But what was Steve Wozniak’s Cal experience really like? We at the Daily Clog sat down with the Wizard of Wozillia himself to find out.

The Daily Californian: Can you tell us a little bit about how you arrived at UC Berkeley? Why did you choose to transfer here for your junior year?

Steve Wozniak: My parents had me apply to the University of California because it was an awful lot less expensive. So I applied. Berkeley really was the school I would have wanted to go to, because it had a reputation for intellectual free-thinking. Civil liberties and the politics and economics of war were being challenged. Freedom of speech was being brought up as a subject. So I really admired Berkeley in that sense. I just wanted to be among great thinkers. So in my third year of college, I transferred into Berkeley.

DC: After your first year at UC Berkeley, you left and founded Apple with Steve Jobs. But you made sure to return to UC Berkeley to finish your degree. Why? Why does a college degree matter to you?

SW: I had done a lot outside of Cal that would have been equivalent to Master’s and PhD projects, but having a symbol to represent these accomplishments is very important. Also, just being able to tell your kids what college you went to is going to encourage them to go to college. And college is just the most fun four years of your life.

DC: Where, in your experience, is the best place for experiencing what it means to be a Golden Bear?

SW: Oh my gosh. The first place that comes to mind is the rallies before the Big Game. As part of Berkeley itself, Sather Gate stands out in my mind as the most prominent feature of the university.

DC: Sproul Plaza has always been a center of campus activity. Any memories, strange encounters or lessons that you learned there?

SW: I often saw musicians sitting down and playing the guitar. I was into that kind of folkish approach. Sometimes, I’d sit down and listen to them — and even skip class for it.

DC: Do you still like the same kind of music? What’s playing on your iTunes right now?

SW: [laughs] Usually something a little bit country. A little bit folk. Ariana Gillis is one of my favorites. Let’s see, I like The Airborne Toxic Event, Train, Counting Crows — oh my gosh — Counting Crows. Right out of Berkeley! I love them so much. We got to meet the guitarist and we go out with him and his girlfriend all the time.

DC: Do you have a favorite song from Counting Crows?

SW: “Round Here,” “Mr. Jones,” … actually, all their songs. They are just so incredible. I actually take most songs I like and go online, read the lyrics and think about them. This kind of thinking is what college is about and it means a lot to me. Music was a big part of my life in learning how to live.

DC: Cool. Other than music, Sproul is known for its demonstrations. Was this true when you were at Cal?

SW: We had sit-downs in those days. But there was one protest where marchers went to Bancroft and Shattuck and smashed every window. We had large demonstrations; the police would show up and start firing tear gas and everyone would run. The cops would be shooting rubber bullets, so the kids in the dorms would love to go looking for them. I kept hoping … to get a picture taken next to a tear gas canister spewing out smoke. But I never achieved that. I never found a rubber bullet either — but thank God I never got a hit by one. Although, one time I was at a payphone on Bancroft and Telegraph and all of a sudden cops pulled up in “blue minis.” They started shooting their guns; the crowd started running but I was trapped in the phone booth, waiting for an operator to get back to me. I was ducking down. The windows were already broken on that pay phone. I was so scared I was going to get hit. But I didn’t. They left me alone. [laughs]

DC: While living in Norton Hall, Unit 3, you describe phone phreaking. Can you tell us a bit more? What experience stands out?

SW: Wow. I discovered, the day before coming to school at Berkeley, this whole idea that you could put little tones into a phone and dial calls anywhere in the world. It was  a bug in the phone system. I was talented enough to build tone makers — I did this with Steve Jobs — and I was excited that we would be able to make a device that would make calls all over the world. We were honest enough to tell our parents what we were doing. They just said not to make any of the calls from their phones. So we would mostly do it from the dorm rooms.

I had read about phone phreaks that were great engineers. They would hook into payphone cables in Arizona and set up worldwide networks. They were smarter than phone company engineers and drove around with vans full of equipment. And oh my gosh, they were just like science fiction heroes — except they were real.

DC: Tell us about the Blue Box. We know it’s a device that you used to make international calls for free, but what did you do with it?

