Memorable Excerpts from Articles and Poems from my favorite Authors in ViewsHound

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Memorable excerpts from my favorite authors at ViewsHound | ViewsHound

Cloyne Court- Excerpt 28

Sather Gate, UC Berkeley, CA

Cloyne Court, Episode 28
By Dodie Katague
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Rated "R" by the Author.
A creative memoir about Cloyne Court in Berkeley, California in the late 1970s.

Thanks,” she replied. “No, it was a dropped down tuning in E. Do you play guitar?”

“Not as good as you.” Her voice reminded me of Joan Baez, but her music reminded me of home. When the country relatives came to visit, they’d bring their guitars, banjo, fiddle, and mandolins, and we’d sit around and jam, each musician naming a song to play and leading it. The youngsters would bring out their instruments and follow along. The cousins who couldn’t play were given a jar of beans or a tambourine to keep time with the beat.

“All it takes is practice and desire,” she said.

“And the ability to form barre chords.”

“Everyone has that within them,” she said. “Look at your hands.”

They were unblemished with the fingernails neatly trimmed. They hadn’t experienced what it took to compose music that moved people with emotion. “You’re good enough to play professionally,” I said, still staring at my hands.

“Thanks for the compliment, but that’s a far cry from playing at Cloyne parties.”

“All it takes is perseverance and desire,” I said, mimicking her.

She laughed. “You’re funny.”

“You should see me play guitar.”

“I’d like that. Let’s get together sometime.”

With her encouragement, I practiced my guitar in the privacy of my room every evening before dinner. I forced my hands to form the barre chords until they ached and my fingertips were raw and bleeding. Alan would sometimes come into the room and hear me strumming.

“Was that John Denver you were playing?”

“Yeah. What do you think?” I asked.

“I hate John Denver. If you sing Back Home, Again while I’m around, you’ll be leaving on a jet plane.”

It took several months before I played barre chords that resounded with unity. My tender fingertips hardened into calluses in the same way my adolescent views changed into adult thinking, microscopic and imperceptive.

On the second-story balcony, Dick Fine was watering the plants, while talking to his newest love interest, Tina Weston. She was leaning out of his second-story porch room window, which meant she was kneeling on the mattress of his bed that took most of the floor space. She was a student reporter for the Daily Californian, and wrote muck-racking exposés on the University’s financial ties with multinational corporations doing business with the government of South Africa.[1]

I watched her staring at him goo-goo eyed, her cheeks flushed pink in anticipation, waiting for him to finish pulling the dead buds off the marigolds that lined the porch as camouflage for the cash crop and come deflower her.

Casey, the house-manager, came out to the backyard and addressed us. Because the house members had elected him to be the titular leader, he expected he might have some influence and respect.

“Hey, guys, I’ve noticed not all of you are up-to-date on your housework shift hours. If anybody would like to earn an easy two-hour work credit, the signup sheet has a work shift starting now to hand out flyers at Sather Gate. Anybody interested?”

Nobody had the courtesy to stop playing basketball or put down their textbooks and look at him. He waited.

“Ok, I’ll do it,” I said, needing another two hours of work credit for the week, and it sure beat cleaning bathrooms.

“Great. Go meet Betty Sue at Sather Gate. She’s at a table with the flyers. She’ll update you on what needs to be done.”

Sather Gate,[2] a Beaux-Arts archway between four columns, designed in 1910 by John Galen Howard. Embedded on top of two stone columns were blank stone tablets on each side of the pillar.

I arrived to discover that workmen had cordoned off the area with caution tape and were using a cherry picker to install eight bas-relief panels of four nude men representing the disciplines of law, letters, medicine and mining and four nude women representing the disciplines of agriculture, architecture, art and electricity. The panels were recently discovered stored in a warehouse where they had been for the last sixty-seven years. They had been dispatched after public outrage over the nudity caused Mrs. Sather to demand their removal from the original design.

Betty Sue was sitting behind a flimsy card table near the gate. Several other card tables were in rows on both sides of the bridge that acted like a funnel channeling the foot traffic through the narrow passage. It was the prime place for an ambush or to have a flyer shoved in your face.

