Day 7 (12/5) - Berkeley, Strawberry Canyon hike
NB: A note to those who complain my photos are too small - try *clicking* on them; they're thumbnails.
In the morning we went for a Berkeley campus tour. The Stanford campus was pretentious, but this would've been mostly unremarkable, but for the expertise of our tour guide; the Stanford guide was good, but he was great, conveying as much of the culture and history of the place as was possible on a one hour tour. There was also quite a bit of Stanford bashing on the tour (eg their Campanile is taller than the Hoover Tower), when there'd been none of the reverse at Stanford.
Life Science building. Largest academic space West of the Mississippi.
California Hall, the administration building. The reason the 2 doors have only one handle is because during the Free Speech Movement in the 60s, students chained the door shut.
In the 60s, when they tried to stop tabling (students setting up tables on campus to advance one issue or another), there was a protest and the police arrested one student. However, thousands of students then surrounded the police car, preventing it from moving off. Some even got on top to make speeches (but not before removing their shoes). Tsk, they should all have been charged with illegal assembly and obstruction of justice and blacklisted hereafter. Maybe a few future Nobel Laureates might've been in the crowd and had their careers destroyed.
Free Speech Movement Cafe. it's open whenever the library is open. When we were there this was 24/7 because of finals.
Athena over the library. When you pass under her on the way in, you're supposed to be blessed with knowledge. Unfortunately you lose this when you pass back out so students can either leave by the back door or the underground passage.
Library entrance. The 2 skylights light the underground library.
Memorial Glade (for World War II). It's not supposed to be built on, ever. The as-yet-unopened East Asian library is visible in the background.
Evans Hall. Appropriatel it houses the Pure Maths, Statistical Maths and Applied Maths (Economics) department, and is just across the road from the Physics department - both facts are highly appropriate. It is loathed because: 1) It's gray and ugly, 2) It blocks the view of the students in the hosing behind, 3) It houses the Maths, Statistics and Economics departments
In the early 1900s military service was compulsory for male students. Ugh.
Le Conte hall, Physics. Here the first atom was split and it still is involved in military and nuclear research.
Ooh, Bancroft library has a Christian book of prayers dating from the Spanish Inquisition bound in human skin (the pages aren't human skin though).
NL Parking Lot. One Nobel Laureate said the best thing about winning a Nobel Prize was getting parking at Berkeley.
Hearst mining circle/Memorial hall
The George C. Pimentel hall (Chemistry) has a rotating stage with 3 sections - one to teach on, one to clean up and one for preparation.
The Chemistry department here discovered 16 elements (? - this seems to be wrong), and it's the only university in the world with 4 elements named after them (a loose definition of 'named after them' is needed): Berkelium, Californium, Lawrencium and Seaborgium. Seaborg, for whom the last is named, is an acronym for their cheer: "Go Bears", so they say he naturally belongs to them, hurr hurr.
Some arch
Lynn Waldorf, the football coach who won them every football game against Stanford from 1947-57.
The guide gave us a summary of the story of the Stanford Axe, the best part of which is: "On April 3, 1930, a group of twenty-one residents of Stanford's Sequoia Hall, four of whom posed as photographers and reporters, stole the Axe as it was being transported back to the bank after the annual Baseball rally at the Greek. The phony photographers claimed that they wanted to take some photos of the Axe. When they set off the flash powder for the phototgraphs, one man grabbed the Axe while his well-organized accomplices set off a smoke bomb (or a tear gas bomb, depending on the account of the story). The Axe was taken to three cars which sped off in different directions. Several of the thieves were caught, but the Axe had made it back to Stanford." What is not on that summary is another amusing bit about a bridge operator who was a Stanford graduate raising it to prevent the flight of some Berkeley students, lovingly documented by Stanford's Axe Committee (sans the jibe about what a Stanford degree qualifies you to do).
The oldest building on campus. It also has the smallest bear statue on campus.
Can't find the bear? Well, neither could we.