SW: It was never my idea to sell a Blue Box — just to make one to show off. But Steve Jobs said, “Why don’t we sell these to students?” He was always short on money. So we would set up demonstrations in dorms around campus. We would knock on doors until we found someone that looked cool … so, you know, they wouldn’t turn us in. Then we would set up an appointment to come back that night. Usually a group of about 12-20 people would be in the room. I would be the master of ceremonies. I’d tell stories about what phone phreaks have done and what they could do. I’d make a demonstration Blue Box call and we would wind up calling around the world. At every single demo, we sold a Blue Box.

DC: Wow, it sounds like you could do some crazy stuff with the Blue Box. Did you pull any pranks with it?

SW: We called the Pope. I pretended to be Henry Kissinger with Richard Nixon at a summit meeting in Moscow. I said that I wanted to talk to the Pope. I reached the Bishop, who going to be the translator, an hour later — but he had called the real Henry Kissinger. So, I was busted. We didn’t have caller ID in those days.

DC: That’s awesome. Are there any other wild experiences you had because of your phone phreaking hobby?

SW: One day, we had a Blue Box to sell to somebody in the dorms. We stopped at a pizza parlor and demonstrated it to some people there. Then they came up to our car and robbed us of it at gun point. But they left their phone number so that we could call and tell them how to use it. They wanted to pay for it but just didn’t have the money.

DC: Wow, that’s intense.

SW: [laughs] We did a lot of incredible interesting things that people couldn’t believe.

DC: Looking back, what advice would you give graduating seniors?

SW: Don’t expect that right away — even though you’re smarter than someone else — you’re going to stand out and have better ideas and approaches. It takes a while to learn that.

Contact Alex Mabanta at amabanta@dailycal.org.

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The rally began at noon and was followed by a protest in the streets surrounding the campus before ending outside California Hall. UC Berkeley’s May Day event coincides with other International Workers’ Day activities throughout the Bay Area that seek to improve conditions for workers and citizenship opportunities for immigrants.

“We need to say that this university belongs to the public,” said Hatem Bazian, a professor of Near Eastern studies who attended the rally. “It was built by us collectively … yet we have institutions and leadership that think they are on the board of directors of corporation A or B.”

Workers from multiple unions — including AFSCME 3299, a union representing health care and service workers, and UAW Local 2865, a union representing UC student workers — attended the rally.

Wednesday’s May Day rally comes in the midst of labor negotiations between AFSCME 3299 and the university.

“It’s all part of putting the pressure on UC to give us a just and fair contract,” said Sarah Leadem, an organizer for AFSCME 3299.

AFSCME recently scheduled a strike vote from April 30 to May 2 to bring attention to alleged patient-care violations and the elimination of hundreds of frontline care jobs. In a statement, Dwaine Duckett, UC vice president for systemwide human resources, said that the university is open to compromise but needs engagement from AFSCME leaders.

Amanda Armstrong, head steward for the UAW 2865 and a graduate student in rhetoric, said GSIs, readers and tutors are also entering into contract negotiations. Armstrong spoke to a crowd gathered outside California Hall about demands the union has, including a cap on class size, better wages and health benefits for student-workers and an end to discrimination in hiring in the workplace.

“Being a graduate student in the university, I do have a lot of benefits.” said Vreni Michelini, a graduate student in art practice who was a GSI in the fall. “But I also see and I live the struggle in the sense that even though I have two scholarships that’s almost paying for my tuition, I still got to have three jobs to just make it with the rent, food and everything else I have to pay.”

Supporters also rallied behind immigration reform.

“We have a broken immigration system, and there are people in our community who have been deported,” said City Councilmember Jesse Arreguin, who attended the rally. “We can no longer divide families and use (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) as a way to try to suppress workers’ rights.”

Mitchell Handler covers academics and administration. Contact him at mhandler@dailycal.org and follow him on Twitter @mitchellhandler.

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1) Visit Stanford. Just kidding — unless you’re in the mood to drive past their empty campus and laugh at how high their tuition costs are or that their official mascot is a color. You can bet that some Trees will be up here scouting the enemy on Cal Day, so feel free to return the favor by sneaking around their campus. Their latest claim is being the Harvard of the 21st century, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find glaring flaws in that assessment.

