Culture
Kava, kratom and caffeine — the stories in this episode of our podcast dive into obsession, addiction and habits. We follow reporters Susie Neilson ad Padmini Parasarathy as they goes to Melo Melo Kava Bar where people consume Kava, a Polynesian root-brewed tea, helping people with their anxiety and overcome addiction. Alexa Hornbeck takes us to Sacramento as she speaks with a mother fighting to keep kratom, a controversial herbal supplement, from being made an illegal substance in the United States….
On the corner of 23rd Avenue and International Boulevard in East Oakland, there’s a colorful mural painted on the side of a building with the phrase “CULTURE IS A WEAPON” written in bold letters. In the center of the mural is an image of a raised fist in front of flames, surrounded by portraits of Black Panther party members, musicians, farmworkers and indigenous people. While the mural is surrounded by fences on all sides, its size and color make it…
When Rafiullah Amiri, who had immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan, noticed that many women within his immigrant community were confined to their homes—shocked by the culture difference and unable to speak the language of their host country—he had an idea: They could earn money cooking.
Oakland schools are now in their second year of running a new testing process that will allow students who are identified as English Language Learners (ELL) and who have special needs to have better chances of joining mainstream English-language classrooms for students with and without disabilities. Currently, special education students who are also English learners must take a test to show that they are fluent in English. This standardized test evaluates the student’s English literacy level, and is only available…
Coco Coalition is a social enterprise dedicated helping women of the African diaspora to connect, grow and thrive. The enterprise’s mission is to create safe and empowering opportunities for women, while also addressing health and educational barriers faced by teen girls.
Oakland Technical High School has had a library with no librarian for years. Recently, a group of students turned a class assignment about social justice into a new group, which they called Students for Library Improvement.
On March 10, students from seven schools in the Oakland Unified School District participated in the 2018 Prescott Theater Circus showcase. The circus partnered with the Oakland Spirit Orchestra and the Museum of the African Diaspora to create the show entitled “Uplift.”
Grant will provide academic support for literacy, career pathways, and community safety and engagement
Noam Chomsky received a rock star welcome at the Middle East Children’s Alliance’s 30th anniversary event, hosted at Oakland Tech. The famed linguist and political activist lectured about the state of American foreign policy and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.