Splash Pad Calendar – February 2023

Splash Pad Calendar
by Sheila McCormick

February 1, Wednesday, 12-1pm, *ZOOM* UC Berkeley Demography. Loneliness Transitions Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults Around the World. Professor Rachel Margolis addresses how and why grandparenthood is changing over time, how family networks are evolving, and how the thinning of kinship networks affects older adults. Register here.

February 1, Wednesday, 12:30-1:30pm, *ZOOM* Rural Urban Bridge Initiative. American Made: What Happens to People When Work Disappears. Farah Stockman will discuss her book. Register here.

February 1, Wednesday, 5-6:15pm. *ZOOM* UC-Davis. Beyond Soul Food: Black Women’s Leadership in American Food Culture. Tanya Holland, Psyche Williams-Forson, and Kimberly D. Nettles-Barcelón will discuss how Black women’s authoritative food voices are creating new perspectives of our food history, new models of entrepreneurship, community, and creativity in the food industry. Register here.

February 2, Thursday, 12:30-1:30pm, *ZOOM or Facebook Live* Oakland Rotary Club #3. Former Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst: Securing American Interests by Defeating Putin in Ukraine. Read more here.

February 3, Friday, 7pm, *ZOOM* Rotary Nature Center Friends. Chat #27: Estuaries, Biology, and Lake Merritt. Dr. Jere Lipps, former Director of the UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology and author of the forthcoming Lake Merritt: Jewel of Oakland. Register here.

February 5, Sunday, 3-8pm, *IN PERSON* Pacific Renaissance Plaza, 388 9th St., Lantern Festival. Night market, performances, arts and crafts. Read more here.

February 6, Monday, 3-4pm, *ZOOM* UC-Merced. Ask Me Anything Featuring Chris McLaughlin. Chris McLaughlin has been gardening and studying plants for more than thirty-five years. She’s the author of nine books, most recently The Good Garden: How to Nurture Pollinators, Soil, Native Wildlife, and Healthy Food—All in Your Own Backyard. Register here.

February 7, Tuesday, 6:30-7:30pm. *ZOOM* Contra Costa Library. Living with Wildlife. Presentation by Professor Peter Alagona (UC-Santa Barbara), author of The Accidental Ecosystem: People and Wildlife in American Cities. Register here.

February 8, Wednesday, 9am-12pm  *IN PERSON*  2000 Franklin St., Oakland. Alzheimer’s Association. Aging with Pride: Building a Caring Community Together. A half-day conference focused on learning, resources, and support for LGBTQIA+ caregivers and community members. Register here.

February 8, Wednesday, 7pm *ZOOM* Friends of Alameda Free Library. Under-Represented Art Stories. Meet artists who tend to be underrepresented in American museums. Self-identified as Navaho/Pueblo Laguna, Anishinabe, Mexican, Black, Gay & Queer, these artists produce work ranging from abstracted to hyper-realism. Register here.

February 9, Thursday, 11am-12pm *ZOOM* UC Retiree Learning Series/Front Porch. Hiding in Plain Sight: The New Deal Legacy in the Bay Area. A visual survey of some of the important and some more obscure New Deal sites around the region. Facilitated by Richard Walker, Professor Emeritus of Geography at UC Berkeley and Director of the Living New Deal Project. Register here.

February 9, Thursday, 12:30-1:30pm, *In Person or via ZOOM and Facebook Live* Oakland Rotary Club #3.   Dr. Christie Chung: Cognitive Aging. Read more here.

February 9, Thursday, 6-7pm *ZOOM* SF Bay Bird Observatory. Feathers to Form: How Birds Can Shape an Art Practice. Walter Kitundu will discuss his history as an instrument builder and performer and share how birds impacted his artistic trajectory.  Register here.

February 9, Thursday, 7-8pm *ZOOM* Peninsula Open Space Trust. Golden Eagles of the Northern Diablo Range. Wildlife Biologist Patrick Kolar will speak about Golden Eagle breeding populations in the Diablo Range of California. Register here.

February 13, Monday,5:30-7pm *IN PERSON* Oakland Public Library, Main Library, 125 14th St. Broken Hearts Party and Shrine Launch. February 14th is Valentine’s Day, which makes February 13th the perfect day to purge past broken hearts! You can also contribute your ex-relationship memorabilia to this pop-up museum. Register here.

February 15, Wednesday, 12-2pm *ZOOM* Crafton Hills College. Screening of How It Feels to Be Free. This documentary tells how Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, and Pam Grier challenged an entertainment industry complicit in perpetuating racist stereotypes. Register here.

February 15, Wednesday, 12:30-1:30pm *ZOOM* Marine Mammal Center. Pinniped Personalities: Ask an Expert. Curious about what it’s like working with marine mammals like elephant seals, Hawaiian monk seals and California sea lions? Want to know which species are the loudest, the smartest, or the most challenging to handle? Register here.

