Two weeks ago, I bought a bike. I was committed to buying a used bike—seeing the carcasses of cheap, mass-produced bikes around Oxford scared me off of new ones—but was also wary of purchasing something from Craiglist and feeding into Berkeley’s rampant bike theft. I lucked out, though, and found a store that refurbishes old… Continue reading Bike Co-Op Blues
It is fall and I am back on an American university campus, which can mean only one thing: I am surrounded by undergraduates. It’s most obvious at 9:55 a.m., as I look out the window of my office to see hordes of dazed-looking late-teenagers staggering to class, clutching textbooks and coffee cups. The lampposts on… Continue reading The Strange Species
Here’s a quick primer on how the University of California (and California State University) is completely fucked. This year’s state budget is cutting $650 million from a system already emaciated from a 20% cut last year, with a bonus $200 million in cuts if revenues come short of projections. Tuition has risen 67% for residents… Continue reading UAW Local 2865
Alex V. Barnard - Sociology 