There were more people in Berkeley attire here than Stanford attire in campus. Probably has something to do with the incommensurate bashing.
There was one guy teaching the same class for 40 years, from the late 60s on, on US history and the civil rights movement, and for his pains he was put on the FBI list for subversion.
Jimi Hendrix held one of his last concerts at Berkeley before commiting suicide. A poster advertising it was stuck on a pillar for many years, and when they tried to remove it, a miracle occured:
Despite their trying to scrape or bleach it off, his face remained. This is incontrovertible proof that Jimi Hendrix is God!
They used to have a squirrel fishing club - they tied food to a string and threw it out of the window.
Gate
Ludwig's fountain. From 1961-5 a dog named Ludwig used to play with students in here. When his owner moved away the students petitioned the administration to rename the fountain.
We then went to International House (established to promote cross-cultural understanding and interaction - for example one Iraqi, while there, met an Iranian for the first time), where besides having an atrocious brunch, we learned about the place. Right now it has 40-50 couples in there. This was advanced as a natural consequence of their mission, but I have a simpler explanation: put young people of both genders in close proximity in an enclosed space for extended periods of time and something is sure to happen (see: NUS halls). Interestingly, Galbraith stayed there too.
We then went to see the Tree People. They had been living in trees outside the Berkeley Stadium since December 2006 because the university administration wanted to cut them down. By law, they can't cut down mature oak trees, but then most of those trees were planted by students in the 20s.
There was a police raid during winter break when the students (the tree people weren't students) weren't around, and they expected a raid during finals too when they'd be busy studying. They're vulnerable only if they come down from the trees, since while in there no one touches them due to safety concerns.
Sidewalk support
'Home is where the trees live'
Redwood - bottom view
We then talked to some hippies, who talked about love and how America was evil. They are typically parodied as having an light, airy, dreamy voice, but the one on the left really had one.
We should've asked if they had any pot.
The next item on our program was "'Field research' at various ethnic neighbourhoods in San Francisco: Chinatown, Mission District, The Tenderloin, Oakland" but Jaime offered to lead us to a good view of the bay, so we decided to hike.
Co-op - student housing. It's student managed, and they decide the rules.
Tibetan themed house
Hiking
It was pretty steep, and I had to grab on to rocks, tree branches and tree roots to make my way up.
View from an interim point
Resting
Path up
Flat ground for once
This hawk was, I swear, hovering in the same spot for at least 10 seconds.
Intrepid vanguard
Finally near the top
First it was my sandals and now it was my shoes - I just had no luck with footwear, my a part of my sole came out.
Start of the descent
View on the way down
How to shit in the woods
We heard the wind whistling through the trees, sounding like a stream
Me blowing a Dandelion. Finally I've a video of dandelion blowing!
Real stream
Bear in the baseball field
Selling badges
He comes straight out of a movie on the 60s
Detail of a mural dedicated to the Civil Rights movement etc, illustrating the police car event mentioned above.
People's Park. The girl with the shaven head from earlier was here, and she said she had water from the Ganges river which, when sprayed on us, would take away our bad karma so we could be rebornd (more likely we'd get sick from the dead bodies floating in there). Some of us got our heads sprayed.
One barefoot guy came up to us with a big bag of slightly stale bread and offered us some. Aww.
Looking for glue, I went to a dollar store where there were bottles of herbs (eg 32g of Oregano) for $1! It also sold a vibrating toothbrush. Uhh.
There was a shop selling a bust of Nefertiti (modelled after THE bust), but she had both eyes in there. Gah.
This van ("'71 shirt [?]") comes straight out of a movie on the 60s. I smelled pot inside, hurr hurr.
Quotes:
*Phone rings* Huh? [Me: Pick it up. You'll die in 7 days.] Fuck you. *Picks up* Hello? *Puts down phone due to lack of reply* [Student 2: You'll die in 7 days] Fuck you... *Phone rings again* [Student 3: Now you'll die in 6 days.]