Community
On a Thursday morning in October—just an ordinary Thursday, not any one in particular—the staff reporters of Oakland North scattered across town with a simple mission: To spend one hour observing what Oaklanders do on a typical day.
If you forget to bring your mother-in-law a gift when you visit for the holiday, you can buy her a set of “Mindful Mandala Cards” for $18 from the souvenir vending machine at the Oakland International Airport. If she’s not that kind of woman, you might get her a “Golden Gate Bridge Flour Sack” for $14 instead (flour not included). For $28, you can win (or lose) several adored auntie points by bringing your nieces and nephews a “Woodland Animal…
The sun shines over Mountain View Cemetery. Rays beam down through the trees, split by the branches which rustle and dance in the light breeze on this beautiful morning, and you wonder how many dead people fit in this cemetery. We have strange ways of counting the dead in this country. Cigarettes kill 480,000 people a year in the United States, certainly some of whom are in this cemetery, but we don’t keep a running tally on the news like…
Saved from staggering by the blue bench beneath him, a man sits. It’s Thursday at Mosswood Park and, perhaps, this is his usual spot. The sun reflects off his balding head, which is framed by salt and pepper puffs of hair and connected to a beard that’s more salt than it is pepper. He gazes across the basketball court, staring at no one in particular. A group of folks make a diagonal beeline across the court. They are a motley…
A 30-something, slightly overweight woman clad in yoga pants, Adidas and an electric blue athletic pullover, as if she frequents an overpriced workout class, stares begrudgingly at the stairs before her. She waits, looking at those stairs, like they have done something personally to her. Finally, after what feels like 30 minutes, she lets out a long “huff” before taking her first step on the gray cracked stairs at Joaquin Miller Park. It’s a wonder she hasn’t fallen on the…
The janitor sings when no one’s around. 11 a.m. is quiet at Macarthur BART Station. The bike racks are full: the morning commuters are long gone. The janitor leans up against the ticket machine in a BART-blue jumpsuit, looks out at the forecourt, and scats. His voice—broad, electric—reaches round the bare concrete, swells in the crevices. Jazz. Loud, secret. After a moment, a low hush builds overhead. A whistle, the universal sound of wheels on track, and a high hum…
Town Park is a community skate park at deFremery Park in West Oakland. Night or day, there’s always someone hanging out, whether neighborhood kids after school or future professionals honing their skills. Click on the audio button below the photos to hear what was going on at the stake park on an ordinary Thursday.
At the center of Oakland Chinatown, Pacific Renaissance Plaza presents a mix of Asian culture and American daily life. At 11 am, the smell of roast duck and chicken gradually floats into the air, along with the loud noise of chefs striking their knives onto cutting boards coming from the kitchens of restaurants. Shops around the building have Cheongsam and Chinese traditional paintings hanging in the windows. People walk through the plaza, some with a burger or coffee, at a fast pace, and others with…
Mental health and relaxation professionals across Oakland say they are seeing heightened levels of election-related stress and anxiety among the city’s residents.