Berkeley

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the “De Facto Segregation Study Committee” for the Berkeley Unified School District (November 1963). This past week, I acquired a copy of the report from the Bancroft Library. Today, I scanned the entire report—and am working on paying for someone to transcribe the entire document so that it can be made more easily-accessible by the public. My grandfather, John Hadsell, (UC Berkeley, 1943) then-campus minister at UC Berkeley, was the…

Bonjour mes amis! Vous aimez les croissants? Bien sûr! Want to learn to make croissants in time for Bastille Day? Bien sûr! Robin O’Donnell, local baker extraordinaire, will be offering a three-hour class from 6-9 pm on Friday, July 13th. You’ll come away with not only croissants and dough, but the knowledge to impress your family and friends for your “brunch du 14 juillet” (You are having one, right?) The class is just $50 and will be held at Robin’s…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my piece on the creation of the world’s longest California roll, is airing today on, appropriately enough, The California Report. It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): FRI – San Francisco – 4:30/6:30/11 pm Pacific – KQED – 88.5 FM – www.kqed.org SUN – Los Angeles – 10:30 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg You can also find it on The California Report site later…

Yesterday afternoon, I reported on the creation of the longest California Roll yesterday for an upcoming edition of The California Report. The event celebrated the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Center for Japanese Studies at UC Berkeley. The new record, set at 330 feet, apparently defeated the old record set in Hawaii in 2001 by 30 feet. I interviewed student Zach Brown, Chef Ming Hwang, Prof. Duncan Williams, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, and Consul General Yasumasa Nagamine, who certified…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my piece on UC Berkeley’s parking spaces for Nobel Laureates will be on Weekend Edition Saturday (October 17)! It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams). New York – 8 to 10 am Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 8 to 10 am Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 5 to 10 am Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM…

October 3, 2009 Op-Ed Columnist Cracks in the Future By BOB HERBERT Berkeley, Calif. While the U.S. has struggled with enormous problems over the past several years, there has been at least one consistent bright spot. Its system of higher education has remained the finest in the world. Now there are ominous cracks appearing in that cornerstone of American civilization. Exhibit A is the University of California, Berkeley, the finest public university in the world and undoubtedly one of the…

My cousin and Iran analyst extraordinaire, Karim Sadjadpour, will be speaking this Thursday on the UC Berkeley campus to discuss: the impact of Iran’s elections on the balance of power within Iran and on its foreign policy. Sadjadpour will also assess the implications of recent events on US policy options. The Travers Lecture Series on US Foreign Policy is co-sponsored by the Institute of International Studies and the Institute of Governmental Studies. Throughout the 2009-2010 academic year, the IIS and…

The Wall Street Journal, February 10 2009: But last spring, some of the temple’s neighbors decided they’d had their fill. They asked the city’s zoning board to shut down what they call a “commercial enterprise” operating in a residential zone. At a public hearing, a dozen neighborhood opponents sounded off: Some said they couldn’t stand the “offensive odors” of Thai food being prepared; others objected to litter, traffic and clanging pots early in the morning. One compared the temple to…

BDP: Cody’s Books, founded on Telegraph Avenue in 1956, expanded to Fourth Street in 1998 and San Francisco in 2005, closed on Telegraph in 2006, closed in San Francisco the following year, moved to Shattuck Avenue in March, and then, yesterday, on June 19, 2008, went out of business. Shoppers and passersby at the 2201 Shattuck store Friday found a locked store and a sign taped on the glass doors reading: “Cody’s Books is Closed-Thank You.” Above the windows a…