Oakland blogger and photographer Fragmentary Evidence had some lovely pictures of white pelicans on the lake last week. Brown pelicans are common in these parts, but white pelicans are a relatively rare sight. We wondered what was bringing the white pelicans to Oakland, so we called Stephanie Benavidez, Oakland’s official naturalist at her office on Lake Merritt.

With the bounty of California’s farms reaching its summer zenith, Oakland food writer Kevin Cook supplies a shopping list for a single trip to the farmer’s market, which will yield six dinners and six lunches.

The idea of the Oakland Mountain Challenge began as a craving for some topography. The idea of running another loop around Lake Merritt or the usual course around neighborhood streets did not feel appealing. So I grabbed my stack of EBRPD maps and I went to work trying to come up with a running route that met the following criteria:  it had to be trail running, it needed to have some ups and downs, and it had to be long, but on the mellower side of burly so that I could finish it in an afternoon.

Fresh Fest 2010 is a whole new avenue to engage with the environmental movement. The largest youth-led eco-music festival in the nation goes down this Saturday in Mosswood Park. OakBook talked to Zakiya Harris, green visionary behind the bash.

Every month I scout out upcoming art shows to highlight as ones especially worth public notice, either through exhibition previews or studio visits. In some months, I find that there is a connective tissue, an underlying thread linking the shows. This August, I’ve chosen two shows that hit upon an ever tense and at times ambiguous concept: Church and state. The separation and parallels between the secular and the religious. Art, is often most successful when it achieves a state of transcendence. To find some evidence of that in practice, read my picks for The Month Ahead In Oakland Art.

Art@TheOakBook is proud to announce the first comprehensive survey of solo and collaborative work by Oakland-based artist Daniel Healey.

About two months ago, passerby at the corner of International Boulevard and 42nd Avenue in East Oakland found themselves being followed by a fawn not more than a few days old. Bleating in clear distress, the baby deer was too young to know she should be afraid of humans. She was lucky her mistake didn’t cost her her life.

She's like a children's book character, a contemporary philosopher, an urban guru, a teacher, Dr. Doolittle, and a community activist rolled into one taciturn, middle aged woman. Stephanie Benavidez may know more about the creatures and plants that we share our city with than any other person.

I woke up one Saturday morning feeling like Juan de Fuca, and so I went looking for an Oakland version of the Strait of Arián. Like some old school explorer obsessed with inland waterway shortcuts, I took to the tidal creeks of Oakland to answer one simple question: Could I ride my kayak on a full flood tide through the city?

Miami has alligators. Anchorage has bears. Oakland has mountain lions.

But unlike the predators of those other cities, mountain lions are rarely seen. The big cats don’t turn up lounging on the diving boards of backyard pools, or sauntering down Broadway. Even Dee Rosario, a ranger at Redwood Regional Park, has never seen a mountain lion after 30 years in the park. But he knows the lions are there. “None of the Rangers have seen them because we are always working or making noise,” says Mr. Rosario.

Two of my favorite haunts in Oakland are the parks in the hills and the estuary. What I wondered about, though, is what connects them. I’ve covered much of the city’s streets in cars, in buses and on foot, but traveling block by block doesn’t provide a sense of Oakland’s landscape. The city rests on giant folds in the earth on the side of a slope falling to the Pacific Ocean. In order to understand Oakland’s geography, I figured I would have to walk it.

A while back, I read about the possibility of fishing in Lake Temescal.  I need to admit upfront that I am a bit of a fly fishing snob. I should also admit to not being a very successful angler.  Still, when I think fly fishing, I think trout and a cold alpine lake at the end of a hike.  That being the case I don’t often get a chance to wet a line locally.

The first colonists arrived a century ago, probably as stowaways on a ship carrying coffee. From an invaders point of view, they could hardly have landed on a more hospitable shore than the San Francisco Bay. They disembarked and took control.

It's ant season in Oakland.

Oakland is rapidly becoming the City of A Thousand Farms, with spades turning up soil in backyards and empty lots all over town. Most city gardens are not planted in former toxic dumps, but the issue of legacy pollution and urban farming is an important consideration before sitting down to dine on those plump heirloom tomatoes.

Grocery stores are for wimps.  Why rely on a farmer, when you can find plenty to eat just a short walk into the Oakland wilds?

This month, I've chosen two shows in Oakland spaces where the balance is tilted towards the artist instead of the collector. In one case, the artist is the collector.

You’ve heard of events in Silicon Valley where groups of venture capitalists gather to hear people’s pitches for innovative new businesses and technologies. And in the end, the VCs reward the best of what they’ve heard and seen with funding. You might also have heard of organizations like Kiva or Grameen Bank, which use micro financing to help the rural poor and low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries. 

If you suspect that a healthy cooking class would be heavy on the lecturing and light on the flavor, Vigi Molfino’s weekly class in West Oakland will prove you wrong. That is not to suggest that Vigi is opposed to holding forth. Last Tuesday, half a dozen people stood around the stove in the DeFremery Park rec center while Vigi, a born teacher, talked about cooking and eating.

Back in the fall of 2009, the Oakland Zoo got a new female eland from the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. Called Etana, the eland joined two other females in the zoo's African Veldt exhibit, so it was something of a surprise when Etana started showing signs of pregnancy shortly after her arrival.