2) People-watch. If you don’t want to be stuck in the throngs of students, company representatives and overeager prospective students, you can watch from above and amuse yourself with how many times you hear people saying the same things, like “Where is the library?,” or by counting how many people aren’t wearing Cal gear. You could get a good bird’s eye view from climbing the ruins of Eshleman or finding a way to dodge the police department and ascending to the roof of Sproul — though we take no responsibility for your inevitable fall and consequent injury.

3) Drinking game! Sure, it may be early, but it’s not like you’re going to be around anyone important for the day. You could take a shot for every lecture you’ve missed this semester — or for every percentage point your grade has fallen since spring break. And then you can cry when you actually realize how many shots you’ve taken because of this.

4) Walk around various nonpeople-infested parts of campus and use your olfactory talents to gauge the relative amounts of weed being smoked throughout. Then, make a map of campus of increasingly red areas where the weed concentration is highest, and pass it out to high-schoolers at Cal Day. Hopefully, they’ll divert their parents from these aforementioned areas.

5) Alternatively, take a day trip to Colorado to celebrate 4/20.

6) Spend the day with that special someone — your bed. Let yourself sleep away the three weeks stress accumulated since spring break, and watch some TV while you’re at it. “Parks and Recreation,” “Community,” “Game of Thrones” and the frustratingly slow “How I Met Your Mother” are all popular options, whereas the NBA playoffs or the even more frustratingly slow sport of baseball is back for sports fans.

7) Check out the plethora of museums in the Berkeley area. From the Lawrence Hall of Science and Pacific Film Archive to the Magnes Collection and Lacis Museum, it might be worth visiting a place where you can get some peace and quiet. And besides, you get to see some cool stuff without taking a single flash photo.

8) Attend election celebrations for everyone who was elected to the ASUC! Oh … there aren’t any of those? Not even for the SQUELCH! people? Apparently, nobody really cares about being spoken to by an ASUC official — probably a holdover from the frenetic and irritating campaign season.

9) Check up on all your friends from high school to see if they got admitted to Berkeley. According to the admissions data released by the university yesterday, almost 79 percent of them won’t have been. It’s a great chance to exercise your ability to show fake excitement or flex your motivational speech skills — hopefully, it’ll be more of the former.

10) Study. Yeah, we didn’t think that one would be very popular either.

Image source: Daniel Parks under Creative Commons

Contact Uday at umehta@dailycal.org or follow him on Twitter at @mehtakid.

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It seems like every student reaches that point in the semester at which he or she just gives up, at which the proverbial breaking point is hit and work ceases to happen. The most likely time for a serious case of Academic Spring Fever to take hold is the limbo state between midterms and finals that results in a feeling of stagnation. Combined with the inviting Berkeley sun and nice weather, this makes spring a particularly dangerous time for the work ethic of Berkeley students.

We at the Clog attribute this to the highly contagious nature of Academic Spring Fever, a condition in which daydreams, sun and sleep take precedent over attending lecture, doing homework and being a functional human being. Symptoms of Academic Spring Fever may include but are not limited to: using your textbooks as doorstops, watching entire seasons of television shows in one sitting, ditching class to soak up the sun at Strawberry Canyon, sleeping 10-plus hours a day and experiencing harmful levels of procrastination. In more advanced stages of the disease, you begin to procrastinate on your procrastination, unashamedly giving up on activity altogether.

People at risk for developing Academic Spring Fever may have been exposed to a prolonged absence from school (i.e. spring break). The best explanation we can come up with for this academic crisis is the loss of one’s intellectual momentum. At the beginning of the semester, it is typical to be filled with vigor and energy. While this initial enthusiasm may die down, it usually settles into a more even-keeled rhythm. The tricky part, then, is forgoing any disruption to this rhythm.

Experts in this field have done extensive research and found that after taking a break from school, it is much harder to come back with the same stamina. Part of what makes being a student so difficult is not the intellectual demands of Berkeley but the psychological ones. We all choose to go to school, and every morning, we wake up and continue to make that choice. Once you make an allowance and cause a break to occur in this intellectual momentum, it becomes exponentially easier to allow another break, and another, until you’ve stopped working altogether.

