Fred Sandsmark's Blog

I had the privilege of writing a profile of UC Berkeley law student Samika Boyd for the current issue of Boalt Hall Transcript, the alumni magazine of Berkeley Law. She's a remarkable woman; I hope you like the article. (There's a lot more to her story that was left out due to space considerations.)

I have several other pieces in the magazine: an article on global warming and the law of the sea in the arctic region; piece on hedge fund regulation; and a short profile of Jess Bravin, the Wall Street Journal's Supreme Court Correspondent. To read them you have to download a PDF of the entire Spring 2009 issue of Boalt Hall Transcript.

Labels: clips, law, people, writing

I popped into The Book Shop today, the first day of its new ownership. I met Carl, and bugged Renée for a bit.

Haywardites and other East Bayers should (yes, should) support our local shop. There's plenty of other stuff you can buy from Amazon now -- I just bought two microphones, a toothbrush, and a TV antenna from Mr. Bezos -- so buy your books locally.

Labels: books, Hayward, people, retail

I just discovered that, a couple of months ago, I was quoted in the comments section of Brad DeLong's blog. (And no, I didn't post the quote myself.)

My quote ain't about politics or economics, though -- it's about wild turkeys. And alas, there's no link. Still, one takes whatever brushes with fame one can get.

Labels: blogs, clips, people, quotes

I saw an article article in today's paper about the 90th birthday of magician Lee Grabel. The San Francisco Chronicle story, by Carolyn Jones, is terrific and illustrated with some wonderful photos.

I got to interview Grabel and write a profile (much shorter than Jones's, alas) for Diablo Magazine in 2006. My favorite bit from it:

Grabel retired in 1959 and went into real estate. The transition was initially rocky; he recalls an exasperated loan officer asking for a reference “who isn’t a magician, musician, or dancer.”

The entire profile I wrote is here, but the one by Jones is better.

Labels: clips, people, work, writing

An article in Monday's New York Times told about a radiologist who experimented with attaching a digital photograph of a patient (the outside of a patient, that is) to the patient's digital CT or MRI scans to see how doing so affected radiologists' interpretation of those scans. The abstract of his findings includes these results:

All radiologists felt more empathy to the patients after seeing the photograph. The photographs revealed medical information such as suffering or physical signs of disease. Out of the 30 cases which were presented twice, in 80% the incidental findings were not reported when the photograph was omitted from the file. All radiologists involved reported that the addition of the photograph did not lengthen the duration of the examination, however did render the interpretation more meticulous. All recommended adopting this idea to routine practice.

The Times article also implied that attaching a photo could have a similar effect on "pathologists and other doctors who rarely have contact with patients."

This reminded me of something that happened not long after Jane was first diagnosed with her brain tumor back in 1998. Our monthly support group at UC Davis Medical Center followed a format in which we'd alternate between open discussion one month (we called it "sharing") and a guest speaker the next. One month, the neuro-pathologist who had prepared Jane's initial pathology report -- a report that was quite dire in its prognosis -- was to be the speaker. (I'm embarrassed to admit I don't recall his name, but I remember that he looked like a guy who spent his days in a dark room performing experiments and looking through microscopes -- pale, rumpled, hunched.) We listened to his presentation, and learned a lot about how brain tumors were identified and classified. After the talk, Jane approached him, pathology report in hand.

Never a shrinking violet, she asked him to read and autograph the report. He was startled but polite; he looked at the report, looked at a very healthy and alert Jane, and said, "Clearly, I didn't know what the hell I was talking about." A huge smile broke across his face, and he autographed the report with a flourish.

We related this story a few times over the years, and the reaction was almost always the same. Our fellow travelers were happy that we had beaten the odds, proved the expert wrong, and got to tell him to his face. (One person was not amused, saying, "I would have sued his ass on the spot.")

I'm pretty certain that that pathologist learned as much that day as we did. By connecting a face, a personality, a person to that tiny "rat bite" of tissue on his microscope slide, he learned that his work exists in the context of real lives and that his words matter. This wouldn't mean that he should be overly optimistic in his reports, but it did mean that he had an obligation to be as precise, accurate, and honest as possible. It's a lesson that the radiologists in the above-mentioned study also seem to have learned.

Labels: brain tumor, health, Jane, medicine, news, people, personal history, science, work

I went with Angela and two friends to watch the taping of NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" last night (February 19, 2009) at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley. Panelists were Mo Rocca, Paula Poundstone, and Tom Bodett, and Frederica von Stade served as the "Not My Job" celebrity. (We were seated a few rows behind and across the aisle from her.) The taping took a long time, and it will be fun to hear on Saturday what gets left behind -- lots of scatological humor, probably, and a lot of awkward dead air when a snowplow operator from Colorado named Al couldn't come up with answers on the Listener Limerick Challenge. (We in the audience were practically jumping out of our skins trying to help the poor fellow.) Peter Sagal was charming and funny (though I found his oversized suit distracting), Carl Kasell looked kinda bored, and the panelists were great: Rocca stammering but smart, Poundstone following threads one step beyond their logical conclusions, and Bodett delivering low-key but pitch-perfect half-liners.

