We did a confused circle around the first floor of the Women's Building Saturday night, until we noticed the sign which you see at your right, telling us to go upstairs for the SF Women's Film Festival documentary shorts screening, featuring movies all directed by women. We got to a classroom-sized room and settled into a folding chair just as people were starting to trickle in and, more importantly, right as the Trader Joe's snacks......

Courtney Love is scheduled for a book signing event at the Mission Bay Borders (200 King St. @ 3rd) to promote her "multi-textual memoir," Dirty Blonde. According to the official PR, the author will only sign her new book at this event. We assume that means don't bother asking Ms Courtney to autograph her late husband's albums or any appendages or pharmaceutical containers. (7pm) While we're not in the giving advice to celebrities business,......

In Roman numerals, it's the letter M -- ChronWatch hits its very first one-oh-oh-oh of civic inaction, as the Berkeley fountain it first began pestering back in June 2003 remains in the exact same condition it was in 1000 days ago. June 2003! In June 2003, Matt Gonzalez hadn't even decided he was running for mayor yet! The fountain in question is in the Berkeley Civic Center Park, was a gift from the city of San Francisco back in the 1940s, and hasn't had running water in it since the 1960s. The City of Berkeley continues steadfastly to ignore the incessant sleeve-tugging and sad puppy-dog eyes of the ChronWatch staffers, and just keep telling the Chron they have no idea when the fountain'll be working again. It's not that Berkeley's done nothing -- in 2004, the fountain became the subject of a fight between preservationists, who wanted it restored, and American Indians, who wanted the space to be used to celebrate indigenous people. They compromised by agreeing to build an American Indian turtle sculpture on the fountain. But even that hasn't been approved yet either. The fountain isn't really very high on Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates's priority list, given that he just had to implement $21 million in budget cuts over the last two years. "We had people come to the microphone at meetings and ask us how the city can spend three-quarters of a million on a fountain when we are about to have more homeless on the street." We look forward to Fountain Watch Day MM in December 2008!...

Our friends at Larsen and Associates have come through for us again, ponying up passes for Trudell, which opens this Friday at the Red Vic. A documentary telling the life story of Sioux Tribe member John Trudell, this film begins in the sixties with his 21 month occupation of Alcatraz Island with group Indians of All Tribes, an act which is credited with birthing the contemporary Indian people’s movement. "After Alcatraz, Trudell was the......

Jefferson Elementary in West Berkeley will get a chance to choose between keeping the original name, which honors the third president of the United States, or changing it to that of an American Indian scholar, Sequoia. At issue is Thomas Jefferson's ownership of slaves, which is a decidedly touchy subject in a district with a large african-american population. The issue was brought to the school's attention by parents and community activists. In an uncredited......

Well, at least 2005 isn't going to be a total wasteland of thwarted progressive political dreams -- Ward Connerly's term on the UC Board of Regents is almost up! It's been a long 12 years. Connerly's main focus -- eliminating any acknowledgment of race in California (or less charitably, getting rid of advancement opportunities for the African-Americans and Hispanics ) -- led to his support of Prop 209 to end affirmative action (which passed) and Prop 54 to end racial categorization on state forms (which did not). Connerly, who is part Irish, American Indian, and African-American, is bitterly viewed by civil rights activists, though no one contests that he most likely genuinely believes he is furthering the cause of racial justice through his actions. Students also note that he has been a strong advocate of keeping tuition fees low. Connerly's term is up by March and he has stated that he will not run for another term. (Schwarzenegger, who appoints the Regents, declined to discuss whether he had indicated that Connerly would not be reappointed, or who might be appointed to take Connerly's place.) Picture from the Daily Californian ...