Podcasts about East Bay

Andy’s Brave New World: Part 3 The group leaves Yosemite, encounters Crystal. Based on a post by the hospital. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. They were halfway through clearing the third floor's residential wing when the smell hit them, that too-familiar sweet-sour scent they'd encountered far too many times in the past week. They found him in one of the bedrooms, a middle-aged man in diplomatic attire, Juyeon John Chu, collapsed across his bed as if he'd simply laid down for a moment's rest. "I'll take care of it," Andy said quietly, already moving toward the body. "We can't bury him here, we might need the soil for growing food later. I'll take him to the sea tomorrow morning." No one argued. They'd all seen too many bodies to be truly shocked anymore, but finding one in what was meant to be their sanctuary cast a pall. "Let's get the water system running," Andy suggested after they'd wrapped the body and moved it to the yard. "But hold off on the generator for now. No sense advertising our presence with lights until we're more settled." They chose their rooms quickly. Daniela picked a corner room with good sightlines to the street. Sarah chose one near the bathroom, while Crystal selected a smaller room. Andy took the room nearest the stairs, positioning himself between potential threats and the others. The work of unloading their supplies took the rest of the daylight hours, their movements becoming more efficient as they learned the building's layout. They gathered on the roof as the sun began to set, their camp stoves and rehydrated meals spread out on a foldable plastic table scavenged from the kitchen. The view was breathtaking, the Golden Gate Bridge silhouetted against the darkening sky, the bay waters reflecting the last orange rays of sunlight. Despite everything, despite the silence that had fallen over the city and the scattered signs of candlelight appearing in distant windows, the vista remained stubbornly, achingly beautiful. "It's so pretty here," Crystal offered softly. "And it has everything we need. Good choice." She smiled at Andy. "Yeah, I'm glad this place has a gym," Sarah said, picking at her camping meal. "If I could just order my Korean skincare products, I'd be set." She sighed. "God, my skin is going to be a disaster without my routine." Andy chuckled, leaning back against the low wall. "For me, it's Netflix and H B O, I'll miss most. And streaming new music." He shrugged at their surprised looks. "I know, I know, I'm a park ranger, I should be all about nature. And I am! But there's nothing like unwinding with a good show or a new album after a long day." "Ice cream," Daniela said suddenly, her voice softer than usual. "I really miss ice cream. It's probably all melted now. And YouTube. Dad and I used to;" she paused. "Watch together all the time. I learned so much from tutorial videos. How to fix things, how to make stuff." She stared at her bowl. Crystal set down her bowl and touched Daniela softly on the arm. "For me, a proper hot shower," she said wistfully. "And getting my hair done at the salon. Just the whole experience of it, someone washing your hair, the massage;" "Oh god, yes," Sarah groaned. "My colorist in L A, she was an artist. These highlights?" She tugged at a strand of her expertly highlighted hair. "They're going to grow out and look awful." "Who did you go to?" Crystal asked, perking up slightly. "In L A, I mean?" "Sadie at Salon Santa Monica," Sarah replied. "Once I could afford it." Crystal's eyes lit up with recognition. "Oh! I knew some girls who went there. The agency had me going to Maurice at Atelier." She named one of the most exclusive salons in Los Angeles. "I mean, I couldn't afford it myself, it was part of the modeling contract." "Maurice?" Sarah's eyes widened. "I dream about getting an appointment there. Their balayage technique is incredible." They spent the next few minutes trading stories about L A salons and beauty treatments, their voices growing more animated as they compared experiences. Andy and Daniela exchanged bored glances, letting them have their moment of nostalgia. Finally, the conversation lulled naturally. Andy cleared his throat, his expression growing more serious. "For tonight, we'll get the Starlink array set up, then everyone can get some rest. Maybe have a shower." He gave Crystal a small smile. "Though it'll be cold for now, the water heater runs on natural gas, so that's going to take some time to sort out." He set his empty bowl aside. "Tomorrow morning, we should head to the Presidio, see what kind of organization is forming there. But before that, we need to think about security. Daniela, those anti-personnel mines you brought; think you can set up a perimeter?" Daniela nodded. "I also want to do a more thorough sweep of the building," he continued. "Check every desk, every shelf. Might find keys, documents, anything useful." The setting sun cast long shadows across the roof as he laid out his thoughts. "This place makes sense as a long-term base. The off-grid water and power should last us months, hopefully long enough to find renewable sources. If we can track down someone who knows electrical work, maybe get some solar panels up here on the roof with a battery bank, we'll be set." Sarah nodded, her expression open. "So we're staying?" A series of quick nods around the group confirmed their agreement. "In that case," Andy continued, "we should start doing serious scavenging runs. Stock up on preserved food, drinks, medical supplies, anything useful we can find. Crystal, can you look up all the grocery stores and restaurants, anywhere we might find food, and put them on a map? I saw a framed map of SF downstairs, we can use that for now." "Of course, glad to. I found a janitorial closet earlier too," Crystal said, her voice careful but eager to contribute. "But most of the cleaning equipment is electric. If we could get some manual supplies I could help maintain the place properly." "Good thinking," Andy acknowledged. "Add that to the list." He paused, considering. "You know, looking at our group, we've got, survival skills, combat expertise, " he nodded toward Daniela, "and you two are both eager and resourceful. But we're missing a lot. No medical knowledge beyond basic first aid. No electrical or mechanical experience. Nobody who knows construction or farming." He looked around the circle. "If we find people with those skills, we should consider inviting them to join us. This place is big enough." "What about the water situation long-term? We'll go through it faster if more join." Daniela asked. "Once our storage runs out, going down to the bay to refill with our trucks and purify would be inefficient. Maybe dangerous too." Andy nodded approvingly at her foresight. "You're right. But that's a problem we share with other survivors, so we can keep an eye out for solutions, maybe try to organize something collectively. A well, maybe? Or a water truck, get someone who knows how to swap its engine for a Tesla electric one." He paused and rubbed his chin. "Solar panels and batteries can last 25-30 years with minimal maintenance. Medium-term, we should look to electrify everything we can. Long-term;" he shrugged. "Hopefully society gets organized enough to restart battery and solar panel production or something." He sat up straighter. "Actually, that should be our top priority, medium term, reducing fuel dependency. All our fuel will degrade within a year anyway." He started counting off on his fingers. "Find an electrician. Scavenge solar panels and batteries. Track down some electric vehicles." A pause. "Everything else we need, food, medicine, weapons, we can stockpile, but fuel? That's our biggest vulnerability right now." "Makes sense," Sarah said, rising from her spot on the roof. "I'm going to set up the array and then hit the gym before bed." She glanced at Andy, her voice taking on a playful tone. "Want to join? I could use a spotter." Andy met her gaze, a slight smile playing at his lips. "Sure. Could use a workout after all that driving." Day 7, Evening The gym felt different in the dim glow of their camping lantern, shadows playing across the equipment. Sarah had changed into a matching set of compression shorts and sports bra in deep purple, the material clinging to every curve as she began her warm-up stretches. Why she felt the need to change from athleisure to athleisure was beyond Andy's comprehension, but he appreciated seeing her in yet another fitness-influencer outfit. She positioned herself where Andy could clearly see her, making each movement deliberately graceful, arching her back slightly more than necessary. "I usually focus on targeted exercises," she said, moving to the cable machine for some standing rows that emphasized her toned back and shoulders. She adjusted her stance, making sure he had a perfect view of her form. "You know, for the gains. But I guess those days are done." Andy let his gaze linger appreciatively on her athletic figure, toned legs, and firm ass. "Those isolation exercises clearly worked for you," he said, moving closer ostensibly to watch her form. "But with everything we're dealing with now, functional strength might be more important." Sarah adjusted her position, deliberately brushing against him as she moved. "Oh? What would you suggest?" "Compound lifts," Andy said, pointing to the power rack. "Deadlifts, squats, bench press. Works multiple muscle groups at once, builds practical strength." He walked over and demonstrated the deadlift form with an empty bar, aware of her eyes on him. Sarah approached the rack, copying his stance but imperfect. "Like this?" she asked, looking back at him over her shoulder. Andy stepped behind her to adjust her position, his hands firm but gentle as they guided her shoulders and hips into proper alignment. He stayed close, his breath warm on her neck. "Keep your back straight," he said, his voice low and intimate. "Engage your core." She completed the lift, then turned to face him, still holding the bar, their bodies inches apart. "That definitely feels different," she said, looking up at him. "More; intense." "It's better for overall fitness," Andy said, making no move to step back. "Not just for show." Sarah set the bar down carefully, letting her hand brush his arm as she straightened. "Well, I trust your expertise. As long as I don't get too bulky." She moved toward the bench press, adding an extra sway to her hips. Looking back at him, she smiled. "Though I have to admit, I don't think I'll be able to stop caring about aesthetic results too." "It really is impressive," Andy said sincerely, his eyes meeting hers. "You'd still be hot if you got bulky though. Amazonian." He said with a flex. She laughed. They worked out a few more minutes, then Sarah approached him, dabbing at her neck with a towel. After a moment's hesitation, she started. "Andy; can we talk serious for a sec?" He nodded, giving her his full attention. "Look, I'm just going to be honest," she said. "I'm attracted to you. How could I not be? You've kept us safe, led us through this nightmare;" She gave a small laugh. "Plus, you know, the whole ranger thing really works for you." Andy smiled, and let her continue, anticipating a "but". "But, well, we only met a few days ago, even if it does feel like it's been weeks. And with everything that's happened," She motioned vaguely at the world outside. "I'm not ready to jump into bed yet. I don't even know what a relationship would look like now. I hope you understand." "Of course," Andy said gently. "I'm attracted to you too, Sarah. Very much. But you're right, we're all still processing everything that's happened. There's no rush." Sarah stepped closer, a playful glint returning to her pretty almond eyes. "That said; maybe we could explore things gradually?" She glanced toward the gym shower. "For instance, I'm gonna shower right now. I need someone to wash my back." She gave him a flirtatious smile before biting her lip. "Though I can't promise you won't end up a little; frustrated." Andy's smile widened. "I think I can handle that risk." "Yeah?" Sarah asked, already backing toward the shower, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Yeah," Andy replied, following her lead. They walked together to the shower area, exchanging eager smiles. "Me first," Sarah said playfully, turning her back to him. She slowly peeled off her sports bra, exaggerating her movements and swaying her hips. The compression shorts followed, sliding down her toned legs with deliberate sensuality, revealing a plump and juicy ass. When she turned back, she had one arm draped across her tits and the other hand covering herself below. The lantern light played across her athletic figure; toned, gently muscled stomach, curved hips tapering to strong thighs, and a natural tan line from her usual workout attire. Her skin glowed golden in the dim light, a light sheen of sweat from their workout making her practically shimmer. Seeing Andy's appreciative gaze, she giggled and dropped her arm from her chest. Her cute B-cup tits were perfectly perky, defying gravity even uncovered, with small rosy nipples standing at attention. "Your turn," she said coyly, still covering herself below. Andy laughed and simply pulled off his tank top. "Aww, I give you a show and you just do it like that? No; ceremony?" Grinning, Andy turned and mimicked her earlier performance, slowly working his shorts down with exaggerated movements. When he turned back, he had one hand strategically placed over his junk. They both laughed at the playful awkwardness of the moment before simultaneously revealing themselves fully. "Oh," Sarah said appreciatively, her eyes widening slightly. "Nice; proportions." "Thanks, you too." He said, eyeing her up and down. Sarah laughed and led him into the shower by his arm, both of them very aware of his erect hardness brushing against her waist. She reached for the tap, and sighed luxuriously as the cold stream hit her. "Ahh, that's nice. I always shower cold. It's better for skin and post-workout inflammation." "What about this inflammation?" Andy quipped, making her giggle. They swapped places and as the ice-cold water hit him, Andy tensed slightly, trying not to show it. Sarah noticed