Welcome!

"Your Mom is So Berkeley" started out as a joke at work. We thought it was funny so I wrote a note for some friends on facebook. They thought it was funny so I made a facebook group. The "Your Mom is so Berkeley" facebook group now has over 2,500 members so I've decided to bring it out to a wider audience. I hope you like it.

Contact us: yourmomissoberkeley@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter: @yourmomissoberk

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Your Move is So Berkeley



So every time we get an influx of new members we get a bunch of the standard jokes that reemerge because they're the first ones people think of. Any member who's been around more than a few weeks will recognize the all time #1 most posted YMISB joke: YMISB...she calls it Grove St. Other common jokes have to do with body hair and PCITD (Post Carob Induced Trauma Disorder)

One of the other common types of jokes is about where your mom moved to because that place is either now more Berkeley than Berkeley, or it's just more affordable. A while back I compiled some of the place your mom has gone. Because your mom gets around.

Examples from members include:

YMISB...

...she is debating selling the house and moving to Oregon or Maine cause Berkeley has become "so fucking precious".

...she moved to Covelo.

...she moved to Sonoma about 1982.

...she moved to Oakland 30 years before it was cool.

...she moved to the South during the civil rights movement to be a part of it. In 1966, back when her maiden name was Jamieson, she was the first white woman to attend Grambling as part of an NAACP integration strategy. Afterwards, her and my dad chose to move to tolerant Berkeley to start our interracial family, and I was born in 1970. (Ed. Note: This is way too much info for this format, but your mom seems pretty cool.)

...she moved to Albany cuz Berkeley was getting too yuppie!

 ...she moved to oakland, which is realer than berkeley.

...she moved to oakland! Couldn't afford the rent

... the cost of living in Berkeley is making her consider a move to *gasp* Albany

...she moved to Bolinas

...she moved to SEBASTOPOL

...she had to move to eugene

...she moved to Santa Cruz...and leads Goddess rituals

...she moved to west oakland

...she moved to some other place that's cooler or even more Berkeley. Like um, Takoma Park, MD. Or (Your city here). The dream of the 60's is alive in Portland (ME)!
(Ed. Note: No. It's not.)

...she refused a profitable opportunity to move to Kensington because in her memory "that's where all the Feds always lived." (Ed. Note: Thank you!)

Friday, March 20, 2015

More from Lyrics Born

Nice reaction to the Lyrics Born post, and honestly, I wanted to include more than 10 in the first go-round. So here's 10 more from the very funny Bay Area legend.

Happy 4,000 everyone!

Your mom is so Berkeley...

...she thought Portlandia was too right-wing.

...she named her cat "Anna Purr-na"

...she only checks "Other", then adds "-Worldly".

...she has an e-subscription to STREET SPIRIT.

...she had her first baby @ 58.

...she considers a chenille cape, a cotton kimono, hammer pants & a pair of Merrells awesome formal wear.

...she took her Prius in to get a Chi alignment & it's Chakras balanced.

...she's in total denial about her Conservative Radicalism.

...she brought "Rare!" as her date/co-chaperone to your prom.

...she looks like the Mr T of ethnic craft-fair jewelry.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Celebrating 4000 With One of the Best of All Time

Damn, has it really been 3 years since my last post? Yikes. I really let the Facebook group kind of stay the course as I navigated my grad program. Things have calmed down a bit over the last few years, in as much as you can call becoming a stay at home dad and having a third home birthed baby "calmed down." I keep meaning to gather the gems and post them here, but it keeps not happening. When we hit 3000 members in December of 2013 I celebrated by going all the way back through the Facebook page to find the best jokes and bring them to the front. This time I decided to just bring you the best of one of the all time great YMISBers.

For about two years hip hop legend Lyrics Born joined the group and displayed the wit that helped make his brand. Wikipedia describes his mom as "an Italian/Jewish-American union organizer," which is pretty damn Berkeley. We're hoping to some day get an interview with him. But until then, please enjoy the best of Lyrics Born, and happy 4000!

YMISB...

...she thinks Kensington is a Red State.

...she thinks Atheists are "too religious".

...she thinks the Occupy movement is too corporate.

...her whole wardrobe consists of crushed velvet & REI polar fleece.

...she uses Yiddish slang & she's Tibetan.

...she thinks the Ashby Flea Mkt is elitist.

...you played naked @ Totland park until you were 14.

...she grinds her own Maize.

...you were conceived in a drum circle.

...she was her own doula.