Culture
Maybe it’s their charming, upbeat sound. Maybe it’s because they’re tiny, portable and cheaper than guitars. Whatever the reason, ukuleles are all the rage these days — from Eddie Vedder albums to Oakland cafes. Every month, local musician Madeline Tasquin, also known as Mana Maddy, hosts the “Ukulele Love-In” at Actual Cafe. Dozens of die-hard ukulele enthusiasts gather for a ukulele lesson, a featured ukulele performance, and a ukulele sing-a-long. You can catch the next event on May 11th. After…
Frank H. Ogawa Plaza looked a little bit like Vatican City Tuesday, as the dramatic afternoon light illuminated the faces of nuns, priests and immigrant families who gathered together in prayer and supplication. The goal: comprehensive immigration reform, an end to the raids that separate families and unity among different groups and coalitions of Americans. A guitarist changed the lyrics of popular Motown song “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” to “Ain’t No Migra Strong Enough” while the crowd sang along…
Enjoy the photo gallery for our weekly series, The Pulse of Oakland. This week’s featured ZIP code is 94618, which include Rockridge and parts of the Oakland Hills. Oakland North reporters will be taking photographs documenting each of the ZIP codes in Oakland over the next few months. Every neighborhood is diverse and different, and we want to capture that. Of course, we can’t see everything in Oakland ourselves. So we also want to know how you view this city….
Oakland resident Sableu Cabildo was diagnosed at the end of 2011 with a kind of brain cancer known as an astrocytoma. It originated on the right side of her thalamus, the lobed mass under the cerebral cortex that acts like the brain’s switchboard, regulating sensory perception and motor functions. Because of the cancer, Cabildo has been steadily losing her short-term memory and her balance. She stutters sometimes, and to be on the safe side, doesn’t drive at night anymore.
To alleviate some of the symptoms of her cancer and the harsher side affects of her medications, Cabildo, 34, has a medical marijuana prescription. It’s helped to calm her mood swings and improve her diminished appetite. It also dulls the pain from the migraine headaches caused by her disease. It lets her sleep at night.
There’s a parking lot in East Oakland. You know the one. It’s nestled between the Amtrak Train tracks to the east and Highway 880 to the west, and bordered by a murky moat-like creek called Damon Slough…and all three of the city’s major sports teams play in either the O.co Coliseum on one side, or the Oracle Arena, on the other. Yeah, that parking lot. It was packed Friday night. People poured into the place once known as the Oakland Alameda County…
About thirty heads turned quickly from left to right, focused on a bright orange ball, as the giant group of players faced off, each with a paddle in one hand and a beer in the other one. Ye Olde Hut was hosting its first “Berlin-style ping-pong party” in Oakland.
People in the Bay Area are turning to creative alternatives to buying new. Clothes swaps have been around for a long time, but they’re more popular than ever. Some swaps charge an entrance fee — Like SwapSF, a San Francisco exchange that draws over three hundred people. Swap-O-Rama-Rama, a swap and DIY workshop in a hundred cities around the world, is donation based.
Enjoy the photo gallery for our weekly series, The Pulse of Oakland. This week’s featured ZIP code is 94612, downtown and uptown Oakland. Oakland North reporters will be taking photographs documenting each of the ZIP codes in Oakland over the next few months. Every neighborhood is diverse and different, and we want to capture that. Of course, we can’t see everything in Oakland ourselves. So we also want to know how you view this city. You can submit your own…
Old Oakland’s downtown business district is getting a facelift. Brick and mortar stores are making a comeback. New establishments are showing up in neighborhoods where there were once empty storefronts. One company has found a way to invest in people and add a little pop to the community.