Julia Vinograd: People’s Park poet
By Lydia Gans on This article was written in 2015 after I sat down and had a long conversation with Julia at Caffe Mediterraneum.
Lydia Gans
The People’s Park 50th Anniversary Edition
By Lydia Gans on In April, Berkeley observed the 50th anniversary of the iconic People’s Park. Whether it will be a celebration or a
Street Spirit Vendor Struggles to Keep Her Hopes Up
“It’s just relentless,” Belinda said. “Living outside, you become feral because you’re out here fighting for your life. It’s cold, it’s brutal, people are crazy.” What’s also dogging her life is police harassment and the threat of jail. It’s the system’s routine treatment of people who are homeless.
Sanam’s Search for Freedom Leads to Berkeley
When Sanam Kazerouni left her native Iran, she says, “I lost my country, my culture, my friends and family.” But she has found freedom and many friends in Berkeley who have welcomed her to a new home. She recalls a favorite saying: “Wherever you stop running is your home.”
Doug Minkler: An Artist on the Side of the People
Berkeley artist Doug Minkler approaches his work with a passionate commitment to social change. He wields the artist’s brush like a hammer with which to reshape an unjust society. His poster art battle corporate polluters, predatory banks, nuclear weapons laboratories, brutal police, union-busting businesses and “the masters of war.”
International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
“What an honor it was to accompany J. Fernandez to the United Nations and listen to him read his poem on a really big screen, and to see in front of the General Assembly the pictures of St. Mary’s Center and all of you. It was really inspiring and tear-provoking,” Carol Johnson said.
Instant Runoff Voting in the Berkeley Election
In Berkeley, there is a strong movement among progressive activists to change the status quo in city politics. Progressive mayoral candidates are developing a new electoral strategy that utilizes Instant Runoff Voting, also known as Ranked Choice Voting, in an effort to influence the outcome of the mayoral race.
Berkeley Information Network: A Good Place to Seek Help
It is very rewarding for librarians when the Berkeley Information Network is used as a source of help for homeless people and those living on the edge. Berkeley librarian Isobel Schneider declares enthusiastically, “This is the area we really shine in — to help people find resources that can really improve their lives.”
A Man of Spirit: The Long Journey of Kenneth McCoy
Kenneth McCoy, age 64, has been selling Street Spirit since he was diagnosed with colon cancer six years ago and found he had no way to pay for the medicine he needed to survive. Now he has a roof over his head and the income from his Street Spirit sales.
Sharing Food as a Form of Nonviolent Protest
Food Not Bombs stages a daily protest against a system that values profits more than people. It expresses its values in a supremely nonviolent way. Sharing food is an act of nonviolent resistance to the violence of hunger and simultaneously a protest of the corporate state’s military and economic violence.
New Director Revitalizes Street Spirit Vendor Team
J.C. Orton, the new director of Street Spirit’s vendor program, has revitalized the entire program and made remarkable improvements in the number of vendors working, the number of issues sold, and the overall morale of vendors. Best of all, vendors now feel they have someone truly cares about them.
WRAP Occupies Abandoned Building in San Francisco
Housing activists entered the vacant, two-story building owned by the San Francisco Archdiocese. They planned to occupy it so it could serve as housing for homeless people. Occupy SF member Emma Gerould said, “There is no reason why any building should be vacant when people have no housing.”