Ninth Circuit upholds Alfred v. Vallejo decision, setting legal precedent
By Robbie Powelson on 'The decision sets a precedent for future challenges against encampment sweeps under the Fourteenth Amendment’s State-Created Danger Doctrine'
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El Sueño Gabacho: Living undocumented and unhoused
By María on 'We are guerreros. We never bend the knee. We move forward.'
Housed to unhoused: The story of Jake
By Bryna Schaeffer on Disabled after a tragic incident, Jake and his family survive in the hazes of Oakland’s shadow.
We helped found the Berkeley Flea Market. Its loss leaves a hole in the city’s soul.
By Louis Freedberg and Marty Lynch on A eulogy for the largely unheralded institution that for several decades exemplified the values of the city that hosted it.
The commons belongs to us all
By Amber Whitson on Too often, it feels like unhoused people are not considered part of the public.
Berkeley Homeless Union wins new restraining order, delaying encampment closure at Eighth and Harrison
By Robbie Powelson on The new order is a data point in new the legal landscape of encampment closures post-Grants Pass.
The life and times of Vernon Dailey
By Vernon Dailey on Another report in the chronicles of Street Spirit vendor Vernon Dailey.
Behind the lens: the making of Wood Street
By Caron Creighton on Filmmaker Caron Creighton reflects on a new feature-length documentary, which follows the closure of a tight-knit encampment in West Oakland.
‘No different than the stars in the sky’: Life in writing with Erin Spencer
By Cole Haddock and Maria Toldi on 'I've found that my happiness depends greatly on my tendency to successfully provide for others.'
Maintenance required: Why I stopped fixing people’s RVs and started fixing myself
By Amber Whitson on After a decade of servicing vehicles, Amber Whitson has shifted from wrenching to writing her story
How Trump’s second presidency has affected one mentally disabled man
By Jack Bragen on 'I don’t know whether the world will continue to have room for me, or for other people like me.'
Remembering Maceo Clardy: ‘I am somebody dammit, I ain’t a nobody’
By Destanie Newell on Maceo Clardy died in Oakland on February 8, 2025. Here, a daughter’s letter to her father, a note on his