Clayton Trosclair Still Tellin’ It Like It Is
Green Funeral Fair
Many people are beginning to rethink the environmental impacts of death and dying. A group of vendors gathered in Berkeley recently for one of the country’s first green funeral fairs.
Nights at Daruma
TOKYO/Osamu Kouke has defined his life through hard work and family. He presides over an izakaya – a cheery bar where he and his family dispense food, liquor, music and joy. It’s a vital community center, where patrons and workers serenade each other with tales of everday triumph and woe – the kind of place that’s becoming extinct.
Japan’s Marriage Hunters
TOKYO/ Japan’s mating game has changed dramatically as fewer young people choose to get married. Finding a partner has become a tricky proposition because of evolving views on family and career, with many well-educated women now choosing work over marriage. Those who are serious about finding a spouse can get help from thousands of companies in the “marriage hunting” business.
Revolving Door of Substitutes in Oakland Schools
The students in Ms. Scott’s fourth grade class at Prescott Elementary have yet to see her this year. Every morning for two months now, they’ve shown up to their West Oakland campus and wondered which substitute teacher will take her place that day.
Make A Joyful Noise
The East Bay Church of Religious Science, a non-denominational church in Oakland, competed in a national gospel choir competition on Oct. 10. Watch the choir perform before 15,000 people in the Oracle Arena.
Obamafied
In the days before the Nov. 4 election, some West Oakland residents announced their pick for president by wearing and selling homemade Barack Obama T-shirts and merchandise.
Proposition 8 Protests
The passage of California Proposition 8 sparked statewide protests, with tens of thousands of gay activists marching in dozens of cities. In San Francisco, an estimated 5,000 demonstrators marched from Civic Center to the Castro and Dolores Park.
Jonestown Remembered
409 victims of the Jonestown Massacre are buried in a mass grave in Evergreen Cemetery, a sweeping plot of land that overlooks east Oakland. On the thirtieth anniversary of the tragedy, friends, relatives and surviving members of the People’s Temple gathered to remember the lives that were lost.
Oakland Considers School Closures
Oakland’s network of tiny schools has become too expensive to maintain, according to administrators, who in recent weeks have begun considering the idea of closing or merging as many as 17 of 108 city schools. Parents now fear the gains made over the past eight years will disappear along with those campuses.