College of Natural Resources graduation
The Berkeley Graduate extends hearty congratulations to all of the 2010 graduates. And to those who will be here a little while longer, we wish you a summer that is either productive or restful or both.
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May 2010.
It may be finals week, but there’s still plenty happening on campus that you won’t want to miss.
First, the Grad Assembly (GA) is looking to hire two graduate students for the 2010-2011 school year to serve as the project coordinators for the Women of Color Initiative (WOCI) project and the Graduate Minority Outreach, Recruitment, and Retention (GMORR) project. WOCI focuses its programming on creating a safe and open space for women of color on campus through brown bag speakers and the Empowering Women of Color Conference, and also collaborates with the Graduate Women’s Project. GMORR focuses on bridging the gap between undergraduate and graduate students in order to promote higher education, career planning, and mentoring. For complete job descriptions and stipend amounts email projects@ga.berkeley.edu or theberkeleygraduate@ga.berkeley.edu. But act fast, since applications are due Wednesday, May 12 at noon.
Second, celebrate the successful completion of another semester with an ice cream social. Three of the GA projects will be serving free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream sundaes Wednesday, May 12, from 3:00-4:30 on the patio at Anthony Hall. It’s first come, first served, so come close to 3 to ensure you get your sugar fix.
And finally, the Career Center is giving a presentation on how to find and think about postdocs strategically. This talk, which is appropriate for graduate students in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, and engineering, will be held Thursday, May 13, from 5:00-6:15 in 100 Wheeler.
This season’s new veggies will put a spring in anyone’s step (asparagus! fava beans! peas!), but amidst the market’s sea of green, fresh-picked fruit is hard to find. Autumn’s apples and winter citrus still show up at Bay Area farmer’s markets, as well as sun-dried reminders of summer’s peaches and plums, but fructose fiends have long been ready for a change. Not a moment too soon, strawberry season has arrived.
Karen Lucero, of Lucero Organic Farms in Lodi, started bringing her Seascape strawberries back to Berkeley Farmer’s Markets in April. (They’re also available at San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza Market, and Sundays at Temescal.) As Karen’s sometime market helper, I hold out samples by their stems to offer passers-by. Not many refuse a bite of bright ripe berry, but the cognoscenti sometimes will demur: “Oh, save the sample; I know they’re good!”
My opinion’s not unbiased, but Karen’s berries are a well-established market favorite, the preferred shortcake-toppers of Berkeley shoppers and the pastry chefs at Chez Panisse (strawberry soup? ok!). Lucero is a family-run, all-organic farm, which, since strawberries are among the “dirty dozen,” is worth keeping in mind. Most conventional strawberries are high-yield hybrids that owe their bright color and hefty size to heavy doses of fertilizer, water, and pesticide – this often makes them tasteless, too. Lucero’s Seascapes may not produce as much, but Karen and her husband, Ben, prize them for their flavor. The Luceros also minimize watering, which, ecological benefits aside, stresses the plants just enough, Karen says, to concentrate their nutrients and flavor. As a bonus, their distinctive long stems make for easy dipping in chocolate sauce (or a lucky mouth).
So take a break from your seminar papers, walk to the market, and stock up on some strawberries (and look out for cherries, which should show up soon). Not that the fruits of intellectual labor aren’t satisfying, but sometimes they’re not; and a basket of berries will always hit the spot.