Daily Archives: July 27, 2011
The Berkeley Wire: 07.27.11
Days gone by: heading back to Berkeley for a dose of heady nostalgia [Tribune]
Barry Estabrook, author of “Tomatoland”, at Books Inc August 16 [Books Inc]
“Stop the violence” block party, on McGee on August 2 [KKSF]
AC Transit fares go up August 1, adult cash fare to $2.10 [AC Transit]
Cal Bears’ new $150m athletic facility due to open in October [Tribune]
Berkeley symphony chooses new executive director [Daily Planet]
Berkeley couple’s film on identity at Jewish Film Festival [Chronicle]
Photo: Howdy up there, by dyannaanfang/Berkeleyside Flickr pool.
Book revisits childhood in post-60s, buzz-kill Berkeley
When Edie Meidav was growing up, she lived on the south side of Berkeley while most of her close friends lived on the north side. Trekking across the top of the UC Berkeley campus, whether by car, bike, or foot, was a routine occurrence.
Meidav now lives in Rhinebeck, New York and teaches writing at Bard College. But she was back in Berkeley this week, tramping over familiar ground, including that route between the south and north sides of town. Meidav was here to visit her mother and to promote her third book, Lola, California.
Heralded by a reviewer in the Daily Beast as a “gorgeous, audacious novel,” Lola, California tells the story of two Berkeley girls who are so close, and whose lives are so entangled, that they create their own kind of geography. One is Rose, a foster child adopted by a liberal, single mother, and the other is Lana, the daughter of a charismatic guru-like professor with a following, who, as the novel opens, is sitting on Death Row. … Continue reading »
Call to support ex-Cal students 2 years after arrest in Iran
Update, 4:10pm: Reader Diana Rossi reports that she made a call to the number cited in our story below and that her experience was frustrating. We made inquiries with people close to the campaign and this is their response:
Thank you so much for the piece in Berkeleyside. I am so grateful. In terms of your [reader's] experience calling the Iranian Interests Section, it has been similar to what many others have heard. They have given excuses, told people to call other places, and said it is the wrong number to call. Please be assured that the DC office is the highest level Iranian office in the US. Our campaign the last few days has been a resounding success, which is why the Iranian Interests section has been so rude and short with callers. The best way to get through is press 2 for non Iranian citizens, 2 for general information, and 1 or 0 to speak to a representative.
……………………………………………
It was two years ago this month that three former Cal students were arrested in Iran and detained on suspicion of spying.
Sarah Shourd was released last Fall, but Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal are still in prison and are expected to face trial on July 31. … Continue reading »
The verdict is in: Berkeley’s best ice cream (and gelato)
When we asked our readers last week to tell us where the best ice cream is in Berkeley, we knew you’d respond in numbers. And you certainly did: last night there were 112 comments, numerous tweets and a healthy number of Facebook Likes. What we didn’t quite expect was the distaste some people had for combining ice cream and gelato in the same survey (we do know the difference), or a significant thread on that old chestnut of why Berkeleyside works hard to avoid straying outside the city borders.
In any case, most of you concentrated on the task at hand — where can you find Berkeley’s best ice cream and/or gelato? And, in an intriguing side stream of observations, what’s the single best flavor to be found?
There were two clear winners, and appropriately, one of them is a gelateria and the other is an ice cream store. … Continue reading »
Where in Berkeley?
Know where this is? Take a guess and let us know in the Comments.
Update, 3:20 pm: Anonymous sailor is our winner this week having correctly guessed that this is one of many at the Cal Sailing Club. Congratulations, Anonymous, on being this week’s winner.
Photo: Tracey Taylor