Many years ago, a man was walking through the aisles of a grocery store looking for spaghetti sauce. He found the shelf with the many different kinds and brands of pasta sauces. One of them stood out. It was priced no more than the others, but had a bold sticker announcing that profits from the sale of the bottle would go to charity. The brand was Newman’s Own. The man, whose name was Mike Hannigan, had spent many years working with companies like Xerox to sell office products. He was also someone who grew up in the 60s and 70s when, for many people, social activism was just a normal part of life. He remembers thinking, “Boy, I bet I could develop this in the office products space.”

They believe in fairies. They find magic in the mundane. Wait – they create magic in the mundane. Sarah Holmes and Rain Anya, two aerial arts performers who have a Tinker Bell air about them, are co-founders of the Paper Doll Milita. This is a group of performers using physical theater, aerial arts, acrobats and other artistic forms to tell stories. This is where theater meets the circus. The performances are intimate -- and the performers are very committed to their craft.  

As OakBook reported a few weeks ago, the rate of collisions involving bicycles in Oakland has kept pace with the rise in bicycle commuting. Just as the percentage of people commuting by bike in Oakland doubled between 2000 and 2008, the number of reported bike accidents rose from 120 to 160. What’s not keeping up with the increased interest in bicycle commuting is bike safety.

After all, one doesn’t need a license to ride a bike. But, as bicycle safety advocates like to say, you drive a bike, you don’t ride it. And driving a bike safely in a busy city requires a little education.

Despite a still-developing network of bike routes and an unfortunate abundance of potholes, Oakland boasts the 7th highest number of bike commuters in the country, with slightly more than two percent of the population riding a bike to work. The city ranks a notch below Washington D.C. and just above Tucson. Portland, it will be no surprise to learn, is at the top of the list, with nearly six percent of that city’s residents pedaling through the rain to work.

Like lovers and prophets, serious collectors live in a world where there is no such thing as a coincidence. Consider the story of how Barry Barsamian came to be in possession of the I Love Lucy lustre.

There was some confusion at the city’s bus stops Monday morning as riders confronted AC Transit’s service changes. There are new bus lines, new routes, and new stops, which combine to equal an 8.4 percent reduction in services to the nation’s largest bus-only transit system.

I’m so pleased to share my first hike with you. While I typically enjoy dusty, rustic and dramatic trails around the (East Bay Regional Parks) district, this one is a favorite that should appeal to anyone.

The old-fashioned journalistic term is Man on the Street. In India, Kenya, and other former colonies of the British Empire, it's called a vox pop. The idea is to go find some random person and ask them a few questions. The results can often be surprisingly illuminating, and slightly addictive. Despite all our connectivity and social networking, we remain mysteries to each other.

One might wonder why a group of people that got together to save a local iconic film theater would get involved in raising money for a documentary about rap therapy for kids. The theater in question is Oakland’s beloved Parkway Theater, which shut down last year, and the documentary is the Beats Rhymes and Life Film Project, filmmaker Kerri Gawryn’s second film, which in an ideal world, she would want to premier in the re-opened Parkway. But first, the film needs to be finished. And second, the Parkway needs to re-open.

According to the last census, there are 23,000 people and 8,000 homes in West Oakland. That’s about the size of a place like El Cerrito or Eureka. But as the editor of any small town paper can tell you, 23,000 people means at least 23,000 great stories each day. 

As you might have figured out by now, Oakland is excited about Amy Sarabi. The California College of the Arts graduate has survived six episodes of Project Runway’s seventh season. To cheer her on, various City Hall officers and departments came together with local fashion designer Skylier Blanchard-Crowder to host a viewing party for her. Here are some images from the evening.

About a year ago, Alex Maynard spotted a large gold chain at the American Apparel store on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. It was flashy and retro. He wanted it. “I got the chain because when I was a kid in the ‘80s, there was no way my parents were going to let me where one,” he said. “All the cool, older guys were wearing those big ropes.”

The nostalgic purchase turned into more than a slightly ironic accessory. It became a uniquely Oakland art project.

Back in the 1970s, 175 City workers maintained 900 acres of parkland. Today, Oakland’s public works agency has 72 full-time employees tending 1,350 acres of parks, medians, and open space. The department is stretched so thin that last March, City officials announced that 212 locations would be designated non-priority. These neighborhood parks, medians, plazas, and other areas lost their trashcans and are no longer gardened. But a volunteer organization working to help maintain Oakland’s parks reports that the situation is not as bad as it might be.  

The Paramount Theater has been the subject of much discussion lately. And even as that continues, what strikes me how little people know about this Oakland treasure. Allow me to give you a brief history of the Paramount Theater.

Community is one of the most popular words in Oakland. That is, at least, how it often feels. But more often than not, it’s a word people pay lip service to. There are very few individuals who actually invest their time (and money) into figuring out how to bring people together.

So how do you really build a community?

We hope you're enjoying the festive season. As we gear up for the year ahead, we're taking a short break and will be back with new Oakland stories for you on Wednesday.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I enjoy watching people hustle and bustle about and clog up all the streets and department stores. Even though I do not like to shop and rarely buy anything before Christmas Eve, I appreciate the energy of this time of the year.

As Jack London Square and Uptown become more popular destinations for drinking, dining, and entertainment, a new City service will soon link the two districts with a free, weekday shuttle running down Broadway between the waterfront and Grand Avenue.

We have to take a break from politics during this week of Thanksgiving. There are so many things to be thankful for. Let us take time to count our blessings and the goodness that we get everyday. 

