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We must take matters into our own hands

By Tracy Lee on
Arts and Culture   First-person   Opinion   YSA youth contributions
Oakland is a city of so many races and cultures. Different, diverse, and from so many kinds of backgrounds. But one thing that unites us is the caring and loving people we are. No matter how hard the struggle may be, we always take care of each other. We are all in the same boat—struggling to live. We take matters into our own hands to get through life.

The oracle in the tent next door

By Timothy Busby on
First-person   Opinion
I would like to share my experiences with one of the most fascinating people I have ever met. For the purposes of this story, I will call her Emerald. And if you believe in the powers that gemstones and crystals contain, her name is very appropriate.

The curious echoes of Big Pink

By Robin Silver on
Features   First-person   Opinion
Big Pink was finished 23 years before the civil war began in America. Big Pink was made from local cypress trees, impervious to the rot and insidious decay that time brings to most things, the living, the dead, and all those things in between and beyond.

The Ghosts of Berkeley past

By Ace Backwords on
First-person   Opinion
The town of Berkeley is full of so many ghosts for me. This building on the corner of Shattuck and University is one of these ghosts. In 1986 it was the office of the Daily Californian, the campus newspaper. And every semester the staff voted on what comic strips they’d run for the semester. In 1986 I won the election. And it turned out to be a big break for me.

The girl

By Amber Whitson on
First-person   Opinion
On August 13, 2012, I was at home in my tent at the Albany Bulb, taking pictures of my clothing after I finally sorted all of it. Being a perfectionist, I took two pictures from each angle. I figured that I would review the pictures after I was done, keep the best ones from each angle and delete the other ones.

Rebuttal to the SF Chronicle: Visibility for homeless families

By Tracey Mixon on
First-person   Opinion
The 2019 one-night homeless count found 201 families (612 people), a count similar to the 2017 one-night count of 190 families (601 persons). That means 8 percent of the total counted homeless population is made up of families. The Coalition on Homelessness says the count is actually much higher, pointing out that the school district—using its own definition of homelessness—lists more than 2,000 students as being homeless.