Culture
Books? No, give me a wrench, ask many Oakland residents who use the Temescal Library. The branch holds 29,000 books, and rents out 4,000 books, CDs and movies a month. Its Tool Lending Program, started in 2001, checks out 3,000 tools a month and that number is growing.
Last Sunday afternoon, Matt Siee dressed in knee high socks with a wool white top picked up a 42-ounce ash bat to play baseball circa 1886.
Produced by AYAKO MIE
There’s a disparity between the sport Americans love to play but can’t afford to watch. The Oakland Athletics are changing that one Wednesday at a time. By STEVE SALDIVAR
By Samson Reiny/Oakland North Ever wondered what Oakland’s Lake Merritt sounds like at 4am? Without being there, you could have listened any time of the day if you were within a mile’s range and tuned in to 87.9 FM from April to July of 2007. Normally a jangle of static on the dial, the frequency was temporarily the site of “Talking Homes,” a radio program where 12 to 15 residents living near Lake Merritt volunteered to set up low-power transmitters…
In easy view of crisscrossing highways and towering industrial parks, dozens of people marched through East Oakland’s flatlands wearing white surgical masks on Saturday. Families pushing strollers, men in suits, and kids with skateboards walked from Tassafaronga Recreation Center to Acorn Woodland Elementary School to celebrate ‘Love Yo Mama’ Earth Day and to call attention to environmental degradation in inner city neighborhoods.
By Melanie Mason/Oakland North
Delvis Fernández, like any other grandfather, wants his grandchild to know his roots, to appreciate his culture and to connect with family members. So last week, he decided to bring his 12-year-old grandson on a trip to Fernandez’s hometown of Santa Clara, Cuba, located smack dab in the center of the island.
At the intersection of Fruitvale Blvd. and the railway tracks, despite the traffic noise, there’s another noise that stands out —the barking of dogs in the big fenced back yard of the Oakland Animal Shelter. The dogs bark over the sounds of trucks, cars, and freeway, over the railway track’s light signals, and are an early, outside indication that the shelter is totally packed.