The other radio shows I've seen -- A Prairie Home Companion and the Grand Ole Opry -- are done live. They go out, flubs and all (though the broadcasts I've seen have been pretty flub-free). Wait, Wait, on the other hand, is recorded and edited. This gives the producers a chance to fix things after the bulk of the show is completed -- questions that get garbled, limericks that are mis-read, contestants' names that are given as "Tom" rather than "Brandon." (Ahem.) The engineers (three at a table, unsure what each one did) must keep constant track of what doesn't work, because these pickups were recorded immediately after the show was completed. After that Carl and Peter prowled the audience for a couple of quick questions.

Labels: fun, people, radio

The CD of Jill Sobule's fan-sponsored album, California Years, arrived in the mail today. I'm officially a Junior Executive Producer!

Its appearance is a little spot of joy in an otherwise terribly stressful day.

Unfortunately I won't be able to listen to it carefully until tomorrow night. For now, I'm happy just to look at it on my desk.

Labels: fun, marketing, media, music, people, technology

Some of you know I'm envious of Mark Salzman. He's a famous, handsome author (his Lying Awake is one of my favorite books) who's also quite a good cellist. I'm a busy but obscure writer and mediocre bari sax player.

Today, in the course of writing a press release for Cal Performances, I encountered another person to envy: Dean Elzinga. In addition to being an esteemed and busy singer, he has also worked professionally as a technical writer. Cool thing is, he still lists "Writer & Editor" on his LinkedIn profile, along with "International, Classical Bass-Baritone Singer."

Mr. Elzinga will be in Berkeley on March 13, singing Schoenberg's Ode to Napoleon with the Brentano String Quartet. I'll be there, wearing green.

Labels: art, books, fun, music, people, singing, writing

Michelle Gamble-Risley, who as editor of California Computer News gave me an opportunity early in my freelancing career, was on ABC News recently, sharing career- and life-changing ideas from her new book, Second Bloom. Congratulations, Michelle!

Labels: books, friends, jobs, marketing, money, news, people, TV, video, writing

The Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros has undergone surgery for his brain tumor. It turns out he has the same type of tumor as Jane had: an oligoastrocytoma. (We tended to call Jane's tumor an oligodendroglioma-astrocytoma, perhaps because we worked hard to learn to pronounce it.)

I'm happy to see reporting that gets specific about the type of tumor; too often, all brain tumors are lumped together and called "brain cancer," which I think is misleading and oversimplifying.

It sounds from news reports like Ballesteros' surgery went well. We also learn that Ballesteros got a get well message from Spain's Crown Prince Felipe, which is pretty cool. Anything to raise awareness, I say.

The full Associated Press report by Ciaran Giles can be found here.

Labels: brain tumor, Jane, medicine, people, Spain

I drove past the Mervyn's headquarters on Foothill Boulevard in Hayward yesterday morning around 8:00 a.m. The parking lot was empty, except for a TV truck with its transmitter mast extended. I knew immediately that the local retailer was calling it quits.

I have a bit of a history with Mervyn's (apart from just buying lots of clothes there over the years). As a kid I delivered their advertising circulars for a year or so. Published every week, the ads were distinctive in that they used illustrations rather than photographs of the merchandise. I'd get a bundle of these flyers on Monday after school; I'd roll and rubber-band them, and toss them onto maybe 150 porches in my neighborhood. It was less work than a daily paper route and didn't involve collecting, so it was a great job for me. I don't remember how much I made, but I remember that it was my own money.

When I was at CSUH I did an internship in the PR office at Mervyn's headquarters, working for Lizette Weiss and Joanne Johnston, both of whom subsequently held many distinguished media relations jobs in the Bay Area. This was when Mervyn's had its headquarters in the industrial area of Hayward. It was a fun internship, and it came at a time (1983) when the company was on the move.

Another connection was made when Mervyn's moved its headquarters into the old Capwells' building in downtown Hayward. I had worked in Capwell's for a few years in college, and was glad to hear that the building would get a new life. Though I never went into the building after it became offices, I remember hearing from friends at Sunset Custom Publishing that the escalators were still in place between the two floors. Mervyn's took very good care of a signature piece of property in town, and it will be hard to find another business to take that spot.

Now the building will be vacant again, and an important local business has disappeared. The job losses are sad, of course, but sadder still to me is the idea that a retailer with deep roots here in the East Bay -- and deep personal connections -- is gone.

Labels: CSUH, Hayward, jobs, people, personal history, retail, sales, work

On Slate, Paul Collins has explored why John McCain keeps referring to crowds as "my friends," saying that in American political discourse the phrase hearkens back to William Jennings Bryan.

