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| Volume 50, Number 1, Winter 2000-2001 |
REGIONAL GROUPSby Suzanne Clancy Northern California
NCSWA members have turned their attention to the February 18 party for press and NASW members attending the AAAS meeting in San Francisco. The hosting group is planning an evening of good food and drink, good music and dancing, not to mention good conversation, at Ruby Skye (www.rubyskye.com), an 1890s Victorian playhouse that has been transformed into a swank, high-tech nightclub while retaining its historical architecture. They hope everyone will be able to forget about deadlines for one night and have a whole lot of fun. Washington, DCIn November, DCSWAns put on hard hats for a visit to the construction site of the new Washington, DC convention center. Clark Construction project executive Greg Colevas explained the mechanics of the big dig: what gets dug first, how the foundation is set, and how the infrastructure is raised. DCSWA members also met for an evening at the US Patent and Trademark Office, in Arlington, VA. Speakers addressed questions about the patenting of genes and transgenic animals and the effects of patenting on development of genetic tests. Panel members included Justin Gillis, who covers biotechnology and related patent issues for the Washington Post's financial desk; Brian Stanton, a practice specialist (a supervisor of patent examiners) in the US Patent and Trademark Office; and Robin Teskin, a former patent-office examiner who is now a patent attorney in private practice. In December, the annual DCSWA holiday bash returned to the
National Academy of Sciences. The delectable menu began with
Asian-spiced grilled flank steak and asparagus ravioli and ended
with a make-your-own brownie sundae bar. Music was provided by
a band of DC lawyers calling themselves the Dogmatics. Their
rock and ska sound has made some of the stuffiest lawyers in
DC get up and dance, and partygoers were ready for the challenge. The newly reformed Philadelphia-area Science Writers Association (PaSWA) has been meeting about once a month for the past year. According to member Frank Hoke, director of public relations at The Wistar Institute, the group currently has "no specific criteria for membership other than a self?professed interest in science writing." University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur L. Caplan joined the group for dinner and conversation in May. Nina Long, historian and curator of The Wistar Institute's medical museum holdings, addressed PaSWA in August. In October, science reporter Faye Flam with the Philadelphia Inquirer gave a slide talk about her journalistic adventures shadowing a group of geologists in Greenland. That meeting was held at the Pen & Pencil Club, which has the distinction of being the oldest club for journalists in the country. Suzanne Clancy is science writer at The Salk Institute, in La Jolla, CA. Send information on regional meetings and events to clancy@salk.edu. PHOTO CREDIT: PHOTO BY MARC LIEBERMAN |
For the December holiday meeting,
NCSWA members were entertained by Lynda Williams, the Physics
Chanteuse, at the Lawrence Hall of Science on the campus of the
University of California at Berkeley. Accompanied by video images
and two pre-teen backup dancers pulled from the audience, Williams
sang about quarks, the Big Bang, high-energy physics, and women
scientists. She writes her own songs and also changes the lyrics
of popular songs to reflect a science theme. In William's hands,
Madonna's "Material Girl" morphs into "Hi-Tek
Girl," who can "calculate cross sections and decay
rates" and loves "crunching code." Williams describes
her cabaret act as "Bette Midler meets Carl Sagan meets
Sandra Bernhard meets Bill Nye meets Laurie Anderson," which
is about as good a description as any. Williams is a lecturer
at San Francisco State University.