mR. bERZERKELEY
The Naked Mayor of Berkeley
by
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A gasp hits the tourists as all eyes glance through bus windows. A female tourist covers her young daughter’s eyes with a hand, which the daughter pulls down after a few seconds.
“That is the mayor of Berkeley, Jim Sain, heading to city hall for another day leading Berkeley,” the guide says with a sigh.
His nakedness, Mayor Jim Sain—born, bred, and schooled in Berkeley—shows no signs of his fifty years as his fully tanned, six-foot frame strides athletically on the sidewalk. The sounds his Birkenstocks make are in sync with the sounds of the city. A backpack moves only slightly on his bare back and square shoulders. The full head of black curly hair and the warm smile on his face hides the Jagermeister binge and several joints he smoked last night at People’s Park and in his beer and pizza place, The Hole, just off the university campus. “This is definitely not the Midwest,” an elderly woman says as she stares.
“He is not breaking any laws or city ordinances,” the guide says. “He probably has his clothes in his backpack, so he technically is ‘wearing’ clothes.”
“Are there … others like him here?” an older female adjusting her scarf asks.
“Oh, yes,” the guides answers. “He is the leader of the ‘naked people,’ and they are always looking for recruits. You want to volunteer?”
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About the Book
Ask anyone: Jim Sain is a pompous, naked, free thinker. He’s also the mayor of Berkeley.
One of his high school chums has moved back to renovate Hamilton House, one wacky adventure at a time, and who knows what’s coming next? The mayor has been dubbed “mR. bERZERKELEY” by a cartoonist who is determined to embarrass him (and undermine his bid for reelection). His personal life is as colorful as his political life. He gives his detractors plenty of fodder to fuel his demise (but in his eyes, these are not signs of moral weakness).
In this spoof that cheerfully brings the sixties into the twenty-first century, Jim’s buffoonery as he interacts with boarding-house residents creates a wild smorgasbord of political, mysterious, sexual, and otherwise edgy adventures. A cartoonist, a naïve freshman, a reformed prostitute, lesbian lovers, a sarcastic cook, the deformed son of a university bigwig, and a Kansas politician are some of the characters who spark energy back into the old house and bring classic Berkeley lore back to life.
mR. bERZERKELEY is Jack McLaughlin’s love song to a city like no other.
About the Author
Jack McLauglin’s love for Berkeley—its citizens and its past, present, and future—inspired him to invite others to experience a taste of another city by the bay. Now a resident of Carson City, Nevada, he keeps Berkeley close to his heart and promises to live near the “Gourmet Ghetto” forever.