About Charles Berkowitz

Contact Charles Berkowitz

Education:

Bard College

June 1998 - June 2002

Film, History, Classics

Published Stories:

Mapping the Mind

CNS News

CNS Brain Mapping segment Producers: Sean Havey, Charles Berkowitz

Cops and Robbers

CNS News

COPS & ROBBERS is a revolutionary look at the relationship between Law Enforcement, the Media, and the Oakland community. Featuring Jinho 'The Piper' Ferreira of the Oakland hip-hop band Flipsyde.

Bishop

CNS News

A church in West Oakland is saved from foreclosure by a last minute investor. Charles Berkowitz and Aaron Mendelson report for CNS News. Shot by Charles Berkowitz and Pendarvis Harshaw.

Dixie

CNS News

Fisherman’s Wharf is known for being one of the busiest tourist attractions on the west coast, but Captain Maury Polse and his cousin Leonard Cohen are keeping its main attraction short and sweet. Charles Berkowitz reports on a couple of sailors that are giving tourists a memorable ride out on the San Francisco Bay. Shot by Charles Berkowitz and Sean Havey.

Oakland artists gather for seventh annual Jingletown ArtWalk

Oakland North

The galleries of Oakland’s Jingletown, a pocket East Oakland community once dominated by immigrants and working warehouses, opened this weekend to display the work of over 35 local artists, all part of the seventh annual Jingletown Winter ArtWalk. The weekend event highlighted a variety of work, from photography and oil painting to metal work and textiles.

Immortal Jellyfish

CNS News

How the biology of a rare species of jellyfish coined the "immortal jellyfish" is influencing the science of cell rejuvenation. For CNS News.

Oakland officials consider new graffiti ordinance

Oakland North

With several enlarged photographs of blighted Oakland property leaned up against the chamber windows, Oakland’s Public Works Committee convened Tuesday morning to consider a new graffiti ordinance that would bolster the city’s current vandalism laws. The ordinance, proposed by City Attorney Barbara Parker and District 3 Councilmember Nancy Nadel, would enhance penalties for violators, increase criminal charges from an infraction to a misdemeanor, and offer reimbursement to owners of repeatedly vandalized properties.

Ceremony honors Alameda County veterans and military families

Oakland North

Mickey Ganitich rose slowly from his chair as Supervisor Nate Miley called him to the podium. As Miley handed him a framed commendation, the 92-year-old World War II veteran stopped suddenly, and turned to the crowd before him. With his face bathed in the morning light, he raised his right hand to his temple, palm down, and softly said, “Thank you all, young people.”

Proposed graffiti ordinance seeks harsher punishment for vandalism

Oakland North

This month, the city council’s Public Works Committee will consider a new graffiti ordinance, which aims to bolster Oakland’s current vandalism laws by inflicting harsher penalties on offenders and offering support for property owners frequently targeted by graffiti writers. The “Graffiti Enforcement Program” proposed by City Attorney Barbara Parker and District 3 representative Nancy Nadel, would enhance a section of the city’s municipal code which presently only addresses graffiti abatement procedures and prohibits the sale and possession of pressurized paint cans and markers to minors.

District 1 candidate Don Link’s campaign focused on community policing

Oakland North

When he was 78 years old, Don Link’s father, Richard, crashed the homebuilt plane he was flying over Hollister, California. The aircraft was demolished in the accident, and Richard walked away with a black eye and a few bruises. With tears in his eyes, Link’s father later told him that the plane had destroyed itself to save his life. “He was one of those people who, if you told him something couldn’t be done, he was more determined to do it,” Link recalls. “I suppose he instilled some of that in me.”

New affordable housing development comes to East Oakland

Oakland North

Jeanice Spence stood in the doorway of her new apartment at Clinton Commons watching her four-month old kitten frolic amongst the guests gathered to celebrate the opening of Oakland’s latest affordable housing development. She said she feels at ease now, finally, after spending years in homeless shelters and rescue missions, struggling to find a place to call home. A blur of potential tenants walked past her, followed by the occasional laugh or tidbit of conversation, but Spence stood at her door, watching her kitten play in between a flurry of dress pants and black skirts filing by. “After the journey I’ve been through the last three years,” she said, her eyes welling with tears, “I feel relief. Indescribable relief.”

None listed.

