Culture
Spoken word, a form of poetry that expresses social commentary, life experiences, and emotion has become particularly strong in the Bay Area where performances happen almost every night. Youth development programs such as Youth Speaks have flourished over the years attracting thousands of teenagers around the nation to take the stage and perform. Spencer Whitney got an inside look at how spoken word poetry groups are giving youth a voice in the Bay Area.
Check out the Town Spectacle—a whole new kind of living art experience that brings together local artists, musicians and performers to connect with the community.
As a child, West Oakland resident Jack B. Pierson, 27, hated wearing the pink and purple outfits his mother chose for him. He craved the sensible, utilitarian clothing his older brother got to wear, the kind that permitted a more rough-and-tumble lifestyle. Pierson was a girl back then.
Oakland Tech finished off the OAL season with a 76-59 win over Castlemont in the league championship game on Saturday afternoon at Laney College. The Bulldogs will move on to the Northern California playoffs for the third consecutive time.
Discussions of food, community well being, and employment intersected in West Oakland on Wednesday at the city’s first “Ready, Set, Grow” event, a forum on jobs in sustainable food systems and health. Put on by the Alliance for Oakland’s Food Systems, which is headed up by People’s Grocery, the event brought together a who’s-who of Oakland’s non-profits that are hiring, and people looking for work to help them prepare for and find jobs.
Bradley Roberts picks up a straight-edge razor and leans over his client. The barber’s indigo sleeves are rolled up to expose a map of tattoos that continue even beneath his salt and pepper beard. With precision and focus, he slides the blade along a lathered cheek with a long even stroke. He wipes the metal edge clean and starts again.
Over the years, Fairyland has kept its focus on storytelling alive. Each week, the puppets go live in front of a crowd of children, telling classic tales like “Sleeping Beauty” and more obscure ones the puppet masters have borrowed from other cultures. “You don’t need a lot of technology to tell a story,” says C.J. Hirschfield, Director of Fairyland. “And it is how we pass along our culture – whatever it is – through the stories, through generations.”
All night, fighters will come and go, the post-apocalyptic backdrop will change, and, in the end, one person will be crowned the victor of the first “Fight Night” video game tournament at Oakland’s new Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment.
Superheroes, zombies, and comic book fans from all walks of life were the center of attention at the first-ever Image Expo this weekend in Oakland. The three-day fan fest commemorated the 20th anniversary of Berkeley-based Image Comics the independent, creator-owned comic book publishing company. “Our expectations were very modest coming into the event since this is our first,” said convention promoter and retailer Jimmy Jay. “We put the event together in less than three months, and we wanted to throw…