Beast Blog

Local Berkeley author Madeleine Kahn's new book published

Local Berkeley author (and dear friend) Madeleine Kahn's new book, Why Are We Reading Ovid's Handbook on Rape? Teaching and Learning at a Women's College, is finally out in paperback. You can buy it at Amazon, directly from the publisher, or from Berkeley's own Cody's Books. I've created a web site for Madeleine Kahn (the author), where you can read reviews of the book, see where her book tour will take her next, or peek at some of the essays she has been working on since she wrote Why Are We Reading Ovid's Handbook on Rape? Teaching and Learning at a Women's College.

Susan Ito, a former student of Madeleine's, put on a great book party as part of her Shepherd's Canyon Writers series to celebrate the paperback publication. I was there, and managed to get a few pictures of Madeleine Kahn giving her book talk. There are more pictures available to family members at TheBishop.Net photogallery.

Congratulations Madeleine!

Cross posted from The Berkeley Blog

Chocolate tasting and culture at UC Berkeley

Sunday, October 9, at 1pm sees "The Culture of Chocolate: Tracing the Mystique and Worldwide Journey of Cacao", and event put on at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology.

Berkeley J-School Events - Including one TODAY

Sorry for the late notice.

Today the J-School presents Charles Mann talking about his latest book "1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus."

6pm-8pm, September 21.

If this isn't enough notice (and I only just found out about it), well, I suggest subscribing to their RSS feed or getting on their mailing list.

Great East Bay Book Stores!

bookstores are wonderful places, and independent book stores are even more so! the east bay has plenty of great indie bookstores.

my four fave books stores in the East Bay are:

1. A Great Good Place For Books, 6120 La Salle Avenue, Montclair District.

when i first walked in, i was greeted by the owner. she was one of those people that was helpful without being pushy. she asked about my lit preferences, and was able to recommend some great titles that i hadn't read based on who i liked. she is also one of the people working on "West Coast Live" (a public radio program), so she gets great authors coming through the area to read there.

2. Pegasus/Pendragon Books:
(3 East Bay Locations)-
2349 Shattuck Avenue, (Berkeley, Downtown)
5560 College Avenue, (Oakland, Rockridge)
1855 Solano Avenue, (Albany, Solano Stroll)

i love this independent mini-chain for several reasons: knowledgable staff, excellent recommendations, cheap book tables (great gift store!), and their annial calendar sale. (wait til Jan 1st to get the new year's calendar & you'll save save save! it's an east bay tradition to shop for calendars on Jan 1st here!)

3.
5433 College Avenue, Oakland (Rockridge)

Berkeley Cybersalon - Citizen Journalism - June 19

From the official announcement:

BERKELEY CYBERSALON
6-8 p.m., Sunday, June 19, 2005
Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley
“Got News? Citizen Journalism with Dan
Gillmor, Becky O’Malley, and Peter Merholz (and Craig Newmark in the
Wings)”

Technology is making it easier for grassroots journalism to
take root. Craig Newmark, the father of online community classifieds,
recently planted the seeds of this new movement, and Dan Gillmor gave
up his tech column at the San Jose Mercury to start his own
interactive-journalism venture, www.Bayosphere.com. In print, publisher/editor Becky
O’Malley speaks to the spirit of the local community with The
Berkeley Daily Planet. And the father of “blog,” Peter Merholz
founded the Beast Blog [Ed--you're here!], a group blog
that covers everything of note in the East Bay. With organic
publications like these, who needs the artificially flavored New York
Times?

Come discuss the future of journalism with us. We’re joining
with Kevin Werbach, host of Supernova, an emerging technology event
starting June 2 in S.F., for a traditional pre-Supernova dinner at 6
p.m., followed by the panel discussion at 7 p.m.

Werbach is offering Cybersalonistas a $300 discount for the two-day conference; or $500
off on the full three-day conference – just mention Berkeley
Cybersalon when/if you register at www.supernova2005.com.

Dinner is $20, and if you plan to come, RSVP to whoisylvia AT aol.com so we
can order food (Vietnamese, with lots of vegetarian alternatives for
those grassroots types) and drinks.

We know it’s Father’s Day, so bring your dad(s).

This is an event for everyone interested in the
future of journalism.

Directions:
Via gas-guzzling vehicle:
From Oakland or the Bay Bridge, take Hwy 80 and exit at University, make a
quick RIGHT under the freeway and onto the frontage road, and turn RIGHT at the 4RENT sign onto Cedar St.
Continue straight two miles past Shattuck and park.
From the Richmond
Bridge, take Hwy 80 and exit LEFT at Gilman, turn RIGHT on San Pablo
for a few blocks, and LEFT on Cedar St. 1.5 miles past Shattuck, and
park.

Via “natural” mode, i.e, foot/bicycle/Segway:
From downtown Berkeley BART, go north on Shattuck, and east on Cedar St. This is an easy and
safe 15-minute walk.

Posted by peterme at 08:18 AM | Comments (2)

New Media Journalism at UC Berkeley - May 23-27

Cal's J-School is hosting a series of presentations on journalism and the web, from May 23-27. All free and open to the public.

Looks good!

MONDAY, MAY 23

12:30 - 1:15 p.m.
"How to Exploit Attributes of the Web"
Ken Sands, Spokane Spokesman-Review

7:30 - 8:30 p.m.
"The Changing Rules of Journalism: The Role of Editors and Reporters in the Future"
Bob Cauthorn, City Tools

TUESDAY, MAY 24

12:30 - 1:15 p.m.
"Doing a Multimedia Story"
Regina McCombs, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

7:30 - 8:30 p.m.
"Digital Storytelling: New Media's New Storytellers"
Amy Hill, Center for Digital Storytelling

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25

1:00 - 1:45 p.m.
"Grassroots Media"
Dan Gillmor, Grassroots Media Inc.

7:30 - 8:30 p.m.
“VR Photography and Journalism”
G. Donald Bain, UC Berkeley Geography Computing Facility, and Landis Bennett, World Wide Panorama

THURSDAY, MAY 26

12:45 - 1:30 p.m.
"The Northwest Voice: A Citizen Journalism Case Study"
Mary Lou Fulton, Bakersfield Californian

7:30 - 8:30 p.m.
"Wikinews: Online News Community"
Amgine (Wayne Saewyc), Wikinews

FRIDAY, MAY 27

4:15 - 6:00 p.m.
"Let's Quit Building Crappy Newspaper Sites"
Rob Curley, Lawrence Journal-World

Urban Legends: The City in Maps

Oaklanding is hosting an exhibit on maps, their meanings, and urban spaces called "Urban Legends: The City in Maps.". It's open tonight through August 21. On August 12th, there will be a panel discussion on the subject. I'll be there.

Digitalia at UC Berkeley

The J-School at Cal is putting on a series of panels dealing with technology, society, and the human experience.

Living With The Genie:
On Technology and the Quest for Human Mastery
Thursday, April 29, 7 pm
With Howard Rheingold, Denise Caruso, Ray Kurzweil, Richard Rhodes, Mark Schapiro and Christina Desser

Revisiting Virtual Communities:
The Internet’s Impact on Society and Politics
Friday, April 30, 9 am
With Craig Newmark, Susan Mernit, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga and Mark Pincus

Disrupting the News Industry:
Media Concentration and Participatory Journalism
Friday, April 30, 10:30 am
With Dan Gillmor, Vin Crosbie, Neil Chase, Ken Sands and Bob Magnuson