Betty Sue was a fat, bespectacled, curly-haired woman. She was unattractive and knew it. To compensate for the horrific treatment (she told me after smoking two reefers) she had endured in high school, she set out to be involved in politics, social issues and the Co-op student internal structure that included the Co-op Board of Directors, the Judicial Administrative Committees and the Future Planning and Building Endowment Board. She was the assistant house manager under Casey. She aspired to become the house manager.

“Hi, Betty Sue. I’m here for my work shift,” I said.


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[1] She would graduate with the highest honors in journalism and earn her master’s degree from UCLA. Decades later, she would win a Pulitzer Prize for her work on a presidential candidate.
[2] Originally the gateway to the South Entrance of the University, where Telegraph Avenue ended and trolleys coming from Oakland turned around, Sather Gate now divides the beginning of Sproul Plaza with the original university north of Strawberry Creek.

______________________________

An early Christmas Gift-Voice Recognition System

The Software that I received as my Early Christmas Gift

If you are a regular reader of this site, you might have already seen or read a number of my work published. You might also surmise that I must love to write due to the huge amount of work I have written. I hate to brag, but yes, I admit I love to write and express my thoughts on many topics.

My family can attest to this. Though I try to hide my so-called uncontrollable writing compulsion in the guise of net surfing, they have an inkling of my conspicuous writing activities. Time and again, I spend copious amount of time hunched back on my keyboard, focused on work, and oblivious of the events transpiring around me.

Writing is one of my favorite passions in life, but I detest the actual typing portion. If there was technology available to make a writer’s work much easier, I would definitely be the first one to utilize and promote such a breakthrough contraption, and eventually resolve my predicament. My mind would then be free to wander, bring out more of my exquisite thoughts, and be able to create more masterpieces without worrying about the drudgery of typing.

I have never learned to type properly during my elementary or high school days. I must be one of the slower typists in the world, because I merely use my two index fingers to type one letter at a time. A respectable typist manages with the use all ten fingers comfortably, and produces a substantial amount of work fast and efficiently.

Through all the years of regular typing and then keyboarding, I have improved on my typing skills, though not as substantial as I would have wanted, but slightly less than passable. Moreover, whenever my grown up children see me striving hard at work on my computer, they witness a wise old man who types at the speed and skill level of a 6 year-old child, slow and pathetic.

Last month, my son presented me an amazing early Christmas gift, something very useful for the keyboard challenged individuals. The gift I received was a Voice or Speech Recognition System software for my personal computer. It was the "Dragons Naturally Speaking" software made by Nuance Communications.

I was jubilantly telling myself, there is a God, he is good and technically gifted, and he has finally answered my prayers. I could now fully satisfy more than ever, my obsessive compulsive writing disorder.

It was software designed to make a computer listen to human voice dictations. The computer would then put down in writing the speech that it hears. It also follows voice commands for computer operation and formatting one’s writing. In short, it mimics the actual keyboard typing through the use of the human voice.

Its use is a huge advancement for individuals with less than acceptable typing skills. I was thrilled with this gift, like a little boy excited to rip open and discover his birthday presents. I wasted no time, and had it immediately set up and utilized.

My son installed it in my personal computer with the Windows 7 operating system, and it worked delightfully. In order to use it properly, I had to train the software to recognize my voice, and be able to figure out the words as I spoke them. Due to the variety of the speech accents worldwide, it includes several options on the type of English that one would prefer the system to recognize.

Some of the options are: standard English (American), southeast Asian English, Spanish Accented English, British English and three other choices. First, I tried the standard English, and the system worked fairly well, which was about 90% recognition. I was satisfied with the results.

My son suggested that I train the system using the southeast Asian English. The use of this option was definitely a success; the recognition rating was almost 99%. I finally had on my hands a clever machine that fully understands my speech, and simultaneously solves my typing shortcomings. I was also very pleased that the software system recognized my undeniable Filipino accent.

I’m aware that I still have a Filipino accent when I speak English, even though I have been a resident of the US since 1960. I can distinguish fellow Filipinos who were born or grew up in this country, versus the ones who came over as adults based on their English accent. I immigrated to the US when I was already 23 years old, and by then, my speech pattern and accent have already been ingrained in my mind and my tongue.

