For more than 20 years, Berkeley Firefighters Random Acts has been providing food at Christmas for low income elderly. What started out as a small initiative has taken on the tone of a military operation, with volunteers lining up to unpack boxes of food and redistribute it into brown paper grocery bags.

The volunteers, who included Girl Scouts, members of two … Continue reading »]]>

A Berkeley firefighter stands in front of 770 bags of food that volunteers put together on Saturday. Photo: Frances Dinkelspiel

Dozens of volunteers joined dozens of Berkeley firefighters Saturday morning to put together holiday food bags for local seniors.

For more than 20 years, Berkeley Firefighters Random Acts has been providing food at Christmas for low income elderly. What started out as a small initiative has taken on the tone of a military operation, with volunteers lining up to unpack boxes of food and redistribute it into brown paper grocery bags.

The volunteers, who included Girl Scouts, members of two Berkeley Lions clubs, and city employees, starting packing bags for close to 800 seniors at Fire Station #5 on Shattuck Avenue at 8:30 am. By 10:30, volunteers were beginning to load the bags into various vehicles for delivery to those in need.(...)

Read the rest of Volunteers stuff 770 grocery bags with holiday food (219 words)

By Frances Dinkelspiel. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Berkeley Firefighters Association, Berkeley Firefighters Random Acts, Berkeley Lions Club, City of Berkeley Fire Department

Berkeley High hosted its annual holiday meal on Saturday and hundreds of people came to enjoy the ham, turkey, salad, fruit, rolls, and pumpkin pie.

Each year, hundreds of high school students and their families collect canned goods, coats, toiletries and other items for the homeless or low income families and distribute them at the meal. Community members donate cooked hams and turkeys, and student bake pies, make the salad and cranberry sauce, and decorate the lunchroom at the … Continue reading »]]>

Berkeley High hosted its annual holiday meal on Saturday and hundreds of people came to enjoy the ham, turkey, salad, fruit, rolls, and pumpkin pie.

Each year, hundreds of high school students and their families collect canned goods, coats, toiletries and other items for the homeless or low income families and distribute them at the meal. Community members donate cooked hams and turkeys, and student bake pies, make the salad and cranberry sauce, and decorate the lunchroom at the high school. Musicians donate their time and even Santa plays a visit.

Mark Coplan of the Berkeley Unified School District took the photos shown here.(...)

Read the rest of Hundreds enjoy holiday meal at Berkeley High (2 words)

By Frances Dinkelspiel. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Berkeley High Holiday Meal, Mark Coplan

Then a group of neighbors got together, and, with hard work and the assistance of funding from the city and UC Berkeley, transformed the steps into an inviting path. New lights now illuminate the walkway, and every March hundreds of daffodils push their way to … Continue reading »]]>

Bruce McMurray and Vicki Wade stand along the LeRoy Steps, which they have spent years improving. Photo: Frances Dinkelspiel

Five years ago the steps leading from Hilgard Avenue down to LeRoy were a tangled mess, ill lit, broken in spots, and dotted with graffiti. Scraggly trees and brambles grew unrestrained along the steps’ borders.

Then a group of neighbors got together, and, with hard work and the assistance of funding from the city and UC Berkeley, transformed the steps into an inviting path. New lights now illuminate the walkway, and every March hundreds of daffodils push their way to the surface, creating a yellow burst of color.

“Several years ago it was just a dump,” said City Councilmember Susan Wengraf. “It was overgrown, strewn with garbage, basically abandoned by the city. Over time it really became transformed from a very unattractive place to quite a beautiful place.”(...)

Read the rest of LeRoy Steps: Source of pride and local controversy (2,317 words)

By Frances Dinkelspiel. | Permalink | 68 comments |
Post tags: Andrew Harth, Bruce McMurray, Daniel Gallagher, Helen Alvarez, LeRoy Steps Stewardship Project, Luis Alvarez, Mark Selvaggio, SEEDS, Shar Etebar, Sue Ferrara, Susan Wengraf, The Big Orange House, Vicki Wade

The arrival of Ward Connerly, the former UC Regent who backed Proposition 209, which banned  affirmative action in university admissions in 1996, was another sign that dozens of cameras were nearby.

