Last Friday, I went to an awesome Zydeco show at The Just Dance Ballroom. They welcomed Cedryl Ballou and Corey Ledet for a really great show that got everyone’s feet movin’. This was one show in a weekly series of live Zydeco shows at The Just Dance studio. It is just one of the [...]
2008 Election Specials
Teaching Obama: in classrooms, lesson is vast
December 4, 2008 – 5:16 pm
In this audio slide by Anna Bloom, local classroom teachers and their students reflect on the classroom promise and challenges of this extraordinary election. Click here to play.
O.N. opines! On politics, on creepy comedy, on Xma$…
December 3, 2008 – 4:28 pm
In these commentaries, Oakland North writers weigh in on 1) keeping Black Friday in perspective; 2) keeping certain kinds of humor in the back room, where maybe it ought to stay; and 3) how the new secretary of state selection looks through the eyes of a journalist raised in West Africa.
Newly-elected Kaplan: “I know we can do it”
November 26, 2008 – 6:45 pm
By MARTIN RICARD
The 100 people who funneled last Thursday into the former downtown campaign office of newly elected at-large city councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan were welcomed by jazz music, food, and a number of familiar faces.
They chatted, exchanged hugs and shared laughter during a post-election celebration of her victory.
And then about half an hour into the [...]
The Votes and Voices project 2008
November 13, 2008 – 2:32 am
By OAKLAND NORTH STAFF
Nov. 4 –Oakland North’s special multimedia project captures the faces and voices of emotional voters on election day 2008. Click here to hear North Oaklanders talk about what this vote meant to them.
Polls closing, a dogged rush to make one vote count
November 12, 2008 – 3:45 pm
As the drama neared its crescendo on Nov. 4, Mary Green-King faced one big challenge before 8:00 PM: Would her aged, ailing aunt be able to cast her vote? Click here for the story.
Ministers grapple with election’s spiritual message
November 11, 2008 – 9:41 pm
Around local houses of worship, some ministers spent the first days after the election grappling with the spiritual message to be taken from Barack Obama’s victory. Click here for the story.
The Big Day Archive: live from the neighborhood
November 11, 2008 – 7:57 pm
by OAKLAND NORTH STAFF
Starting at 9:01 on November 4, and for the next 14 hours, Oakland North reporters Christina Salerno and Linnea Edmeieir presided from our newsroom over a live conversation among the community–with input from other O.N. readers as far-flung as Switzerland. From the first polling place lines to the street celebrations as the [...]
Dollars & Change: a special report tracking Obama donations
November 10, 2008 – 12:38 pm
by RHYEN COOMBS, LISA PICKOFF-WHITE and ELIZABETH SHEMARIA. Bay Area residents gave over $26 million to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, making our region one of the nation’s most concentrated centers of donation to Obama’s candidacy. This multi-media close-up, produced by reporters in the U.C. Berkeley School of Journalism’s advanced multi-media program, invites you to track [...]
UCB black students sober, charged, expectant
November 7, 2008 – 3:52 pm
By MARTIN RICARD
Nov. 6 — The mood was more subdued than celebratory in the room where a group of black graduate students from the University of California-Berkeley met to reflect the day after Tuesday’s historic presidential election. They shared their joy and ambivalence over having the first black president elected to office. They snacked on [...]
Prop 8 foes grapple with the blow and joy of Nov 4
November 7, 2008 – 3:32 pm
By ANNA BLOOM, CLARE MAJOR and KRISTINE WONG
Nov. 6 — “Just like the body can be sick from being exposed to hot and cold,” the Reverend Roland Stringfellow said today, “my soul was sick from being exposed to jubilation over Obama’s election and defeat from the passage of Prop 8.”
Stringfellow, of the Center for Gay [...]
“Allo, La Californie? Has he won?”
November 7, 2008 – 3:30 pm
Par BAGASSI KOURA
Nov. 6 — O.N.’s Bagassi Koura, whose home country is the West African nation of Burkina Faso, worked hard throughout voting day last Tuesday. But his cellphone kept interrupting–one after another, calls from Burkina Faso, demanding updates on the American election. We asked Koura, a former Agence France-Presse reporter, to describe in French [...]
Here, like rest of the U.S., an unforgettable night
November 6, 2008 – 9:26 pm
By OAKLAND NORTH STAFF
Nov. 6 – Before Dan Lopez left his house Tuesday night, he didn’t check to see whether a hot iron was plugged in or a pot of water left to boil over on the stove–he double-checked the digital video recorder. He needed to make sure he’d gotten it all.
Lopez drove [...]
Prop 8 challenged in court, questions abound
November 6, 2008 – 6:11 pm
By HENRY JONES and SAMSON REINY
Nov. 6–The passage of Proposition 8 has set off statewide legal confusion as same-sex marriage advocates filed petitions before the California Supreme Court yesterday, calling for the suspension of the gay marriage ban until the court decides if the amendment is unconstitutional.
Californians voted on Tuesday by a 52 to 48 [...]
Voters approve more cash for children’s hospitals
November 5, 2008 – 11:10 pm
By CLARE MAJOR
Nov. 5 — A proposition to give additional funds to children’s hospitals passed with 54 percent of votes in favor and 45 percent against.
Proposition 3 authorizes $980 million in general obligation bonds to fund grants for the construction, renovation, or related improvements of California children’s hospitals. The bonds will be repaid over [...]