Annette Miller, a longtime resident of West Oakland’s Ghost Town neighborhood, has witnessed the dramatic transformation of the city as changes sweep the block she’s lived on for over 50 years.
Community
Posted inFeature, Nonfiction, Sports, Story
From Ghost Town to Havana: Two Teams, Two Countries, One Game
Two baseball teams — one from the tough streets of West Oakland and the other from Havana — decide to play each other. When they meet in Cuba, a Berkeley documentary filmmaker captures it all.
Posted inArts & Culture, Story
The Hippies Who Hated the Summer of Love
The merchants of Haight-Ashbury advertised a summer of free food, free lodging, and free love. What they got instead was a civic nightmare.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Hippies Who Hated the Summer of Love
The merchants of Haight-Ashbury advertised a summer of free food, free lodging, and free love. What they got instead was a civic nightmare.
Posted inCurrent Events, Nonfiction, Quotes
There Are Reasons We Can’t Handle the Truth
Julie Beck digs deep into news silos, alternative facts, and cognitive dissonance.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Garden of Refugees
The story of Eh Kaw Htoo, a Karen refugee from Myanmar — a man who “extolled the redneck’s work ethic” — helping to build a community of 150 Karens who sustain one another by living frugally and sharing the bounty of the land in the rural community of Comer, Georgia.
Posted inNonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
‘This Is Home Now’: The Karen People’s Journey from Myanmar to Australia
200 Karen people from the Myanmar-Thailand border have resettled in Nhill, a country town halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia. The influx of refugees has revitalized the town, creating jobs, connections, and a sense of community.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Ellen Willis on Community and Long-Distance Bus Travel
The legendary Ellen Willis (first-ever pop critic for The New Yorker, feminist role model extraordinaire, etc.) passed away in 2006, but her work is enjoying a second renaissance thanks to The Essential Ellen Willis, a 2014 collection edited by her daughter Nona Willis Aronowitz. Earlier this month the National Book Critics Circle posthumously awarded Willis their top prize in criticism […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Stories About Unlikeable People
Emily Perper is a word-writing human working at a small publishing company. She blogs about her favorite longreads at Diet Coker. Last Thursday, the NBC series “Community” returned with its creator and original showrunner, Dan Harmon, at the helm. I like “Community.” I do. It’s warm and dark and funny and self-referential. In spite of its absurdity—perhaps […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Stories About Unlikeable People
Emily Perper is a word-writing human working at a small publishing company. She blogs about her favorite longreads at Diet Coker. Last Thursday, the NBC series “Community” returned with its creator and original showrunner, Dan Harmon, at the helm. I like “Community.” I do. It’s warm and dark and funny and self-referential. In spite of its absurdity—perhaps […]