Connerly … Continue reading »]]>

The media, both local and national, have jumped on the "diversity bake sale" story. Photo: Tracey Taylor

The helicopters flying over central Berkeley today were just one sign of the media frenzy that has surrounded the announcement by Cal College Republicans that they would hold an “Increase Diversity Bakesale,” to protest  a bill that permits consideration of race and economic status in university admissions.

Ward Connerly on Sproul Plaza. Photo: Matt Krupnick via Twitter

The arrival of Ward Connerly, the former UC Regent who backed Proposition 209, which banned  affirmative action in university admissions in 1996, was another sign that dozens of cameras were nearby.

Connerly jumped into the fray by selling some of the Republican student group’s selection of baked goods. Prices varied according to who bought them: $2 for a white student, $1.50 for Asian students, $1 for Latinos, 75 cents for African-Americans and 25 cents for Native Americans. Women of all races were promised a 25-cent discount.

Hundreds of affirmative action demonstrators, dressed in black, on Sproul Plaza Tuesday. Photo: Tracey Taylor

Cameras and notebooks were much in evidence on campus today. Photo: Tracey Taylor

As the Republicans set up shop at around 10:00am, a group of about 50 students at a phone bank made calls to Gov. Brown to express support for SB 185, the bill the College Republicans are mocking, according to the Daily Californian, which has been providing a blow-by-blow account of the proceedings since the student group announced it would hold the bake sale last week.

Everyone seemed to jump into the fray. John Stossel, a conservative journalist for Fox News, wrote a piece on why he supports the bake sale. The New York Times looked at the issue, as did CNN, Reuters, and numerous other media outlets.

By midday today, a crowd of affirmative action supporters , several hundred strong and dressed in black, were conducting a silent demonstration on Sproul Plaza — standing erect, fists raised, with placards that read “Don’t UC US”. At noon they all laid down on the ground.

At noon the affirmative action protestors lie on the ground in silence. Photo: Tracey Taylor

And the media were still out in force: several TV stations, including NBC Bay Area and KCBS News, dozens of reporters, notebooks in hand, and hundreds of cameras in hand snapping pictures. And the chopper still hovered overhead.

TV crew recording a segment on Bancroft Way. Photo: Tracey Taylor.

Several TV vans were on the scene to cover the bake sale furore. Photo: Tracey Taylor

By Frances Dinkelspiel. | Permalink | 36 comments |
Post tags: College Republicans, Diversity Bake Sale

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 … Continue reading »]]>

Edie Meidav

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.(...)

Read the rest of Book revisits childhood in post-60s, buzz-kill Berkeley (881 words)

By Frances Dinkelspiel. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: California, Edie Meidav, Lola, Stan Stroh

In addition, the school could improve safety by more closely controlling who comes in and out of the campus. To do that, the high school … Continue reading »]]>

Berkeley High School, where there were six gun incidents in 2010-2011

Three months after two students accidentally discharged a gun in a Berkeley High School bathroom, a task force empaneled to study the issue of weapons has concluded that the school should not install metal detectors or close the campus during lunch, but should require students to carry – but not necessarily display — identification cards.

In addition, the school could improve safety by more closely controlling who comes in and out of the campus. To do that, the high school should reduce the number of entrances to campus to four and hire monitors to stand by the gates. The school should more strictly enforce its visitors’ policy to make sure everyone on campus has a legitimate reason to be there, according to the report.

The school should also retain the 12 safety officers currently on staff – up from 10 in previous years — and hire a second full-time police officer for the campus, if financially feasible. All security personnel should be required to wear uniforms that plainly identify them to students, staff and the police, concludes the report, which will be presented to the school board on June 29.

The eleven-page set of recommendations is the culmination of three months of work by the Ad Hoc Safety Committee, which was appointed by Superintendent Bill Huyett in April to review policies and procedures in the city’s high schools after a spate of six gun incidents in a two-and-a-half month period from January to March 2011. The large number of weapons found on campus deeply distressed the community and the school board and led to emotional community meetings, student focus groups, police training, a flurry of online comment, and a sense of urgency that the district had to quickly address a growing problem.

