SoCal Minds

Premier collection of state, westen water info moves south

From UCR & Pepperdine

It's roughly 200,000 technical reports, 1,500 specialized newsletters, 5,000 maps and videos, 2,200 serials, 25,000 land photographs and 4,500 aerial photographs of coastlines, totaling more than 7,000 linear feet. These materials make up the Water Resources Center Archive, what experts call one of the premier collections of information and archives about water development in the Golden State and the West. This prized research and scholarly trove will be moving south from Berkeley to Riverside, where it will be shared by the UC there and CSU San Bernardino. The archive was set up by the legislature in 1958 and provides an invaluable resource to water agencies, governments, environmentalists, engineers, attorneys, historians and researchers. Its new SoCal home will put it nearer to the Water Science and Policy Center and the Water Resources Institute, which also houses the significant Joseph Andrew Rowe Water Resources Archive. Besides the big news about the move of the water information, the folks in Riverside earlier also had learned that they have received a grant from Google to assist with an effort to improve the information describing books published before 1801 and included in the Google Books digitized archive. Over in Malibu, meantime, scholars there now will have online access to the new, Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace, which, in print covers 2,848 pages and offers 850 A-Z entries by leading scholars on a range of topics related to peace studies.

UC-CSU cooperation brings acclaimed Water Resources Center Archives to Riverside

Google gives grant to upgrade info on digitized books published before 1801

In Malibu, online access for Waves to Oxford encyclopieda on peace

A slice of an LA weekend: from Hapas to Lemony Snicket

From the Japanese American National Museum, LACMA, Pepperdine, the Skirball & UCLA

Never a shortage of smart stuff to take in, in what promises to be a seasonably sunny Southern California weekend: In Little Tokyo, it will be a free Saturday, for example, as two hip and happening folks headline a day highlighting the experiences of Hapa or mixed race Americans; the session with scholar-artist Kip Fulbeck and educator Dr. Maya Soetero-Ng (President Obama's sis) is on a wait-list basis. For those concerned about families, religion and faith, there's a big conference going on in Malibu, though a call will be required to see if the now full sessions can accommodate. Meantime, get those feet and the mind moving with all the day-long events as museums on the Miracle Mile join in for their annual Artwalk, which this year will include World Cup soccer-related activities; there are some fees for the events at the county museum, where there will be displays of art (of course!), music, performance, workshops, activities, food, and more. The participating institutions include LACMA, Peterson Automotive, Page, Craft and Folk. If the feet still gotta move, there is, of course, a weekend festival of avant-garde dance films by Pina Bausch and others, in Westwood by Dance Camera West. And for parents and kids who are fans of Lemony Snicket, author Daniel Handler and his illustrator and wife, Lisa Brown, will be over on the Westside on Sunday for a chat and reading.  

A spotlight on campus comedy, vocalism, avant-garde art

From Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine & Pomona

Pack together a bunch of lively, smart, talented young people for the purpose of learning and who knows how entertaining it all can turn out to be?

• Who, for example, would have figured that Westchester can be a barrel of laughs? There's something hilarious about the Lions because a team of them have gotten to the finals of a televised, internet-based national comedy competition. They'll battle against students from Emerson College, the University of Florida and Xavier University after besting competitors from USC, USF and UC Berkeley.

• Meantime, in shades of the popular television show 'Glee,' singers and pianists from across the country are flocking to Malibu to participate in a month-long program, 'Breaking the Song Barrier,' which is what organizers have dubbed this year's version of the annual 'Song Fest' vocal training program. Participants will put on a number of concerts, and, yes, it's a mostly classical not a pop-oriented gig.

• Finally, the folks in Claremont have posted a magazine piece previewing a fall exhibit that tries to track back on what went down so It Happened at Pomona in the 1960s and '70s when a sleepy suburban campus suddenly became a cauldron of creativity for then young conceptual, light and space and performance artists. They went on to be now recognized art stars, including James Turrell, Peter Shelton, Chris Burden, Michael Asher, Judy Chicago, Ed Moses, Allen Ruppersberg, William Wegman and Wolfgang Stoerchle. A Getty grant underwrites the exploration how this scene flourished and vanished. It has something to do with an artist taking clothes off in a display too risque for the conservative community of the day.   