Personally, I wonder if Senator McCain didn't pick up the habit from another source: Criswell.

Labels: fun, people, politics, words

I learned today on the CSUEB View that one of my CSUH professors, Douglas L. Peterson, has died.

The View article says that Prof. Peterson left CSUH in 1977, but I know I had at least one class from him in the early 1980s. I remember one episode very clearly.

I was a young and nervous underclassman, still trying to decide on a major. I had written my first paper for Prof. Peterson's class, and was surprised when he started reading the paper aloud in class one day. (He didn't say who had written it.) He read my thesis paragraph, then looked up over his half glasses and said to the class, "I don't agree with that." My heart sank a little. He read more, then gave another disapproving remark. The pattern repeated. With each of his comments, I'm sure I slumped deeper into my chair. He eventually read the entire paper, taking it apart bit by bit.

When he finished, he looked up and said (I paraphrase), "I didn't agree with much of what this writer said, but he presented his arguments well and thoughtfully. It's a well-written paper. I gave it an A."

It was there and then that I decided to be an English major. That a teacher could put aside his opinions on my ideas and judge my writing on its merits impresses me to this day. It's a goal I aspire to when I edit others.

Labels: CSUH, language, obituary, people, writing

The San Francisco Chronicle has an article today by Charles Burress about one of Seyed Alavi's public art installations -- specifically, the traffic-signal boxes in Emeryville. The photos are worth checking out, too. As commenters on the article have pointed out, the work isn't new, but nevertheless I'm pleased to see it get some attention.

I'm very happy to own one of Alavi's "Aquamano" prints, called "Loon Song."

Labels: art, friends, people

A friend asked me what I thought of the New York Times coverage of Ted Kennedy's brain tumor. I wrote a long, fast email, which I'm also posting here:

They gave the general tumor type (glioma) but not the specifics. There are several types of gliomas, including astrocytomas, glioblastomas, and oligodendrogliomas. Also four grades, from I to IV (the higher the number, the more aggressive). Malignant gliomas are grades III or IV, though so-called "benign" ones still cause lots of trouble because the cranium is an enclosed space and anything that squeezes the brain in that space can cause trouble. Jane's tumor was a mixed astrocytoma-oligodendroglioma, grade III.

They gave the location of Kennedy's tumor as left parietal, and said that area of the brain was involved in sensation, motor control and language. Would have been more accurate to say USUALLY involved in language. Not always. Whether or not often depends on handedness. Jane was left handed, and had her initial tumor in the left occipital and parietal lobes. (Toward the end it spread to the frontal lobes and into the right hemisphere.) Frequently, left-handed people have their language more distributed between the hemispheres than right-handers, but still centered largely in the left hemisphere. Jane had a Wada test that determined that her language was almost entirely in the right hemisphere. (She never did play by the book!) This allowed for a much more aggressive left-hemisphere surgery back in 1998 and 2000.

I have the videotape of Jane's Wada test, by the way -- I remember it as strange and fascinating to watch, but I haven't viewed it in years. I also have a photograph of her open cranium.

One article quoted Keith Black, a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai in LA. He's a rock star among brain surgeons, more famous but NOT more sought after than Jane's surgeon (Mitchel Berger). Keith Black was written up in TIME magazine a decade or so ago, I think.

One article rightly says that age has a lot to do with prognosis. Getting a malignant glioma at age 76 is not a good thing. Another article rightly says that the disease is "treatable but not curable."

The articles refer to the disease as brain tumor and not brain cancer. The distinction is subtle; generally, cancers can metastasize to other tissues, but brain tumors cannot. (You can't get a brain tumor in your lungs, but you can get lung cancer in your brain.) Doctors will very rarely say "brain cancer" in my experience, probably because to do so is imprecise, but a lot of brain tumor patients and advocates (I'm not among them) prefer to use the term "cancer" because, I think, it sounds more urgent. A tumor sounds like something that can be sliced off, like a wart. Brain tumors, especially gliomas, tend to have lots of tendrils and stray cells throughout the brain; it's rare that they're encapsulated. (One NYT article said this, in a roundabout way.)

Labels: brain tumor, health, Jane, language, medicine, people, politics

I happened across a cool blog today: Michael Colbruno's Mountain View Cemetery Bio Tour. The name says it pretty clearly: Colbruno photographs the graves and gives biographies of prominent people in Oakland's Mountain View Cemetery.

I did some Googling to find out about Mr. Colbruno. I'm not sure if the keeper of this blog is the same Michael Colbruno who is an executive with Clear Channel and a board member of the Chabot Space & Science Center. I'm pretty sure he's the same guy who runs the MikeOpera blog. (If you see this, and it's you, let me know!)

I plan to spend some more time with the blog when I'm able to come up for air. Meanwhile, I was up at Mountain View last night, freshening the flowers on Jane's niche (the heat is already taking its toll) and noticed that the new gates are almost complete.

Labels: blogs, history, Jane, people