After seeing Handspring Puppet Company — the creators of the puppets in Broadway's " War Horse" — at UC Berkeley in 2015, Glynn Bartlett knew he wanted to work with them. So he packed his bags and traveled to South Africa, where he built puppets for an annual parade and play performed on the Day of Reconciliation. Bartlett, a scenic artist for the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, says the experience reminded him just how powerful puppets can be in bringing people together.

Read the story on UC Berkeley News: https://news.berkeley.edu/2018/07/25/podcast-the-power-of-puppets/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Derek Coates was 10, he found out he had a degenerative eye disease and was going to gradually lose his eyesight. Over the next 30 years, his visual world shrunk until he became completely blind at 41. Now, as a disability compliance officer at UC Berkeley, it’s his job to make sure students with disabilities are getting the accommodations they need to be academically successful.

Read the transcript, see photos and find more disability resources on UC Berkeley News: http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/07/17/podcast-derek-coates-disability-on-campus/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The peregrine falcons that first made a home on UC Berkeley's Campanile last year get a lot of attention every spring when their babies hatch. But it's also amazing to watch the adults in action. At speeds of more than 200 miles per hour, peregrines are the fastest animal in the world — three times faster than a cheetah. Mary Malec, a volunteer raptor nest monitor for the East Bay Regional Park District, describes a time when the mama peregrine chased a pigeon through unknowing crowds on campus.

See photos and read the transcript on UC Berkeley News: http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/07/10/podcast-campanile-peregrines-here-to-stay/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Noah Whiteman, an associate professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, has always known how to survive. He moved to Sax-Zim, a rural area in Minnesota, when he was 11 and spent the next seven years learning to fish and hunt with his naturalist dad and hiding that he was gay. When a boy he'd been friends with started to bully him at every chance he got, Noah knew it was time to get out.

See photos and read a Q&A with Noah Whiteman on UC Berkeley News: https://news.berkeley.edu/2018/07/03/podcast-growing-up-gay-in-rural-minnesota

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Thalia Zepatos joined the Freedom to Marry campaign in 2010, she had a big job ahead of her: she had to craft a totally new message about same-sex marriage that would convince Americans that supporting the issue was the right thing to do. "It was looking for that statement that a lot of people could nod their heads to," said Zepatos. "It wasn’t about who was participating in the marriage, it was about what it really stands for. And we were trying to elevate that conversation."

Five years later on June 26, 2015, same-sex marriage was made legal in the U.S.

Martin Meeker, the director of the Bancroft Library's Oral History Center at UC Berkeley, interviewed Zepatos and nearly a dozen others about the Freedom to Marry campaign for the center's Freedom to Marry Oral History Project. Listen to Meeker talk about how a single message can help change a nation's opinion.

Read the story on UC Berkeley News: https://news.berkeley.edu/2018/06/26/podcast-freedom-to-marry/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Billy Curtis, the director of the Gender Equity Resource Center at UC Berkeley, has spent the past two decades working to build a more inclusive campus for the LGBTQ community. This year, he was named a grand marshal of the San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration, an honor given to people and organizations for their work and advocacy in helping strengthen LGBTQ communities in the Bay Area. “I see this as an opportunity for us as a university to highlight our past, present and continued support of the LGBTQ community,” he said. “We’re getting honored, but let’s recommit to serving the LGBTQ+ community and any emerging un-yet-named marginalized sexualities and genders.”

Read the story on UC Berkeley News: http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/06/14/podcast-geneq-leader-billy-curtis-grand-marshal-sf-pride/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inside of Joshua Ahazie’s mind live hundreds of songs. Since he was a kid, he would hear a melody and then he would hear all the parts — the vocals, how to play it on the piano. How it all went together. "I really thought I was going crazy." But he soon realized it was a gift. It's this gift of seeing how different pieces can go together to create a whole, he says, that has helped his succeed as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business — he's graduating Monday, May 14 at the Hearst Greek Theatre — and has given him the vision to launch his social enterprise, Atide.

See photos and read the story on UC Berkeley News: https://news.berkeley.edu/2018/05/10/grad-profile-joshua-ahazie-podcast/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.