anyway. "What kind of ranger isn't used to cold showers?" she teased, reaching for the soap. "Actually, I have the Korean no-B O gene," Andy admitted. "So I usually just skipped showers if there was no hot water." "Gross" Sarah said, as she began soaping herself. "Could you get my back?" she asked innocently, turning around. Andy's hands moved across her shoulders and down her spine. She turned back to face him. "Oh, and I think I missed a spot in front too;" Andy's breath caught as his hands cupped her tits. They were perfectly sized for his palms, simultaneously firm yet yielding, with hard nipples pressing against his fingers as he explored them. Sarah giggled at his expression of sacred reverence. "Are they that nice?" she asked playfully, mewling gently at his touch. "Yes, they are," he breathed. She took the soap and returned the favor, working her way down his back and across his stomach. When she reached his waist, she paused, looking up at him questioningly, her hazel eyes wide and innocent despite her intentions. At his smile, she wrapped her delicate fingers around his shaft, exploring every inch with careful attention. Andy watched as she traced the length with feather-light touches, circled the sensitive head with her thumb, stroked the tender underside, and gently cupped his balls. Her eyes never left his face, studying his reactions to each touch, noting every subtle change in his expression to learn what pleased him most. Turning off the water, she pressed closer, her wet skin sliding against his. "Think you can finish like this?" Her voice was soft but confident. "Yes," Andy managed, already breathing harder from her exploratory touches. She gripped him with both hands now, quickly establishing a rhythm. The soap acted as a perfect lubricant, letting her fingers and palms glide smoothly up and down his shaft. Her technique was precise, one hand working his base while the other focused on his sensitive head, occasionally twisting slightly in a way that made his knees weak. Her gaze was intense as she worked him harder and faster, her eager face showing clear enjoyment of the power she held over him. Water droplets ran down her face and neck, across her perfect tits, making her skin glisten in the dim light. She varied her pressure and speed expertly, reading his reactions and adjusting accordingly. When his hips began to thrust involuntarily, she matched his rhythm, her small hands providing the perfect amount of friction and pressure. Just as he felt his orgasm build, she shifted her approach, her left hand maintaining a steady stroke while her right hand moved lower to gently massage his balls. The change in sensation made him gasp, bringing him back from the edge while introducing a new kind of pleasure. She grinned at his reaction as she rolled and squeezed him gently. "Please, I was getting close" Andy breathed. With a mischievous wink, she resumed jacking him with both hands, drawing another sigh from Andy as he enjoyed the feeling of her soft fingers rubbing his shaft. Andy's breathing grew increasingly ragged as the pressure built. His hands gripped the shower wall for support as Sarah worked him relentlessly toward his peak. She seemed to sense when he was close, her movements becoming more focused and deliberate. Her eyes locked onto his face, eager to watch his expression as he came. When he finally reached his climax, it was intense, thick ropes of warm white cum erupting from his cock, splashing across her toned stomach and thighs. His whole body shuddered with each pulse as she continued to stroke him through his orgasm, maintaining perfect pressure to draw out every last wave of pleasure. She watched in fascination as his seed painted her skin, her expression one of satisfaction and pride at bringing him such intense release. "Wow, that's so hot." Sarah said, looking at the impressive volume. "Someone's been storing that up, huh?" Andy closed his eyes and smiled deeply. "Yeah." he breathed. "Been a while. Thanks." He ran a hand down her shoulder, savoring the feeling of her soft, cold skin, the post-nut clarity heightening his awareness. She examined her cum-covered hands and smirked. "Hey loves!" she chirped in her best content-creator voice. "Today, I'm so excited to share this amazing new product with you!" She winked at Andy. "Make sure to swipe up for the full review!" She delicately touched her finger to her tongue, then assumed a thoughtful expression. "Hmm, nice thick consistency, slightly sweet with just a hint of salt. Ten out of ten would recommend!" She sucked on her finger erotically, then dissolved into giggles at Andy's amused expression. "Don't forget to like and follow for more cum content!" She turned the water back on, laughing as Andy visibly flinched at the cold. "Really, some ranger you are!" The water washed away the evidence of their activities, and they stepped out to dry off. Andy felt wonderfully relaxed, tension draining from his shoulders. "What about you?" he asked softly. "Don't worry about me," Sarah smiled, toweling her hair. "I don't think I could anyway. Too much tension, and;" she paused, "I'd need to feel more emotionally connected." Andy looked puzzled. "Wait, so you're comfortable showering together, giving me a handjob, and even tasting my cum, and we haven't even held hands? Or kissed? Actually," he realized, "we haven't even hugged." Sarah giggled. "Those things are about love and emotional connection," she explained. "And for me, so is sex. This?" she giggled again, mimicking a handjob in the air. "This was just making sure my fearless protector," she emphasized those words with a sultry voice "is thinking with his brain and not his cock!" She gave him a playful grin. "And; tasting a new Korean sauce. If you're really good to me, maybe I'll be trying a new Korean skincare next time." They both laughed. She paused, letting the towel drop. "Although; I wouldn't mind a hug now, if you want." Andy opened his arms and she stepped into them. They held each other, feeling the warmth of skin on skin, this simple embrace feeling somehow far more intimate than what they'd just done. Day 7, Late Night Andy lay in bed, his phone's glow illuminating his face as he scrolled through Beacon. A soft, barely audible knock at his door caught his attention. He opened it to find Crystal standing in the dark hallway. Even in the dim light cast by his phone, her stunning figure was unmistakable. She wore a delicate black lace bra that cupped and lifted her full tits, creating an enticing cleavage. A matching garter belt hugged her narrow waist, leading to sheer stockings that emphasized her long, toned legs. High-cut lace panties completed the ensemble, leaving little to the imagination. The scent of her expensive perfume, a light, floral fragrance, wafted towards him, adding to the intoxicating effect of her presence. "May I come in?" Crystal whispered, her voice barely audible. Andy nodded, stepping aside to let her enter. As she passed, he couldn't help but notice how the lace hugged the curve of her perfect, heart-shaped ass. Crystal closed the door behind her, hesitated for a brief moment, then turned to face him. "I thought I might; fulfill my end of the bargain," she said softly, her posture shifting to emphasize her curves. She took a step closer, her blue eyes locked on his. "I'm here to show my appreciation, in whatever way you'd like." Andy smiled ruefully, taking in her body but thinking about his encounter with Sarah only a few minutes ago. He knew he almost certainly wouldn't be able to get hard so soon. Not wanting to reveal this, he decided to try to play it off, raising a hand to stop her. "Hey, relax, we just got here. You don't have to worry about that right now." He forced his eyes away from her perky tits and up to her eyes. Crystal's demeanor deflated slightly, a mix of surprise, relief and disappointment crossing her face. "Are you sure?" she asked, her voice small. "I; I wanted to be useful to you. I even put on this outfit, just for you, sir." She raised her arms above her head and twirled slowly like a ballerina, showing off her body from all angles. As she rotated, Andy's eyes were drawn to her long, shapely legs. The sheer stockings accentuated every curve, from her delicate ankles to her toned calves and up to her perfectly proportioned thighs. The high-cut panties drew attention to the junction where her legs met her torso, emphasizing the enticing curve of her hips. Her backside was a work of art, two rounded globes, neither too large nor too small, but ideally suited to her frame. The lace of her panties clung to the curves, outlining the heart shape of her ass and hinting at the soft valley between. Unable to help himself, Andy reached out, giving her ass an affectionate squeeze. His hand was met with an enticing balance of firmness and give, soft enough to be incredibly inviting, yet firm enough to maintain its shape, smooth and warm to the touch. Crystal jumped slightly at the contact but quickly tried to play it off, her body instinctively pressing back into his hand for a brief moment before she caught herself. "I appreciate it, truly," Andy said. "But there's no hurry. I'm sure there will be plenty of time for that later." He paused. "If you want to be useful, maybe you could start by making us all coffee in the morning." "I see," Crystal said, turning to face him again. She took a moment to regain her composure, a small smile playing on her lips. "Well, I promise it will be the best coffee you've ever had. The most mind-blowing, hot, tight, wet coffee ever." She winked. Leaning in close, she whispered in his ear, her breath hot against his skin. "If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me." With that, she turned and left the room, the soft click of the door the only sound in the quiet night. Andy sat on the edge of the bed, running a hand through his hair as he processed what had just happened. The image of Crystal in that lingerie was seared into his mind, and he knew it would be a long time before he could forget it. Day 8, Morning The early morning silence in the consulate was profound. Andy woke to sunlight filtering through the curtains, casting long shadows across his room. The building's stillness felt almost reverential, as if the world itself was holding its breath. He rose and headed to the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face and quickly freshening up. The morning routine felt almost normal, a small piece of civilization preserved in their diplomatic sanctuary. Through the window, he could see fog rolling in from the bay, wreathing the silent city in gray. The building's old pipes groaned softly as he washed, the sound echoing through the empty corridors. Andy made his way downstairs to the break room adjacent the kitchen, settling into one of the chairs. Moments later, Crystal appeared carrying a tray with coffee and sugar. She wore loose-fitting silk pajamas that somehow managed to look both casual and elegant, the fabric draping softly over her curves. The absence of a bra was subtle but noticeable, with her perky tits shaking beautifully, and her hard nipples sticking up proudly. "I wasn't sure how you liked your coffee, sir. Unfortunately we don't have milk," she said, putting a soft emphasis on the word "sir" that sent a shiver down his spine. "This is fine, I like it black, thank you," Andy replied, reaching for the cup. "You're going to work on the map of scavenging sites in the area today, right?" "Yes sir. I'll get started on it after my yoga this morning," Crystal responded with a small smile before turning to leave. She paused at the doorway. "Enjoy your coffee, I'll be in my room if you need me." Andy sipped his coffee, appreciating its rich flavor, momentarily distracted by thoughts of Crystal, before returning to scrolling through Beacon on his phone. The posts about San Francisco painted a slowly emerging picture: survivors were gradually congregating at the Presidio, though organization remained loose. Someone had started cataloging available medical supplies across the city's hospitals. Another person was working on getting a solar array functioning at the city hall. A post from the Presidio account caught his attention, they'd designated Land's End as a mass grave site, with plans to begin proper burials soon. Several volunteers with construction equipment were already clearing space. Andy made a mental note, it would be a better option than his original plan of taking the diplomat's body to the sea. He composed a quick message to Mike: "Made it to SF. Secured shelter @ Korean consulate. How's drive north? Your mom?" A few more posts mentioned growing communities forming in Marin and the East Bay, but nothing substantial yet. Most survivors seemed to be following the same instinct, head toward major population centers, look for others, try to rebuild. The Presidio's natural defensive position and former military infrastructure made it an obvious rallying point. Andy finished his coffee, letting the now familiar routine of morning research ground him in this strange new world. The sound of footsteps on the stairs drew his attention. Sarah and Daniela appeared, both looking refreshed despite their slightly sleepy expressions. The consulate's secure walls had clearly provided them their first proper rest in days. "Morning," Sarah said, stifling a yawn. She wore her usual athletic wear, while Daniela was already dressed in camo pants and a t-shirt. "Crystal made coffee, there's some in the kitchen if you want some," Andy offered, gesturing with his empty cup. "Oh god, yes please," Sarah replied, heading for the kitchen. She paused, noticing Daniela's hesitation. "Have you never had coffee?" Daniela shook her head. "Dad said I was too young." "Well, you're basically living adult life now," Sarah said gently. "Might as well try it. Here, I'll make you one." They returned moments later, Sarah handling her cup with ease while Daniela examined hers with suspicion. She took a careful sip and grimaced. "It's; intense," she said diplomatically. Sarah laughed. "Try adding some sugar. Most people don't start with it black." Daniela followed the suggestion, her expression softening as she tasted it again. "Better," she admitted. "I can see why you like it." "Have either of you