Let us be thankful that we have a new police chief who is dedicated to reducing crime in Oakland. Hopefully, he gets the political backing to transform the police department, bring crime-fighting resources to the city, and change the crime culture in Oakland.

Immigrants come in all colors, sizes and income brackets. Some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley are immigrants, and some of the poorest members of our society are immigrants, too. AnewAmerica’s goal is to enable refugees, asylees and immigrants who have minimal access to resources and capital -- people with no money and no connections – to become entrepreneurs in their new home country.

Oakland Firefighters are special. They do all the things firefighters are supposed to do – like running up moving ladders and jumping into burning homes. They also do random acts of kindness.

About three years ago, Lynne Twist was walking on 40th Street toward Mama's Royal Cafe with Van Jones, who was then the director of the Ella Baker Center. It was the middle of the afternoon, and the pair were on their way to lunch. As they approached Broadway, Twist noticed a group of young black men on the other side of the street. Twist saw the young men in their sagging pants and thought that they looked dangerous. She imagined that they were gang members. She thought they probably were carrying guns and knives. Then Jones ran across the street to talk to the men.

Are you ticked off and slightly unsettled about the shoddy workmanship on the Bay Bridge? Read this magazine story from 1935 about the inspector who made sure that the bridge didn't crumble into the Bay. He's been right so far.

The weather will eventually clear up, and if you're a skater -- the Town Park is now officially open!

Have you heard the story about the Silicon Valley whiz kid who got bored of the good life and decided he needed to do something that felt a little more complete, a little more cosmic? It’s Bidyut Bose’s story.

It started with two lawyers sharing office space. That's how Emily Doskow met Janelle Orsi about a year and a half ago. In that first meeting, Doskow asked Orsi what she did. Sharing law, Orsi answered. 

For those of us who love Oakland, we realize that we can take that love a little too seriously at times. And others realize it, too. The folks over at Killing my Lobster , who produce comedy and films, recently put up an Oakland tourism promotion video on their site.  

You already know this. Oakland, where about half a million people speak more than 80 languages, is a magnet for immigrants. We've got people from Ethiopia, Japan, India, Mexico, Mongolia, Nigeria, Vietnam... the list goes on. There's a new addition. The latest arrivals are from Bhutan, a small (less than 15,000 square miles) south Asian country neighboring India.

As General Motors filed for bankruptcy Monday morning marking what the Obama administration called the “end of an old GM and the beginning of a new one,” it bears recalling that the founder of the “old GM” had strong ties to Oakland, and even manufactured a car bearing his name in the city.

The drought emergency in the East Bay officially ends on July 1, but water rates are still likely to rise by nearly nine percent over the next two years. For the average residential customer, that's around $36 a year. The Urban Homesteader shows how you can save money and water with a DIY greywater system.

Living around bees is an excellent way for a child to gain an early introduction to the wonders of nature.  Bees are not aggressive and will sting only when defending their young, their food or themselves (for example, if you step on one).  They may also sting in panic, if they fly into you and get caught in your hair or clothes.

A small harvest of herbs, legumes, and vegetables is possible even without a backyard. The Urban Homesteader explains how to raise a bumper crop in pots.

Oakland is home to some excellent wineries and breweries. And if after an afternoon of wine-tasting, you've ever toyed with the idea of recreating those tastes in your own kitchen, we've got you covered.  

Tomatoes, potatoes, snails and bees -- the urban homesteader has answers to all your gardening questions...

Thirty days ago I woke up, went to work, and like so many other days for the last three and a half years, started my day by feeling guilty for an emptiness inside of me despite what is an otherwise charmed life. I have everything a human being would ever need to be happy.  An affordable apartment in a building that's home to people that are my friends in a neighborhood I am proud to call home. A job that pays me well to do good.  An education and a past littered with the kinds of encounters that make me question how it is that one person could have had as much good fortune as have I. 

The Urban Homesteader heads to the library to learn if Oakland's urban orchards suffer from an abundance of toxic chemicals in the soil and the groundwater.

How can you tell when a bee is really a bee, and how do you transfer a captured bee colony to a new hive? The Urban Homesteader takes on your urban apiology questions.

Crime and killings in Oakland may have dominated the headlines lately. But that doesn't mean that's all that there is to Oakland. This town is still filled with artists, writers, musicians, enterprising small businesses, activisits, unique restaurants and art galleries and so much more that's positive and exciting.

Did the sight of Michelle Obama planting a victory garden in the South Lawn inspire you to do some of your own backyard planting? But you did not... because you have a tiny yard that only sees a little sunshine? The Urban Homesteader reveals the secrets of the shade garden.

If you're thinking about doing some digging and planting in your back yard, you'll find what Sparky Beegirl has to say today very useful. She's got what you need to know about soil.. and about Waste Management.

The first yogurt was probably the result of an accident. Some herder in Central Asia left milk in a bag, the temperature was just right for bacterial fermentation, and a few thousand years later you have Pinkberry. Making your own yogurt is easy, except when it's not. The Urban Homesteader offers the basics on DIYY.

Have you thought about raising chickens in your backyard, but you’ve wondered how to keep them safe from raccoons? Do you want to can your own food, but you're not sure how to do it safely? Are you thinking about building your own grey water system, but you don’t know where to start? Let K. Ruby Blume, the founder and director of Oakland’s Institute for Urban Homesteading, answer your questions.

Temescal parents might already know this, but for the rest of you, Tumble & Tea café isn’t Tumble & Tea anymore. Yes, the sign outside still says Tumble & Tea. But inside, it’s a new world – it’s Sadiedey’s Café.

