Culture
Frank Ogawa Plaza hosted Oakland’s first design fair on Super Bowl weekend. The organizers of the event, Our City, chose local artists to center their designs around the theme of play. The designs ranged from an outdoor living room installed with picture frames that allowed passersby to upload selfies; an adult-sized board of Mancala, a counting and strategy game; and an LED-lit basketball hoop. The fair also featured dance classes that caught the attention of Oaklanders clocking off from work…
Oakland North caught up with Raiders fans at Super Bowl City in Downtown San Francisco to ask, “Who will you be rooting for this Sunday?”
The Chinese-speaking world is getting ready for the Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, which will begin on February 8.
Being Chinese, one does not simply eat. Eating is a favorite cultural pastime, and has a process to it that is treated with such reverence that the Chinese say, “Dining comes before the Emperor does.” This respect for delectables escalates with the arrival of the Lunar New Year, which begins with the second new moon after the winter solstice. The holidays—much like a combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas when families reunite—start when the moon is but a sliver in the…
In Oakland, the state of the black church is at a crossroads, local leaders said. Religious and civic leaders gathered in downtown Oakland last Wednesday for a prayer breakfast to discuss the state of the black church and political participation in the African American community. The event, sponsored by Black Elected Officials & Faith Based Leaders of the East Bay (BEO-FBL), was attended by over 50 people and ranged over issues from policing to gun violence to education. “I felt…
Each year the Oakland Museum Women’s Board organizes the sale, and the proceeds benefit the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA). People donate old items, which are then sorted into different categories and sold to the public. Admission to the preview sale is $15, or $20 at the door, while admission to the sale in March is free.
Hella Damn Squirrels has been in full operation since 2013. The group only consists of two people, Hale and her boyfriend Toppano, partners in squirrel photography from the very beginning. They focus solely on the squirrels at Lake Merritt: Toppano, the squirrel feeder and “wrangler” of the duo, brings them over with the bag of walnuts and Hale, a professional photographer, snaps their photos to be posted on social media.
It was a rainy week, and people were itching to head outdoors by the time Saturday rolled around. Many found themselves drawn to the hubbub at the center of Oakland Chinatown, where the annual Lunar New Year Bazaar was held. Offered two weeks shy of Chinese New Year, the street fair is meant to usher in the popular holiday as Chinese American families began their preparations.
At their first meeting of the year, the Bay Area chapter of NFBPA hosted public health experts to help its members better understand the socio-economic roots of national health disparities.