddenly erupted from the jungle, taking positions in the center of the […]

A Noble Company

A history of celebrating Cal. The Cal Alumni Association came full circle with this year’s Charter Gala, celebrating Cal’s 144th anniversary and CAA’s 140th. The event on March 24 returned to the San Francisco Palace Hotel after a long absence. And once again, Howard “Howdy” Brownson ’48 led everyone in “Hail to California,” just as he […]

Mouths of Babes

“Speak only truth,” says little Ray, as he raises his arms above his head, clasps his hands, then in a prayer-like gesture, places them over his heart. Ji Hun, giggling in delight, knocks over a stack of toys. I proceed with our lesson and say nothing—Ji Hun earned my loyalty the day I showed up […]

Thoroughly Fair

David Fathi, J.D. ‘88, wants social justice to reach the depths of U.S. prisons. Living in a bare, concrete, windowless cell 24 hours a day, for months and even years on end with no one to talk to, there is little to do except stare at the wall and think about how to survive, let alone get […]

Back in His Element

Once a prodigy, Olympian Anthony Ervin is now the Prodigal Son returned. Anthony Ervin sits in the stands at the Spieker Aquatics Complex and gazes through the dark lenses of his Ray-Bans. At 31, he scarcely resembles the fresh-faced kid who set a world record then won gold and silver in swimming at the Sydney 2000 […]

Viipuri Rediscovered

Nostalgia leads the author to a Finnish town in Russia. The year was 1972, and I had never heard of Viipuri, then as now the city of Vyborg, Russia. Then one frosty January evening, Bertta Sokka, who had been born in the city when it still had a Finnish identity, brought a huge, encyclopedic book, Karjalan […]

Stuck on You

Attachment Theory is controversial but it may be here to stay. Before attachment theory, psychotherapy was in a state of fragmentation and conflict. Different schools of thought had identified pieces of the puzzle, but no group had an overarching theory that provided satisfactory answers for how people become the way they are. The field was a battleground […]

You’re From Where?

Geography as judgment in the great North-South divide. As if there is not enough prejudice in the world, we have to bring geography into the mix. Why can the site of our home—where we were born, grew up, or moved to—be considered the reason for both our intelligence and morality, or lack thereof? And why are […]

Collagen Goes Viral

Researchers mimic the formation of natural tissues in the laboratory. Visit the San Francisco Zoo and the vibrant blue face of the mandrill is sure to catch your attention. But when the researchers from Seung-Wuk Lee’s Bio-Nanomaterials Lab visit the same creature, they see the unique properties of collagen, and a promising new therapy. The mandrill’s […]

What Lies Beneath

An archaeological dig in Jordan holds some of humanity’s oldest settlements. It is hard to imagine the remote, desert region of eastern Jordan as a popular oasis, but that is exactly how Berkeley archeology professor Lisa Maher envisions it looked 20,000 years ago. “This area would have been a lush grassland with pistachio and almond trees, […]

Can We Build It? Yes, We Can!

Berkeley researchers find low-tech solutions for high-tech equipment. While fielding questions as a guest lecturer at a university in Lima, Peru, Berkeley engineering postdoctoral researcher Lina Nilsson was delighted by the students’ eloquence and insight. “Then we toured the labs,” Nilsson said. “And there was nothing.” She remembers standing amidst a scant collection of basic lab […]

Speak Your Mind

Could we one day give voice to our thoughts? Most of us can imagine sound so vividly that we can almost hear a tune in our heads. Now imagine being able to actually produce that sound just by thinking about it. That’s what Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Brian Pasley, Professor Robert Knight, and a team of other […]