The concept stays the same – parents get a break while their kids play. But it looks and works differently now.

She still misses Bobby Hall. Someone shot him through a window last year, when he was visiting a friend. He was just 25.

Everyone believes it was a case of mistaken identity. But that doesn't make it easier to deal with. He's still dead.

She moved away to Austin. But a week ago, Queen Deelah, a music writer whose real name is Fadeelah Muhyee, came back. She came back to make music to honor her childhood friend Bobby at the third annual Turf Unity event.

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. It really brings back all the memories of the joys of Christmas while growing up in Hickory, North Carolina, at the time, a city of about 25,000 people. It was different from most of the south because it was very industrialized, the furniture and hosiery capitol.

It always helps to see the city from someone else's perspective and Gordon Brown has a distinct perspective, observing the town we love with both an artistic and a loving eye. Brown is a defense attorney by day who turns to landscape photography to escape the rigors of the courtroom.

Even though the elections are over, the youth poets from I-Go have something to say about this whole political process. I-GO is an Oakland-based educational nonprofit that teaches youth poetry workshops and hosts readings and performances throughout the city. For the I-Go For President project, young poets created short pieces based around four key platforms: 

If someone tells you to check out a water aerobic therapy class designed primarily for -- and mostly attended by -- people in their sixties, seventies, and eighties, you’re going to expect a very slow class. But if you drop by the class so described at the Oakland YMCA at 9.30 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, you’re going to be very surprised.
 

I am obsessed with Días de los Muertos calaveras, or Days of the Dead skeletons, which may seem strange to some, but I am who I am. My grandmother, who founded my business, La Borinqueña, was born on Día de los Muertos. I build a Day of the Dead altar at work every October. It’s filled with photos, trinkets and favorite images of things for those who have passed on in life but remain in my heart

Once a delicacy on Gold Rush-era menus, the California clapper rail was hunted to near extinction. Today, Oakland's Arrowhead Marsh is the staging ground for a remarkable comeback tale in which mining residue and invasive species are accidental heroes.

Reverend Harry Louis Williams doesn’t speak to strangers in the bellowing tones associated with the preacher or prison outreach counselor he’s become. He speaks instead in a gentle voice about hope for the future of Oakland, and for the world. His round face and sparkling eyes do little to reveal the man who conjured a fictionalized – yet, very real - world of street life in East Oakland.

There was art. There was music. There was food. And there were lots of people. By any standard, Oakland's 2008 Art & Soul was a huge success.

There wasn’t an architecture firm in Oakland better suited to designing the children’s playhouse at Fairyland that opened this summer. Ace Architects, the team of Lucia Howard and David Weingarten, have been bringing a child’s sense of play into Oakland buildings for more than 30 years.

In 1906, Fruit Vale hadn’t yet been annexed by its growing neighbor, and still retained some of the rural splendor that gave it its now implausible name. That year, the old Fairlawn Hotel on Fruitvale Avenue opened. On its sprawling grounds, it was an oasis for weary urbanites.

Now, the building—with its vaguely European, castle-like architecture—is being transformed, and new ideas are bouncing off the old walls.

Grocery stores are for wimps.  Why rely on a farmer, when you can find plenty to eat just a short walk into the Oakland wilds?

Or, maybe berry picking is simply a good excuse to go outside. Blackberries abound in Oakland, but you have to know where to look.

You've seen the slogan, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be in your revolution" alongside renderings of the late Emma Goldman plastered on the T-Shirts and bumper stickers of progressives and liberals from here to Cuba. And while it's doubtful that the famous anarchist ever actually said the line, it's still a brilliant metaphor for inclusionary resistance and the need to balance arts with a progressive ideology.

You might spot me roaming with gear in hand from the curbs of Hannah Street in West Oakland to the blacktops of Seminary and Foothill, chasing all that is the beauty of Oakland.

A few months ago, our events editor Kwan Booth wondered aloud, "What does Oakland read?"  With the weather being so warm, we figured it's the perfect time to find out.  If the thought of curling up under a tree with a good book has crossed your mind, here's your summer reading list.

The idea of the Oakland Mountain Challenge began as a craving for some topography. The idea of running another loop around Lake Merritt or the usual course around neighborhood streets did not feel appealing. So I grabbed my stack of EBRPD maps and I went to work trying to come up with a running route that met the following criteria:  it had to be trail running, it needed to have some ups and downs, and it had to be long, but on the mellower side of burly so that I could finish it in an afternoon.

Perhaps you live on the east side of town where orchards once dotted the hillsides and valleys of an early Oakland. The Greek, Italian and Portuguese families who planted these trees often included stay-at-home moms who harvested the fruit and turned out delicious jams, pies and other delights. However, residents today, as you know, live under different circumstances. People are too busy and too tired to pick peaches or peel, slice, core and stew apples. The problem is -- no one told the trees.

When we started NovoMetro in November 2006, we never dreamed we’d sell it to a big, mainstream media company. But when Rupert Murdoch came calling, we saw that Fox News and Oakland are like peanut butter and chocolate.

We’re joking, we’re joking! Our new website only looks like the handiwork of a global media conglomerate.

The third issue of Oakland's newest city magazine can be found for free at various cafes and stores across the city. And if you want to be sure to find one, visit one of the following retailers. Go do some wholesome shopping and dining, and pick up a copy of the OakBook at these locations.

