Posted by
Jill Cowan on Sunday, May 11, 2008 03:40 am
OK, so you know how we mentioned that photography exhibition–Berkeley without Shadow–in the Wurster Hall lobby on Friday evening? We actually ended up going, and it was totally, well, illuminating. Visual Studies 186 students took on unusual angles for looking at Downtown to poignantly portray oft-unnoticed aspects of the city–and we’re not just saying that to shamelessly plug the work of the Clog’s own captain, Patrici Flores, photographing Berkeley’s homeless. read more »
Posted by
Jill Cowan on Saturday, May 10, 2008 06:33 pm
Last night at midnight, the California Golden Overtones and the UC Men’s Octet performed for a rapt (and tipsy?) audience in the shadow of none other than la Campanile at an apparently annual event, Rock the Clock.
Part mini-pep rally, part frat party, part a Capella concert, and part ritualistic sacrifice (just kidding, but someone did bring their dog) each group started with a Cal spirit song, while the audience sang along and raised their (proverbial) glasses to our esteemed institution. Then the two groups alternated performing their favorite songs, along with the requisite, um, we’ll call them “interpretive dances.” read more »
As the Spring semester comes to a close, student performance groups all over campus are bustling to put on their best shows yet. What will tempt you away from that uber important final paper due on Monday? Let us count the possibilities!
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You’re probably familiar with on-screen MILF lover, stoner and Sulu, John Cho–he graduated from UC Berkeley a while back. OMG, right? Clogger and arts writer, Christine Borden, recently had good times with Cho and the writers of today’s release, “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.” The Chron also had their own interview. What is the difference between the two? Well, when the San Francisco Chronicle interviews John Cho, they just have to mention his alma mater–like, three hundred times.
We won’t lie, though. We love it when alumni get famous, too–it means we nerds do have a chance at sweet stardom!
Here’s the Chron’s very first question, getting straight to the point:
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Are you aware that Oakland-bred soul singer, Goapele, will be in Wheeler Auditorium tonight (for free)? Well, she is, and it’s all to promote the awareness of genocide in Darfur in a way that doesn’t involve hounding people with fliers on Sproul Plaza. ‘Cause you know, the infamously more aggressive college student approach to saving the world tends to turn people off.
DJ Fuze and famed Bay Area hip-hop group, Zion-I, will also be at the show to promote human rights, which is part of Don Cheadle’s Darfur Now College Tour. The concert starts at 8:30 p.m. And, no, Don Cheadle will not be present.
Today is also the Armenian Genocide Day of Remembrance. Head over to Memorial Glade for a glance at the Armenian Student Association’s genocide memorial, which won Best UC Berkeley Student Event in 2007 and commemorates the millions affected by human rights abuses.
Darfur Now Tour: Tour Stops: Berkeley [Website]
Genocide Awareness Week: In Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide [Events]
If you compare a 2007 survey on Cal reading tastes to similar surveys administered in 1997 and 1987, what can you infer about Berkeley students? Perhaps we should be afraid–very afraid. In the past 20 years, student preferences strayed away from poignant classics like “The Fountainhead” and “The Color Purple,” to lucrative bestsellers like “Harry Potter” and the “Da Vinci Code.” Alright, we admit it–we read and loved both bestsellers–but what does it mean that the most elite public education institution in the world prefers contemporary fluff over literary heavyweights? Could it be a sign of the apocalypse?
Perhaps, but it could also be that “(t)he 1987 survey, like the ‘97 version, was conducted simply by distributing sheets of paper to freshman English classes,” while the most recent one was a “web-based summer/fall 2007 Survey of New Students (SoNS)” from 2,875 freshmen in every major.
Obviously, that explanation isn’t as fun.
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Yesterday, in what was perhaps one of the most awkward award ceremonies ever to grace this campus (the most excited guest in the room remarked that it was like people were “handing out homework” instead of certificates), 6 out of over fifty student-run publications–and one dedicated senior–claimed ASUC student publications’ most honorable honors. The room had a lukewarm energy–even when a random performance by hip-hop dance group COLOR Danz attempted to hype it up (alas, it was a room full of writers, who only dance with their fingers on keyboards).
We still think the hard-working pubs community is eons greater than it was last year, thanks to its new, awesome publications adviser. Besides, there was food!
The night began in the Heller Multicultural Center with vegetarian hors d’oeuvres and the daintiest Costco desserts available (the cinnamon rolls were simply scrumptious). While we nibbled at our eggplant kabob, soon-to-be J-school grad and Iraqi journalist, Omar Fekeiki, gave the keynote speech–reminding us how lucky we are for having the ability to say pretty much anything we want in our blissfully non-war torn country.
A complete list of the winners:
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Posted by
Jill Cowan on Tuesday, April 08, 2008 11:15 pm
Last Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, the lovely, the talented Hertz Hall played host to the First Berkeley Piano Competition. The university recently came into possession of a fabulous 1927 Steinway grand piano, which was “a bequest by Leone Squires McGowan,” and was “to be donated to a ‘worthy student of piano at the University of California, Berkeley.’”
This begged several difficult questions, one being “Where the hell would a Berkeley student keep that shit?” and, more importantly, “How do we decide who gets the Steinway?” The music department had one word: “Battle.” Oh, and in case nobody was up to snuff, they reserved the right not to give it to anybody. read more »
English professor and poet Robert Hass scooped up the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for “Time and Materials.” The announcement came out today, and Hass shares the award with Philip Schultz and his book “Failure.”
Hass previously picked up the National Book Award for his most recent work, and now he can add a booty of $10,000 to his growing recognition. He is the third current UC Berkeley professor to win the Pulitzer (the two others include history professor Leon Litwack and former J-School dean Ben Bagdikian).
This semester, Hass teaches English 131: American Poetry and a poetry translation workshop, which he will again lead in the fall semester.
There’s also a webcast (though fairly dated, from 2003) of him reading his poetry before “Time and Materials.”
Image Source: Steve Rhodes under Creative Commons
Robert Hass wins Pulitzer Prize for poetry [NewsCenter]
Posted by
Jill Cowan on Saturday, April 05, 2008 05:49 pm
While the ASUC candidates were duking it out over god-knows-what in Barrows Hall, somewhere just out of earshot, the Superb Spring Concert rocked Lower Sproul Plaza. By the time the show started, most people knew that the “surprise” guests were, in fact, the Counting Crows, so we didn’t see anyone stalk off in a huff mumbling about how they’d heard William Shatner was coming.
If they sound familiar, but you can’t quite put a tune to a band name, the Counting Crows are most recently known for their Academy Award-nominated song, “Accidentally in Love,” but are much better known for their slightly-sporadic string of massive hits during the nineties. read more »
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