checked Beacon this morning?" Andy asked. Both shook their heads, so Andy summarized what he'd learned. They listened intently. He watched as a dark expression cast over them both when he brought up the Land's End grave. "Yeah, speaking of which," he added, his tone growing more serious, "we should probably deal with the, ah, body outside. Wrap it properly until we can take it to Land's End." "I'll help," Sarah offered, squaring her shoulders slightly. "I need to get better at handling this kind of thing. Can't be squeamish anymore." Daniela set down her coffee. "I know where the large garbage bags are. They're heavy-duty, should work until we can get something better." Day 8, Midmorning "You sure you don't want to wear something more; practical?" Andy asked, watching Sarah adjust her deep blue Lululemon set in the hallway mirror. "This is practical," she insisted, giving him a little view. The tight sports bra and leggings left little to the imagination, showing off her gentle abs and toned curves. She then covered herself in the North Face jacket he'd selected for her from their scavenged supplies. "Besides, first impressions matter. We want to seem approachable." Andy checked his holstered Glock, making sure it was secure but not too visible under his jacket. "Fine, but at least wear your boots instead of those running shoes." They'd packed their backpacks thoughtfully, bottles of antibiotics carefully wrapped in cloth, and several dozen apples from the fruit stand. "The medicine is what they really need," Andy explained as they prepared to leave, "but I think fresh fruit will mean more to them emotionally. A lot of it in the city will have spoiled by now." "Makes sense," Sarah nodded, shouldering her pack. "A little taste of normal." Andy turned to Daniela, who was studying a building layout. "You good here? Remember, no answering the door-" "Unless it's you guys, I know," she cut him off with a hint of teenage exasperation. "I'll figure out the best spots for the mines and come up with a defense plan." She pointed at a few spots she had already marked on the layout. "I've already found a few spots here." Crystal looked up from where she was marking locations on a large map of San Francisco. "I've marked three promising grocery stores within walking distance," she offered, her braless chest hanging downward as she bent over the map. "I'll have a full scavenging map ready by the evening." "Perfect," Andy said. "We shouldn't be more than a few hours. Mainly just want to get a sense of what's happening at the Presidio, make some connections." He glanced at Sarah. "Ready?" Sarah nodded, and they headed out into the quiet streets of their new city. The morning fog had mostly burned off, revealing a neighborhood frozen in time. Expensive cars sat in driveways, morning newspapers still sat on pristine lawns, and recycling bins waited patiently for a pickup that would never come. The silence was absolute except for the occasional bird call and the whisper of wind through untended gardens. "Look," Sarah pointed, "A Tesla, Model Y. And it's plugged in." Andy marked the location on his phone. "Good catch. That'll be useful later when we're looking for vehicles that don't need gas." They turned onto Jackson Street, where a dark blue Rivian R1T sat parked beneath a row of cherry trees. Andy added its coordinates to their growing list of resources. The houses stood as silent witnesses to the abrupt end of normalcy, gardens still meticulously maintained, windows spotlessly clean, patio furniture arranged for evening cocktails that would never be served. Just eight days ago, this had been one of San Francisco's most exclusive neighborhoods. Now it was a museum piece, preserved in perfect, haunting detail. "It's so weird," Sarah said softly, eyes scanning the immaculate homes around them. "Everything looks exactly like it did before. Like any minute now, people will start coming out to get their mail or walk their dogs." As they walked past another row of silent houses, Sarah glanced at Andy with a playful smile. "Sleep well?" Andy caught her eye and winked. "Very well. Mind's quite clear and focused today, thank you." "Good," she said softly, reaching for his hand and giving it a quick squeeze. "Maybe we can go for round two later today." Their fingers lingered together for a moment before separating, both of them smiling as they continued their walk through the quiet neighborhood. Movement ahead caught their attention, another woman walking alone toward the Presidio. She was in her early thirties, wearing expensive yoga pants and a Patagonia fleece that had seen better days. Her brown hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and she kept glancing around nervously as she walked. "Hey," Andy called out softly, not wanting to startle her. She jumped slightly anyway, then relaxed a bit when she saw Sarah. "Oh! Hi," she replied, maintaining a careful distance. Her wedding ring glinted in the morning light, though she was obviously alone. "Would you like an apple?" Andy offered, already reaching into his pack. "We just picked them yesterday." Her eyes lit up. "Really? Fresh fruit?" She stepped closer, accepting the apple with trembling hands. "Thank you. I've been living on protein bars and coconut water from my pantry." She took a bite immediately, closing her eyes briefly at the taste. "I'm Rachel, by the way." "I'm Andy, this is Sarah," Andy replied. "Heading to the Presidio?" Rachel nodded, wiping juice from her chin. "Yeah. I've been holed up in my apartment, but;" She gestured vaguely. "I figured I should see what's happening, maybe find other people. It's getting a little scary being alone. Are you two staying nearby?" "Yeah, we just got into the city," Andy said carefully. "We're a small group, set up at the Korean consulate." He made a mental note, another survivor with no immediately obvious useful skills for their core group. "Oh," Rachel said, seemingly hoping for an invitation that didn't come. "Well, I'm at 2740 Jackson if you; if anyone needs anything. Though I don't have much to offer." "Thanks." said Andy. "Let us know if you need anything as well." "Well, to be honest I could use some food. That's mostly why I'm going to the Presidio." "We don't have a ton to spare right now, but we are planning to go on some scavenging runs soon. We have a truck. If you wanted to join us, we could offer you a split of what we recover." "Oh, that would be great." said Rachel. "Let me get your Beacon handle, let me know when you decide to go." They walked together in silence for a few moments before Rachel spoke again. "Did either of you lose much family?" she asked quietly. "My husband was in New York for meetings when, you know." She twisted her ring absently. "We all lost people," Sarah said gently but firmly, cutting off that line of conversation. Rachel nodded, understanding the boundary. The walk continued in silence. They emerged from the tree line, and the main parade ground of the Presidio opened up before them. What had once been a pristine lawn had transformed into a makeshift settlement of perhaps four or five hundred survivors. Colorful camping tents dotted the grass in loose clusters, many bearing high-end outdoor brand names, testament to San Francisco's wealthy outdoor enthusiast population. Larger military-style tents had been erected at strategic points, including a prominent medical station marked by a red cross fashioned from spray paint. Two nurses in scrubs moved between cots visible through the open flaps. A row of folding tables had been set up near the old barracks, forming an impromptu marketplace. Someone had already established a basic trading post, advertising "batteries, solar chargers, and medicine." Next to it, a woman stood behind a table of sorted electrical equipment, carefully logging exchanges in a notebook. Hand-painted signs stuck in the ground advertised various needs and corresponding Beacon handles: "Needed: Electricians for solar project" "Volunteers wanted, water purification" "Medical Skills? Report to Tent 4" "Engineers needed, power grid planning" The gender disparity was immediately apparent, women outnumbered men significantly, matching the pattern they'd seen elsewhere. A few men in partial military or police uniforms walked the perimeter, rifles slung across their backs. One carried himself with particular authority, speaking into a handheld radio as he made his rounds. A group of women was setting up what looked like a communal kitchen, sorting through boxes of supplies. Nearby, someone had rigged a solar panel to charge phones and laptops, with a small crowd gathered around it. The air smelled of campfire smoke and cooking food, punctuated by the distinctive scent of unwashed bodies and physical labor. "Oh my god," Rachel breathed, taking in the scope of the settlement. "I had no idea there were this many," she noted, eyes wide. Andy studied the scene carefully, noting the mix of organization and chaos. While some basic systems were clearly being established, there was no real sense of central authority yet. Just people with useful skills trying to help where they could, while others waited for direction. A woman with a clipboard approached them, her manner friendly but professional. "Welcome to the Presidio Settlement. Are you here to join us or just checking in?" "The two of us are just checking in," Andy said, gesturing to Sarah. As another volunteer stepped forward to speak with Rachel, he continued, "We arrived in San Francisco yesterday, we've set up in the Korean consulate building. We brought antibiotics and some apples we snagged on the way here, wanted to offer them as a donation." He offered her one of the apples. "Donations are greatly appreciated," the clipboard woman said warmly, accepting the apple. "I'm Alice, by the way." "Are you a volunteer here?" Andy asked. "Yep, been here three days now. We're trying to make a directory of people in the area, if you're okay with me taking down your information?" Sarah glanced at Andy, who nodded. "Sure." "Okay, great." Alice flipped to a fresh page. "Name and age?" "Andy Rhee, 28." She nodded, writing. "We're cataloging useful skills. I'll read through the list, just let me know which apply: Medical training? Engineering? Electrical? Plumbing? Construction? Military experience? Hunting? Navigation? Survival skills? Agriculture? Animal husbandry? Radio operations? Vehicle maintenance? Water treatment? Solar installation?" "I was a park ranger before all this," Andy replied. "So yes to navigation, survival skills, and hunting. Basic first aid training. I'm good with radios too, amateur operator license." Alice made several check marks, nodding appreciatively. "That's actually really useful, we don't have many people with real wilderness experience. A lot of the survivors here worked in tech, myself included." She gestured at the camp. "Lots of programmers, not many who can track game or build shelters." "I'm sure," Andy said dryly. Alice turned to Sarah. "And you?" "I was;" Sarah hesitated, "just a biology student. UCLA, second year. Nothing really useful like Andy." "Hey, don't sell yourself short," Alice said kindly. "Most people here were also doing jobs that don't matter anymore. We're planning to set up training groups, teaching practical skills. Biology could be helpful with agriculture, medicine, lots of things." Sarah simply nodded, looking slightly relieved. "We have two others in our group," Andy added. "Daniela's fourteen, but she has extensive survival, hunting, and military training from her father, he was a Marine, and a; ah; prepper. She can do some vehicle maintenance too I think. And Crystal;" he paused, realizing he didn't know her age. "Well, she'd also need to reskill." Alice's eyebrows rose as she made notes. "A teenager with military training? Interesting." She flipped through her papers. "You should talk to Guillermo Herrera; he was in the Army. He's been trying to organize some basic defense planning for the Presidio. And Diana Wells has been looking for people with hunting experience, trying to put together expeditions to supplement our food supplies." She made a final note. "Do you have a Beacon handle? We're trying to keep a communication network going." Andy gave her his handle, which she copied down carefully. "Well, welcome to the Presidio," Alice said warmly. "We're glad to have people with real survival skills join the community. Even if they're not living here directly," she added with a smile. "Thanks. Oh also, you said 'We're trying to make a directory' earlier. Who is we? Some kind of leadership?" "Nothing formal yet, but there's a group. Mostly people with different types of expertise. I don't know all of them, but Megan Lunn is the one coordinating us. She's great, I trust her a lot." "Great, thanks." As they walked deeper into the settlement, Sarah moved closer to Andy, lowering her voice. "Are you sure it was smart to tell them so much? About where we're staying, our skills, Daniela's training?" Andy considered her question thoughtfully. "Well, here's what I'm thinking. The Presidio is almost certainly going to become the, or at least one of, the centers of power in San Francisco. It's inevitable. The location, the infrastructure, the natural defenses, and it's already starting to get established before anywhere else. If we ever get to a point where we regret having told them our information," He shrugged. "Well, by then we'd already be pretty screwed. We'd probably need to leave the city entirely anyway." "So little downside to being open?" Sarah asked, watching a group of women organizing supplies nearby. "Exactly. I think I'm going to try to talk to Megan and get myself involved early, try to shape how things develop." Andy kept his voice low but confident. "Being cooperative and open now gives us more influence later. If we tried to stay completely separate or, like, secretive, we'd just look suspicious. Then we'd be outsiders trying to affect things from the margins instead of a respected part of the community." Sarah nodded slowly, processing his logic. "If the Presidio is going to be the power here, might as well join it and be a leader within it. I get it." "Yeah. Don't worry," Andy assured her. To be continued. Based on a post by the hospital, for Literotica.

