Berzerkly Episode
In an attempt to read the case study for marketing, I marched down to Starbucks on Shattuck, where most bizarre Berkeley encounters I've had generally take place. About five pages into my reading, truly intrigued by the game of golf (which is what the case study was about), a disabled person came to share a table with me.
About six pages into the case, sipping my grande nonfat caramel machiato, the person asked, "are you student at Berkeley?" and I promptly replied, "yes, I am." She said, "well, it's a hard school isn't it?" a quick flashback of all those toiling nights of linear algebra, multiple regression, and Nash equilibrium, compelled me to reply, "yeah, it's pretty hard" and thus began yet another interesting conversation of a life time (no sarcasm intended I promise).
It turns out this disabled woman teaches history at an Oakland museum, and coaches little league basketball team at one of the elementary schools around the Bay. She studied at Berkeley back in the '70s for two years but never completed her degree. She attempted suicide at age 19 by jumping off of a four-story building, which led to her disability, and obviously she didn't succeed in killing herself. She's (or perhaps was) Catholic Irish, who had actually traveled to Ireland, and also a proud member of the gay community. She hasn't been in a relationship for four years, and her previous girl friend was Jewish. She has been seeing a therapist since age 16 and even her therapist today is gay. Her favorite pop idol is Madonna, and at the same time she seems to be well-versed in women's liberation movement. She even urged me to read The World Split Open by Ruth Rosen, which I just might check out some time soon.
How on earth can I possibly know so much about a person in a span of 1200 seconds you asked? Well, people generally enjoy talking about themselves (I mean this in the most positive way), and I generally enjoy listening and not talk about myself, which make the perfect combination of exploring the diversity of Berkeley. Yes, she did tell me her name as well, but I'm not gonna tell ya.
And here I thought my day was just about reading a sport predominantly played by rich white men.
About six pages into the case, sipping my grande nonfat caramel machiato, the person asked, "are you student at Berkeley?" and I promptly replied, "yes, I am." She said, "well, it's a hard school isn't it?" a quick flashback of all those toiling nights of linear algebra, multiple regression, and Nash equilibrium, compelled me to reply, "yeah, it's pretty hard" and thus began yet another interesting conversation of a life time (no sarcasm intended I promise).
It turns out this disabled woman teaches history at an Oakland museum, and coaches little league basketball team at one of the elementary schools around the Bay. She studied at Berkeley back in the '70s for two years but never completed her degree. She attempted suicide at age 19 by jumping off of a four-story building, which led to her disability, and obviously she didn't succeed in killing herself. She's (or perhaps was) Catholic Irish, who had actually traveled to Ireland, and also a proud member of the gay community. She hasn't been in a relationship for four years, and her previous girl friend was Jewish. She has been seeing a therapist since age 16 and even her therapist today is gay. Her favorite pop idol is Madonna, and at the same time she seems to be well-versed in women's liberation movement. She even urged me to read The World Split Open by Ruth Rosen, which I just might check out some time soon.
How on earth can I possibly know so much about a person in a span of 1200 seconds you asked? Well, people generally enjoy talking about themselves (I mean this in the most positive way), and I generally enjoy listening and not talk about myself, which make the perfect combination of exploring the diversity of Berkeley. Yes, she did tell me her name as well, but I'm not gonna tell ya.
And here I thought my day was just about reading a sport predominantly played by rich white men.
Labels: Berkeley
posted by 凱西 at 4:24 PM
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