While there is no absolute cure for this state of mind, there are several treatments that have been approved for home use based on small clinical trials. There is the “buddy system” remedy, wherein patients rely on friends to keep them honest. Incentivizing studying with a friend makes this method particularly useful (one King Pin donut hole for every math problem completed). There is the timer method, in which you set an alarm on your phone or clock for 45 minutes. From the moment the timer starts until it goes off, you must force yourself to do some productive work. Not only does the pressure of the clock counting down make you work faster, but mentally, it’s much easier to wrap your mind around just 45 minutes of work instead of your entire to-do list. If you’re feeling good after this, take a break and set your clock for another 45. If all else fails, just try chanting your new mantra, “C’s get degrees.”  If you’re truly a UC Berkeley student, the acquiescence to such mediocrity should be intolerable. Realizing that you’ve stooped to such a level should get you moving … after just one more episode of “Mad Men,” that is.

Contact Meagan Kane at mkane@dailycal.org.

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Chow down on some fries and then hit the conveniently placed wall to burn them off?

The climbing wall is one of the features advertised in the proposed Health and Wellness referendum, which we’ll all be voting on this week alongside other amendments and referendums, as well as ASUC senate seats and executive positions, of course. The referendum proposes a new mandatory fee from students to fund the construction of a new wellness center and the installation of new equipment and operations for the rec center, like a rock climbing wall, cardio machines and health classes.

There’s been a good deal of controversy surrounding the referendum, like how crucial it really is for students and whether or not the executive order issued by ASUC President Connor Landgraf to get the referendum on the ballot was appropriate. Amid all this comes a way to clear the air and get students to understand the heart of the proposal: whether or not they’d like a cool new toy available for them to play with.

The wall is free for students to climb, and while there you can conveniently hear people in the tent beneath yelling, “Vote yes on Health and Wellness!” From way up there, feeling strong and powerful, looking down on your fellow students as they scurry to and from class, you may think, “Sure! I can vote for this! I want to climb all the time!” Honestly, after trying that baby out who could say no, right?

While a clever way of making the idea of a new wellness center known to the student body, we’re concerned with whether or not it really gets their main point across. Sure, having a rock-climbing wall would be super cool! It’s fun and a good way to exercise: a win-win. But does the hefty cost outweigh the benefits? If you’re a junior now, will you even be around to see the plan in action? The Wellness Center wouldn’t be finished and functional right away, and that’s something to consider. Just seeing a fun activity on Sproul and hearing that they want to add one for everyone’s use is enticing, but it’s not enough to base a vote on.

We’re not saying this is a bad thing, and we’re not saying to ignore their calls to “Climb and vote!” By all means, climb away! We know we were dying to as soon as we saw it. Just make sure to ask questions about what it’s advertising afterwards. If you’re going to be paying for all the new toys, you’ll want to know if you’re even going to be able to use them — or if you’re willing to pay so that people in the future can use them once you’re gone.

Contact Erum Khan at ekhan@dailycal.org.

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While his competitors walk students through Upper Sproul Plaza, pitching platforms in a last-minute attempt to garner support, ASUC presidential candidate David Ramirez Douglass will protest alongside strangers on the National Mall to demand for equality for all immigrants.

Douglass will leave for Washington, D.C., Tuesday in what may seem like a risky move for a presidential hopeful from a party that has never had a candidate elected to an executive position. But for Douglass, who is running with the Defend Affirmative Action Party, it was a natural decision with the best timing — the march is a way to live up to the legacy of being a UC Berkeley student responsible for fighting for civil rights, he said.

“We, as students, have to take action and challenge power and the status quo. We can stand by our own ideas,” Douglass said. “We can stand on our principles and do the right thing, not the popular thing.”

DAAP is a campus political party working to restore affirmative action policies, fight for immigration reform, open the border between Mexico and the United States and make public education accessible to all, among other goals, according to its website.