Our inclination in “making our lives count” is often to “make our names great.” With all your life goals before you, you need to decide whose name you want to make great. We're diving into Genesis 11:1-9 this Sunday to learn well from the Tower of Babel – and it will be great to see you again at East Bay.

Welcome to another episode of Las Platicas, a show hosted by Comadres y Comics, where we meet with creators and friends to talk about upcoming projects, events and all-around awesome news in the Latinx comic community. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Abby Rocha. Abby Rocha is a creator from the too-sunny lands of San Diego and has settled in the foggy coastal embrace of the East Bay. They write/illustrate from the intersection of their latinidad, the multifaceted subject of death and the world around them. They've self published and been nationally published, and their art has been shown in galleries and museums. They are currently working on their debut graphic novel, “Two Hearts in Mictlan.” You can often find them dressed in black and communing with cats in the neighborhood with their partner and child. Welcome Abby!@chica_artista_illustrationabbyrocha.com

It's official: East Bay Congressman Eric Swalwell is entering the race to become next governor of California. For more on his campaign, KCBS's Steve Scott spoke with KCBS Insider Phil Matier.

A “tree army” from the 1930s helped build today's Tilden and other East Bay regional parks. The program's impact can still be felt today. Then, a story about how a friend can help you see, and change, yourself. It's a new story from California Institution for Women. Plus, a poem!

In this third episode of The Public Works series, reporter Sheryl Kaskowitz makes some surprising discoveries about the history of the East Bay Regional Park District. In the 1930s, the federal government's Civilian Conservation Corps left its mark on the landscape, and their work continues in a different form today.