It’s chilly and dark outside the Pizza Hut restaurant, where I’m crouched in the parking lot shadowed by the dumpsters, sawing through the padlock that fastens a cable around my bicycle.

So goes the memory of my first personal “Bike to Work Day,” when I was young and on my own and decided to ride my bike to my job serving pizza instead of relying on the infrequent schedule of the suburban Maryland bus.

It was pretty much just a feeling that made him begin studying classical piano at the age of 18, but that’s how Nathanael Chawkin does things. He had never studied music before then, but in 1998 he decided it was time. He continued piano studies for three years during college, practicing up to six hours daily. And though he continues his practice at the Piedmont Piano Company, now it’s not just about the music. It’s all about practicing mindfulness for this Oakland self-defense instructor. Mr. Chawkin has spent the past 13 years training in various martial arts and has earned his second degree black belt in Aikido and blue belt in Brazilian Jujitsu. Mr. Chawkin suggests it’s about the importance of integrating the mind and body to arrive at one’s emotional center. “Mindfulness is feeling your thoughts; self-inquiry is thinking your feelings; and martial arts is kicking ass,” he says.'

Help celebrate the 120-year-old holiday of Arbor Day, and offset your carbon footprint by planting a tree today. Not just any tree, but one well adapted to the wet winters and dry summers in Oakland’s Mediterranean climate.

Twenty-three year-old Bobby Jones came to skateboarding late in life. Four years ago, he started with a scooter, but his cousin broke it. So, Bobby decided to try a skateboard instead. And it stuck. 

When the Rainbow Community Center at International and Seminary unveiled its new skate park, Jones (along with a host of others years younger than him) was obviously pleased. However, three weeks after the park’s Cesar Chavez Day inauguration, the gates to fun still remain locked. The center says it needs safety equipment for the kids before it can officially open the park.

Regardless of whether you’re recovering from a recent accident or struggling to break a lifetime habit like cigarette smoking, you obviously want to find a therapy that meets your unique needs.  And these days, it’s safe to say that it isn’t just Andrew Weil who thinks alternative therapy is worth a try.

Oakland's filled with talented hustlers. You'll find scores of artists and small businesses with great ideas and products in this town. Some of them, like Numi Tea, grow into international companies. Some of them, like Bakesale Betty, become local legends. Some of them are just on the verge, and will no doubt, take off very soon.

You probably know some great local business, too. It could be a restaurant or an art gallery or a poet or a store or a radio station or anything else that adds to your life in Oakland.

If you want to show some love for that special place or person, do something for them – nominate them for the 2008 Oakland Indie Awards.

It's a city of kidnappers. It's a city of beautiful homes, with one that looks just like Barbie's. It's a dangerous place. It's the ideal of the American melting pot. The take on Oakland is as varied as the city's residents. Journalist and MBA graduate student, Wun-Kuen Ng (herself a relative newcomer to Oakland), asked some of the newest Oaklanders what their impressions were so far.

Some good news at last -- Oakland ranks fourth in a review of the 50 Greenest Cities in the United States for 2008. Popular Science looked at cities with 100,000 people or more and compared 30 lifestyle categories. Oakland wound up finishing a strong fourth behind much bigger cities. Portland was number one, our neighbor across the Bay was number two, and Boston was number three. Of special note --  Berkeley, the often champion of things green in the East Bay, finished a respectable seventh in the rankings.

In a recent Consumer Reports study on fitness, yoga and pilates studios were found to give clients the most stretch for their dollar. Whether you regularly salute the sun or invert your chakras, or don’t know your Virabhadrasana from your Garudasana, Oakland offers a variety of Yoga studios and classes for novices and experts.

Want to get a window into who’s going to be running this city in 15 years? Swing by  Arsimona on Thursday evening. You will meet activists, organizers, and many other people who want to talk about East Bay issues they care about. It’s Mix it Up East bay, and this time, the theme is increasing sustainable foods in urban areas. So get your glass of wine, and settle down for presentations by People’s grocery, Oakland Food Connection, and Growing Youth, Alameda Point Collaborative.

If you read this story by Madeleine Bair about Kenyans in the Bay Area trying to organize relief efforts to help their compatriots, then you might be interested to know that they recently launched the Kenya Relief Fund.

As January moves to a close, your resolutions follow you around like gum on the heel of your soul. Stay in shape. Okay, in the works. Quit (fill in the blank). One day at a time. Relax. Let’s try that now – 1…2…breathe in ... 3 … 4 … and out. Now, what else did your optimistic fingers pen on that list? Oh, yeah, volunteer more.

Several organizations throughout Oakland seek help from residents. For volunteers, then, it’s simply a matter of finding the right fit.

Palm trees rustling in a balmy breeze, a pool-side hammock swaying lightly to the rhythm of a steel drum, an exotic cocktail, and the sweet smell of simmering goat head stew wafting from the kitchen.

This will be Oakland next summer, say people behind the $6 million renovation of the Waterfront Plaza Hotel and attached restaurant in Jack London Square.

Hitting the right note in the shower could get your family members believing they're destined to be the next American Idol. However, while judges Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell boost up and tear down the dreams of many a young vocalist, songbird hopefuls may find gentler feedback from the folks at Piedmont Choirs.