No amount of training in diction or pronunciation could erase a trace of my Ilonggo accent. Ilonggo is the dialect in the province of Iloilo, Philippines where I grew up. Both the Tagalog national language and English are used as medium of instruction in the Philippine school system.

On the other hand, except for my eldest son who came here as a toddler, my three younger children were all born here in the US. They all understand and can speak a few American accented Tagalog phrases, the language they grew up hearing from their parents. They all have enviable American accents, and if ever they need to use the same Voice Recognition system, it would be best for them to choose the standard English option.

The software is not perfect. It cannot recognize some proper names, technical, medical and legal terms. It is exemplary in formatting, such as paragraphing, deleting words or sentences, and opening the Internet, office writer, and Facebook. I found it useful to first dictate my thoughts, and then do the editing by actually typing the correct words.

During the first few times I used the system; I was awed and amazed of how incredible it was in recognizing my Filipino accent. I would giggle and it would even type my giggling as “at, at, at, at, at”. However, based on my experience, the software can never recognize the word "incredible". It always types it as "and credible". I tried changing my intonation, pronunciation or diction by saying the same word repeatedly, but I was still unsuccessful. In this specific case, I had no option but to type the correct word.

Writers with disabilities can benefit from speech recognition programs. Similarly, the software will be helpful for individuals who are deaf or have hearing difficulties, or for writers having typing issues. I am having fun using this application, and I continue to take advantage of the convenience it offers. And today, writing for me has become a double pleasure; I get to express myself while someone else does the typing.

Moreover, speech or voice recognition system is also useful for people who have difficulty using their hands, ranging from mild repetitive stress injuries (RSI) to serious disabilities that prevent them from using conventional computer input devices. Writers, secretaries, lawyers, and medical transcribers suffering from RSI are ideal customers of speech recognition soft wares.

This subject reminds me of the late author Philip Carlo, a chronicler of the New York mafia criminal activities which he depicted in several of his books. In his final years while dealing with the debilitating ALS disease, a terminal illness that causes the muscles to atrophy over time, he had to use the services of a personal secretary who wrote down his thoughts for his final book entitled “The killer within”. At the latter part of their lives, ALS sufferers are helpless, and can no longer do even the most mundane everyday tasks in life. He could have benefited significantly from the use of this brilliant device.

Speech recognition is also used in deaf telephony, such as voice mail to text, relay services, and captioned telephone according to the Nuance Communications, Inc. brochures. Individuals with learning disabilities who have problems with thought-to-paper communication can also benefit from the software according to advertisements from the software developers.

Have you ever heard or used any voice recognition system soft wares? The available technology provided us with this incredible piece of equipment, and I have found it appealing to use. I would recommend its use, because it has been helpful in boosting my writing activities, and it has helped make my life easier by using my voice alone to operate the computer.

Here's a list of Voice Recognition Systems from Wikipedia:

Dragon Dictate for Mac – From Nuance Communications, released as a new version of MacSpeech Dictate in 2010.

iListen – Product from MacSpeech, developed and supported for PowerPC-based Macintosh until ca. 2009.

MacSpeech Dictate – By Nuance Communications. Dictation product for Intel-based
Macintosh. Renamed and upgraded as "Dragon Dictate for Mac" in 2010.

MacSpeech Dictate Medical – Dictation product for Intel-based Macintosh with included vocabularies for 54 medical and dental specialties. Developed by MacSpeech; acquired by Nuance Communications in 2010.

MacSpeech Dictate Legal – Dictation product for Intel-based Macintosh with a vocabulary of legal terms. Developed by MacSpeech; acquired by Nuance Communications in 2010.

MacSpeech Scribe – By Nuance Communications. Transcription product for automatically transcribing recorded dictation into text.

Speakable items – Included with Mac OS X or higher. Apple's speech synthesis and recognition technology is collectively called PlainTalk.

ViaVoice – Product from IBM, developed and supported until ca. 2007.

Voice Navigator- First voice control system for a graphical user interface by Articulate Systems in 1989

Why I keep writing for ViewsHound

Positive comments and feedbacks to my articles are the reasons why I keep writing for ViewsHound (VH). However, if by a twist of fortune and luck, I win a couple more awards, it will be icing on the cake and will be highly appreciated.