 What a delight talking with Rosy Nolan! We discussed her new album “Main Attraction” AVAILABLE NOW! We also talked about how music hasalways been consistent in her life, her favortie song on the album, and we happened to catch her the night before her move to Nashville!    Los Angeles country artist Rosy Nolan's upcoming LP Main Attraction (out Oct. 17) is steeped in Americana roots, Western swing, honky tonk, and old-time country, paying homage to the great American records of the 1920s–1940s. The album is drenched in heartache and longing—core themes that have defined Nolan's songwriting throughout her career.  Nolan is a California girl through and through. Born and raised in the East Bay—first in San Francisco, then Berkeley and Oakland for middle and high school. “I've lived in California most of my life. It's in me, and it comes through in my music,” she says.Her songs draw richly from the state's varied landscapes, weaving metaphors ofhighways, desert, ocean, and redwoods. Raised by Bay Area activists, with a poet mother and a father who fought injustice, Nolan's upbringing shaped her fierce commitment to advocacy. “Activism remains a constant for me,” she says. “I use my voice to fight for women's rights, have lobbied bills with the ACLU, and recently, I've been protesting the I.C.E. raids in Los Angeles.”  In the early 2000s, New York pulsed with the techno-infused retro synth-pop and cool-kid fury of electroclash. Nolan found herself swept up in this vibrant club scene, but the nonstop partying and drinking eventually took their toll. Hitting rock bottom, she embraced sobriety through atwelve-step program and began focusing inward.Seeking something more organic, Nolan honed her craft as a singer-songwriter, forging a sound rooted in traditional folk. She immersed herself in the records of Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams, as a new wave of alt-country artists helped spark a fresh scene.    Be sure to check Rosy out here:  Website: Rosynolan.com  Bandcamp: Rosy Nolan  Facebook: Rosy Nolan  IG: Rosynolanmusic  Youttube: rosynolan1202  

DJ Jesse Luscious debuts a new track from his Blatz bandmate Joey's Terrible Cake, spins some of the edgiest new bands [from Nottingham: Every Face Becomes A Skull and from the East Bay: The 1981 & Hex Pest], along with new tracks from Loud Graves, Shakti, Dead Bob (ex-Nomeansno), CTMF (aka Mr & Mrs Billy Childish), Twat Union, Moms With Bangs, Beauty In Chaos, Balboas, This Will Destroy Your Ears, Loose Articles And Nadir, and Boum Patat, classic punk from The Damned, Bratmobile, M(h)aol, The Members, Screamers, Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros, Circle Jerks, Jimmy Cliff, Naked Raygun, Green Jelly, God Bullies, The Clash, CIV, and The Buzzcocks, & the Luscious Listener's Choice! Loud Graves- Boxcutter Members- Sally Shakti- Atyachar Charcha Moms With Bangs- Madhouse Hex Pest- Storming Paradise 1981- Count On Me Terrible Cake- Ribs Screamers- Peer Pressure Beauty In Chaos- Get Down Moses Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros- Harder They Come (Live 28 July 2001 Ameoba Records, San Francisco CA) Clash- Know Your Rights (Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg) Jimmy Cliff- Ruby Soho Bratmobile- Bitch Theme Balboas- Der Kommisar Twat Union- Tiny Shorts This Will Destroy Your Ears- Gorgeous Eve Holds A Banger Hammer Loose Articles And Nadir- Marseilles, Manchester (In The Area) Damned- Melody Lee Every Face Becomes A Skull- Be Of Good Cheer Naked Raygun- Gear CTMF- Untitled Buzzcocks- Autonomy Circle Jerks- Dude CIV- Choices Made Dead Bob- We Are The Humans God Bullies- King Of Sling Green Jelly- The Bear Song Boum Patat- Electro Frustration M(h)aol- Period Sex (Luscious Edit)

On this episode, meet multi-instrumentalist/singer-songwriter Zach Elsasser from the East Bay indie project Affectionately.  Zach has been a frequent collaborator and touring drummer with Jay Som (aka Melina Duterte, a former East Bay high school classmate), and works with numerous other Bay area bands and projects.  He's just released his second solo LP titled "Then This Happens," a marvelous expansion beyond the bedroom sounds of his first album.  Hear our chat and deep sonic dive.  Plus two full hours of fresh music from the Bay and beyond.  

Despite a successful career in tech and healthcare, it was Brian's own family's difficult experiences with inconsistent caregiving that ultimately redirected him toward home care. This personal connection fuels his mission today: to raise the standards of reliability, caregiver training, and compassion for families who need support the most.Brian explained that families typically reach out when they are overwhelmed or burned out, especially when caring for a loved one with dementia. While some people start with private caregivers, he shared how that route often leads to challenges such as last-minute cancellations, lack of backup support, and no liability protections. Agencies like ComForCare, by contrast, offer fully vetted caregivers, strong training programs, and the peace of mind that comes from backup coverage, workers' compensation insurance, and ongoing oversight.Brian also highlighted ComForCare's standout differentiators. Their nationally recognized DementiaWise program, endorsed by the Alzheimer's Association, equips caregivers to support clients through all stages of dementia with confidence and empathy. He also discussed the advantage of being part of more than 260 ComForCare offices across the U.S. and Canada, which allows his team to tap into shared best practices and nationwide expertise provided by the corporate. Additionally, his East Bay office is fully vendorized with the VA, a status no longer available to new agencies, enabling them to guide veterans through the benefits process and provide specialized support.On the business side, Brian shared two pieces of advice for entrepreneurs: pursue work you are passionate about, and surround yourself with a strong team you trust. Home care, like many service-driven businesses, demands long hours and emotional investment, and passion is what sustains you through the tough days. He also emphasized the importance of listening to clients first and offering guidance based solely on their needs, not on selling a service.You can reach ComForCare East Bay at 510-538-2273 or visit comforcare.com/alameda to learn more.

As BART navigates a financial crisis, some East Bay residents are pushing for a new station in East Oakland by the Nimitz freeway. The agency doesn't have the funds to make it happen. For more, KCBS News Anchor Steve Scott spoke with KCBS Insider Phil Matier.

The Northern California chapter of Society of Professional Journalists recently announced their 2025 award winners… KALW took home four awards! So next we're bringing you an episode from Sidewalk Stories, which won a Public Service award.  The series Sidewalk Stories, is a collaboration between Crosscurrents and the East Bay's Street Spirit newspaper/ where we hear from unhoused people about how they survive and build a life outside. And in this piece, we hear about “street names."

"AI can help us get to a destination faster... but it's not without some kind of oversight." - Catherine Holt Cat Holt is a marketing strategist, entrepreneur, and brand builder who has shaped some of the most iconic campaigns in modern advertising, including Progressive Insurance's Dr. Rick campaign. She is the Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Coologee, Inc., where she leads a one-team approach that blends agency expertise with client-side insight to drive measurable business impact. Cat also co-founded Lion + Owl, a kids' apparel brand that combines innovative design with a mission to promote kindness and inclusion. Previously, she held senior leadership roles at Falls & Co., Progressive Insurance, and several top agencies, helping brands evolve, grow, and connect with audiences in meaningful ways. Website: https://coologee.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catkolodij Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coologee/# Substack: https://catholtcoologee.substack.com/   Michael Orkin is a professor, consultant, researcher, and author.  His most recent book is "The Story of Chance – Beyond the Margin of Error" (Innovative Ink, 2025).  He has appeared on numerous podcasts and TV shows and has been an invited speaker at many conferences.  Dr. Orkin has a B.A. in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of California at Berkeley.  He is currently a mathematics professor at Berkeley City College and Professor of Statistics Emeritus at California State University, East Bay.orm) Website: https://drmikeorkin.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-mike-orkin-5600584 Substack: https://drmikeorkin.substack.com/   In this episode, we explore how data, strategy, and creativity intersect to drive smarter decisions, stronger brands, and meaningful impact. Dr. Orkin and Cat Holt share insights from their respective worlds of statistics and marketing, showing how analysis and storytelling work together to shape success.   Apply to join our marketing mastermind group: https://notypicalmoments.typeform.com/to/hWLDNgjz Follow No Typical Moments at: Website: https://notypicalmoments.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/no-typical-moments-llc/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4G7csw9j7zpjdASvpMzqUA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notypicalmoments Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NTMoments

A Bryan Azevedo–packed episode. From the rise to the downfall — we unpack how the Duong family built influence in San Leandro politics and trace Azevedo's wild ride: from the infamous "community freezer locker" idea, an inability to speak a human language, to the federal charges that brought everything crashing down. What does this scandal mean for San Leandro's future? Who might fill his vacant council seat? Plus, we dive into the aftermath of Prop. 50, ask whether there's a Zohran Mamdani emerging in the East Bay, and track the buzz around Eric Swalwell's rumored run for governor.

"AI can help us get to a destination faster... but it's not without some kind of oversight." - Catherine Holt Cat Holt is a marketing strategist, entrepreneur, and brand builder who has shaped some of the most iconic campaigns in modern advertising, including Progressive Insurance's Dr. Rick campaign. She is the Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Coologee, Inc., where she leads a one-team approach that blends agency expertise with client-side insight to drive measurable business impact. Cat also co-founded Lion + Owl, a kids' apparel brand that combines innovative design with a mission to promote kindness and inclusion. Previously, she held senior leadership roles at Falls & Co., Progressive Insurance, and several top agencies, helping brands evolve, grow, and connect with audiences in meaningful ways. Website: https://coologee.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catkolodij Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coologee/# Substack: https://catholtcoologee.substack.com/   Michael Orkin is a professor, consultant, researcher, and author.  His most recent book is "The Story of Chance – Beyond the Margin of Error" (Innovative Ink, 2025).  He has appeared on numerous podcasts and TV shows and has been an invited speaker at many conferences.  Dr. Orkin has a B.A. in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of California at Berkeley.  He is currently a mathematics professor at Berkeley City College and Professor of Statistics Emeritus at California State University, East Bay.orm) Website: https://drmikeorkin.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-mike-orkin-5600584 Substack: https://drmikeorkin.substack.com/   In this episode, we explore how data, strategy, and creativity intersect to drive smarter decisions, stronger brands, and meaningful impact. Dr. Orkin and Cat Holt share insights from their respective worlds of statistics and marketing, showing how analysis and storytelling work together to shape success.   Apply to join our marketing mastermind group: https://notypicalmoments.typeform.com/to/hWLDNgjz Follow No Typical Moments at: Website: https://notypicalmoments.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/no-typical-moments-llc/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4G7csw9j7zpjdASvpMzqUA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notypicalmoments Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NTMoments

(Karuna Buddhist Vihara)

(Karuna Buddhist Vihara)

(Karuna Buddhist Vihara)

(Karuna Buddhist Vihara)

Mary Had a Little Lamb by Adrian M Hurtado https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Little-Lamb-Adrian-Hurtado/dp/1647498600 The celebration of Christmas has nothing to do with a fictional character in a red suit, or flying reindeer. It is about the birth and life of Jesus Christ. He is the true reason for the season. Now you can read about His life in an illustrated and poetic form that touches on many of the important aspects of His life. Parents will want to share this story with their children and with their friends.About the author Adrian M. Hurtado was born in Berkeley, CA and raised in the East Bay area. He is a former teacher and principal, having served more than 25 years in schools in Orange County, Los Angeles County, and Santa Barbara County, California. He always enjoyed working with students and in finding ways to make learning interesting and fun. Now he seeks to carry on that delight through books that students can enjoy and their parents can enjoy reading to them and with them. Adrian also served in the Marine Corps and Air Force Reserve, retiring at the rank of Major. He and his wife, Jean, a former kindergarten teacher and his biggest encourager, have retired to the little beach town of Cayucos, CA where he is actively involved in community service.

