Community

Candidates for local offices interact with voters at Oakland Caucus

For one of the first-time candidates running for public office, the first-ever Oakland Caucus on Thursday night seemed undoubtedly formal. Richard Raya is running for the District 1 council seat, which includes North Oakland, in November, and while his campaigning to this point has involved a lot of community meetings and house parties, this event featured most of the candidates for local political seats in full-on campaign mode as they mingled with voters.

McClymonds High students learn about their family histories with ancestral research project

On Wednesday afternoon, students from McClymonds High presented ancestral research projects as part of an event entitled “Remembering Our Past, Moving Toward Our Futures.” For three months, students had conducted ancestral research on their families by interviewing relatives and using genealogical search tools with help from volunteers from the African American Geological Society of California (AAGSC). Students even took a DNA test to find out about where their lineage originated.

Students learn “Science of the Game” with A’s outfielder Josh Reddick

More than 130 fifth and sixth graders at Lincoln Elementary School in Richmond studied science on Tuesday. Okay, so what? This time their teachers didn’t wear white lab coats and talk about strange things underneath a microscope. Instead, Oakland A’s outfielder Josh Reddick and team mascot Stomper used a Louisville Slugger and chopped up baseballs to talk about the “Science of the Game.”

Chop Bar pig roast at Linden Street Brewery draws hungry spectators

Two local businesses—Linden Street Brewery and Chop Bar—came together in Oakland Sunday for their annual pig roast celebration, held on the third Sunday of every month between April and September. Dynamic, an Oakland based band, performed throughout the evening. The four pigs they roasted came from Langley Farm in Petaluma, about 50 miles north of Oakland. Chefs at Chop Bar received the hogs two days before the roast, putting them in big white coolers while brining then for two days…