I started writing for VH last August. As of today, I have submitted more than sixty articles and photographs. I have over 19,000 views, 23 followers, 8 badges, a gold and bronze winning articles. My target goal is to write 75 articles by June, 2012 and perhaps 100 articles by December, 2012.

The following are my favorite commentators and their comments: M. Abott, D. Hamilton, G. Maoli, L. Arota, J. Bird, S. Ozmore, D. Page, D. Reynolds, J. Willoughby, S. Powers, S.C. Joy, L. Silverman, M. Dragoo, F. Lachica, V. Vizarra and G. Buesnel.

Mark Abbott.UTEP- Comment to, You have to fail on order to succeed.

I think this is the most positive thing I've read all week and possibly even all month. I wish everyone had the "can do" attitude that you have. I've been struggling like hell to perfect it for some time now and as discouraging as it can be at times, I think I've made a great deal of progress. I remember reading someones quote once (can't remember who it was) that said if you fail 999 times out of 1,000, you actually succeeded in finding 999 ways NOT to do something. Thanks so much for posting this. It makes a world of difference to see the necessary little reminders in the work of other writers.

Deb Hamilton · Top Commenter · Chicago, Illinois- Comment to, The best Christmas gift I have ever received.

I really loved this story! You must make friends easily... or I don't think your support system would have been this strong. You deserve some of the credit here, for sure. Very sweet tale.

Gianandrea Maoli · Top Commenter · Freelance writer at ViewsHound- Comment to, Am I a born or made writer?

Wow! One of the most encouraging pieces I've seen on VH! I would say that as far as great writers are concerned, I think there's a combination of being born to be great and being made into one. I think that even if your are born into it, it does take a writer a lot of time, patience, and even courage to keep writing and learning until they find the right way to express themselves. I do agree with you that it has great therapy tools to express your thoughts which is what I try to do with short stories in general. You did that very well in this work and I hope to see others from you in the future.

Lorna Paroginog Arota · Chinese Gen. Hospital school of nursing -Comment to, Childhood memories of the Japanese-American war in the Philippines-Part 2


You captured the WWII story through your wife's perspective in such an emotional and personal way. Your mother in- law lost a sister very dear to her heart from the hands of merciless Japanese soldiers who by no means will not spare any lives if you're in their way. I don't blame your mother for hating the Japanese, as my mother also did. That is the cruelty of war. Great article! you deserve another gold prize Dave.

Jan Bird · Top Commenter · College of Ripon & York St John -Comment to, Am I a born or made Writer?

This is the first article I've read today, David and it's a good one! I'm flattered to be quoted but I've never thought of myself as a "born" writer. I'm not fishing there, it's just not how I think of it. I think you can always learn and that we're all learning, constantly, from everything we write and everything we read, whether it's fiction, other writers' articles or mainstream journalism. We learn both how to do it and how not to do it. It is a craft and we can spend a lifetime perfecting and refining it. That's going to be one of life's pleasures for me for the rest of my life. I'm delighted for you that you've discovered such a love for writing and such a talent for getting your personal thoughts into words. You followed your heart and it shows. Your pieces are always deeply personal and reflective and I really enjoy that.

Susan Ozmore · Top Commenter- Comment to, I have an inferiority complex writing for ViewsHound

I really enjoyed your article. I'm a math/science person and also feel a sense of inferiority when compared to people who have spent far more time writing than I have. Although, I've done quite a bit of technical writing and have been told I do a very good job "translating" complex things into understandable prose, I still haven't gotten up the nerve to write for ViewsHound. I have started a blog though, and knowing that I'm not alone in feeling inadequate, maybe I'll get up the nerve soon to write for VH. The only thing is that your article is Excellent! I don't know if I can compare :-) Keep writing!

Dennis L. Page · Top Commenter · Onondaga- Comment to, Childhood memories of the Japanese-American war in the Philippines

You have presented the reader with a gut wrenching and true to life experience that only those like you, who experience such things can relay to the rest of us. My deceased father served in the United States Army in combat during WW II. First he was in New Guinea and then in the jungles of the Philippines. He was also taken from the front lines to learn how to do the initial land invasion of Japan. That, of course, never happened, but my dad always spoke highly of the Filipino people.

