The labor economist and UC Berkeley professor of economics, who won the 2021 Nobel Prize in economics, talks about why his research on the economics of the minimum wage, immigration and education was so controversial — and how it continues to be today. Listen to the episode and read a transcript on Berkeley News. (UC Berkeley photo by Keegan Houser) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Fiat Vox

87: How Nobel winner David Card transformed economics

In 2015, Mariana Soto Sanchez, who was 15 at the time, woke up one Saturday morning at her home in Ontario, California, with weakness in her hand. Within minutes, the feeling had spread throughout her body. Her parents rushed her to the hospital. By the time they got there, she had total paralysis. Later that night, they found out she had a rare disorder called transverse myelitis. Six years later, Mariana has regained some mobility and will graduate from UC Berkeley this December with a degree in media studies and a minor in journalism. She says she continues to learn how to advocate for herself in a world that isn’t built for her. “I felt like I would place limitations on myself,” says Mariana. “But it’s really just limitations imposed by society that prevent me from achieving what I want to achieve.” And she has done things she never thought she could — including going to her first Cal football game, a dream she had since she first came to Berkeley in 2018. Listen to the episode, read a transcript and see photos on Berkeley News. (UC Berkeley photo by Neil Freese) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

86: Paralyzed at 15, student finds self-advocacy, independence at Berkeley

Growing up in a Mexican household in San Diego, California, Berkeley student Alexa Carrillo Espinoza says there was always dancing in her home. She'd always wanted to try ballet folklórico, a traditional Mexican dance, but never had the chance. So, when she saw Ballet Folklórico Reflejos de Mexico tabling on Sproul Plaza as a first-year student in 2019, she signed up right away. "As I dance, I have this overwhelming sense of pride," she says. Listen to the episode, see photos and read the transcript on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

85: Ballet folklórico: Celebrating Mexican culture through dance

Third-year UC Berkeley student Maryam Karimi was born in Afghanistan in September 2001. A month later, the United States invaded Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 attacks. The Taliban was ousted from power, but everyday violence remained. Her family applied for asylum and eventually settled in Fremont, California, when Maryam was 12. Now, she and her family watch as the Taliban once again takes control of their home country. But Maryam knows that Afghans — especially her generation — won't give up. “The fire of revolution and freedom is lit in their hearts. And with a little breeze, it's going to burn brighter than ever before," she said. Listen to the episode and read the transcript on Berkeley News. (Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

84: Maryam Karimi: This generation in Afghanistan will not give up

Berkeley News writer Kara Manke discusses a new report from UC Berkeley that shows how allowing lightning fires to burn in Yosemite’s Illilouette Creek Basin recreated a lost — and more resilient — forest ecosystem. Listen to the episode and read a transcript on Berkeley News. (Photo by Emily Gonthier) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

83: How wildfire can create healthier forests

In this interview, Savala Nolan, executive director of Berkeley's social justice center, talks about the "deeply corporeal nature" of her new memoir, Don't Let It Get You Down. "The body is where it all happens," she says. "It's where we experience life. It’s where we experience the world — the joys and the frictions. It’s where we experience the categories and the divisions in the world. They’re very often about our bodies and how other people see our bodies. And so, I think that our bodies become, over time, the site of so much knowledge and epiphany and humor and insight and also lies — we all probably believe lies about our bodies." Listen to the episode and read the transcript on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

82: When the personal, political and historical collide — in our bodies

Over the summer, we have been revisiting some of our favorite episodes. In this episode, from 2018, then-Ph.D. candidate Sonia Travaglini talks about how we could use fungi, of which there are more than 5 million species, to mitigate a wide range of environmental and social crises — just by letting them eat our waste. Listen to the episode and read the transcript on Berkeley News. (UC Berkeley photo by Elena Zhukova) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

81: Nature's unsung superheroes? Mushrooms! (revisiting)

While Fiat Vox is on summer break, we have been revisiting some of our favorite episodes. Today’s episode, originally released in April 2019, is a conversation between UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ and Professor Emerita Carol Clover about what it was like for women in the academy 50 years ago and how it has changed. They also discuss what it takes to be a strong leader and offer advice to the next generation of Berkeley women. See photos and read a transcript on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

