I hella heart Oakland

On my last Saturday in Oakland,CA I spent the day doing nothing-in-particular with a few good friends (which turned out to include a chocolate factory tour and a three-hour thai feast, interestingly) to commemorate my time in the place I've called home for the last six weeks before I embark, if only temporarily, to yet another 'home'. This side of the Bay sure doesn't measure up to the pace of our neighboring hub-counterpart San Francisco, but the essences are the same....

So why do "I hella heart Oakland"?? For one, people actually say 'hella'. I was thinking it was just the kids, the UC Berkeley- folk of age 20 or so...but no. My friend says 'hella'. Frequently. Like teens on the East Coast say "like! yah!". And instead of 'hearting New York" Milton Glaser-style, around here we DO "hella heart Oakland" on our tees.

Secondly, the evidence of citizens who embrace and utilize their rights under the First Amendment. Like today, three protesters climbed the Golden Gate to hang "free Tibet" signs and protest the Olympic torch ceremony.

And have you seen the all-pervasive Sarah Marshall movie ads that make you, well, not want to see the movie? I don't care how funny the movie could be...the billboards have single-handedly convinced me NOT to see it. This speaking-of-ones-mind spied in Berkeley, I feel, is a much better resolution for the obnoxious billboards...
Reason numero tres: the citizens of the Bay area love trash. They collect trash and resell it, they arrange trash into assemblages on the street, they save trash in their homes to visualize their footprint on the earth in a literal way, they glue trash onto signs and turn trash into art. I've even taken to doing the latter myself.

Today I took a walking tour of my "hood" to commemorate the sights of my usual walking routes in this glorious neighborhood...which yes, do include the creative use of trash. Slip into my neighborhood and take the virtual tour: Glorious Oakland Pics

As I prepare to leave this part of the west behind, I embrace it whole-heartedly, and perform daily rituals to keep its intricacies sacred, that I might return as if I'd never left and fall into line with the marching liberals hoping to make this world a bit better, if only a few persons at a time.