Still Present at Berkeley

I LOVE this photo! An MA student in the program I worked for at Berkeley just posted this on his Facebook page and tagged me. It's a photo of his girlfriend (a brilliant program alum, now working on her Ph.D. at Columbia) posing next to my picture on that giant Billboard in the middle of the UCB campus. He gave the photo the title "Why We Dig Berkeley." I think the name of the installation is something similar, like 'what Berkeley means to me' or something like that. It's a compliment, although the paranoid person in me thinks maybe 'dig' refers to my current absence; like, 'whew, thank God she's gone." No, seriously--I prefer the less-paranoid version and remain very, very flattered. Ah, I miss those guys. I also heard that I got a standing ovation at the Group in Asian Studies commencement this year. Nice to be missed and even nicer to be remembered. It's kind of fun to think that my image still adorns the Berkeley campus. Good to know, as well, that my 'makeover' has been removed. Last time I knew, my image and the images of others were decorated with mustaches and beards. While cool to think that I could be graffitied, it's a lot of work for the people doing upkeep on the installation.