I love my new city, despite it being the third worst for crime in the country. Partly this is due to low officer to citizen ratio, because the city is still poor. But money is flowing in like the gold rush from tech companies escaping San Francisco, and those who work for them seeking a cool place to live. This intoxicating mixture of cultures and clashing purposes makes my blood run faster through my veins. Representatives from all classes of society from the one percent to the homeless mingle at farmers markets, where African bead sellers and food trucks serving Indonesians plates flank artisanal honey booths. It is almost always good weather, so even the indigent people smile at you. They may not have a shower but there are enough soup kitchens to keep them from starving, and many prefer camping out in empty lots to shelters. I don’t want to be shielded from the poor, because I don’t want to forget my obligation to them: to vote right and give what I can. Downtown Oakland, construction is constant, parking impossible, and car break-ins persistent, but I love walking by art deco buildings with an intriguing history, then coming upon a sunlit outdoor café with musicians catering to workers on lunch break and runaways alike. The crime dots most areas, and is intense in a part of town that is too littered with gun shot to walk around in, but there are dozens of other neighborhoods. Chinatown is lively with food stands spilling out on to the street sporting weirdly shaped roots and vegetables, and the locals resent me a little for sightseeing in their private world, but I need some snow peas. Walking around the 2.8-mile perimeter of Lake Merritt offers a look at exotic waterfowl, Uber executives jogging, and spread eagle vagabonds taking in the morning sun among the birds of paradise. Jack London Square is an artsy boat dock area, with a gigantic freight train barreling thought every so often. My neighborhood on the border of gentrifying Rockridge has upscale restaurants and boutiques but plenty of bookstores and a community oriented library as well. There are many more neighborhoods to explore, but they are constantly in flux from week to week. This is some of what I was trying to capture in my new show of paintings called Oakland in Transition
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I love my new city, despite it being the third worst for crime in the country. Partly this is due to low officer to citizen ratio, because the city is still poor. But money is flowing in like the gold rush from tech companies escaping San Francisco, and those who work for them seeking a cool place to live. This intoxicating mixture of cultures and clashing purposes makes my blood run faster through my veins. Representatives from all classes of society from the one percent to the homeless mingle at farmers markets, where African bead sellers and food trucks serving Indonesians plates flank artisanal honey booths. It is almost always good weather, so even the indigent people smile at you. They may not have a shower but there are enough soup kitchens to keep them from starving, and many prefer camping out in empty lots to shelters. I don’t want to be shielded from the poor, because I don’t want to forget my obligation to them: to vote right and give what I can. Downtown Oakland, construction is constant, parking impossible, and car break-ins persistent, but I love walking by art deco buildings with an intriguing history, then coming upon a sunlit outdoor café with musicians catering to workers on lunch break and runaways alike. The crime dots most areas, and is intense in a part of town that is too littered with gun shot to walk around in, but there are dozens of other neighborhoods. Chinatown is lively with food stands spilling out on to the street sporting weirdly shaped roots and vegetables, and the locals resent me a little for sightseeing in their private world, but I need some snow peas. Walking around the 2.8-mile perimeter of Lake Merritt offers a look at exotic waterfowl, Uber executives jogging, and spread eagle vagabonds taking in the morning sun among the birds of paradise. Jack London Square is an artsy boat dock area, with a gigantic freight train barreling thought every so often. My neighborhood on the border of gentrifying Rockridge has upscale restaurants and boutiques but plenty of bookstores and a community oriented library as well. There are many more neighborhoods to explore, but they are constantly in flux from week to week. This is some of what I was trying to capture in my new show of paintings called Oakland in Transition
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AuthorWendy Soneson is an Oakland Artist. Her show "Oakland in Transition" will appear at City Hall in May 2018. Also, at Rockridge Library in June 2018. Archives
April 2018
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