Helloooooo North Oakland!

I’m planning on getting the October issue out sometime early next week! 🎉 In addition to the usual events, some folks have submitted some cool ideas for articles, like an disaster prep checklist ahead of El Niño, a recap of the November ballot, and a history of oak trees in North Oakland. These will either come next week or later in the month; if you are one of those people and are reading this remember there is truly no rush lol, we will get it out whenever we have it. (And if you are reading this and want to submit something, then reply and let me know!)

The ask for you: do you know of anything cool/important happening in the neighborhood that I might be missing?? As a person without children I have no idea which streets go hard for Halloween or if people are getting together to talk about the school board elections… if you’ve got the goss about this or other things, please share.

In the meantime, here are some events that I will not be able to include in the print issue because I always get it out a little late:

• [10/1-4, 6:30] 17th Annual Fist Up Film Festival @ La Peña. La Peña has been doing a really awesome job with their political education film series, and this seems right in line with that. From the website: “The Fist Up Film Festival presents films that connect global and local struggles, amplify marginalized voices, and create space for dialogue, solidarity, and community action.” Doors at 6:30, screenings at 7.

• [10/3-4, 10A-3PM] Swap & Sale @ 4799 Shattuck. Basically a big mutual aid gathering of sorts? You can come with cash or something to trade. Things listed on the flyer include costumes, seeds, honey, toys, massages, meditation, notary service, group lego builds, baked goods, furniture, electronics, and much more. Space was formerly OmniCommons in case that rings a bell for anyone.

• [10/3] Skully’s Sandwiches @ Good Times Oakland. Delicious sandwiches (including philly cheesesteaks??), lovely people.

• [10/3] Black Cowboy Festival @ DeFremery Park – this is not in North Oakland but is too good to not include? I will hopefully be there with a film camera.

• [10/7] Black Edgar’s Music Box @ Root Stock Arts. I saw the featured musician (David Boyce) here last month as part of a jazz quartet and he blew my mind… easily one of the most special concerts I’ve been to this year. This performance is something of an Afrofuturist one, described as “an uncompromising transmigration of jazz, electronic noise, and interstellar frequency”.

Also for your enjoyment: this excellent recap of the community meeting a few weeks ago re: how to handle “The Dog Situation” in Bushrod Park, written by one of our neighbors! Surprisingly rich political questions under the hood of all this, from “who is the park for?” to “how do we constructively move through conflict as a community?” to “why is the 8 year old the one person who could name the nuance?”. Also s/o Martine and the Oakland Review of Books for publishing this :)

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Okay that’s all! Hopefully you will hear from me again in like, a week when the actual issue is out. Until then, go outside, it is a beautiful day!

-H