80: Chancellor Carol Christ: 'I always felt like a pioneer' (revisiting)

While Fiat Vox is on summer break, we have been revisiting some of our favorite episodes. Today's episode, originally released in February 2020, is about how the 1955-56 bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, which lasted for more than a year, was led by a group of Black women activists working behind the scenes: the Women's Political Council. In June, this episode received a gold award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), as part of the 2021 CASE Circle of Excellence Awards. Listen to the episode and read the transcript on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

79: The Montgomery bus boycott and the women who made it possible (revisiting)

Fiat Vox is going on summer break! We'll be back with new episodes in mid-August. In the meantime, we'll be revisiting some of our favorite episodes. Here's one from 2019: When Erika Johnson was 7, her mom signed her up for ballet class. For Erika's mother, who fled Ukraine as a child with her family after World War II, ballet was an important of her culture. “In Kyiv, (Ukraine), and in Russia, ballet is almost like the movies here," says Erika. "The state really supports ballet. Little schoolchildren are brought to see productions. And so, I think that my mother's father instilled this respect for ballet in my mother.” After the war, Erika's family immigrated to Portland, Oregon, and Erika went on to have a long career in ballet. Now, she's a development coordinator on the major gifts team with University Development and Alumni Relations at UC Berkeley. She takes ballet classes when she has the time, and says it connects her to part of herself and her Ukrainian culture like nothing else can. (When this episode first came out in 2019, Erika had a different position with University Development and Alumni Relations.) Listen to the episode, read a transcript and see photos on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

78: En pointe for her Ukrainian culture (revisiting)

Today, in the final episode of a three-part series, playwright and UC Berkeley professor Philip Kan Gotanda discusses how, in his Asian American theater workshop, he encourages students to approach issues, like anti-Asian violence, from an "inside-out" point of view, where they look at the world with Asians at the center. We also hear from a student, Wesley Tam, about how Gotanda’s workshop inspired Tam to start the ARC Repertory Theatre on campus.Listen to the episode, read a transcript and see photos on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

77: How do we talk about the Asian experience with Asians at the center?

In the second part of a three-part series, playwright and UC Berkeley professor Philip Kan Gotanda discusses how he began to write music during the emerging Asian American movement, which began at Berkeley in the late 1960s. And how, after his music career didn’t take off as he’d hoped, he went to law school, where he wrote his first play. Now, he’s one of the most prolific playwrights of Asian American-themed work in the United States.Listen to the episode, read a transcript and see photos on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

76: Playwright Philip Kan Gotanda on how the Asian American movement inspired his work

Philip Kan Gotanda is a professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies and one of the most prolific playwrights of Asian American-themed work in the United States. In the first episode of a three-part series, Gotanda talks about growing up in Stockton, California, after World War II and the anti-Japanese racism that he couldn’t name as a child, but that he’d go on to write about as an adult.Listen to the episode, read a transcript and see photos on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

75: Playwright Philip Kan Gotanda on growing up in California after World War II

Fred DeWitt is a Master of Fine Arts student and the first artist-in-residence in the Department of Art Practice at UC Berkeley. DeWitt, 61, shares in his own words what the Black Panthers meant to him as a young boy growing up in the Bay Area, how Barack Obama’s election as president inspired him to go back to school to study art, and the complicated nature of honoring the lives of people who never wanted to be remembered for their deaths. His MFA show will be at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) in June.Listen to the episode, read a transcript and see photos of DeWitt's artwork on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

74: Berkeley MFA student Fred DeWitt: George Floyd never wanted to be in my art

Berkeley News writer Ed Lempinen talks about why Berkeley Law professor Jonathan Simon thinks an acquittal of former police officer Derek Chauvin, on trial for the death of George Floyd, is more likely than not.﻿﻿﻿﻿Listen to the episode and read a transcript on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

73: The uncertainty of the Chauvin trial outcome

Fiat Vox is a Berkeley News podcast that shares stories from students, staff and faculty at UC Berkeley. It's produced and hosted by Anne Brice in the Office of Communications and Public Affairs.

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