When I sat down to speak with Professor Nadesan Permaul, I had a few questions prepared. Professor Permaul is many things: a triple Cal alum (B.A. ’73, Ph.D. ’90), a long-time lecturer in Rhetoric, Sociology, and Political Science, a campus administrator, a board president, a bow tie connoisseur. He chose instead to pursue graduate work, eventually earning a PhD focused on American political theory and 19th-century literature. That year, Berkeley launched its American Cultures requirement, and Nad’s proposal was the only one accepted by the department.