Take note: a cappella program, Catholic studies

From Pepperdine & Loyola Marymount

A couple of high notes to sound off about: Over in Malibu, they'll be celebrating the power of sacred music sung by the unaccompanied voice as the school hosts the a cappella symposium, the Ascending Voice II . The performers in the Wednesday through Friday program include the Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem Alumni Ensemble, and Chanticleer, a Grammy Award-winning male a cappella ensemble. Meantime, in what might be a surprise on its face at a Jesuit scholarly institution, the folks in Westchester are touting the first graduate of a new program of theirs. The philosophy major is, they say, the first to complete their Catholic studies minor.

Christians gather for Bible lectures, exhibition

From Pepperdine & Azusa Pacific

In Southern California, where the abundant sunshine leads to a lot of skin showing and some legendary naughty behaviors, it's easy to forget the depth and breadth of religious conviction. But the area has some big things under way for Christians and those fascinated by the religion's holy works. In Malibu, faithful from 44 U.S. states and 22 nations will gather starting today for 282 classes as part of the three days of the school's 67th annual 'Bible Lectures,' sessions focused this year on a revisiting of the 'Book of Acts.' Running alongside of the lectures will be a display of rare Bibles, including a volume of the 'Saint John's Bible,' a first edition of the Geneva Bible from 1560, the first Bible printed in a European language in America from 1743, and leaves from medieval manuscript Bibles. There's a big build-up under way, of course, down over in Azusa Orange County for another scheduled exhibition of rare Bibles and fragments of the much written and argued about Dead Sea Scrolls. While we're at it, let's also mention the interesting scholarship back at Malibu that reminds just how widespread Christianity has become as a global religion.

In Malibu, faithful gather for 67th annual Bible Lectures

Exhibit spotlights collection of rare Bibles

Global Christianity seen as 'borderless' religion

Buildup under way for big exhibition of rare Christian artifacts

In Azusa Orange County, a showing of rare Bibles, Dead Sea Scrolls

On campus, attention to plight of foster kids

From USC, Pepperdine & Fullerton

The grim statistics about their fates after they leave state custody and the grisly headlines about their tragic, sometimes abusive and even fatal treatment while in it give huge pause to anyone who considers what happens to the estimated half-million or more youngsters in foster care almost anyplace in the nation. So it's good to see that: the Trojans will bring together at 6 tonight a panel of experts to ponder why kids get placed in foster care; the folks in Malibu have spotlighted Aaryn Pratt (shown at right), a master's degree holding alum, herself once a child struggling out of foster care, who won a $50,000 grant for her employer, the retailer Gap Inc., to boost the work of court appointed special advocates for foster kids with special e-training; and, finally, that in Fullerton, university President Milton A. Gordon (shown above) has been honored for his advocacy on behalf of foster kids, particularly in pressing for his commitment to the schools unique program to assist such youngsters in earning college degrees.

Time for thinking and talking about Obama, God

From Oxy & Pepperdine

If the environmental fervor associated with Earth Day just doesn't grip and grab so tightly that all other intellectual endeavors for the day get squeezed out, well, there are other passtimes of the mind planned for this evening. In Eagle Rock, the folks at his alma mater will discuss and dissect one of the school's best-known and notable alums, a onetime multiracial student then-named Barry. The always smart, lively and entertaining Patt Morrison (shown at right) of the LA Times and KPCC will be part of a panel with faculty and pundits from the NY Times and Huffington Post in a free, first-come program at 7 tonight on 'Deconstructing Obama.' In Malibu, the founding director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights at Claremont McKenna College at 4 this afternoon will take off on a thought-provoking topic titled, 'Is God Dead?' That session is free and open to the public but space is limited.

In Eagle Rock, alma mater examines a top alum's leadership, reaction to it

In Malibu, a provocative topic for Claremont McKenna scholar

In business plan contest, he plays socket to 'em

From Pepperdine

Back to the future? With a group of impressive e-commerce executives empaneled as judges, what ended up as the top pick in the business and law schools' annual competition considering students' prospective business plans? No, this is not a Ronco spot, nor one of those annoying 'Buy!Buy! Buy!' television informercials. Still, the top pick and $15,000 was awarded to a proposal by a young entrepreneur to pitch his pop's proven, innovative socket wrenches. The new design, it is said, lets handy types toss out the 19 different socket sizes now marketed, in favor of a single adjustable model that is durable enough to plunk on an industrial drill and adapts to extract even those major nuisance worn or rusty bolts. The pitch from MBA student Tim Kim (shown at right), of Northridge, outpaced others, including proposals for a net-based way to track environmentally conscious home remodels and ideas on e-book rentals and water purification to aid the world's poor.