Debra Copley Reynolds · Top Commenter · Consultant at Princess House, Inc. -Comment to, Childhood memories of the Japanese-American war in the Philippines

A fascinating read, thank you. My grandfather served on a supply ship during WWII and told a few stories, I wish I had listened closer. Consider writing your tale in book length, please!

Jessica Willoughby · Top Commenter · Hard to Define at Developmental Skills Center-Comment to, Why I have an inferiority complex writing for ViewsHound

David, thank you for your kind words in your article. I love that you wrote this from such an authentic and honest viewpoint of how you felt. However, I want you to know that you are not alone in that feeling. To be completely honest, I think we all feel that way about something at some point. The very people you were so kind to put me in the company of, leave me in awe with their words. I could only aspire to someday write half as well as them. I think that you are a good writer. I write about topics which feel comfortable and creative for me. I love to read the work of so many others people because I can gain knowledge on topics that I am naive on. I enjoy reading about the things you write about, and there is never a need to feel inferior to anyone else. Easier said than done, I know. I am much better at giving that advice, than living that advice. Thanks again for your kind words. Nice piece, and keep up the good work. The more we write, the better we become. You know the old adage, practice makes perfect :) Have a great evening David!

Sarah Powers · Milwaukee, Wisconsin- Comment to, Domestic abuse against men: the battered husband

Thank you for writing this article, I know of a lot of people who don't believe, excuse, ignore, or even laugh at abuse of husbands. It's unfortunate that society feels this way about the abuse, and even rape of men. Hopefully articles like this will inspire people to think critically about these issues and what equality really means.

Susan Creamer Joy · Top Commenter · Works at Freelance Artist- Comment to, Memorable excerpts from the writings of my favorite authors at ViewsHound

Leslie is correct, David. We'll need enlarged exits from VH now:)) As for me, I am flattered and thrilled to be among this talented bunch and am equally inspired by and impressed with the many other wonderful writers here, yourself included:) Now, will someone call my driver and fetch my wrap? :)) Thank you, indeed!

Leslie Silverman · Top Commenter- Comment to, Why I am writing for ViewsHound

As always, David - honest, and direct well stated. Thanks for the mention. Keep writing for viewshound so we have the pleasure of reading you!

Michelle Dragoo · Top Commenter · Supervisor, Anatomic Pathology at Edward Hospital-Comment to, Memorable excerpts from my favorite ViewsHound authors

I have never been recognized, so, thank YOU. This truly brought tears to my eyes. I feel blessed to be in this esteemed group of writers.

Fernando Ceballos Lachica · Top Commenter · Works at Triond-Comment to, I have inferiority complex writing for ViewsHound.

Your writing style is great and I loved it! I can relate to your article actually. A Gold for you today! Cheers David!

Vic Vizarra · Top Commenter · Technology Consultant/Managing Owner at Viz-Mart Int'l. Computers-Comment to-Afterglows in the sunset of our lives.

I am now beginning to follow your articles and blogs. Hopefully you could lead me to your article about the revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. I was then an electrical engineering student in 1977 when I visited the nuclear power plant as part of our field trip requirement for graduation. I was pretty much impressed by the design and set-up of said power plant and was just sad to know it just got wasted and not utilized as intended.

**Gail Buesnel · Top Commenter-Comment to, Childhood memories of the Japanese-American War in the Philippines**

David thank you for this aspect of the war. My uncle wa a British POW held by the Japanese and freed by General MacArthur the same day the Japanese sent in death squads to murder all prisoners. He has written a book and a portion of it deals with his POW experiences. It would be fascinating to have all aspects recorded in a book, yours as a civillian, the POW's, the liberating Americans and even a Japanese soldier. I am going to try to send this article to my uncle via my cousin. Congratulations on winning the prize.

I have several more positive comments from my other articles for the ViewsHound community. But this article is already long. May I reiterate that the above comments had inspired me to continue writing for ViewsHound-one of my favorite writing site. If you read ViewsHound, please continue your feedbacks and I will continue writing for ViewsHound.