Fruitvale celebrates Día de los Muertos

Oakland North

The Día de los Muertos celebration in the Fruitvale Village drew people from across the East Bay on Sunday. Azteca dance, Mariachi and Andean music filled the air as thousands of people observed a myriad of altars, which represented everyone from Oakland homicides in 2011, to grandparents. By Steve Fisher Photos by Charles Berkowitz and Aaron Mendelson

A look back on Occupy Oakland a year after the first raid on the camp

Oakland North

On the morning of October 10, 2011, a group of tents appeared in the grass of Frank Ogawa Plaza. In a week, the encampment grew from about 100 protesters to over 550 people, brought together by the issues of economic disparity raised by Occupy Wall Street—the gap between the “1 Percent” and “99 Percent,” in the rhetoric of the group. Written by Angela Hart and Sam Rolens Timeline by Charles Berkowitz

Oakland protestors rally against food store’s use of E-Verify program

Oakland North

Protesters held a community rally in front of the Mi Pueblo Food Center in East Oakland on Saturday to protest the company’s voluntary decision to use the Federal Immigrations and Customs (ICE) program, E-Verify, for all new hires. By Steve Fisher

A Lovely Day: A new documentary highlights Hip-Hop therapy in local high schools

Oakland North

In 2009, Tomás Alvarez III sat at his desk as a group of nine teenagers filed into his classroom at Oakland High School. This was the fifth year of his Beats, Rhymes and Life program, which uses hip-hop music as a form of therapy for at-risk teenagers. Alvarez began the class in the usual fashion, playing instrumental beats on a boom box. As the class gathered in a circle and began to freestyle, Alvarez recalls, he recognized something particularly special in the class of 2009 –who would go on to become the focus of “A Lovely Day,” a new documentary that will be shown in sneak preview in Oakland tonight.

Conservatory collection delights customers at Oakland piano shop

Oakland North

Fragments of jazz progressions and classical nocturnes filled the air at Oakland’s Piedmont Piano Company last weekend as customers gathered to admire, play—and purchase—the store’s recently acquired inventory of pianos from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. This two-day surplus sale was the first of its kind in the Piedmont Piano Company’s 34-year history.

Stepping down as Mayor Quan’s spokesperson, Sue Piper reflects on challenging years

Oakland North

Stepping down as Mayor Quan’s spokesperson, Sue Piper reflects on challenging years.

Parents, doctors and kids celebrate the fight against pediatric cancer

Oakland North

Parents, doctors and kids celebrate the fight against pediatric cancer

Father, son paint murals to highlight lives of Oakland’s homeless

Oakland North

Father, son paint murals to highlight lives of Oakland’s homeless

Pandora and the Great Wall of Oakland team up to showcase local video and music

Oakland North

Pandora and the Great Wall of Oakland team up to showcase local video and music

Awards:

Jerome Hill Award (May 2002)

Given for cinematic excellence from Bard College for undergraduate thesis film, "Achilles in Vietnam".

Work Experience:

Paramedic

Maimonides Medical Center  - Brooklyn NY  ( September 2010 - February 2012 )

Worked as 911 paramedic. Work included providing pre- hospital advanced life support care to patients and operating ambulance within New York City 911 system.

Paramedic

St. Lukes/Roosevelt Hospital  - New York NY  ( September 2006 - May 2010 )

Worked as 911 paramedic.

Paramedic/ Multimedia Coodinator

NYCMedics  - New York NY  ( October 2005 -  )

Co-founder of NYC Medics Disaster Response. Field Medic / Mulitmedia coordinator.

Paramedic

St. Clare's Hospital  - New York NY  ( December 2004 - August 2008 )

Worked as 911 paramedic.

Paramedic

St. Vincent's Hospital  - New York NY  ( January 2004 - May 2010 )

Worked as 911 paramedic.

Skills:

• Proficient in Final Cut Pro, Avid, After Effects, Maya, Cinema 4D, Soundtrack Pro, Pro Tools, DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Photoshop, Excel, MS Word, Power Point,Keynote, WordPress, HTML 5, and CSS.

  NREMT-Paramedic, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support.

Other Works:

Rollins School of Public Health, “Armed Conflict and Public Health” Emory University, February 2011

“Readers of Homer”, Kos, Greece, August 2010

The Philoctetes Project “Theater of War” 2008

“Nostoi:Stories of War and Return” Hampshire College, MA. March 2006

Bellarmine Forum : “Violence : An Interdisciplinary Investigation into the Human Condition”, Loyola Marymount University, CA. Nov 2004

“Achilles In Iraq : War, Peace, and Humanity” Conference, University of Missouri - St. Louis April 2004

Trailer for "The Watch", Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya’s novel. Taking its cues from the Antigone myth, "The Watch" recreates the chaos, intensity, and immediacy of battle, and conveys the inevitable repercussions felt by the soldiers, their families, and by one sister. The result is a gripping tour through the reality of this very contemporary conflict, and our most powerful expression to date of the nature and futility of war.  Read more...