Santa Clara Magazine

Santa Clara Mag Blog

Santa Clara Magazine's blog, updated whenever the writing goblin visits the editorial staff of the magazine.

Bronco Buzz: Somebody's Gotta Do It

Wednesday, Jun. 29, 2011

At least Republicans and Democrats can agree on one thing: Leon Panetta ’60, J.D. ’63 is awesome. Last Tuesday, the senate unanimously confirmed Panetta as the new secretary of defense, replacing the retiring Robert Gates.

Most recently Panetta served as the Director of the CIA. A position he took in January 2009 and which culminated with the killing of Osama Bin Laden in May.

Panetta steps into the Pentagon’s highest civilian role amid two ongoing wars, the intervention in Libya, and the promise of defense cuts made by his predecessor. Let’s just say President Obama owes his new cabinet member something nice come Secretary’s Day.

Panetta, who previously taught a political science class on campus as a visiting professor, returned to campus in October to kickoff the President’s Speaker Series. Be sure to check out the full speech, including the Q&A session that followed.

Added July 6: Further back in our archives: read Farid Senzai's 2007 interview with Panetta following up on his work with the Iraq Study Group.

Posted by Jeff Gire | Permalink | Comments (0)
Radio, radio: What's in a name?

Friday, Jun. 3, 2011

The checker turns to me clasping that printed chronicle of my purchases, congratulates me on how much I've saved, then looks down at the receipt and says, "Thank you, Mister...."

Then comes the hesitation -- and knowing that what comes next is just a guess at pronunciation, but one she's required to make.

"Soamie?" she says. "Is that close?"

....

That's part of the "Perspective" I recorded for KQED Radio and that airs on June 3 at 7:35 a.m.. Read the text or download the podcast at your leisure here. Have a name story you'd like to share? Comment below.

-- Steven Boyd Saum, Editor

Photo courtesy David Marks, KQED

Posted by Steven Boyd Saum | Permalink | Comments (0)