Tuesday, November 26, 2002 :::
Congratulations to ASUC Senator Tasvir "Taz" Patel for his recent notoriety. If you didn't see it on Channel 2 news or in the Daily Cal, Taz may be suspended for hanging on to the goalposts after Saturday's Big Game win. His photo was even up on ESPN.com. Hopefully the university will be lenient with him- after all, Taz was hardly the only taking down those posts, and just because he's recognizable as an ASUC senator shouldn't give the university a reason to make an example of him. I mean, even senators like football.
According to ESPN.com, a new goalpost costs around $5,600. I say, pass the hat.
::: posted by Andrewski at 10:40 PM
Monday, November 25, 2002 :::
Speaking of tearing down the goalposts... it could have been a lot worse.
Anne Benjaminson has some interesting things to say about this last, crazy weekend. She ends her column with a jab at the now-defunct Daily Planet, which, according to the Daily Cal, has gone out of business. This is sad news indeed... although the Daily Planet clearly had subpar editing and questionable writing (my favorite is the article where the author quoted himself. How does one quote him/herself? Did he speak the words aloud, then register that he had said them and wrote them down? Or did he just think what he wanted to say, and then write it?), it was at least reassuring to know that there was more than one daily news source for Berkeley. I'm still a fan of the East Bay Express, but the Daily Planet had reliable and consistent coverage, even if it was smattered with typos and grammatical errors. For every "The Jews Are Attacked Near Campus", there must have been a half dozen stories where the Daily Cal was scooped days, even weeks in advance.
But then again, as Nolo Free, aka Amit Runchal, once said about the Daily Planet: Without a doubt, the Berkeley Daily Planet is the shittiest paper I've ever had the misfortune to come across.
Still, I thought there would be a considerable resurgence in the Daily Planet. Since the Daily Cal cut back on distribution, I thought the Planet would be there, filling in the gap. So long, Daily Planet, you red-headed journalistic stepchild. Guess we'll have to find a new publication to point at and laugh.
On a completely unrelated note, I picked up a copy of the California Voice today. This brand new paper, in its second issue of this year, focuses on depression in its many forms on Berkeley campus. Focus ranges from an interview with Professor Presti (who teaches Drugs and the Brain in the Letters and Science Dept.), to isolation felt by black students, to depression within the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual community. I applaud the California Voice for choosing to focus on topics that may not be current hot buttons (like September 11, Iraq, terrorism, Israeli-Palestinian conflict), and for exploring this clearly omnipresent subject. As Editor in Chief Patrick Hogan puts it in the introduction to this issue, "Sometimes it is those topics that are not in the spotlight that are worth the most focus."
I see the California Voice as having incredible potential to shake up this campus, and to become a truly important publication. I plan on applying to the Voice as a journalist. If you're interested in doing the same, you can email them at Californiavoice@yahoo.com.
::: posted by Andrewski at 5:47 PM
Sunday, November 24, 2002 :::
GO BEARS!
The Big Game, no doubt, was a thrill. I consider it to be the Greatest Game Of Football Ever Played. Maybe not, but it sure was fun. Did you see when they stormed the field and tore down the goalposts? Man, that rocked.
::: posted by Andrewski at 7:27 PM
