The Kinfolks Motorcycle Club’s annual Thanksgiving dinner at Palo Vista Gardens is still an hour away but the dinner guests are already gathering. Joanne Berstine, a 35 -year resident of the senior housing residence, is among the first to arrive. “I know everyone of them church-going boys” she tells me in the light-filled community community …Read more…
About Bill Joyce
Bill Joyce is a retired Berkeley teacher and 2016 alumnus of Oakland Voices.
Nearly a Century of Magic in the Dimond
Magic in all its mystery hung, literally, in the air at a recent meeting of the Oakland Magic Circle (OMC). Twelve- year- old Azlan Dubin fanned a deck of cards flawlessly telling me, “I’ve been doing cardistry for a year.” Balancing single cards above and below the deck, he continued, “When I first came here …Read more…
Sometimes it takes a tragedy
As the unsettling sifting of the ashes of the Ghost Ship fire drew to a close Wednesday, three blocks away at St. Elizabeth Elementary School, sixth-grade teacher Adrianna Alvarez led students in a prayer assembly. The stillness of the gathering of 260 students and their teachers contrasted sharply with the media-frenzied, traffic-clogged streets and the …Read more…
What Would You Do?
(On the 2nd weekend in October, labor activists, military veterans, musicians, artists, and people of faith from across the US converged on both sides of the US-Mexico border at Nogales, AZ. The action was sponsored by School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) to draw attention to the “war on drugs’” and trade policies that drive …Read more…
Grand Opening of The Shed: The Original Scraper Bike Team on the Move
The Original Scraper Bike Team mustered at noon on Saturday, June 11 at the 81st Ave Library. Scrapers torqued chains and pumped air in their tires as they prepared to ride to the grand opening of their new home. Eleven-year old Izzy, just out of school for the summer, looked on as Miguel, 15, inspected …Read more…
Change for the better promised by new West Oakland Health Council CEO Benjamin Pettus
Smooth jazz played softly in the background while some 100 supporters gathered June 30 under a bright white tent beside the West Oakland Health Council (WOHC) on Adeline Street near 7th Street. Benjamin Pettus _ a nationally recognized “turn around” specialist of community health centers _ was being officially introduced as WOHC’s new CEO. He …Read more…
Sights and Sounds: An Artist Paints in Athol Park – A Radio Story
http://cpa.ds.npr.org/kalw/audio/2016/04/WEB.AtholPark.mp3 Two tennis courts, enclosed by a chain link fence, sit adjacent to Athol Plaza Park in Oakland, near Lake Merritt. Laila Espinoza is here nearly every weekend. She hangs a canvas on the tennis court fence so passersby can catch a glimpse of her painting. Today, it’s the image of Our Lady Of …Read more…
Friday Mornings at Arsola’s
In the lot tucked between Castlemont High and Center of Hope Church along MacArthur Blvd., three women are pulling down the flap of a pop-up tent. It’s an extra task, one of many, on this drizzly Friday morning. They are preparing for this week’s food distribution at Arsola’s House Food Pantry, still two hours away. …Read more…
The Impact of Impact Fees
Having prayed outside City Hall for the “soul of the city and an end to the housing crisis,” about 60 low- income Oakland residents, housing advocates and clergy filed into the packed March 22 meeting of the city council’s community and economic development (CED) committee. Their chief concerns were the committee’s latest roll-out of the …Read more…
The Tree of Life: “Come Close”
The six- feet high, 30- foot long The Tree of Life mural-on-canvas sweeps across the entrance of the Oliver Art Center at the California College of Art (CCA). A vibrant tree forms the center of the visual tales of the artists’ journey from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. To the left, are deadly scenes of village …Read more…