Laurel Moorhead

PlayDate gets Oaklanders out of the club and onto the Twister mat

At least once a month on a Saturday night, the singles scene in Oakland is less about saving up the cash to wine and dine and more about brushing up on your UNO and Connect Four skills. This weekend, people gathered at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Oakland to show their love for doing things like rolling the dice to get past GO and trying to get their left knee on yellow and right hand on green. PlayDate, a monthly…

Butternut squash gratin

Her love for gratin dishes started at age 15, when Alethea Harper spent a summer abroad in central France. Her host mother, Annie, was a “genius” in the kitchen and one of her dishes was Gratin Dauphinois, which pairs thinly sliced potatoes with cheese. In the U.S. this French dish is commonly known as scalloped potatoes or potatoes au gratin. Harper insists that her gratin could never be as good as her host mothers. “Somehow her potatoes would just melt…

Sister Spit on stage in Oakland tomorrow

Sister Spit: The Next Generation, a collaboration of spoken-word performances by local “queer” writers, poets, artists, and a comedienne kicked off their 2009 national tour at the Lab Wednesday night. The closest they get to the Bay Area again is Oct. 7 at the Oakland Metro Operahouse in downtown Oakland. Presented by local literary nonprofit Radar Productions, it was a return to roots for many of the performers including local celebrity Michelle Tea, founder of Sister Spit. Tea made her…

“The Will and Willie Show” tapes in Upper Rockridge

A chocolate-brown pinstriped suit with a brown silk handkerchief folded seamlessly in the left breast pocket. Brown suede dress shoes and a gold pinkie ring that glinted in the spotlight as he strode on stage.
Willie Brown was here. Story by Laurel Moorhead.

North Oakland Now: Protecting seniors from prescription drug perils and substance abuse

You have to look as far as New Zealand to find another country where drug companies can advertise products directly to patients. In the United States’ less regulated pharmaceutical market, patients can struggle to sort out competing claims about various drugs. And with Americans over 65 taking 34 percent of all prescription drugs, senior citizens are among the individuals most vulnerable drug-related complications. Poisoning is the fastest growing cause of accidental death among seniors, particularly from overdoses of over-the-counter and…

Author Gopnik on the wonders of babies’ brains

It’s not surprising that Alison Gopnik, 54, mother of three adult children and the eldest of six siblings, became fascinated at a young age by the cognitive goings-on of babies. She was around them all the time. “My first son was born when I was 23, so there’s about 5 minutes in there when I wasn’t taking care of a baby,” Gopnik said. The child psychologist and U.C. Berkeley professor arrived last night at Mrs. Dalloway’s, the College Avenue bookstore…