Op-Ed

Free to Be or Not to Be

Linsay Rousseau Burnett/Special to Oakland North Regardless of your opinion of President Barack Obama’s inaugural address, there was one seemingly benign statement that made inaugural history: “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and … non-believers.” While this line was a much-needed acknowledgement of the religious diversity in this country, it contained one final word that has been absent from most political discourse.

Obama and Me by Sweta Vohra

Sweta Vohra/Special to Oakland North In my predominantly Christian Texas town, among my predominantly Christian high school friends, I did my best to avoid any talk of religion. On Sundays, when my friends went to church, I went to a makeshift Hindu Sunday school that was run out of a senior citizen community center. But, of course, no one knew that. So, one day, when a fellow high school classmate, Kevin, had asked me what my religion was, I had…

Fox comparable to phoenix rising from its “depressed” roots

  By Greg Barco Oakland’s Fox Theater first opened in October 1928, one year before the New York Stock Exchange crashed. Enter from stage left: Great Depression (and linger around until World War II shoves you off the stage). Fast forward to 2009: the Fox is once again opening, this time during the worst economic recession since the 1930s. Residents of Oakland and the greater Bay Area – me included – expect the long-awaited re-opening of this theater to offer…