February 15, Wednesday, 3:30-4:30pm *ZOOM* NY Public Library. Asian American Histories of the United States. Discussion with author Catherine Ceniza Choy (Ethnic Studies Professor, UC-Berkeley). Register here.

February 15, Wednesday, 7-8:30pm, *ZOOM* Grand Lake Neighbors. Crime Prevention Council Meeting.  Login here.

February 16, Thursday, 12-1pm *ZOOM* American Red Cross. The Lifeline of Blood: Shining a Light on Sickle Cell Disease. As we celebrate Black History Month, we’re pleased to host this event to honor Dr. Charles R. Drew, who founded the Red Cross blood program in 1940. Register here.

February 16, Thursday, 12:30-1:30pm, *In Person or via ZOOM and Facebook Live* Oakland Rotary Club #3.  Brandon Nicholson – Executive Director of the Hidden Genius Project. Read more here.

February 16, Thursday, 2pm. *ZOOM* Turning Points for Children. Wakanda: Before and Beyond (in honor of Black History Month). Have you ever wondered what life in Africa would be like if there were no colonizers? Rik Stevenson Ph.D, will explore the African and African American experience through the lens of Black Panther’s Wakanda. Register here.

February 16, Thursday, 4:30-5:30pm *ZOOM* Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Margaret Wilkerson Sexton in Conversation. Oakland-based Sexton will talk about her new book On the Rooftop, exploring a family in 1950s San Francisco with hopes of success in the music business. Register here.

February 19, Sunday, 1-3pm *ZOOM* ACC Senior Services. Day of Remembrance – 1942, signing of Executive Order 9066. Hear from a panel of Internment Camp survivors, see a rarely seen film shot from inside the camp, and enjoy a musical offering from the Showstoppers. Register here.

February 21, Tuesday, 5:30pm *ZOOM* California Historical Society. The Racial Railroad. Author Julia H. Lee will discuss her new book, which examines the railroad as a site for creating racial identity in American culture for over 150 years.  Register here.

February 21, Tuesday, 7-8pm *ZOOM* SF Library. Fighting for Survival, Fighting on Arrival: The Buffalo Soldiers in the West. Golden Gate National Recreation Area Park Rangers Adrian, Cristina, and Sherry as they explore the history of the Buffalo Soldiers in National Parks and their role in breaking down barriers for Black Americans. Register here.

February 22, Wednesday, 12-1:30pm *ZOOM*. SF Library. Chip Lord and the Long Goodbye to the Automobile. Artist Chip Lord chronicles his life-long involvement with the automobile from childhood fascination to the central material of art-making with the group Ant Farm and beyond.  Register here.

February 23, Thursday, 5:30-7:30pm *In Person or via ZOOM and Facebook Live* Oakland Rotary Club #3.  An Evening with Evan Moss. Read more here.

February 23, Thursday, 7pm *ZOOM* KQED. Endless Winter: Inside the Donner Party Disaster with Carly Severn. An atmospheric night of immersive storytelling that takes audiences deep inside the Donner Party saga step-by-step and casts this disaster in a new light. Register here.

February 25, Saturday, 5-6:30pm *IN PERSON* Urban Furniture and Boutique. 25th Anniversary Celebration and Concert (Ticketed Event).  Read more and register here..

February 26, Sunday, 9am-12pm *IN PERSON* Splash Pad Grand Crew. Fourth Sunday Volunteer Work Day. Gloves and tools provided, or bring your own for weeding, pruning, litter pick-up, and planting.

February 26, Sunday, 11-4pm *IN PERSON* Camron-Stanford House. Oakland the Beautiful Community Art Showcase. Read more here.

February 26, Sunday, 12-7pm *IN PERSON* Black Joy Parade. Black Joy Parade and Festival. The festival entrance is at 20th and Franklin; the parade starts at 14th and Franklin  at 12:30pm. Read more here.

February 26, Sunday, 3:30pm *ZOOM* Don Edwards SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Drawbridge History & Virtual Tour. Dive into the history of Drawbridge, a “ghost town” that once housed a thriving community on an island along the South San Francisco Bay. How did this community survive in the marshlands? Why is it now a ghost town? Register here.

February 28, Tuesday, 2-4pm *ZOOM* Oakland Public Library/Contra Costa College. Resistance and the Preservation of African Cultural Traditions: Remembering the Geechees as Black Warriors in the Three Seminole Wars. Register here.

February 28, Tuesday, 6:30-7:30pm *ZOOM* SF Public Library. What Your Mother Never Told You: Chinese American Traditions. Learn about the facts, traditions, and misconceptions about the Lunar New Year celebration in San Francisco. Register here.

February 2023 Splash Pad News Calendar of the Month

Sheila McCormick is an Adjunct Professor Emerita in Cal’s Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. Prior to her retirement in January 2016, she had a research lab at the USDA/ARS-UC-Berkeley Plant Gene Expression Center in Albany, studying the molecular biology of plant reproduction. She also helps with editing and is a frequent contributor to the Splash Pad News, beginning with a series of seven neighborhood walks – the first of which was posted in April 2017.