Distinguished Alumni Series: Charlie Hallowell

On April 25, 2012 the English Department hosted the latest event in the “Conversations with Distinguished Alumni” series. The celebrated chef and restaurateur Charlie Hallowell (English ‘02) spoke with Professors Samuel Otter and Stephen Best about his Berkeley education, as well as the business and pleasure of food in Northern California.

Distinguished Alumni Series: Jeffrey Berg

On November 14, the English Department held this fall’s event in our “Conversations with Distinguished Alumni/ae” series. Jeffrey Berg (English ‘69), Chairman and CEO of International Creative Management, one of the world’s largest talent agencies, joined Professors Samuel Otter and Kevis Goodman in a lively conversation. Topics included: the trajectory of Mr. Berg’s career; the work of fostering and managing creativity; Berkeley in the late ’60s; and the importance both of the English major and of public education.

A Conversation with David Corvo '72

On Monday, November 9, the English department continued its series, “Conversations with Distinguished Alumni,” in a discussion with alumnus David Corvo ’72, who is currently the Executive Producer of the prime time news magazine Dateline NBC.  He was joined by Department Chair Sam Otter and Professor Namwali Serpell, who spoke with him about the the relationship between his study of English at Berkeley and his success as a broadcast journalist.

Professor Otter opened the event with a broad question about the general trajectory of Corvo’s career.  Corvo responded with  charm and humility to say that he has only ever held two jobs: a bus boy and a news guy.  He related that his father was in the TV business in the 1950s, so he grew up in the prop rooms and news offices of TV stations.  Because he was attracted by the level of camaraderie in the newsroom and especially the speed of new reporting, he began  his own career in the news business by joining his school paper.  When his family moved to California from the east coast to take advantage of the excellent and affordable system of higher education, he set his sights on Berkeley because of its top-ranked English Department..

Once at Berkeley, Corvo split his time between the study of literature in the English department and his work as a  writer and editor for The Daily Californian.  Al though he originally planned to go to graduate school and become an English professor, he said that working on the newspaper dovetailed with the era’s emphasis on social engagement.  He saw the potential social benefits of his journalistm and ultimately decided to pursue that track.  Professor Otter asked Corvo specifically how his training as an English major played into his journalism.  Corvo responded that the challenges of literary study helped him to develop the ability to think and write critically, skills which he considers to be the bedrock of his profession.  For him, “writing is breathing,” and he noted that his study of poetry was particularly valuable in his development as both a journalist and an engaged citizen.  The concise nature and precision of poetry – particularly in the work of Berkeley poet Gary Snyder, whose line “Lay down these words / Before your mind like rocks” Corvo quoted to underscore his point – showed him the often overlooked importance of flow, musicality and rhythm for effective writing.

The discussion moved from here to a consideration of the way in which Corvo’s education as an English major at Berkeley has been particularly relevant to his most recent job running Dateline NBC.  Since Dateline produces longer news stories that often last for the show’s whole hour, Corvo described the way in which his knowledge of the structural conventions of narrative fiction have helped him construct effective news presentation.  Corvo’s intimate knowledge of the way a conventional plot uses conflict, build up, climax and resolution have allowed him to create compelling news stories that keep his viewers engaged over a longer period of time.  Furthermore, the kind of investigative reporting that go into  Dateline stories  found its seeds in the emphasis on research and argument that  Corvo developed as a student at Berkeley.

More than this, however, Corvo emphasized the way in which Berkeley’s egalitarianism  has helped him to connect with sectors of his audience whose views and experiences are considerably different from his own.  The fact that Berkeley can provide an elite education to as great a number of students as it does is, in Corvo’s opinion, its greatest strength.  He called the current budget fiasco in California an unequivocal “catastrophe” for its deleterious effect on the system of higher education, which drew him and his family to the west coast in the first place.  To him, it seems that “we’re in this on our own,” and he ended with a call to alums to remember what it is that makes Berkeley such a unique and special place.  It rests, he suggested, on the shoulders of people like him to give back to the university in a way that will sustain the wide-access to excellence that is the hallmark of the University.

A full video of the event can be found here.

Conversations with Distinguished Alumna Young Jean Lee, Wed April 1, 5 PM

Young Jean Lee, Photo by Gene Pittman courtesy Walker Art Center

On April 1, the English Department will be having its second event in its new series, “Conversations with Distinguished Alumni/ae.” Professors Catherine Gallagher and Scott Saul will be talking with playwright Young Jean Lee, who received her BA, with highest honors, in 1996. Young Jean went on to spend six more years as a PhD student in the Department where she focused on Renaissance literature under the mentorship of Professor Stephen Booth, whose own acerbic wit and willingness to shock his own audiences into thought finds their echos in Young Jean’s work. After what she calls a “quarter-life crisis” in 2002, she decided to abandon academia to try her hand at writing, rather than studying, plays. She moved to New York, started her own theater company and, since then, has shocked, challenged and entertained audiences with plays that treat touchy contemporary issues like race and religion with unremitting self-awareness and unexpected humor.

Indeed, Young Jean even describes the philosophy behind her writing process with her tongue somewhat—or somewhere—in her cheek: “When starting a play, I ask myself, ‘What’s the last play in the world I would ever want to write?’ Then I force myself to write it.” Not only does this allow her to silence her inner critic so she can get something down on paper, but it has also led her to tackle issues that she might otherwise shy away from. This was particularly the case in her 2007 play Church, which consists of an evangelical Christian service (complete with sermon, praise dancing and a gospel choir) that sincerely attempts to convert people to Christianity. Having grown up resisting the religion her extremely evangelical Korean family pressed on her, Young Jean confessed that the play was “a nightmare and a challenge for me.” Church received rave reviews from audiences, however: Time Out New York went so far as to say that they “would happily worship in the house of Young Jean Lee.”

Young Jean tackled another delicate subject – Asian-American racial identity politics – with characteristic humor in Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven: A Show About White People in Love. The play follows a character named “Korean-American” as she navigates a cliché-ridden “Korean” world until a white couple appear to take over the stage with the drama of their dysfunctional relationship. The play is rife with caustic moments – for instance, when one of the white characters announces, “You know what’s awesome? Being white” – but as the audience laughs and squirms in its seats, Young Jean Lee makes them confront the realities of racial bigotry head-on. Similarly, her searing treatment of racial identity politics in her latest play, The Shipment, tweaks, pulls and twists contemporary cultural stereotypes of black America, such as the black comedian, the thug rapper, and the African American class. The form of the play – perhaps her most eclectic yet – includes a song-and-dance number, a stand-up comedy routine, a surrealist sketch and a short naturalistic play.

Controversial? Certainly and deliberately so. But The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, and other papers or journals have joined in their acclaim for what one review called “the jittery, jagged, body of work that resists pat definition.”

With her inexhaustible audacity, her fearless humor and her exceeding self-awareness, Young Jean promises to shock and delight both Professors Gallagher and Saul as well as those of us in her audience. Come to the Maude Fife Room at 5 PM on April 1. We’re confident that you won’t be disappointed, and we know you will not be bored!

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Distinguished Alumni Series Kicks Off: Peter Chernin

Peter Chernin (BA, English, 1974) serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation, and Chairman and CEO of the Fox Group. He has overseen Fox’s tremendous growth in sports, cable, and entertainment programming, and gained a reputation as an executive with a unique mastery of the creative side of the business. Mr. Chernin is also Chairman of Malaria No More, a non-profit dedicated to ending deaths due to malaria. Please come to hear him in conversation with incoming Chair Sam Otter and Professor Bob Hass this coming Monday!