Effigies of black lynching victims were found on the Berkeley campus over the weekend, sparking outcry from the public. Plus, UCLA study reveals milestone crisis, Kobe Bryant passes Michael Jordan on scoring list, all this and more.
Images depicting lynchings at UC Berkeley provoke outrage, controversy
At UC Berkeley, photographic images were found over the weekend depicting African Americans who had been lynched.
They were discovered just hours before a demonstration against police brutality organized by a black student union was set to begin.
Late Sunday afternoon, an anonymous group of artists took responsibility for erecting the images, saying the images connected incidents of the past to those of the present.
But many took offense at the action, saying such emotionally-charged images shouldn't be used, even as protest.
Rudolfo Mendoza Denton, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley, said his first concern was about the possibility of violence on campus.
Leigh Raiford, a professor of African American studies, said she understood the reaction of those who felt "traumatized" by the images, but that the images were intended to provoke.
"Confrontational art is not meant to be easy," said Raiford. "The images are really difficult, they are shocking and they are cruel."
But there is a place for such artwork, she said.
"The larger question for me is that these images have been used to intimidate for so long, but they have also been used by black artists and black activists as evidence of crimes and crimes against black people," said Raiford, who is also the author of Imprisoned in a Luminous Glare: Photography and the African American Freedom Struggle (University of North Carolina Press, 2011).
The University called the images "deeply disturbing" and called on the campus to be "vigilant to ensure that we are creating a campus environment that allows for the free exchange of ideas and doesn't frighten or intimidate people."
Claire Holmes, a spokesperson for UC Berkeley, told Take Two that the primary concern for campus police was whether the images were racially motivated. Now that a group has claimed responsibility, it appears that it was an artistic act.
"Art can be disruptive and I think they made their point," said Holmes.
Man in case of Mexico border smuggling, rape of girl heads to trial
In an unusual move, a man who pleaded guilty in the rape of a 14-year-old girl he was smuggling across the border from Mexico will be headed to trial.
The judge rejected a plea deal for Jose Ramon Mancinas Flores, arguing the sentence would not be long enough to fit the crime, and has now dismissed the lawyer's motion that the case be thrown out on the grounds that most of the witnesses have been deported.
The trial has been tentatively set for January.
Bob Ortega, reporter for the Arizona Republic, has more.
People are more likely to make big life decisions at ages 29, 39, 49 or 59
There are certain birthdays that go by without much thought. And then there are (for some people) the scary ones: 30, 40, 50 or 60.
Now there's research to show that as people approach these "milestone" ages, they're actually more likely to search for existential meaning and thus engage in particular behaviors. Like having an affair, committing suicide or signing up for a marathon.
That's according to new research published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, called, “People Search for Meaning When They Approach a New Decade in Chronological Age."
Hal Hershfield, an assistant professor of marketing at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and one of the study's authors, explains that he and his co-author, NYU Stern professor Adam Alter, used existing data to "examine what sort of things might change as people are facing these new decades in their lives."
One of the first things they found, from an analysis of the World Values Survey, was that "when people were 29, 39, 49, or 59, they were slightly more likely to say that they were seeking meaning in their lives than when they were other ages."
By analyzing data from a dating website that caters to people who are looking for extramarital affairs, Hershfield and Alter found a significant overrepresentation of people who were "at the nines."
On the more positive side, by looking at the ages of first-time marathon runners, they found 25 percent more “nine-enders” than runners whose ages ended in any other digit.
The main takeaway, Hershfield says, is not that every 39-year-old is going to sign up for a marathon or have an affair, but that "if we're naturally inclined to take a step back and reflect [at these ages], we might as well harness that and try to use that tendency to reflect to do something that can maybe help us go into the next year or the next decade with a fresh start."
On the Lot: Sony hack and 'Into the Woods' drama
More details keep leaking out about Sony after their massive hack; the "Birdman" score misses out on Oscar eligibility, and there's drama around Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods." In Take Two's On the Lot segment, our weekly peek behind the scenes in Hollywood, Rebecca Keegan from the L.A. Times joined A Martinez in studio to chat.
Sony attempts to shut down the New York Times and others over hacked emails
Recently Sony Pictures Entertainment was the target in a series of cyber attacks.
It shut down the company's computers, revealing employee information and email exchanges between Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony and other executives.
Yesterday attorney David Boies sent a strongly worded letter to news organizations asking them not to publish information from the massive data dump.
The letter, sent to a variety of news organizations including the New York Times, referred to the documents as "stolen information" and demanded that the files be ignored, or destroyed
Here's a copy of the letter that was sent to the tech news site, RE/code. But does the letter have any legal merit?
To find out more on the legal questions raised by the Sony hack and the letter, we talk to Eugene Volokh, he's a law professor at UCLA and founder of the legal blog, the Volokh Conspiracy.
Organic food industry booms; debate on conventional growing lingers
The organic food market has tripled in size over the past 10 years – it is now worth $35 billion.
But rapid growth has stretched the organic certification process thin, leaving some to question whether certain goods really are that much better than conventionally grown after all.
Mark Kastel is the co-founder of the Cornucopia Institute, a group that conducts research on agricultural and food issues. He joins Take Two with more.
Nations reach climate change deal, but deep divisions persist
After tense talks that stretched into the weekend, nations have reached a plan on climate change.
The deal came Sunday after two weeks at the UN conference in Lima, Peru.
It commits countries to limiting carbon emissions that are at the root of climate change, but scientists say that goals still fall short of what is needed to avert the most serious effects of climate change. And a final sign-off won't come until a follow-up conference in Paris next year.
For more, we're joined by Cara Horowitz, co-executive director of the Emmet Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA.
How Colombia's first abortion clinic helped sparked powerful network across Latin America
In Latin America, several million women have abortions each year, both legally and illegally, but research from the Guttmacher Institute found about 95 percent of these procedures are unsafe. There is power network of more than 600 clinics spread throughout Latin America that has been trying to offer women a safer more compassionate, alternative.
They are based on a place in Colombia called 'Orientame.' Joshua Lang wrote about it for The California Sunday Magazine and you can find his piece here.
Compton students embrace new arts classes
Remember when you were in elementary school: Choir practice? The school plays?
Well now, imagine a school with none of that.
Until this year, Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School in Compton had no arts classes. Now, they're turning that around, just in time for the holidays.
KPCC's Mary Plummer has the story.
Read the full story: After years with no arts classes, Compton elementary readies holiday concert
'Gone with the Wind' celebrates its 75th anniversary
Seventy-five years ago today, the epic Civil War drama 'Gone with the Wind' premiered in Atlanta, Georgia. To celebrate the film's big anniversary, several new books about the film are being published and a new collector's edition Blu-Ray is being released.
The historical romance touches on themes that continue to span generations, like that of survival. Joining us to talk more about the film's enduring appeal is movie critic Susan Granger, whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Redbook and Ladies Home Journal among others. You can see more of her work here.