During his campaign, Douglass has emphasized this legacy of action and protest, saying that he hopes to revive the “youth-led progressive movement.” If elected, Douglass, a film and Latin American studies double major, aims to lead students against fee hikes, advocate for immigrant rights and double the underrepresented minority enrollment on campus.

“We’ve seen a resegregation of higher education with this manipulation of statistics and data when the UC Regents say the numbers of underrepresented minorities are increasing,” Douglass said. “In reality, they’re segregating them to campuses like UC Merced and Riverside, which don’t have the same access and resources that UC Berkeley or UCLA has.”

Douglass compares this “resegregation” to Jim Crow laws of the 1950s American South, saying that the system cannot be separate and equal. He emphasizes a need for integration and affirmative action policies, beginning with the repeal of Proposition 209.

“We just need leadership, and I’m prepared to be that leader for the students,” Douglass said.

Part of that preparation, according to Douglass, comes from growing up in a politically active immigrant family and seeing inequality firsthand throughout his childhood. He remembers hearing stories of the struggles faced by his family, especially his mother, a migrant farm worker from Mexico.

He said that, while in middle school, his friends of color used to tell him they were afraid to walk in certain areas of his hometown, Santa Rosa, for fear of “white supremacists.” Seeing their struggle firsthand, he said, encouraged him to fight for equality.

“Since he was little, he always had incredible things to do,” said Nieves Douglass, his mother. “We always saw a leader in David.”

Additionally, Douglass’ work as a student organizer with By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), a coalition fighting for affirmative action and immigrant rights, has also provided him with experience leading students. Douglass has gone to Detroit with BAMN to fight against home foreclosures and to keep schools open. Two weeks ago, he marched with workers from Fruitvale calling for increased immigrant rights.

According to fellow organizers, Douglass has naturally fit into these leadership roles.

“I think David is an extremely committed and very radical political person who has a deep belief in the power and possibility of oppressed communities of students,” said Yvette Felarca, a national organizer for BAMN and former ASUC senator with DAAP. “I think he’s been the real leader of the fleet and of the party, and the campus needs more leaders like David Douglass.”

However, student groups on campus have expressed their concern about Douglass’ ability and the DAAP platform.

“DAAP’s goals and platforms are worthwhile but beyond the scope of the ASUC,” said Matthew Enger, communications coordinator for CalSERVE. He noted that during the ASUC executive slate forum last Friday, Douglass and the rest of the DAAP candidates had nothing to say in response to questions regarding school policy, instead pivoting to their platform points about affirmative action and immigrant rights.

At the same forum, Douglass mentioned that he would disband the UCPD based on alleged discrimination and would shut down the school to have students march.

“They speak loudly, but it drowns out the voices of the people who actually know what to do and have the plan to do it,” Enger said.

Win or lose, Douglass said he will continue to fight for equality and rights.

“I love the struggle, and I love the fight. It’s through the struggle and seeing a person by your side who is also addressing the issue, fighting with you for what is right, that you understand people,” Douglass said. “I need to fight to combat the idea that there isn’t a progressive movement. It’s exciting to be a part of that.”

Contact Sophie Ho at sho@dailycal.org.

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In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the court ruled that political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment and that the government cannot keep corporations or unions from spending money to support individual candidates in elections. CalPIRG hosted the rally to raise awareness of the impact the decision could have on the relationship between wealthy interests and politics.

“Citizens United is the single most drastic, damaging action of the Supreme Court in our lifetime,” said City Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who spoke at the rally. “Pretty much every policy that the government votes on is going to be skewed by the super rich, who can afford to put millions of dollars into elections.

Speakers at the rally urged that corporations are not people and therefore should not be subject to the same free speech regulation.

“My name is Nolan Pack, and I am a person, not a corporation,” said ASUC Senator Nolan Pack. “People can come before you and say that. The day that ExxonMobil can stand here and say that they’re a person — I don’t even know what that will look like.

In March, the ASUC Senate voted to place a referendum on the ballot asking students whether they support overturning the Supreme Court’s decision. If a majority of students vote in support of overturning, the ASUC president and Graduate Assembly president will send notice to the president of the United States and California’s congressional delegation annually until both Congress and the California Legislature have passed legislation to address the Supreme Court’s ruling.

