Culture
“I put love into this food,” said Lawana Wyatt, who has worked with food services in Oakland for the past 13 years, as she instructed a member of her staff on how much food to add to each plate when the students arrived. Although Wyatt is enthusiastic about school lunch on any given day, she knew that Thursday’s meal was really something special. “It’s not every day that we can get organic food,” she said. “I think it’s a good idea. I really hope the kids come.”
If you have a car—preferably one that’s insured, reasonably new, and clean—starting in January, it could make you money every time you park. All you have to do is let a few strangers drive it. This kind of car-sharing is not unheard of in California, but a new state law is about to make it easier to rent out your car when you don’t need it.
Oakland’s Asian Cultural Center forum brought the ten mayoral candidates together to share their views on issues important to Asian American communities including equal language access, crime prevention and business revitalization.
The Temescal location of Tara’s Organic Ice Cream, a New Mexico-born ice creamery serves all natural, locally made treats with unlikely flavors. Ever heard of garam marsala ice cream? How about basil? Or blueberry mint? You can try those and more at Tara’s. Check out these videos to learn more.
The Oracle Arena was filled with powerful music Saturday evening, as Bay Area church choirs competed before an enthusiastic crowd of 10,000 in the annual “How Sweet the Sound” gospel choir competition.
Hundreds of moviegoers were more than willing to brave the 45-minute line in front of the Piedmont Theater on Wednesday night for a free screening of Waiting for Superman, the controversial new documentary that some movie reviewers say could change the face of American education. The screening, which included a question and answer session with Oakland Unified School District superintendent Tony Smith, received about 1,000 RSVPs, but was only able to accommodate the first 412 people.
There was talk of chickens and pigs at North Oakland’s Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library on Friday night, but it wasn’t a discussion of Animal Farm. Jordan Ruyle named the barnyard critters while calling out square dance steps as part of a monthly event he puts on with his wife’s quartet, the Squirrelly Stringband.
Axis performed its unique style of modern dance last Thursday at Dance Access Day: A Day of Dance, Disability, Performance and Fun at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts in Oakland. Audience members included children as well as disabled adults and seniors. Watch the video of the local dance team performing and teaching people of all ages how to dance.
Think your Chardonnay has an oaky aftertaste? Try Oakland’s! Wine connoisseurs may focus on the vines of Napa County when touring California, but this weekend one group of out-of-towners found out the East Bay has a few wineries of its own.