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I was hired as managing editor in the summer of 1974 by the talented editor Richard E. Corten ’65. I started out banging away on a manual typewriter and was given a steel Rolodex, which I still have on my desk—bringing incredulous stares from Palm Pilot–wielding Alumni Association employees today who were not born when I first started scribbling campus names and numbers into it. I was born in Iowa and educated at Columbia University. In 1978, when I was named editor, I was the first here and one of the few in the nation to hold the top job at an alumni publication as a non-alum. It took me a while to learn about Cal (I still can’t say “UC Berkeley”), its traditions and lore, and to find out what makes it special. One thing I have always found special about Berkeley is the faculty, its intellectual voice, which can soar with the world’s best but still is grounded in what, after all, is a public university (and the most esteemed university in the world). My co-conspirators over the decades include the late Art Miller (fellow Iowan), who designed the “larger than Life” California Monthlyof the 1980s. The first issue in that format featured a Q&A with the new chancellor, Ira Michael Heyman. “California Q&A” has been a regular feature ever since, usually devoted to a faculty member and his or her bright ideas. The research and interviews I conducted for these articles made them seem to me, deliciously, like intense academic seminars. I got to read about Epictetus, the Middle East, Shakespeare, or current U.S. foreign policy and then barge into the office of an extremely articulate Berkeley person and enjoy a lengthy conversation. Since 1990, California Monthly has been designed by Visual Strategies, a small North Beach firm headed by John Sullivan and Dennis Gallagher ’73, who have made us look good issue after issue and have been marvelous colleagues to boot. Lora Dinga has been selling advertisements in the Monthly for 17 years this month, each year exceeding revenue expectations and this year setting a new record for ad sales. Recent national alumni magazine writing award winners who have also worked as editors here include Catherine Maclay, M.J. ’81, William Rodarmor, M.J. ’84, and Michelle Ling ’92. Two former Daily Cal editors spent quality time here: Virginia Matzek ’92 and Carolyn Jones ’92 (who wrote our football story in this issue). Linda Schmidt ’87 has for the past four years been a mainstay at the Monthly; in addition to collaring our Class Secretaries, she has the annoying habit of reading manuscripts, including mine, and gently but firmly ordering the writer to shape up. Two groups have made this magazine better: the hard-working Class Secretaries, many of whom have written for the Monthly even longer than I have; and our Editorial Advisory Committee, ably presided over by David Littlejohn ’59. Something that has marked my tenure here has been a tendency to look at the campus and intellectual trends in a somewhat critical light. I remember a Chinese-born chancellor who, it was reported to me, was very upset by a cover story (“Crisis at Cal”) about the financial difficulties the University faced. (He didn’t think the article would be helpful for recruiting.) I’ve covered campus ventures that were not universally admired (the Novartis agreement comes to mind). And I’ve run features on Berkeley faculty members (scientist Ignacio Chapela and historian Beshara Doumani, for two) whose views have displeased the established powers. (See Michael Pollan’s comments on critical science reporting in this issue’s “Q&A.”) The reason for doing these controversial stories was clear, to my mind: California Monthly was covering the campus as honestly as it could, and Berkeley alumni can, and even want to, handle the result. Readers certainly love or hate one feature--“Twisted Titles”--which has been kept going the past dozen years because I like a touch of humor in a magazine and because Cal alums happen to be very clever. They’re also good letter writers, even when they’re tearing my judgment to pieces (see those on the Free Speech Movement). As editor, my presentation of Berkeley has probably contained speech more free than some have wanted. Pendulums swing; lights get turned on and off. Let me close by saying: Thanks for the three decades, and Fiat Lux. —Russell Schoch |
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