Joe is CEO of East Bay Tire, a California-based tire distributor and service provider, serving anyone from trucking companies to ports to quarries. With thousands of customers and applications, Joe is taking the company in a more service and data-driven direction, aiming to educate customers and provide greater value than the traditional tire model. And while not sexy, the whole world moves on tires! Follow Joe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joepehanick/ Learn more about East Bay Tire: https://eastbaytire.com/ Listen to the Around the Bead Podcast: https://www.aroundthebead.com/ Questions or feedback? Email us at dirttalk@buildwitt.com!

Do you consider yourself lucky? Or do you consider yourself have earned it by working hard? Or, is it both? Our guest today is Dr. Michael Orkin, is a statistics expert and he shares with us some surprising insights.TODAY'S WIN-WIN:In order to increase your chances, you need to put yourself in positions where opportunities can occur and create more chance.LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:Schedule your free franchise consultation with Big Sky Franchise Team: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/. You can visit our guest's website at: https://drmikeorkin.com/Attend our Franchise Sales Training Workshop:  https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/franchisesalestraining/Connect with our guest on social:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-mike-orkin-5600584/recent-activity/all/ABOUT OUR GUEST:DR. MICHAEL ORKIN is a distinguished professor, consultant, researcher, and author with a wealth of experience that offers unique insights into the concepts of chance and luck. He holds a BA in Mathematics and a PhD in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley. Throughout his career, Dr. Orkin has made significant contributions to the field of statistics, particularly in the gaming industry, where he frequently serves as a consultant. His extensive research has been published in numerous academic papers, and he has delivered invited talks on these topics, including a notable presentation at Google Tech Talks. Dr. Orkin is a Professor Emeritus of Statistics at California State University, East Bay, and he currently serves on the mathematics faculty at Berkeley City College. His expertise and experience make him a leading authority on the statistical principles underlying games, chance, and the role of luck in various aspects of life.    ABOUT BIG SKY FRANCHISE TEAM:This episode is powered by Big Sky Franchise Team. If you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/.The information provided in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered financial, legal, or professional advice. Always consult with a qualified professional before making any business decisions. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host, Big Sky Franchise Team, or our affiliates. Additionally, this podcast may feature sponsors or advertisers, but any mention of products or services does not constitute an endorsement. Please do your own research before making any purchasing or business decisions.

The Pentagon announced Friday that the military is sending an aircraft carrier to South America. It's the latest in the escalating show of force against Venezuela, including strikes on ten boats that the Trump administration says were involved in drug smuggling, which killed 43 people. We talk about the legality of the actions and what the administration hopes to achieve. Then, we turn to the mighty California condor. Once nearly extinct — with only 23 birds remaining in 1982 — the largest bird in North America is making a remarkable comeback. Biologists have recently tracked 30 condors soaring over Alameda and Contra Costa counties, areas where they haven't been seen in a century. We'll explore what's driving their return and the threats they still face in the wild. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host: Charles iamBranded MadisonGuest: Spice 1 (2008)Season: 14 Episode: 27http://www.nexxlegacy.comhttp://www.nexxlegacy.com/partners#Nexxlegacy #Radio #Podcast

State and local political strategist Jason Overman joins us to unpack his time working alongside Sheng Thao and Andre Jones in Oakland politics — and why their recent corruption indictments left him feeling “deeply betrayed.” Later, we break down gubernatiorial candidate Katie Porter's rough week on the campaign trail, Oakland's search for a new police chief, Ken Houston's clash with homeless advocates, and the upcoming No Kings rallies in the East Bay.

On today's 10.16.25 show we talked about teens being shy, fears as adults, pets behaving badly, Britney Spears slams Kevin Federline's claims about being a bad mother, Kim Kardashian went on a podcast and talked about Kanye and other rumors, a home in the East Bay is going viral for their Halloween decorations, updates on Marrylisa.com, new Halloween trend alert, people are calling Taylor Swift ‘the queen of petty' and more!

Industria Nova started her DJ career in the Bay Area at Stanford Radio in 2001 and started Body Rapture in the East Bay where she held a residency. After a hiatus, she is bringing back her passion with new energy to the dance floor and has supported at Industrial Room (Los Angeles), Splash (Los Angeles), After Life (San Francisco) and played support for Vagues Lanes and Darkswoon (Los Angeles). Industria Nova loves to share the gambit of electronic music with a specialty in Dark Electro, Industrial Techno and Darkwave, always driven by heavy base and synth driven sounds. She also has a love for EBM, industrial, synth pop, EDM, goth and post punk music which makes her versatile in her approach. She focuses on sharing new music with the standards mixed in, so there's a little something for everyone. https://ra.co/dj/industrianova https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572888146036

Bay Wheels bikeshare in the East Bay lends ebikes for $20/month to qualified residents and $120 for everyone else, reports Bike East Bay co-Executive Director Justin Hu-Nguyen (1:05). Former San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio on being recalled by drive-happy voters over his support for converting a portion of the Great Highway into the new Sunset Dunes Park (7:08). Biking, BARTing, and e-scooting at 14 in the Bay Area: Quin Binzak (24:50). The Federal Government has taken away approved funding for bike and safe streets infrastructure, or, as it says, anything "hostile to cars." Caron Whitaker, E.D. of League of American Bicyclists, on its work with lawmakers. Also, League Certified Instructor training (29:56). Avoid stoking fear in our messaging, writes Dave Snyder in his bike advocacy newsletter (39:39). Charlie's News (42:15) It's getting darker, dynamo lights are awesome, and other light stuff from Battle Road Bikes mechanic Jim Cadenhead (45:03)

Looking for brand-new construction in the East Bay with modern design, flexible layouts, and access to top-rated schools? City Village by SummerHill Homes in San Ramon offers a rare opportunity to enjoy new homes in one of the Bay Area's most desirable and family-friendly cities.

Lisa Davidson is an ironworker with Local 377 San Francisco. Her team currently does ironwork on the Golden Gate Bridge. But we'll get to that. In this episode, S8 E3, meet and get to know Lisa. I first did that back in May at our Keep It Local art show at Babylon Burning (thanks, Mike and Judy!). Someone at the party that night approached me to let me know that there was a person there who works on the best bridge in the world (fact) and that I should meet them. I love when people really get me. Right away, I was drawn in by Lisa's warmth, charm, and sense of humor. And so we sat down outside in Fort Mason in early August and Lisa shared her life story. She was raised feeling like she had complete freedom. It was something Lisa didn't realize at the time, but looking back, it became clear to her. She was raised in Framingham, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, in a liberal household. Her grandparents lived in Boston itself, and she loved visiting them when she was a kid. Her grandfather ran a tchotchke store in town called House of Hurwitz, and Lisa says that the place had a big influence on her outlook. It was located on the edge of what they call, to this day, the “Combat Zone” (think: red-light district). Her “wheelin' and dealin'” grandpa sold mylar balloons to the Boston Gardens for events held there. He told young Lisa that she could blow up balloons and that that could be her future. Lisa has a brother four years younger than she is. Her dad was an electrician. One of his clients was a lithograph press in Boston. He'd sometimes get paged for a job and have to leave his family, although Lisa now wonders whether he just wanted to get away from time to time. When she was a senior in high school, her parents divorced, despite being a very loving couple up to that point. She says her mom was “crazy in an I Love Lucy way. She was raised in the Fifties the way many young women at that time were, in a way that did its best to stifle any creativity. Suffice to say that her mom had fun decorating the house Lisa grew up in. Despite her and her family's Jewishness, Lisa revolted and wanted to go to Catholic school or just become a preppy L.L. Bean-type kid. She of course regrets rejecting the norms of her family nowadays. It was what it was. The family was more culturally Jewish than religious, though, something Lisa says was a huge influence on who she's become as an adult. She graduated high school and went to college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It wasn't Ivy League, but it was (and is) something of a preppy school. Where Lisa grew up, there was an expectation that kids would go to college, and so she went. It wasn't super far from home, but it wasn't close either. Her parents did suggest that Lisa maybe go to art school. But in her family, it was the kid dismissing that idea. “That's a not real school,” young Lisa told them. She liked sports. At Amherst, she joined the crew team. She liked the competition and how good of shape it got you in. She liked it, but it was a lot of pressure. She graduated, took a year off working odd jobs, then dove into art school. So next up was Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She was surprised she got in, and even navigated a bit of impostor syndrome. Surprised by the school's acceptance of her and feeling somewhat intimidated by other artist students, Lisa ended up doing printmaking. Rather than aiming for a master's degree, she sought a second bachelor's. Her studies had her spending a lot of time in the school's foundry, where she discovered welding. She loved it. During her time back in Amherst, she'd heard of a guy who was going to Alaska. (Lisa and I go off-topic into our shared distaste for camping at this point in the conversation.) Back to the Alaska story, her mom was fully supportive and even took her shopping at an Army Navy store. She went there and worked in canneries through the summer between her junior and senior years at Amherst. While she was up north, doing jobs all over the state, she met folks from California. From the stories they told her, it became a place she wanted to go. But first, RISD. In Rhode Island, she met a guy from Danville in the East Bay. When his family learned of her interest in our state, they invited Lisa to spend a summer with them, which she did. And she and her friend came to The City as often as they could. After those few months, she knew that California—and specifically, The Bay—was for her. She needed to go back and finish that second round of college in Rhode Island, and she did. After that, Lisa “beelined it” back to Oakland. She found work in a prop shop making sculptures out of foam with a chainsaw. Check back this Thursday for Part 2 with Lisa Davidson. We recorded this podcast at Equator Coffee in Fort Mason in August 2025. Photography by Jeff Hunt