A big thank you to all our readers and supporters for the wonderful response to the December/January issue of the OakBook. The second issue of Oakland's newest city magazine can be found for free at various cafes and stores across the city. And if you want to be sure to find one, visit one of the following Oakland retailers. Go do some wholesome shopping and pick up a copy of the OakBook at these locations:

With the recent tiger mauling death of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa, Jr., are Bay Area families thinking twice about visiting zoos? Not in Oakland. Attendance at the Oakland Zoo the following day increased 200 percent over last year. Still, the tragedy renews the debate over whether zoos suit an urban environment. Some protest the caging of animals at all. Others say they help educate the public and preserve endangered species. No matter on what side of the fence you sit, the fact remains that the death of this teenager could have been avoided.

So, on this last day of 2007, I decided to explore the other wild side of our town. Instead of visiting caged animals off of Golf Links Road, I traveled up Redwood Road into Redwood Regional Park.

Winter, the holidays, and family – it all means one thing: fresh baked goodies. Perhaps you are looking to start some new traditions this New Year's. Nothing says warmth and cheer like a batch of fresh buns from the oven. Bake bread with family, and then break bread with friends. If your children enjoy the process of baking as much as they enjoy eating baked goods, you will want some simple kid-friendly recipes.

What do The Mistress of Spices, Rent, Bee Season, The Pursuit of Happyness, and The Kite Runner have in common? Parts of all these movies were shot in Oakland.

A smart staff at the Oakland Film Office is working over time to make the city a sought-after shooting location in the film industry. And they might just be succeeding.

After folding the last pair of underwear, slathering on the last swatch of peanut butter, and reading one more bedtime story, you prepare to collapse into your own bed. But, wait, that beat, that rhythm. You nudge your mate. No success. Your toe taps. You feel the call. Your heart races. You call the babysitter and grab your high heals. Partner or not, you know there will be time to sleep later. For now, you must Tango!

They're here. They're hot. They're handy. The OakBook landed Friday night at Estaban Sabar's gallery. The wine from Lost Canyon and the suds from Linden Street flowed. Oakland Unwrapped merchants sold Oakland goods. The oxtails from Karibbean City disappeared in seconds, and so did several hundred copies of OakBook's premiere issue.

As we push through fervent crowds, honk incessantly at people who take our parking spots, grumble at the overly perfumed woman who grabs the last Lego Transformer from the shelf, it doesn’t hurt to pause, look around, and breathe. And then remember why we’re out in this wintry wet weather.

I woke up one Saturday morning feeling like Juan de Fuca, and so I went looking for an Oakland version of the Strait of Arián. Like some old school explorer obsessed with inland waterway shortcuts, I took to the tidal creeks of Oakland to answer one simple question: Could I ride my kayak on a full flood tide through the city?

Balmy old Oakland is not exactly a Christmas-y kind of town. A typical December 25th is 60 degrees and sunny. But if there's one neighborhood capable of evoking a bit of cozy Christmas cheer, it's Montclair. So bundle up and head up the hill for the village's annual Holiday Stroll Thursday evening. It's the one night of the year that a parking lot becomes an ice skating rink (skate rental only $5).

The holidays can mean many, many house guests. Whether they’re family or friends, it can get overwhelming with all the juggling you need to do as a host. You might have to make sure your house is kid-proof (or kid-friendly). If you have a relative who has a hard time climbing stairs, and your place has several, there’s some logistical juggling for you right there.

And of course, you already know you need to plan. Here are a few tips. Tip #1: Show them around Oakland. 

Jit Sidhu visited her daughter’s grave everyday for years. And when she did, she always took the newspaper with her. Her daughter, Natasha Singh, loved the news.

Mrs. Sidhu, who has lived in Oakland for more than 30 years, raised her daughter here, and when the time came, buried her here -- in the Mountain View cemetery near Piedmont Avenue.

But she remembered Natasha’s love for news, and over the years, kept trying to figure out how to honor that love. She took classes at community colleges to understand news writing, but didn’t feel that was enough.

IN THE BACKSEAT OF A CAR:
Preteen – "Hey, what are you getting Dad for Christmas?"
Teen – "I don't know a Peet's gift card, I guess. What about you?"
Preteen – "Maybe if you get a gift card for coffee, I can make his coffee Christmas morning."
Teen rolls eyes, and both kids resume idle stares out the window.

While carting your kids around town, you've eavesdropped on some often silly, secret, and even intelligent conversations from the backseat. Plugged into music players or frantically thumbing a video game, kids exchange words with each other not meant for your ears. It is these ear-opening dialogues that have inspired this column.

It makes sense for a city with redwood forests, tidal estuaries, and a massive saltwater wildlife refuge in the heart of its downtown, but when Oakland created the position of City Naturalist in 1948, it was a pioneering move in a field that would come to be called urban ecology.

If all goes to plan, Silver and Black fans with a green streak will be able to ride their bikes to the Coliseum while sharing a new path with urban hikers out for a dose of fresh salty air. Modeled after waterfront redevelopment projects in Manhattan, Barcelona, Portland, Oregon, and Des Moines, Iowa, the Oakland Waterfront Trail aims to link the natural subtleties of the shoreline to artifacts of the city's industrial past and present along a six-mile trail connected at various points to Oakland streets. 

Not all Oaklanders can afford to escape to a private spiritual retreat on top of some far away mountain. But there are many who might want to. The Center for Urban Peace hopes to be a retreat for such people -- right in their backyard.

The sliding glass door that separates the world of the living from the realm of "wind and ghosts" opened a crack in Fruitvale Sunday as the neighborhood celebrated Dia de los Muertos. Kwan Booth took some excellent photos of the street party, which is a New World melange of indigenous religion, 16th Century Spanish Catholicism, and a generous dollop of good old-fashioned North American marketing.

