In his opening note for the spring/summer 2023 edition of California, published by UC Berkeley's alumni association, Editor-in-Chief Pat Joseph introduced readers to the issue's organizing theme of optimism. "Not the blithe, Panglossian optimism that says everything is as it should be," he wrote, "but rather the kind of hard-nosed, fact-facing optimism that F. Scott Fitzgerald described when he wrote: 'The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.'"
From the Judges
A very well-written piece, with great quotes and tie-ins to the articles within the issue. This is a compelling piece for all audiences, and it draws the reader into the issue.
