by C. J. Hirschfield I grew up in Los Angeles, where looks are, if not everything, then at least hugely important. And even though I left for good when I was 18, the imagined stigma of unloveliness remains with me. I am also a pretty frugal person and don’t want to spend a ton of […]
2021 October
Calendar – November 2021
by Sheila McCormick November 5, Friday, 7:00-800 pm – Rotary Nature Center Friends Lakeside Chat #12: Taxidermy! A Dead Science? Or Art? Do you remember the stuffed birds at the Rotary Nature Center? Many of those specimens were local to Lake Merritt and served as a “3-D Field Guide” for people interested in identifying birds […]
Splash Pad News – October 2021
Calendar – October 2021
by Sheila McCormick October 1, Saturday, 7:00-800 pm – Rotary Nature Center Friends Lakeside Chat #11 – Marshland Restoration in the Bay and at Lake Merritt. In honor of BAY MONTH , we welcome Charlie Onorati of Save San Francisco Bay and a panel of Lake Merritt tidal marsh enthusiasts. Register here. October 6, Wednesday […]
Autumn Lights Festival Celebrates 10th Anniversary
by C. J. Hirschfield The 10th annual Autumn Lights Festival, a popular “only in Oakland” event that benefits the Gardens at Lake Merritt, will take place October 14–16. Thousands of visitors from around Northern California are expected to come to experience the festival’s immersive, interactive interplay of art, light, and nature. Over the garden’s seven […]
What Happened to Norman Needn’t Be Normal
by Ken Katz For more than two decades, when the subject of mental illness and homelessness in our Grand Lake neighborhood came up, the defining image that often came to mind was a guy most simply knew as “Norman.” Occasionally, he’d disappear for a week and upon his return (with a haircut, shave, and clean […]