Dodie Katague ( My oldest Son)- Author of Cloyne Court

AI Copy of Dodie in the New ChatGPT Apps

Dodie Katague is My oldest Son  

Cloyne Court is a 2009 creative memoir written by author Dodie Katague, which details his wild college days living in a student housing cooperative. The book is based on Katague's actual journals and memories from his time at the University of California, Berkeley during the late 1970s. 

About the Book

• The Setting: It takes place at Cloyne Court, a real-life student co-op building located just north of the UC Berkeley campus.
• The Plot: The story follows an 18-year-old student named Derek who moves into the house and is instantly thrown into a counter-culture world of cheap rent, communal living, and total freedom
• The "Animal House" Era: The book focuses heavily on the era right after the housing co-op went co-ed in 1972.
• Fact vs. Fiction: While about 75% of the book is factual and based on real events, the author changed names and combined different real people into blended characters to protect his old college friends.

About the Author

• College Life: Dodie Katague lived at the Cloyne Court co-op from 1977 to 1979. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a Geography degree in 1981. 
• Day Job: After college, he went to law school at UC Davis and became a long-time prosecutor in Martinez, California
• Other Works: Beyond Cloyne Court, he has worked on other fiction projects, including a young adult science fiction story called Rock Star Planet

What’s Cloyne Court (the novel) about?

By dkatague on January 1, 2010

If you lived in the co-ops at Berkeley, then you know what Cloyne Court is and what it’s about. Cloyne Court is a historic and “infamous” student dormitory run by the University Student’s Cooperative Association (now Berkeley Students Cooperative).

But for those of you new to Cloyne Court and the co-op system, Cloyne is the largest house in the BSC system with room for 150 students. The building was purchased in 1942 by the USCA as student housing and was male-only. The house went co-ed in 1972 and my book highlights a story that takes place in 1977.

Here’s the book blurb on the back cover (written by the publisher):

The Real Animal House: In 1946, the “real” all male “Animal House” was born when Cloyne Court become a student co-op. In the 50 & 60s, the “beasts” waged war with the Berkeley Chapter of Beta Theta Pi, an athletically-oriented fraternity. That feud ended when Cloyne’s archenemies moved across campus. However, the real story begins when Cloyne Court went co-ed in 1972 with the arrival of sixty-two women. Katague’s sexy, reveal-all creative memoir takes place in the late 70s, soon after the women moved in. All it takes is one kiss to transform animals into horny princes.Th

I prefer to describe the book via my “elevator speech”:

Cloyne Court is a coming-of-age, fish-out-of-water story about a young Berkeley Student who moves into a counter-culture, alternative student-run off-campus dormitory and meets a cast of zany residents. Based on the journals of the author, who lived at this historical and infamous house in the 1970’s, the novel is nostalgic romp through the wild indiscretions of youth. Those new to Cloyne Court will ask themselves “Did this place really exist and did that really happen?” And the answer is “yes and yes, it really did and it still does!

AI Overview on Dodie Katague( Professional and Family Life) 

A deeper look at Dodie's personal and professional life reveals a steady balance between strict legal work and creative pursuits:

Professional Life: A Career in Public Justice

Outside of his life as an author, Dodie (whose full name registered with the State Bar is Dodie Diosdado Katague) has built a long, respected career in California law:

• Longtime Prosecutor: He has spent decades serving as a Deputy District Attorney for the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office in Northern California. 
• Specialization in Fraud: Katague has frequently been the lead prosecutor on high-profile white-collar crime, financial fraud, and embezzlement cases in the East Bay.
• Notable Cases: He successfully prosecuted a major financial aid fraud ring at Contra Costa College and handled the complex embezzlement case involving the general manager of the Roddy Ranch Golf Course. He is well-known in the local legal community for his sharp public commentary on these cases (once famously remarking of scammers in a drama department that they were "good at drama and lousy at bookkeeping")
• Education: He laid his professional foundation by earning his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley (1981) and his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the UC Davis School of Law (Class of 1985).
• Personal Life & Family Roots

Dodie’s personal life is deeply intertwined with his tight-knit family and his unique Northern California upbringing:

• The Katague Legacy: As the eldest son, he grew up watching his father, David B. Katague, navigate a highly successful career as a research chemist and writer. His mother, Macrine Katague, and his siblings (including dynamic family members like his sister Ditas) form a very supportive network that frequently celebrates each other’s milestones online.
• Creative Outlet: Writing serves as his personal escape from the heavy, often dark reality of prosecuting crimes. He uses his personal life experiences, most notably his journals from his wild, youthful days living at the Cloyne Court student co-op-to fuel his fiction]
• Family Man: He remains close to his parents, often helping take care of family logistics, and is known within the family circle for being a highly competitive board game player (especially at games like Blokus) during family gatherings.
• Dodie is married to Ruth Carver. They have three children, Philip, Alix and Marina.  

Finally, Do you know the Origin of Halo Halo?

In the early 1900s, Japanese migrants introduced kakigōri, a simple dessert made with finely shaved ice and sweet syrup, to the Philippines. Filipinos then gave it a local twist by adding ingredients like ube, leche flan, saba bananas, sweetened beans, nata de coco, and evaporated milk.

Over time, it evolved into the colorful, ingredient-packed halo-halo that has become one of the country's most iconic desserts.

Sometimes, the best Filipino dishes have roots from around the world, but we always make them our own.