BAHA’S 40TH ANNIVERSARY For four decades the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association has advocated for the preservation of Berkeley’s buildings and educated us about our city’s rich architectural history. The public is invited to join BAHA in a free celebration of its 40th anniversary on Sunday, Nov. 23. Members of BAHA and special guests will train their historical lens on their own organization for an afternoon, tracking their origins, roadblocks, and accomplishments. RSVP for the free event by calling (510) 841-2242. The celebration lasts from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. at the First Church of Christ at 2619 Dwight Way. There will be cake. For those who can’t make it to the event, BAHA’s past is illuminated in an anniversary web series BAHA History, Year by Year.
TEXTS FROM JANE EYRE Mallory Ortberg, co-creator of The Toast and Twitter celebrity, comes to Berkeley on Saturday to read from her new book. Texts from Jane Eyre began as a hilarious recurring web feature wherein Ortberg imagined the mobile communications of famous fictional characters. In the book, she places smartphones in the hands of characters from books as varied as The Hunger Games, The Odyssey, and Little Women. Come to Pegasus in downtown Berkeley (2349 Shattuck Ave.) to hear the author read from Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters and get your copy signed. The free event begins at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22.
STAND UP SIT DOWN Tonight brings the third installment of a new socio-political comedy event called Stand Up Sit Down. Hosted by local comedians Karinda Dobbins and Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, the show is structured just as the name implies: it’s half stand-up (comedy) and half sit-down (interview). Comedian Matt Lieb will fill the first role, bringing his satirical take on inequality and gentrification to the stage. Then the hosts will interview poet/performer/playwright Chinaka Hodge, who has written about gentrification in Oakland. The event begins at 8 p.m. at La Peña (3105 Shattuck Ave.) Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door.
BIG GAME AND BONFIRE You either know it as the biggest event in Bay Area college football — or the day to avoid driving anywhere near campus. It’s the Cal-Stanford “Big Game” and it starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22 at Memorial Stadium. Make a weekend of it by joining the annual Big Game Bonfire Rally the night before at the Greek Theater. Along with a giant fire, there will be a marching-band performance and stories told by nostalgic alumni. The bonfire is free and doors open at 6 p.m. Get tickets for the game.
THANGS TAKEN As most Berkeleyans prepare to stuff themselves with stuffing next week, some activists and artists remind us to consider the complicated history of Thanksgiving and its colonial context. Across the Bay there’s Unthanksgiving, the annual early-morning Indigenous ceremony on Alcatraz. Here in Berkeley, native and non-native artists gather each year for Thangs Taken: Rethinking Thanksgiving. Through music, film, spoken word, and visual art, the performers and audience examine the past and talk about the contemporary politics. The 7th annual event is hosted by Ariel Luckey at La Peña (3105 Shattuck Ave.) on Sunday, Nov. 23 from 7 pm. – 10 p.m. Tickets are on a sliding scale of $10-$25.
Don’t miss these other events recently featured on Berkeleyside:
‘Breakfast with Mugabe’ at Aurora packs a powerful punch
Like Terrence Malick? Make time for ‘The Better Angels’
Check out Berkeleyside’s event calendar for many more events, and make sure to post your community happenings there too.
