O-town is the most beautiful city in the world...

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything here, but this might get me back in the spirit...

The following dialogue between my wife and my daughter will be written in script format to help minimize the "then she said, then she said..."

FADE IN.

INT. CAR - DRIVING ON 680 THROUGH DANVILLE AREA

DAUGHTER
Why do all of theses buildings look the same, Mommy?

WIFE
Well... in newer towns they sometimes have a person who is the developer who designs certain areas to look alike.

DAUGHTER
I don't like it. Why doesn't Oakland look like this?

WIFE
Oakland is a lot older than this area. So, some buildings that were built a long time ago now sit next to newer buildings that have a newer style.

DAUGHTER
Well, Mommy, don't you think Oakland is the most beautiful city in the whole world?

WIFE
No, actually, I think there a lot of cities that are more beautiful than Oakland...

DAUGHTER
Mommy, don't you think you're hurting our house's feelings?

KENDRA REACHES FOR VOLUME TO TURN UP THE RADIO.

FADE OUT.

So my Daughter thinks that Oakland is the most beautiful city in the world, and my Son thinks that the culmination of illegal fireworks on the fourth of July is "the best night ever." Oh, to be five again.

... but seriously, I love...

...it is somewhere between heaven and hell, caught in some mystical state of love and hate, hope and resentment, stature and fear. I am not sure that I can rightly describe what it is about Oakland love... perhaps it's one of those "you had/have to be there" experiences.

Some days, I love it and want to pat it on the back, other days... well, other days can range from flee-dom to wanting to put on the waders and slosh through the shit.

I could say diversity, but that is plain as day. Culture, but that may be passe.

It's more like the image of Darwin's fish struggling to get out of the water and onto dry land. There is something in the swamp of Oakland that wants to push The City into becoming something new and something better, but the struggle, the pain, the death... that makes it difficult to enjoy sometimes, but it also makes it something to love and root for.

I have a feeling this is just the beginning of a much larger writing experience, so I will leave it here for today...


And yes, I said The City. And yes, I meant to capitalize the "T" and the "C". Don't get me wrong, I love San Francisco and spend too much time there, but I love Oakland, so take some small offense when people tell me they are going to "the city," to which I ask "what city would that be?" Oh semantics... but if "they" can have their "city," I guess I can have my "City."


... to be continued...

Why I Love Oakland...

...'cuz this shit don't happen in Danville...

Oakland Protests...

Following Oscar Grant III's memorial service in Hayward, people organized at the Fruitvale BART station to protest Grant's death and also call for answers as many parties express grief, none seem anxious for answers. Even the District Attorney appears to be dumbfounded and at a loss for words, refusing to speak to the press (I think he uses Dellum's PR team). Ironically, the Absent Mayor himself expressed his condolences and asked for all to remain calm and patient.

Well, that didn't last long. Roughly two hours into the protest, the march began up International Avenue towards Lake Merritt, where, met by OPD, splinter groups split off and minor bursts of chaos ensued. A hundred people were arrested, some cars set fire, broken windows and vandalism, all capped off by Dellums tele-porting himself to the sidewalk to lead a group to the steps of City Hall where he was booed and yelled at for ten minutes.

I think protests are a valuable form of expression in our society. I have personally marched in protests. I think a crowd of marchers can yell in anger and cry in solidarity. I think Oscar Grant would want people to march against the absurdity of his death. I think Oscar's death, captured on video, should force us as a community to look at the problems that plague Oakland and march for a better City.

But at what point do the actions of a few ruin the message of the many?

Setting fires? Destroying police cars that your tax dollars paid for? Smashing the windows of black owned businesses? Thanks to the a few selfish attention seekers, the message was lost.

I hope when it begins again, the message will win out. A message of grief and sadness. Condolence and community. Answers and attention. Peace and meaning. I hope that Oakland will pull itself up from it's bootstraps to work on being a better place tomorrow, but it will take all of us working together, the many and the few.

I hope my City will shine bright.

Oh Dellums...