Don’t expect the Oakland Ballet – a dance company once considered revolutionary – to break any new ground when it reopens this Saturday at the Paramount. Instead, the revived company’s founding artistic director, Ronn Guidi, has planned something of a history lesson for the audience with a program of four ballets resurrected from the company’s heyday.

Two of my favorite haunts in Oakland are the parks in the hills and the estuary. What I wondered about, though, is what connects them. I’ve covered much of the city’s streets in cars, in buses and on foot, but traveling block by block doesn’t provide a sense of Oakland’s landscape. The city rests on giant folds in the earth on the side of a slope falling to the Pacific Ocean. In order to understand Oakland’s geography, I figured I would have to walk it.

Miami has alligators. Anchorage has bears. Oakland has mountain lions.

But unlike the predators of those other cities, mountain lions are rarely seen. The big cats don’t turn up lounging on the diving boards of backyard pools, or sauntering down Broadway. Even Dee Rosario, a ranger at Redwood Regional Park, has never seen a mountain lion after 30 years in the park. But he knows the lions are there.

Get out your mixing bowls and don your lucky apron, the first annual Chocolate Adventure Contest is on. A joint venture between Scharffen Berger and TuttiFoodie, an Oakland-based foodie Web site, the contest is the first of its kind. Entrants are invited to submit a recipe for any course that incorporates dark chocolate (at least 62 percent cacao) and one of twenty “adventure” ingredients, including saffron, ancho chili powder, and grapefruit.

It only emerged late Wednesday afternoon that Daunte Culpepper will probably quarterback for the Oakland Raiders in Sunday’s season opener against Detroit. However, the weekend plans of the local hardcore Raider faithful have never been a mystery.

One of the problems with Oakland's crime problem is that it blots out discussion of everything else. If the City Council moves to clean up goose droppings around the lake, for example, the first and reflexive response from Oaklanders is, "Forget the geese, stop crime."

From Uhuru Crab Cakes to fried Twinkies, all culinary bases are covered at the Art and Soul Festival in downtown Oakland. City Hall correspondent V Smoothe spent Saturday afternoon at the fair. She sent us these pictures.

Art and Soul's second day starts at 11 a.m. Click here for entrance locations.

It may have been hard for people to think beyond the live performances and shopping at the Nite Souk, but many of them did. They made wishes - some for themselves, some for Oakland and tied them up around a little tree.

Through September 19, StoryCorps’ GriotBooth, housed in a classy Airstream trailer, will be parked outside Oakland’s City Hall. The Griot Initiative is aimed at collecting the oral histories of African American families from around the country. 

Oakland's first ever Nite Souk came and went so fast. Saturday's bazaar showcased exotic vendors, and featured lively performances by Tara Linda and Sombra, Heron and Hunt, Duniya Dance Company, and of course, break-dancing by Evo.D.

The vendors did some brisk business, but none could match the sales at the teas-and-snacks stand. If you weren't there, photographer Dwayne Marsh's great pictures can tell you what you missed.

In the words of the masked men themselves, they are pioneers, athletes, and artists. They perform feats of immense strength, feats that would kill lesser men, to continue a tradition passed to them by uncles and siblings in faraway lands. They follow in the footsteps of warriors like “El Santo,” the most famous Lucha Libre fighter, who breathed his last breath mere days after he first revealed to his adoring public the face behind the silver mask.

There is something about Nicaraguan regional buses that distills 50 years and thousands of miles into a single, peculiar time-warped experience. The bus itself, like many material items you see in developing countries, is an American throwaway – an Eisenhower-era school bus with a Latin makeover. Some retain their golden exterior, complete with "Tulsa Unified School District" on the side. But others have been refinished in brilliant color combinations of red, green, or teal, which better match the tropical surroundings. Inside, the original "Watch Your Step" plaques can still be seen above the windshields, among an array of Jesus decals, Looney Tunes stickers, and miniature  Nicaraguan flags affixed to the rear-view mirror.

Remember Glynn Washington? If you don’t, he’s an Oakland resident who might well be the voice of tomorrow’s public radio. We wrote about him when he had just been picked to be a part of the Talent Quest – the quest to find a public radio host from among public radio’s listeners. His entry wowed the judges enough to get him into the final 10 -- past the thousands of candidates who wanted to be a part of this public radio version of American Idol. Listeners check out the entries, and vote for their favorites.

 

This week, if you wander through Chinatown or Laurel, you might see people walking around with colorful picket signs. But don’t get too excited at the thought of joining a protest march. These are volunteers and employees of Upwardly Global, a not-for-profit group that works with refugees, asylum seekers, and other immigrants who left their careers behind in the countries they fled.

Deadline nights in the newspaper business are sacred. Nothing compares to that last minute rush of writing, editing and designing, trying to squeeze in that last crucial detail before going to press. When I heard that Chauncey Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post, was killed yesterday morning, "deadline night" was the first thing that came to mind.

If you are one of those avid readers counting the days until the seventh and final installment of Harry Potter is released next week, you can indulge your mania early at the main Oakland Public Library. 

Ever traveled to Bangkok or Saigon or New Delhi? Ever hung out in a bustling night bazaar filled with people flocking to carts selling clothes, knick-knacks, odds and ends, and of course, food? Clowns play with kids, artists perform juggling acts on the side, and every now and then, groups of people start to dance without any warning.

