One of my top three favorite things to do as a kid-besides hiding behind the huge wall of a prickly pear cactus in my backyard or laying on one of two hammocks that were between the three cherry trees to space out-was climbing trees. Hurling my lil’ brown body higher, higher with a tinge of …Read more…
Super Blue Blood Moon Over East Oakland
The Super Blue Blood Moon as it appeared over East Oakland
Profile of The East Oakland Switchboard
The East Oakland Switchboard is located right around the corner from me. For three years, I’ve walked and ridden past it and wondered what the business does. Formerly homeless, I could tell it was a non-profit organization, but because I have never seen any lines of people around it, I remained mystified. I could …Read more…
Design your destiny then print BIG.
Some people wait on life to define them and others design and define life for themselves. When you get that opportunity to show off your design, make sure you print big. Early Eighties In the early eighties, Dawaud Muhammad remembers black homeowners whose parents had migrated to Oakland from Louisiana and Mississippi as his neighborhood …Read more…
Sweet and Bitter
I’m leaving my $1400 – a-month two-bedroom rented house, locking my closet door; otherwise, known as my front door, with the leaky roof above it. I lock the two locks on my security door and walk down the steps to my non-shrub lined trail because someone has stolen them! Neither my front nor back yards …Read more…
Hope Dealers and Spirit Wheelers
The East side of the O in the Wild Wild West, California’s desert and no man’s land. This desert isn’t only craving water but thirsty for so much more. Seminary to Havenscourt is not yet “the deep” but it’s so deep. Liquor stores and laundromats; check cashing’s and smoke shops. The largest most dominant …Read more…
Love letter to the Fruitvale
Kalil and I were in bed just last night and at about 8 p.m. we heard firecrackers outside our bedroom window. Several rounds of fire crackers-crackle, boom, swoosh. We just laughed hard, what are they celebrating? Sunday night in the Fruitvale! I grew up in the South Bay and just a few days ago …Read more…
The Glenview District: The Past. The Present. What Is The Future?
The Glenview District is a neighborhood in East Oakland that is home to some of the city’s highest- rated restaurants and local businesses. It serves as a crown jewel on Park Boulevard that is within walking distance of many great Oakland landmarks in between Fruitvale and Piedmont. The positive reputation of this area has …Read more…
My Spiritual Aunt – in English and Spanish
When I was younger, I lost my wallet and turned my house upside down looking for it. I had worked a graveyard shift at work and after resting in the morning, that afternoon I went to get dressed and I couldn’t find it. I frantically tore my room then the whole house upside-down looking for …Read more…
Chasing a Dream: The Story of a Vietnam War Refugee
Tam Nguyen’s Story (1959-Current); retold by his daughter Chrystal Nguyen In 1975, the capital of Vietnam fell to the communist Northern Vietnamese Army. In 1978, thousands of Vietnamese citizens began risking their lives to escape the communist reign, in hopes of reaching a country with promising freedom and safety. Many of them gathered on small …Read more…