DJ Jesse Luscious takes a deep dive into classic East Bay Punk- Fang, Neurosis, Pinhead Gunpowder, Blatz, Special Forces, Spitboy, & 23 More Minutes- & celebrates 39 years since his 1st punk show with Philly bands McRad, Flag of Democracy, & Electric Love Muffin! He spins new tracks from Death Pill, The Fods, The Puncturists, Thee Headcoatees, Zombie Killers, moja, Charlie Nieland, & Judas Priest feat. Ozzy Osbourne, plus classics from The Undertones, The Replacements, The Phase Problem, The Fatal Flaw, Plizzken, Discharge, Rose Tattoo, & Gang Of Four, and the Luscious Listener's Choice!  Death Pill- Ugly Me Death Pill- Monsters (In My Brain) Mc Rad- Brain Electric Love Muffin- The Muffin March F.O.D.- Meat Factory (Live) Fods- I Get Blamed (Clean) Undertones- There Goes Norman Puncturists- 55 Phase Problem- Middle Aged Lobotomy Fatal Flaw- Victoria Plizzken- What's It Like To Be Old? Headcoatees- The Money Will Roll Right In (edit) Fang- Diary Of A Mad Werewolf Pinhead Gunpowder- Losers Of The Year Downfall- North Berkeley Special Forces- Brew Crew Blatz- Learning How To Smile 23 More Minutes- My Machine Gun Spitboy- Interdependency Zombie Killer-  Nuked Discharge- The Nightmare Continues Discharge- The Final Bloodbath Rose Tattoo- Nice Boys (Rerecording) Judas Priest- War Pigs feat. Ozzy Osbourne (Charity Version) Moja- Food Gang Of Four- I Found That Essence Rare Charlie Nieland- Shame Replacements- I'll Buy Neurosis- Tomorrow's Reality

"Futility" It's true--the last time I saw Sandy Smallens was in the spring of 1989 when his band Too Much Joy came to the campus radio station to play on my weekly show. The band were incredibly cool and I've never forgotten that they took the time to traipse into the East Bay hills to get to my school and how nice they were. They even played an unrehearsed acoustic version of Clowns at my request, which was awesome. I'd play it for you now, but guess what? After the band left, I took out the tape and found that I hadn't hit record. It's bothered me for years. At any rate, Too Much Joy and Wonderlick which is Tim and Jay from TMJ, have a lot of news coming out their camp, so they do come up a bit in this chat, but really, the focus here is on Sandy's other band Surface Wound. Informed by the undulating jagged basslines of bands like Gang Of Four and Wire, Surface Wound's new album Futility is a riveting blast of post-punk magic. The Scarsdale-raised, Yale-educated Smallens played football in high school and as a result his bass playing has a real athleticism to it and not only that, but his voice has never sounded better. Filled with prowling basslines and muscular hooks, Futility is filled with fight songs for desperate times. Sandy Smallens is a busy guy--he's in a bunch of bands, he hosts the Four Strings And The Truth podcast and as the guy who launched Spotify's original content department, he now runs the podcast company Audiation. Not only that, but he's a massive supporter of the arts . And, he's one of the nicest guys around. www.surfacewound.bandcamp.com Sandy Smallens' podcast: Four Chords And The Truth Podcast: https://pod.link/1733284004 www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com) www.stereoembersmagazine.com www.alexgreenbooks.com BLUESKY + IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

The WPBA is a pro developmental league in the East Bay with big ambitions and real impact. It's recognized by FIBA — rare for a U.S. women's league outside the WNBA — and it's becoming a place where players continue their careers, get seen by scouts, and find community.

Today we are joined by Aaron Miller, Lecturer in Kinesiology at California State University, East Bay and the author of Basketball in Japan: Shooting for the Stars (Routledge, 2025.) In our conversation, we discussed the beginnings of basketball in Japan, the ongoing legacy of Samurai culture in Japanese sport, and what Japanese basketball's success might look like in the future. In Basketball in Japan, Miller uses anthropological and ethnographic research approaches to ask why basketball in Japan is so popular with young people but less so with adults. Through a long series of conversation and observations, he leads readers to better understand the ways that sports shed light on shifts in Japanese identity. He also raises questions about to what extent Japanese coaches and players think about basketball in a specifically Japanese way. Building on a decade of research into Japanese sport and a year of field work inside of several Japanese sporting organizations, Miller's compelling and readable account of Japanese basketball's growing cultural status does not move chronologically. Instead, he uses his conversations with his interlocutors to address thematic questions that help him to explore the interplay between basketball and ideas of Japanese identity, gender, and race. His first chapter, “Be-longing” looks at the anonymized MU basketball club, a university sporting organization in Tokyo, as a total institution that thrived thanks to the commitment and discipline of an intergenerational group of administrators, coaches, players, and supporters. Their engagement was not without consequence – some of the players even likened basketball to a lover that took up all their time. In his second chapter, “Thinking Basketball”, Miller examines the tension between coaches who trained players based on the best practices of sports science, and the “commander ball” coach that drew on older notions of Japanese masculinity linked to notions of Bushido. Miller's work teases out the conflicts: in practice, many players felt more comfortable with the more authoritarian styles of the coaches similar to those they had in youth basketball. Miller also found that no coach was a practitioner of purely “thinking” or “commander” ball – there was a fine gradient between the two styles. Many of the chapters address Japanese identity and the links between a Japanese way of playing sports and masculinity. In his chapter, “DNA”, Miller explores the inclusion of non-ethnically Japanese players into the Japanese game. He notes that the introduction of players from other countries has helped Japanese teams (from the high school to professional level) to improve competitively but it has also provoked considerable conversation about what it means to be Japanese and about whether people from overseas can meaningfully represent a school, a university, or the nation. In both “Boys, Be Ambitious” and “Waiting for a Male Hardwood Hero”, Miller points to the ways that sports in Japan have been coded as male. He notes that sexism in Japanese basketball means administrators have missed the opportunity to promote the successes of Japanese women in the WNBA and the Olympic Games. Miller's deeply researched insider account into Japanese basketball from the late 19th century until today opens new avenues for considering physical culture beyond baseball and martial arts. Basketball in Japan will be of broad interest to scholars interested in Japanese culture and society, basketball buffs, and to readers with a general interest in sport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Today we are joined by Aaron Miller, Lecturer in Kinesiology at California State University, East Bay and the author of Basketball in Japan: Shooting for the Stars (Routledge, 2025.) In our conversation, we discussed the beginnings of basketball in Japan, the ongoing legacy of Samurai culture in Japanese sport, and what Japanese basketball's success might look like in the future. In Basketball in Japan, Miller uses anthropological and ethnographic research approaches to ask why basketball in Japan is so popular with young people but less so with adults. Through a long series of conversation and observations, he leads readers to better understand the ways that sports shed light on shifts in Japanese identity. He also raises questions about to what extent Japanese coaches and players think about basketball in a specifically Japanese way. Building on a decade of research into Japanese sport and a year of field work inside of several Japanese sporting organizations, Miller's compelling and readable account of Japanese basketball's growing cultural status does not move chronologically. Instead, he uses his conversations with his interlocutors to address thematic questions that help him to explore the interplay between basketball and ideas of Japanese identity, gender, and race. His first chapter, “Be-longing” looks at the anonymized MU basketball club, a university sporting organization in Tokyo, as a total institution that thrived thanks to the commitment and discipline of an intergenerational group of administrators, coaches, players, and supporters. Their engagement was not without consequence – some of the players even likened basketball to a lover that took up all their time. In his second chapter, “Thinking Basketball”, Miller examines the tension between coaches who trained players based on the best practices of sports science, and the “commander ball” coach that drew on older notions of Japanese masculinity linked to notions of Bushido. Miller's work teases out the conflicts: in practice, many players felt more comfortable with the more authoritarian styles of the coaches similar to those they had in youth basketball. Miller also found that no coach was a practitioner of purely “thinking” or “commander” ball – there was a fine gradient between the two styles. Many of the chapters address Japanese identity and the links between a Japanese way of playing sports and masculinity. In his chapter, “DNA”, Miller explores the inclusion of non-ethnically Japanese players into the Japanese game. He notes that the introduction of players from other countries has helped Japanese teams (from the high school to professional level) to improve competitively but it has also provoked considerable conversation about what it means to be Japanese and about whether people from overseas can meaningfully represent a school, a university, or the nation. In both “Boys, Be Ambitious” and “Waiting for a Male Hardwood Hero”, Miller points to the ways that sports in Japan have been coded as male. He notes that sexism in Japanese basketball means administrators have missed the opportunity to promote the successes of Japanese women in the WNBA and the Olympic Games. Miller's deeply researched insider account into Japanese basketball from the late 19th century until today opens new avenues for considering physical culture beyond baseball and martial arts. Basketball in Japan will be of broad interest to scholars interested in Japanese culture and society, basketball buffs, and to readers with a general interest in sport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