If you’re like me, you confuse your public radio shows, except for Fresh Air, of course.  I’m not proud of it – it’s just that I don’t listen to public radio as much as I did when I had a one-hour daily commute.

But what I do remember is that Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me is a very popular radio show.  I never really listened to it, but I always heard about it. So I was a little taken aback when Glynn Washington, who may very well be the voice of tomorrow’s public radio, said that Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me represented everything that was wrong with public radio today.

Find yourself wanting to curl up by the lake and read away the summer day? All you're missing is a good book. Are you wondering if there's a bookstore closer than Borders or Barnes and Noble? Perhaps, you want to try a different store? You’re in luck, as Oakland has its fair share of unique bookstores.

Cancer and birth defects coming out of nail salons? Sounds insane, but it could happen. Maybe not to you – because you, as a customer, probably don’t spend eight hours a day in there. But those that do your nails, it’s a danger they live with.

An Oakland summer spent entirely at the pool could result in a nasty case of pneumonia. After all, a high of 50 degrees in August is not unheard of, and a very hot day means temperatures in the 80s. Still, between May and October we can count on at least a month’s worth of really warm days when the only thing you want to do is jump in the water. 

Like the Beatles’ notorious “butcher album,” the first issue of CDs that Yoshi’s released to celebrate its 10th anniversary will go down in recording history as a colossal gaffe and a collectors item (albeit on a purely local level).

A few weeks ago, we received a meditation on the wilderness and the city. The writer, who describes himself as a carpenter and a writer, shares how he discovered the distinct power and beauty of both the natural world and the man-made world through a hole in the branches at Redwood Park.

Stop by Entrez at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Seventeenth Street right now for live music and good Uptown cheer.

One of my favorite writers, Mark Morford, just wrote about how the hippies had it right all along. He doesn't mean the modern day ones that want to be hippies, but the originals from the 60s. They were right, because now everyone's realizing that it's great to eat organic and it's great to care about the environment. The hippies had been saying it all along.

When you think of sports in Oakland, you likely think of the big three: basketball, baseball, and football. And soccer is right up there with hoops -- if you go by sheer numbers.

But on a balmy Thursday evening, about 15 teenagers practiced rugby at Frutivale Elementary under the tutelage of coaches Ed Lopez and Ryan Burke. The two coaches, both Chico State grads, praised the lads when they deserved it, and verbally kicked them when they needed tough love. Rugby is well below the sports radar in Oakland, but that could change -- thanks to the Oakland Warthogs, a new high school club.

We all know the type. When the rest of us are driving to work, we see them pedaling past traffic in the wind, the rain, and the fog. Rather than buy them on the open market a la Al Gore, the bicycle commuter leaves the car parked and earns carbon credits the hard way.  Do you know someone who deserves a pat on the back for dodging our fenders and eating our exhaust day after day? The Metropolitan Transportation Commission wants names.

Serena Bartlett has lived on three continents. That explains why she's intimately familiar with travel guides.

But when she unpacked her bags in Oakland after college in December of 2005, she found the city under-served and ignored by the books on the market. One guide had 15 pages on Sausalito and a lone mention of Oakland’s Museum of California. Frustrated by the lack of Oakland information, and inspired by her new home and her love of travel, she decided to write her own guide.

Every year at Oscar time, Oakland remembers its two most-famous Academy Award winners: Tom Hanks and Clint Eastwood. But they are not the only Hollywood legends with roots in the city. Today, Walter Plunkett is largely forgotten. Although, it’s a safe bet that Milena Canonero, the woman who won last night’s costume design Oscar for the film “Marie Antoinette” knows his work well.

If you turn down the right street at the right time in Deep East Oakland, you might be privy to an unexpected musical experience – one that provides an exotic contrast to the neighboring convenience stores and abandoned lot.

Within an unadorned building, Karriem Khan faces a corner, inhales deeply and begins to chant. For about 90 seconds, his voice reverberates off the walls of this mosque, and when his song concludes, hundreds of thousands of Muslims will join him in prayer. Khan performs the role of the mudhin -- the one who makes the call to prayer.

We put out an Oakland quiz a few weeks ago. It got a lot of hits, but what we heard from a lot of readers was that it was too difficult. That, thankfully, didn’t deter everyone. Quite a few loyal Oaklanders responded, and some of them got all the answers right. But since we could only pick one winner, we randomly chose one name from the list of those selected. We promise we knew no one who participated.

The man who some might call a walking encyclopedia on Oakland is Richard Davis, a 47-year old Oakland resident who’s lived in the city for the last 39 years.

With a new mayor at the start of the New Year, there is going to be a lot of talk about Oakland's future in coming weeks. At NovoMetro, we decided to look to the city's past. We spent a few hours in the Oakland History Room at the main library Tuesday. We pored over old, bound issues of the Overland Monthly from the 1890s and over various travelers' accounts from before Oakland officially become a city. One professor visiting from back East described the town in the 1840s as a "lovely, little place not unlike Brooklyn from New York."

Is there a place so frightening to you that the very mention of its name gives you chills? Oakland was that for me. I came to California from Pennsylvania about five years ago. My initial visit turned into a two-year stay in San Jose. I developed a sunshine addiction and decided to get a job and earn my keep. So, I settled into a work-a-day situation. I thought that San Jose would be my permanent residence until my restless spirit and my adventurous son decided that I needed to trade Silicon Valley and my techie environment for more of a grass roots and activist setting.