Annalog

I’ve taken an unfortunate hiatus from blogging as school is getting ramped up again. In celebration of being back online I’m passing along this hilarious video I found made by a man infected with TB who was quarantined for 55 days. Check it out.

Christmas is a little more solemn this year. Decorations were sparse around Berkeley leading up to the holiday season. And after a year as depressing as 2009 it’s not hard to understand why. No Christmas trees, excessive gift giving or wasteful spending this holiday season. Maybe I’m just one year older and a bit more jaded—I’ve been told your twenties will do that to you—but December just isn’t as festive this year. (more…)

It’s the end of Dead Week on campus. Supposedly we’ve all been studying for the last week, but I’d bet my hat people were catching up on some much-needed Zs instead. I woke up early this morning and headed out on an assignment for the paper. Chancellor Birgeneau’s house was attacked Friday night. Check out the article in the Daily Cal (along with some photos by me). It wasn’t exactly the perfect Saturday—dark, cloudy and a little too rainy—but duty calls.

I have never stopped to looked at South Hall on the UC Berkeley campus in the late afternoon light. The spectacularly blue skies and golden light of an autumn California day is arresting—and makes you stop and look at the corners of buildings. Campus tour guides hint to perspective Cal students that the red brick building—one of the first campus halls—was modeled after Mary Poppins’ patrons’ home. Not so. Doesn’t ruin the building’s magic, especially at golden hour.

Does it matter that his eyes are closed? Sadly, I think it does. It’s a shame because the water looks other worldly, almost demonic. (That arm in his face is getting a bit annoying too.) C’est la vie. Another shot. Another time.

I shot a women’s soccer game a few weeks ago — Cal versus UCLA. This was one of UCLA’s attempts on goal. In the end, they won out.

Saturday morning comes, and it’s time for water polo at UC Berkeley’s Spieker Pool once again. Beautiful sunlight. A delightful bit of warmth. And troubled waters. Water polo is great to photograph for two reasons: the drama and the inevitable beautiful photographs. Drops of water are frozen, suspended in the air.

Summer came and quickly left again — short, sweet and reserved for memories. From the look of the brown-leaved trees throughout the Bay Area, it’s hard to tell fall has come. Leaves don’t turn brilliant colors out here on the West Coast. The rainbow of reds, oranges and yellows are mere memories of fall road trips through New England now. I took a walk through Berkeley one night and came across dead twigs and crunchy leaves here and there. The only sign that fall had come — small reminders of summer.

When the Treasure Island Music Festival ended Saturday night, hoards of people streamed out of the gates and toward buses to shuttle them off to San Francisco. After a day of euro pop and dance music, concert-goers were still hyped up and ready to get down, but night slowly overtook the island and the other-worldly glow of concert lights soon faded.

When the World Trade Centers were attacked on September 11, 2001, I was too young to really comprehend the gravity of what had happened. I grew up in the aftermath of the attacks, matured in an era supposedly marked by healing. During Jon Stewart’s first show after September 11, The Daily Show host remembered the day Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. I wondered: What will I remember of September 11th, 2001 in 40 years? Watch Jon Stewart’s response to the attacks.