Right after the sixth gun incident on March 25th, the school district took a number of immediate steps to try and improve the situation and asked the 15-member task force to examine some long-term policy questions on how to eliminate – or at least minimize – the presence of weapons at school.

The district bumped up its security detail by hiring two more school safety officers and increasing the presence of a uniformed police officer on campus from four to five days a week. Berkeley High closed some entrances to the massive campus, positioned security guards at the gates in the morning and after lunch, and stepped up patrols in out of way portions of the campus. It installed an anonymous hotline to report weapons. There have been no other guns discovered on the Berkeley High or B-Tech campuses since the security upgrades.

The report, and discussion among committee members, provide some new details on the six gun incidents, which included six Berkeley students and one non-Berkeley student.

• All of the on-campus incidents happened in the morning while the off-campus incident happened after school was dismissed.
• A total of seven Berkeley students and one non-Berkeley students were involved in the six gun incidents.
• Six of the seven students were not on probation prior to the incident
• One student was a senior, three were juniors, one was a sophomore, and one was a freshman.
• Three students had not had prior discipline incidents this year before they brought weapons to school.
• All the students were male.
• One student was homeless.
• All resided in Berkeley
• All have been expelled from the district

(...)

Read the rest of School safety committee issues weapons report (1,289 words)

By Frances Dinkelspiel. | Permalink | 137 comments |
Post tags: Ad Hoc Safety Committee, Bill Huyett, school shootings

Kyle was 16 years old when he died. He and his close friend Prentice lost their lives in a fiery crash on the Richmond Parkway, March 31, 2010, in a tragic end to two promising lives.

Kyle, a junior at Berkeley High School, had more to do in this world. He dreamed of going to Israel, because of a deep connection he felt, and his desire to make a difference for peace and security within … Continue reading »]]>

Kyle Strang, who was killed in a car crash in 2010

Jacqueline Barber writes:

Kyle was 16 years old when he died. He and his close friend Prentice lost their lives in a fiery crash on the Richmond Parkway, March 31, 2010, in a tragic end to two promising lives.

Kyle, a junior at Berkeley High School, had more to do in this world. He dreamed of going to Israel, because of a deep connection he felt, and his desire to make a difference for peace and security within the region. While his classmates were taking the SAT prep classes, Kyle was earning money to pay for a one-way ticket to Tel Aviv. His determination and passion were such that no one doubted he would get there. The only question was how he would choose to engage in the struggle for peace. With knowing eyes and a heart bigger than most, Kyle formed deep friendships everywhere he turned. He was gifted in finding ways to bridge differences; he exuded empathy and understanding. Kyle was everyone’s friend.

Kyle’s classmates and teachers have taken on his dream, and are pushing to make the trip that Kyle was unable to make. In his honor, a group of 17 Berkeley High School students and teachers are raising funds to create the Kyle Harty Strang Leadership Program and 2011 Middle East Encounter Trip. The group has partnered with an international, nonpartisan, non-profit organization called Seeking Common Ground, based in Denver. (...)

Read the rest of Remembering Kyle Strang (708 words)

By guest. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags:

Michelle Vaughan and Felix Salmon are Berkeleyside friends who live in New York City. Michelle is an artist and Felix is a finance blogger for Reuters. They’re passionate about their food so when we heard they were coming to Chez Panisse for the first time, we asked them to record their thoughts. Here’s their tale:

Michelle: Coming to San Francisco this time for me was for one occasion, and one occasion only: my husband’s birthday. He needed … Continue reading »]]>

Michelle Vaughan and Felix Salmon are Berkeleyside friends who live in New York City. Michelle is an artist and Felix is a finance blogger for Reuters. They’re passionate about their food so when we heard they were coming to Chez Panisse for the first time, we asked them to record their thoughts. Here’s their tale:

Michelle: Coming to San Francisco this time for me was for one occasion, and one occasion only: my husband’s birthday. He needed to be in SF for work the day before, and instead of him spending it alone, I volunteered to fly out. With one proviso:  that he get an amazing reservation for a decadent meal.

