Oakland's Dirty Islands

Oakland's Lake Merritt and its dirty islands, its beautiful Bay-edged skyline.

What I've been up to: Stuck on another project, plus full-time writing and advertising managing for the Berkeley Times. Let ... Me ... Tell ... You ... About ... City ... Council. Mind-blowing.

At the beginning of a recent City Council meeting where, like all meetings, five public speakers were chosen at random and spoke to anything under the sun, Marcus Gerard Robinson honored himself as co-founder of Teach For America. Competent and well-spoken, though a little loony, Robinson inspired councilmembers to look this way and that with slight, knowing smiles. Noone commented on Robinson's comments. He honored himself and then left the building. I, for one, believe him.

City Council crazies lining up to talk.

Yosemite entré.

Rachel, wearing my backpack, contemplates the Mt. Tam rainforest trail, pissed that we're not power walking.

Walks in Yosemite and Mt. Tam. Went hiking with my Stanford-bound (her new ID) sister a couple of Saturdays ago; will never live down the slow start - three breakfasts. Mt. Tam is far from the East Bay! And, oven-fresh scones and poor coffee at the inn overlooking the Bay at the crossroads between Muir Woods and the sprawling mountain was just too good to not linger for an hour. If you want a workout, hit the Stair Master!

Working for a startup, a startup newspaper at that, is a challenge. The background to my published stories are endless. My own blog site will happen, but in the meantime, I will write all the stories I should be writing in the paper here. It's tough to not write (do anything) the way you feel necessary, but it's the nature of our mercenary American lifestyles. My soul for an HD TV, the weekend, cappuccino, a beer every now and then, sex, basketball. A good trade? Ha!

The lonely lightbulb of the soul.

Walked into the newspaper office today. The layout computer, the office fish, Berkeley, and the potted poppies all died this week. Damn.

Went balling at Mosswood Regional Park, the home of Gary Payton and others, in Oakland on Wednesday. Had a shorter version of LeBron James on my team. Nobody could stop him. Had few basketball skills but was somewhat coordinated and was massively strong. I'd get a defensive rebound and then just throw it the length of the court without looking to where he was sprinting (he never rebounded after the first game and ran straight for our hoop on any shot by the other team). He caught the ball each time. No matter who was one him, even three guys. Was amazing. We lost the last game, though, when this chunky, big-body dude with dreds kept hitting threes and LeBron refused to go beyond the three-point line on either side of the court. Wish I had a photo.

Playing in the Oakland YMCA men's basketball league. Was 10 for 25 shooting last game. 25 shots! Embarrassing with a capital E. I know how Kobe must feel now - horrible.

Photographer friend Karin on the draw.