Figure skater Michael Xie is a familiar face at the Oakland Ice Center, where he has been training for the past year and a half under coach Laura Lipetsky. The 16-year-old from Washington comes to Oakland for weeks at a time to master jumps and perfect his performances before national competitions. The rink is becoming more widely known in the figure skating community, having nurtured Olympian Alysa Liu, who came in seventh at the Beijing games this winter and until…
Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith is a muralist and artist in Oakland. As creative director of the Bay Area Mural Project, Wolfe-Goldsmith works to gain exposure for local artists, while painting the walls in Oakland with image that resonate. Her work reflects the culture, history and dreams that shape communities, as it presents empowering representations of BIPOC individuals. In this video, Wolfe-Goldsmith does the physically demanding work of a mural artist and talks about the piece she is most proud of.
Seth Evans, an Oakland middle-school student, won four gold medals this summer at the USA Weightlifting National Youth Championships in Detroit. Oakland North caught up with Seth and his father, Dion, during a weekly training session at SPS Gym in August. Seth talks about competition, his training regimen and his dream of competing in the 2028 summer Olympics in Los Angeles.