sarah.web

Ninety percent chance of rain

Critical Musings

Summer is coming. In the mostly temperate Berkeley, its approach can be subtle. There are fewer jackets in the morning, more nakedness on Memorial Glade in the afternoon. There are landlords happily waiting outside of their May-to-May lease properties for their fifth showing today, residents inside those apartments wondering when Read More…

Lynn_online

Southside story

Council Watch

Berkeley City Council has approved a zoning amendment that will allow businesses on Telegraph between Bancroft and the north side of Dwight to stay open 24/7. Those between south Dwight and Parker can operate between 7 a.m. and midnight seven days a week. There are, of course, restrictions — establishments Read More…

Elisabeth-Bahadori_online

Asking for it

Sex on Tuesday

A beautiful woman walks down Shattuck at night in a skintight red dress and black jacket. Her high heels click against the pavement when, out of nowhere, she is attacked by a rapist. Was she asking for it? A 16-year-old high school girl from Steubenville, Ohio, drinks at a party. She Read More…

mugshot.CONNOR

College sports at a crossroads

The Critic Who Counts

If impulsive California legislators and the money-hungry National College Players Association have their way, UC Berkeley athletes may soon be going pro. The Sacramento Bee reported Saturday that California State Assembly Bill 475, currently being considered in committee, would require UC Berkeley and UCLA to pay student athletes an annual Read More…

sarah.web

Home for spring break

Critical Musings

Berkeley will empty out over the next few days. There will be no flyer-wielders on Sproul, no packed-to-capacity 51Bs at 5 p.m.; I might finally get a table at People’s Cafe. Spring break will mean the en masse student migration from here to varying degrees of Elsewhere. There will be Read More…

Lynn_online

District 7

Council Watch

For those of you who are tired of hearing about rambunctious old people waving their arms over city issues, worry not. Here’s a reprieve. This week, we’re focusing specifically on the creation of the “student supermajority district,” a district whose constituency would likely be more than 90 percent students. Why Read More…

Elisabeth-Bahadori_online

Paralysis by analysis

Sex on Tuesday

Sleeping with someone for the first time is so terrifying. There’s this unspoken expectation that everything should go perfectly. I’ll take your shirt off and you’ll have a chiseled six pack, and we’ll come together while fireworks explode in the background. Thanks, Hollywood. The only image floating in my head Read More…

Jason.Willick

Race versus class

The Devil's Advocate

Progressives are bracing for a devastating defeat in the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on the affirmative action case Fisher v. University of Texas. If the justices restrict race-based affirmative action, they will “erase 50 years of progress,” one activist declared in The Nation. That’s an overstatement, but there is wide Read More…

sarah.web

In search of stillness

Critical Musings

To get the roughly 800 words of this column out of my head and into my computer, I had to change writing locations four times. I also drank two coffees, bought and ate a sandwich, sent two emails, five text messages and 10 instant messages, spent 10 minutes considering whether Read More…

Lynn_online

There will be blood

Council Watch

Just as SCOTUS is divided into two distinct camps — the conservatives and the liberals — Berkeley City Council is a dichotomous body. The first faction consists of Max Anderson, Jesse Arreguin and Kriss Worthington. They are referred to as the “WAA” coalition, but I like to call them “The Read More…