2010 Winter Inside Out
Out of the Gate
An Unusual Protest A dozen friends and I sat around an apartment on Piedmont Avenue, celebrating the end of our grueling first term as graduate students at Berkeley in 1967. Amid the wine and merriment, we were listening to a Beethoven piano concerto on the radio. “Say,” I remarked, “Saturday is Beethoven’s birthday.” Peter Miller added, […]
5 Questions for: Syd Field ’60
Hollywood screenwriting guru and author of Screenplay 1. You met and worked with the great French director Jean Renoir while at Berkeley. How did that encounter affect your life? Syd Field: When I was at Berkeley in the ’60s, Renoir was an artist-in-residence and had readings for the world premiere of his play Carola. I […]
Water Safety
A Berkeley student brings clean water technology back home. Fermin Reygadas, M.S. ’07, left Mexico to study physics at Berkeley. But his desire to work on humanity’s most basic problems led him back to his hometown of La Paz, where he now teaches ranchers to use a simple device called the UV-Tube to disinfect their drinking […]
No Joy in Berkeley
The day the axe fell at Cal Athletics. The news was delivered at a press conference in September. Reading from a statement, Chancellor Birgeneau announced that at the end of this academic year men’s and women’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse, and men’s baseball would no longer represent the University in intercollegiate competition. Additionally, men’s rubgy, historically Cal’s […]
Killer App
A Berkeley researcher weighs in on cell phones and cancer. Update: In the fall of 2014, the Berkeley City Council is considering an ordinance that would make it the only city in the nation to require cell phone warning stickers. We explore whether, based on the latest science, the proposal is a proper precaution, or paranoia, […]
Interview with Coach Tim McNeill, Cal Men’s Gymnastics
View coach profile California magazine: You and I first talked before the 2008 Olympics. You had just graduated, I remember, and even then we discussed the tenuous future of collegiate men’s gymnastics. Tim McNeill: It’s always an issue, just based on how few teams are left. CM: When you started in the sport, how many […]
Interview with Coach Theresa Sherry, Cal Women’s Lacrosse
View coach profile California Magazine: To start, maybe you can rewind the tape and tell me how you first learned that your team was being cut. Theresa Sherry: Well, we knew that as of this spring everything was on the table in terms of cutting sports, laying people off. You know, they have prettier words […]
Interview with Coach Jack Clark, Cal Men’s Rugby
View coach profile California Magazine: At the press conference announcing the cuts, you were clearly unhappy. But I have to confess that my first thought was, “Jack Clark should probably feel lucky. The other teams were eliminated. Rugby’s just been reclassified.” JC: Hey, listen: I appreciate that. And you’re not the first person who has […]
Interview with Coach David Esquer, Cal Men’s Baseball
View coach profile California magazine: Did you see this cut coming? David Esquer: There were warnings that there could be cuts, but we all saw the chancellor’s committee report and their recommendations were to not cut sports and to try to make it work. That being said, I know Sandy Barbour said a number of […]
Interview with Coach Cari DuBois, Cal Women’s Gymnastics
View coach profile California magazine: These cuts had been mulled over for some time and the administration was clear that any program that wasn’t necessary to Pac-10 membership was a candidate for elimination. But did you take the possibility of your team getting cut seriously? CD: I did take it very seriously until the chancellor’s […]
Getting the Lead Out
Researchers track an outbreak of lead poisoning to a surprising source. It started in 1994 with alarming levels of lead showing up in some Monterey County kids. Lead robs the body of iron and calcium—nutrients crucial to child development. The poisoning triggers progressive neurological damage, and as lead levels rise, a child’s IQ plummets. Looking for […]
Growing Success
A Berkeley professor studies the lasting impact of kindergarten. Kindergarten may seem like fun and games, but new research suggests that what we learn in these early years may have a lasting effect. Berkeley economics professor and 2010 MacArthur Fellow Emmanuel Saez and a team of researchers identified a link between students’ kindergarten classroom experience and […]
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