So Felix set his alarm inside his computer calendar to alert him exactly one month before so he could book through Open Table. He came back to me, “I booked us a reservation.” And I said, “Oh really, where?” And then he showed me the computer screen: Chez Panisse, 2 people, 9:15pm.

Felix: The alarm thing in the computer didn’t work very well, but when Michelle and I were in a restaurant in Orange County last month, I remembered the Chez Panisse idea and got a resy using the Open Table app on my iPhone. I love Open Table, but I think that it sometimes works less well with old-fashioned restaurants.

Michelle: We have dreamed about going to this restaurant for years and years. It’s never happened. So you can imagine my excitement and I booked an air ticket right away.

Felix: Which of course was my cunning plan: I got to spend my birthday in San Francisco with my wife, which was great.

Michelle: Fast forward to F’s birthday: we’re on the BART traveling from San Francisco to Berkeley all dressed up and anticipating a fabulous night.

Felix: Berkeley’s big! And Chez Panisse is not very close to the BART. I was expecting something a bit more Jane Jacobs and downtown, rather than a restaurant-you-really-need-to-drive-to. Michelle was wearing heels, turning the walk from the BART into a bit of a schlep.

Michelle: We arrive at Chez Panisse bang on time.

Felix: We thought we had time to explore Berkeley or grab a drink beforehand, not so much. It basically took us an hour from getting on the BART in SF.

Once we got to the restaurant, I was immediately struck by the architecture: it’s a beautiful and unique restaurant, architecturally, and I adore the way it looks and feels. You feel immediately at home, with all the warm wood; it’s informal yet high-end at the same time. But it can get a bit crowded.

Michelle: It’s asparagus season so there is a big pile in a basket near the entrance. I love that, stating: this is in season, and this is what you’re going to eat.

Felix: The greeting was a bit chaotic, there was a lot of milling around in a crowded corridor before the hostess finally appeared, and she had to deal with a couple of other people first. She needed my last name to find my reservation — no California informality here — and said the table would be ready in 5-10 minutes, they were running a little late. I looked around the corridor, and had to ask if there was a bar. Oh yes, she said distractedly, it’s upstairs. She’d come and fetch us when the table was ready.

The bar was nice, if also crowded; we ordered a couple of cocktails and looked around. Five minutes passed, then ten…(...)

Read the rest of Our (not so) excellent Chez Panisse adventure (1,946 words)

By guest. | Permalink | 94 comments |
Post tags: Alice Waters, Chez Panisse

From my reading of the tea leaves, Burke may be right. Here’s the text … Continue reading »]]> After I wrote about the approved compromise deal in the Berkeley High science lab flap, commenter Maureen Burke replied, “Color me unimpressed… This new procedure is cumbersome and most kids are being steered to not sign up for science labs. And guess what? Next year we will hear that there was no demand for science labs after all and they will be eliminated.”

From my reading of the tea leaves, Burke may be right. Here’s the text of an email BHS parents just received on signing up for the labs:

Science labs for Advanced Biology, Chemistry, and Physics will be included in the regular class time.  If students in these classes wish to take a separate enhancement/support lab course before or after school they may sign up for one. The class meets one day per week and students earn one credit for participation. Information about the lab support course was included in the course catalog and counselors provided information and the opportunity to sign up for it during course scheduling.

I know from my sample of one BHS student, the idea of signing up for an additional, wholly optional class (which could be, like this year, at 3:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon), is very unappealing. I can’t repeat on a family-friendly website his response that chemistry lab was a requirement in our household.

Add to that the very marginal encouragement I read in today’s email — here’s some “enhancement” or “support”, but it’s no biggie if you don’t do it. I suspect only a minority of households will read that email and say to their student, “You really should do the extra lab.”

Here’s an alternative email that might have done a better job of ensuring continued support for extra science labs:

Understanding science is both fundamental for our students and for our society. We are fortunate at Berkeley High to have a great science program, with an excellent record of achievement. The school board has secured extra funds to provide additional science labs for BHS students, which should provide them even better academic preparation. We encourage your student to sign up for the additional labs. Use them or lose them.

Photo by Horia Varlan from Flickr

By lance. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: BHS science labs