Guest Post from Dodie Katague, Author Cloyne Court

Cloyne Court, UC Berkeley, 2009

This article is from madmoosemama.blogspot.com dated Thursday, November 24, 2011

Guest Post - Dodie Katangue author of Cloyne Court

Posted by Heavensent1 at 4:58 PM

My college days were very unique. During the late 1970’s, while attending the University of California, Berkeley, I lived one block north of the campus in a student-run, private cooperative called Cloyne Court. When I first moved in, I was glad that I turned down my parent’s offer to accompany me. Had they seen the place back then, they would have been opposed to me moving into the house. Any parent would have.

The “Clones”(as we called ourselves) who lived there were required to do a five-hour weekly work shift to keep the place running and maintained, and other students supervised that requirement. As a result, the place was a pigsty.

There were empty beer bottles strewn around the main public rooms. Old newspapers were piled five high under a faded handwritten sign that said “Recycling”, but hadn’t been “cycled” in ages. There were dozens of marijuana plants growing in pails on a porch balcony in the back yard. The windows were opaque with dust and grime and the carpets were stained with grey spots. The walls were painted with eclectic murals and spray painted graffiti with slogans like “THERE IS NO GRAVITY. THE EARTH SUCKS.” The toilet seat in the bathroom was painted as a shark’s open mouth with the sharp teeth about to swallow the sitter. The place also had a musty old smell, with intermittent wafts of reefer smoke coming from somewhere upstairs.

The students ran the place, voted on policies by consensus at the weekly meetings, and allocated our discretionary housing fees with political earnest but total disregard to the business side of feeding and maintaining a house of 151 people. Should we buy food this month or restock the vending machines with doobies? Should we fix the locks on the front door to keep the homeless out or should we buy a ten-person hot tub and sauna?

Because I was a freshman both to college and adult life, I did not question the way things were. I didn’t question the dozen or so marijuana plants growing in pails on the backyard balcony porch. I didn’t question the co-ed shower room where men and women showered side by side in a communal space. I thought this was part of the regular college experience. I was at Berkeley, and everything was tolerated to excess.

Many college campuses around the country were known for their crazy naked streaking events. But our house pushed it to the limit. We had political nudists who were naked all the time, including at meals. They advocated going to class in the buff and some even did so. We also had the annual springtime Naked Hallway Races, which is an event that still exists today.

I knew that what I where I was living and what I was experiencing was out of the ordinary even for other Berkeley students who lived at the dorms, apartments or fraternities/sororities. So I kept a journal of the daily mundane things I did and the absolutely insane things that happened. And many of those stories are the basis for the novel.

Since the publication of the book, I’ve gotten emails from past Clones who have lived there and everyone has a raucous memory or two to tell. And lots of Clones remember when a new unknown band called Sweet Children (now known as Green Day) played a set in the dining room as an opening act for other punk rock bands. The police arrived and shut the party down.

Right after the book was published, I was in a parental dilemma. After writing a novel about sex, betrayal, drugs, rock and roll, nudism, co-ed showers, and radical politics, how was I going to have any credibility with my teen-age children when I needed to tell them not to do these things when they went to college? I couldn’t tell them not too, because they knew I did. So the best I could counsel was “Don’t do anything that will get you arrested. Stay safe. Do things in moderation. And remember, you’re at school to study and get a degree.”

We’ll see if that advice does any good.

I hope that current college students as well as Baby Boomers will read this, but not as a “how-to” manual of college debauchery, but as a reminder that they should enjoy their college lives now, but not to the point that they’ll be embarrassed to read about themselves thirty years later. Thank God, we didn’t have YouTube back then. It’s easier to deny written stories of your wild college years than seeing real video of it.


Cloyne Court is a coming of age, fish out of water, nostalgic novel. It takes the true stories I experienced living in this wild, counter-culture, youthful house and weaves it into a story of first love, life, regrets, first impressions and camaraderie. I hope that after reading it, readers will come to the same conclusion that took me thirty years to discover: that your college years are the best years of your life.

** Thank you very much Dodie for sharing your experiences with us all~!! Sounds like Cloyne Court would have been my kind of gig~!! May you always find the best in all that you do~!! **

BOOK: Cloyne Court by Dodie Katangue

Glee-I will Survive Video

Glee is one of my favorite TV show. I adore Ryan Murphy and his creations-Currently, I am enjoying The American Horror Story along with ABC Revenge and Desperate Housewives. I also watch CBS Survivor and Amazing Race. What are your favorite TV shows and why?