This is Ronald Vernie Dellums, the all alluring Mayor of Oakland... in a rare moment of actually appearing in public and speaking... wait, Gavin and Arnold were also on hand, so it was positive press.

It appears in his haste to chastise HBO's plan to film it's new series "Gentlemen of Leisure" in Oakland... not wanting it to give Oakland a bad name, like "The Wire" did for Baltimore... he forgot that his son, Erik Dellums - an aspiring actor, has appeared in a half dozen episodes of "The Wire." Oops. According to the Chronicle, his own staffers were caught off guard by this revelation.

Next thing you know, I'll have to get a permit to post this blog...

HBO Wires Oakland...

HBO and the Hughes brothers are developing "Gentlemen of Leisure," a noir drama set in Oakland, CA., that explores the prostitution subculture from the point of view of a pimp in the twilight of his career [from IMDB].


I know that I'm very late to The Wire, but I have seen a few episodes, which then made me stop watching until I am able to watch the entire series. Blah, blah, blah. I was, however, immediately drawn into the similarities between the stories that were happening in the fictional Baltimore of The Wire and the stories happening in the real Oakland of... well, that was just it. I wanted Oakland to be spot-lighted in it's own program for the world to see. Well, my wish may be coming true, in one twisted way or another.


So, the Hughes brothers (Menace II Society, Dead Presidents, From Hell) want to film their series in Oakland, but it appears that Dellums, and other members of the City Council, are having a "not here, not in my town" apprehension. Chips Johnson's article for the Chronicle makes Dellums seem even more powerfully delusional than normal, stating the show will not fit into the Absentee Mayor's version of a "model city" (because his vision has worked thus far...?). Hey Chip, when are you going to run for Mayor? Seriously.


Of course Allen Hughes simply rebuffed any temperance on a permit by suggesting filming elswhere and labeling it Oakland. Thanks for the recognition Allen, but please continue fighting. I want the world to see the grit and the glamour of Oakland. I want a show to highlight the hardships of urban life, the pain of death, abuse and exploitation. I want attention drawn to Oakland, both good and bad, and I have enough respect for the Hughes brothers work to think that homage will paid to the city without using urban crime as an overly glamorized nipple that will tempt all of our youth to more depravity. I think this is what the Mayor and the City Council fears, unfortunately, they have been asleep at the wheel for so long, they have missed that his is already happening... under their own watch.


Hey, I've got an idea... let's let the A's slip away, wave goodbye to the Wayan's complex, let our schools rot, let violence continue to bruise our name, hire more cops with non-existent money that we never had to begin with, let our City Administrator make hallucinatory budget claims and pre-raid tip offs, let our Mayor remain elusive and potentially inept... oh, yeah, and while we're at it, let's push out creativity and more income to The City by not issuing a filming permit. Brilliant! [And yes, I used The City to describe Oakland, but I will save that for another post.]


I think Dellums and the City Council could use a little pimp-slap back to reality... we're not in Kansas anymore, bitches.

Life is Cheap...

I was saddened to read about the death of a seasonal Wal-Mart employee in Long Island. As he went to open the doors at 5 in the morning, the crowd of 2,000 shoppers created a surge that ended up breaking the doors off of their hinges and sending about 200 people trampling over the 34 year old man.


Not to be outdone, two idiots decided to get into a wild west style shootout at a Toys R Us in Palm Desert, killing each other.


Perhpas I'm getting old, wait, I am getting old, but my sensitivities seem to be getting less calloused to senseless death. I live in Oakland, I get that people die for no good reason, especially here. I get that people die in terrorist attacks because kids grow up brainwashed by fanatical ego-maniacs to think that their "enemies" deserve to die. I guess I'm just fed-up with life being so degraded and cheapened. Life has become a fucking "rollback," "doorbuster" sale, so insignificant that it is being killed by consumerism. Literally.


And let's not forget Abraham Biggs, 19, that killed himself on justin.tv. He took a handful of pills and turned his webcam on, while the online "community" egged him on. Are you serious?


What have we become?