ASUC Senator Mihir Deo said that although he disagrees with the Supreme Court’s decision, he has problems with the way the referendum is worded.

“Constitutional free speech rights is very broad,” Deo said. “If this referendum were to be taken literally, then it would be a statement saying that corporations have no free speech rights at all, and that is wrong. The issue is that the Supreme Court ruled that money is something that is freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

Caitlin Quinn, political director of Cal Berkeley Democrats and a Vote Coalition deputy, said that the Citizens United ruling could have actually encouraged higher voter turnout in November’s election.

“I think that it’s a good sign that even though Citizens United is this really messed-up thing, I think that it also scared a lot of people into voting for their first time,” Quinn said. “Right now, politics is a very moneyed game, and students have to care about it.

Mitchell Handler covers academics and administration. Contact him at mhandler@dailycal.org and follow him on Twitter @mitchellhandler.

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Warning: the people who usually flier seem to be on steroids this week. They don’t just ask you to take a flier like normal; they follow you and ask you if they can walk you to class. It’s such an awkward moment trying to decide how genuine their offer is — do they really want to know how your doing or do they just want another vote? Our guess is they want your vote and are willing to go to great lengths to get it from you! But hey, at least they’re committed to their campaign, right?

As annoying as these recent Sproul developments are, they can be expected. Elections are just a little over a week away. However, as we’ve battled our way through the chaos there have been a few sights that made us stop and do a double take because they are just weird.

Two words: banana suit. We not sure if this is the best election strategy, but it definitely made us give them a little more attention. There’s just something about a banana suit that makes you stop and stare. Maybe it’s the bright yellow color or the strange shape? Or maybe it just stood out from the rest of the typical hawkers.

Taking the strangeness to a whole new level were the galloping students with a large, blow-up whale in between their legs. Hollering in the name of their candidate, it was definitely a sight to be seen — and so was the blow-up mattress. It’s not every day that you see large, blown-up objects on Sproul. So if you really want to see it, we suggest taking a quick stroll down Sproul (if you can make it through).

The most entertaining moment came not from the objects on Sproul, but the campaigners. A small group of guys were fanning students with their ginormous signs as they walked by, attempting to bribe them into voting for their candidate. We’re not going to lie: It was impossible not to laugh as we walked by. Their response? “It’s not weird, it’s cool! We know it feels good, too!”

There are just some things you pass by on Sproul that shouldn’t be questioned, no matter how weird they are. This is especially true during ASUC election week. So just hang in there; avoid Sproul if you’re claustrophobic and it’ll be over before you know it!

Contact Kristen McFadden at kmcfadden@dailycal.org or follow her on twitter @kmcfadden7

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Dubbed the “Baracketologer-in-Chief,” the President is an avid fan of basketball and fills out a bracket every year — to varying success. It’s doubtful that he actually gets an inordinate amount of time to watch the teams and the players he supports, and it wouldn’t surprise us in the least if he had his own task force to deliver scouting reports on the most politically palatable picks to advance. Cal fans can do little more than believe in the presidential prediction of a man who has built his life’s work on the mantra “Yes, We Can!”

Though the pick wasn’t the toughest to make — the ladies are the second seed in their region — it was the only non-top seed to make it to New Orleans in the President’s eyes. More importantly, it shows the lack of confidence in a Stanford team that happens to be top-seeded in that very same Spokane region. The move may have the won him the favor of already adoring Bears — seriously, did you see Sproul Plaza on election night? But someone should remind him that pleasing his California constituents isn’t necessary, because the alleged “tyrant” — courtesy of FOX News — is legally unable to run for a third consecutive term. It is also reportedly unlikely that President Obama will use drone strikes to target opposing players before games.

After falling to the UCLA baby Bears unexpectedly early in the PAC-12 Tournament — a game that most thought would kill any chance of a favorable tournament matchup — the best seeding in Cal women’s history may just breathe life into the team. And with an executive endorsement, rumors of their demise may indeed have been greatly exaggerated.

Contact Uday at umehta@dailycal.org or follow him on Twitter at @mehtakid

Image source: The White House

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