How Berkeley is too Berkeley?

Ghandi Peace Float
The cupcake cars Karl saw at Burning Man! No photo from today, but they were there!

I don't know why I thought taking University Ave. to I-80 would still be a good idea - after all, I was leaving Berkeley about 2 1/2 hours later than I usually do in an effort to combine errands. Today I added a follow-up eye exam at 9:00. After the appointment I strolled down Telegraph, asleep still with its usual companions, and got to Moe's books about 5 minutes before it opened. I was looking for a copy of Delibes' Los santos inocentes, which I didn't find. But - 41 minutes and 41 dollars later I exited with:
1. a new copy of Pedro Páramo,
2. Arráncame la vida,
3. a recent Paco Taibo, Pálidas banderas, that threatens to move into the turf of the Crack Boys, if only in the multi-national protagonists and settings and elements of the thriller that the back jacket indicates. I believe that Taibo will either show 'em how it's done right or err on the side of Fuentes. (yeah, yeah, writers evolve, but some of them maybe shouldn't),
4. Memoria de mis putas tristes y 5. La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada,
6. Sonata de primavera/Sonata de estío -one of the cheap ones from Espasa-Calpe to complete the Valle-Inclán concert,
7. Aves sin nido will merge perfectly with Profe Ana's class this quarter and
8. La ciudad y los perros, once I read it, will help me round out that analysis of its cinematic adaptation that I did for Santana's class.

So, back to University Ave. Traffic was slow and it looked like a parade was in the offing. Now, I do not love a parade, but catching sight of about ¡25 ART CARS! lined up in a row made me slam on the brakes, turn up the next available side street and begin the search for parking. I ended up parking on MLK. After seeing something of what one would expect in a parade in Berkeley (lots of tie-dye, protesters, floats from Waldorf-type schools) and some very cool, unexpected things (all-gay cheerleading squad, Tibetan dancers) I finally decided to ask what the event was. A young man wearing an outsized straw hat and a t-shirt emblazoned with the sentence "No one knows I'm a lesbian." answered, "Oh, it's called 'How Berkeley Can You Be'. It's an annual event." Some of the charm seemed to evaporate a little for me. "How full of yourself, Berkeley, can you be?"* After seeing the art cars (very very cool), I walked back to my parking space. Right in front of the building that houses KPFA. How Berkeley, indeed.


*I'll admit, I'm a little jealous because I really don't think we'd get many spectators in my town wanting to see the answer to "How Vallejo can you be?"