$15,000 award for wrenching pitch that beats out 'net notions

*For legal-minded, developments all around town

From Pepperdine, UCLA & Southwestern Law

Let's play catch up with some legal items of interest occuring around town:

In Malibu, dozens of really smart, accomplished young legal minds are gathered from across the country for a session that aims to help them in a critical step in their law careers -- their impending work as law clerks to federal judges. This will be the 10th time that the law school has assembled distinguished scholars, judges and legal practitioners to get the law clerks, 80 of them in this go round, up to speed in their crucial duties, which include drafting opinions and handling other big responsibilities for their judicial bosses. The divergent speakers will include the liberal dean of the UCI law school, Erwin Chemerinsky, and the conservative dean of the Waves' law school, Ken Starr.

*Full disclosure: I'm a consultant at Southwestern, writing and editing there

A push to get next class of federal law clerks up to speed, ready for duty

In Westwood, even as she and her team embark on federally funded research to fix flaws in the forensics so commonly employed in U.S. courts, a Bruin legal scholar gets lots of attention from the scientific community as to the evidentiary errors and challenges of fingerprints and their 'expert' analysis. Both 'Nature' and the 'New Scientist' weigh in with reports on the topic.

Expert attention to Bruin scrutiny of scientific reliability of forensics like fingerprint analysis

'Nature's' take on 'science in the court'

What 'New Scientist' says on 'fingerprint evidence to harden up at last'

In downtown, the folks at Southwestern are pressing on with the special attention they pay to immigration, entertainment and children's law with some intriguing steps in each area. The school has announced it will partner with the big downtown firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson for a hybrid academic-practical approach to appeals of immigration cases. It's offering new, two-year fellowships to up-and-comers interested in teaching and litigating in immigration and children's law. And, of course, for just the right legal figure, there's a pretty prime posting up for director of the school's Donald E. Biederman Entertainment and Law Institute. 

Who wants to head entertainment, law institute?

Partnership with big downtown firm on immigration appeals

New, two-year clinical fellowships in immigration, children's law

On Latinas, Asian immigrants, Obama election...

From Pepperdine, Claremont McKenna College & USC

With the winds gusting with almost Santa Ana velocities, maybe it's time to duck indoors and catch a busy, informative day of free, public talks and discussions:

• In Malibu at noon, a California Lutheran professor and Trojan Ph. D. will delve into the peculiar, low-calcium diet favored by Latinos and other issues that leave Latinas, in particular, at apparent high risk of osteoporosis. That's the brittle bone disease that afflicts as many as one in three Latinas older than 50 and helps explain why hip fractures in Latinos older than 50 have doubled in California in the last 25 years, says the prof, who is researching the issue in Ventura County. He's also investigating changes in bone and muscle among the elderly, in general, as well as bone differences by ethnicity.

Why do Latinas need to be aware of diet, brittle bone disease?

• In Claremont at 4:15 this afternoon, the chair of the religious studies department will explore what role faith and religion may have played in the 2008 presidential elections, and, in particular, the ascendance and victory of Barack Hussein Obama. How did a liberal Protestant with a Muslim heritage so sway Catholics, evangelicals, Jews, women and people of color to his cause and what does that triumph portend for future campaigns, especially the role of religions and the religious in them?

Exploring role of religion, religious in 2008 presidential campaign 

• In Exposition Park at noon, a panel of experts and activists will dissect and discuss the burgeoning presence and importance of Asian immigrants in the Southland workforce, asking how this population fits into historic patterns, what special needs and challenges it might have, why it fails to attract the public and media attention paid, say, to its Latino counterpart, and, of course, whether it might be organized and how by ever-present and traditionally powerful Los Angeles labor unions.

What's ahead for growing number of Asian immigrants in LA workforce?