Today we are joined by Aaron Miller, Lecturer in Kinesiology at California State University, East Bay and the author of Basketball in Japan: Shooting for the Stars (Routledge, 2025.) In our conversation, we discussed the beginnings of basketball in Japan, the ongoing legacy of Samurai culture in Japanese sport, and what Japanese basketball's success might look like in the future. In Basketball in Japan, Miller uses anthropological and ethnographic research approaches to ask why basketball in Japan is so popular with young people but less so with adults. Through a long series of conversation and observations, he leads readers to better understand the ways that sports shed light on shifts in Japanese identity. He also raises questions about to what extent Japanese coaches and players think about basketball in a specifically Japanese way. Building on a decade of research into Japanese sport and a year of field work inside of several Japanese sporting organizations, Miller's compelling and readable account of Japanese basketball's growing cultural status does not move chronologically. Instead, he uses his conversations with his interlocutors to address thematic questions that help him to explore the interplay between basketball and ideas of Japanese identity, gender, and race. His first chapter, “Be-longing” looks at the anonymized MU basketball club, a university sporting organization in Tokyo, as a total institution that thrived thanks to the commitment and discipline of an intergenerational group of administrators, coaches, players, and supporters. Their engagement was not without consequence – some of the players even likened basketball to a lover that took up all their time. In his second chapter, “Thinking Basketball”, Miller examines the tension between coaches who trained players based on the best practices of sports science, and the “commander ball” coach that drew on older notions of Japanese masculinity linked to notions of Bushido. Miller's work teases out the conflicts: in practice, many players felt more comfortable with the more authoritarian styles of the coaches similar to those they had in youth basketball. Miller also found that no coach was a practitioner of purely “thinking” or “commander” ball – there was a fine gradient between the two styles. Many of the chapters address Japanese identity and the links between a Japanese way of playing sports and masculinity. In his chapter, “DNA”, Miller explores the inclusion of non-ethnically Japanese players into the Japanese game. He notes that the introduction of players from other countries has helped Japanese teams (from the high school to professional level) to improve competitively but it has also provoked considerable conversation about what it means to be Japanese and about whether people from overseas can meaningfully represent a school, a university, or the nation. In both “Boys, Be Ambitious” and “Waiting for a Male Hardwood Hero”, Miller points to the ways that sports in Japan have been coded as male. He notes that sexism in Japanese basketball means administrators have missed the opportunity to promote the successes of Japanese women in the WNBA and the Olympic Games. Miller's deeply researched insider account into Japanese basketball from the late 19th century until today opens new avenues for considering physical culture beyond baseball and martial arts. Basketball in Japan will be of broad interest to scholars interested in Japanese culture and society, basketball buffs, and to readers with a general interest in sport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sports

Today we are joined by Aaron Miller, Lecturer in Kinesiology at California State University, East Bay and the author of Basketball in Japan: Shooting for the Stars (Routledge, 2025.) In our conversation, we discussed the beginnings of basketball in Japan, the ongoing legacy of Samurai culture in Japanese sport, and what Japanese basketball's success might look like in the future. In Basketball in Japan, Miller uses anthropological and ethnographic research approaches to ask why basketball in Japan is so popular with young people but less so with adults. Through a long series of conversation and observations, he leads readers to better understand the ways that sports shed light on shifts in Japanese identity. He also raises questions about to what extent Japanese coaches and players think about basketball in a specifically Japanese way. Building on a decade of research into Japanese sport and a year of field work inside of several Japanese sporting organizations, Miller's compelling and readable account of Japanese basketball's growing cultural status does not move chronologically. Instead, he uses his conversations with his interlocutors to address thematic questions that help him to explore the interplay between basketball and ideas of Japanese identity, gender, and race. His first chapter, “Be-longing” looks at the anonymized MU basketball club, a university sporting organization in Tokyo, as a total institution that thrived thanks to the commitment and discipline of an intergenerational group of administrators, coaches, players, and supporters. Their engagement was not without consequence – some of the players even likened basketball to a lover that took up all their time. In his second chapter, “Thinking Basketball”, Miller examines the tension between coaches who trained players based on the best practices of sports science, and the “commander ball” coach that drew on older notions of Japanese masculinity linked to notions of Bushido. Miller's work teases out the conflicts: in practice, many players felt more comfortable with the more authoritarian styles of the coaches similar to those they had in youth basketball. Miller also found that no coach was a practitioner of purely “thinking” or “commander” ball – there was a fine gradient between the two styles. Many of the chapters address Japanese identity and the links between a Japanese way of playing sports and masculinity. In his chapter, “DNA”, Miller explores the inclusion of non-ethnically Japanese players into the Japanese game. He notes that the introduction of players from other countries has helped Japanese teams (from the high school to professional level) to improve competitively but it has also provoked considerable conversation about what it means to be Japanese and about whether people from overseas can meaningfully represent a school, a university, or the nation. In both “Boys, Be Ambitious” and “Waiting for a Male Hardwood Hero”, Miller points to the ways that sports in Japan have been coded as male. He notes that sexism in Japanese basketball means administrators have missed the opportunity to promote the successes of Japanese women in the WNBA and the Olympic Games. Miller's deeply researched insider account into Japanese basketball from the late 19th century until today opens new avenues for considering physical culture beyond baseball and martial arts. Basketball in Japan will be of broad interest to scholars interested in Japanese culture and society, basketball buffs, and to readers with a general interest in sport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies

It's a far-out game, AND the only Satanic Panic anti-D&D scare movie starring the East Bay's own Tom Hanks. I mean, it has to be, right?

The shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk has shaken the nation—and this week, we're unpacking what it means closer to home. Guest co-hosts Trishala Vinnakota and Justin Berton join us to trace East Bay history of politically motivated killings and the rising hostility faced by local officials. Then, we dive into Oakland's new push to toughen its encampment policy and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors' audacious plan to raise campaign donor limits to levels unmatched anywhere in our local politics.

                                  Listen in as Erin and Andrea discuss: Why authenticity is Andrea's most powerful business strategy. The unique path from theater to real estate — and how it made her unstoppable. The mindset that helped Andrea thrive through market downturns. How “vacation energy” and passion projects attract ideal clients. Why giving back creates surprising opportunities in business. About As a Realtor®, Andrea serves the Oakland, Berkeley and surrounding East Bay communities as well as San Francisco and Brisbane. Since 1998 her top priority has been providing individualized attention and flexibility to each and every one of her clients. She believes that no two people are alike so each individual needs and deserves to be treated with special care. She serves her clients tirelessly, and they count on her for results. Andrea has been a top producer since 1998. After 26 years of being a Realtor®, she can truly say it is really a great profession, and she is proud to participate in one of the most important parts of people's financial lives. Being a Realtor® has taught Andrea so much about life and people. She is always surprised by the kindness, generosity and great intelligence she meets along the way. Andrea loves what she does. How to Connect With Andrea LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreagordonrealestate Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndreaGordonRealEstate/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreagordonrealestate/

After decades spent representing the East Bay in Congress, Barbara Lee was inaugurated as Oakland's new mayor three months ago. She's now at the helm of a city with a lot of local pride and boasting rights, but also with brutal financial challenges, a politics battered by scandal and recall, and a citizenry eager for progress on crime, homelessness and other urban woes. Barbara Lee joins us to talk about what she's been learning in her first months in office and how it's shaping her plans for the city. And we hear from you: What do you want to ask your new mayor, and what do you want her to know about your Oakland? Guests: Barbara Lee, mayor of Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textOn this episode, we're confronting a crisis that has become a defining tragedy of our time: the fentanyl epidemic. While this deadly synthetic opioid is claiming lives across the entire country, its impact has been especially devastating right here in our own backyard, the Bay Area. From the streets of San Francisco to the suburbs of the East Bay, this powerful and often secretly-laced drug is tearing families apart and overwhelming communities. It's a crisis that has evolved rapidly, driven by cheap, illicitly manufactured fentanyl that is up to 100 times more potent than morphine. In this episode, we'll explore this further and how the Bay Area became an epicenter for this public health emergency and what's being done to fight back.

We get an update on the weather and lines at Burning Man, not everyone who signs on with Marvel makes it big, and Will Smith using AI to hype up his hype video. We get a man on the scene report of an East Bay water main break from Matty and is it wrong to send a text telling someone to not get married on their wedding day?

On today's show we hear from a trio of young, Oakland musicians who recently performed at the Kennedy Center. Then, an exhibit that celebrates Filipino activism in San Francisco's SOMA district. We end with an East Bay comic book store hosting a big event in Alameda this weekend.

In this enlightening episode, we welcome Loretta Bruning, founder of the Intermammal Institute and author of 'Habits of a Happy Brain.' Loretta delves deep into the intricate relationship between brain impulses and soul growth. Learn about the role of happy chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins in shaping our behaviors, and discover how experiences in childhood and adolescence wire our brains. This discussion also explores how we can consciously rewire our brains for better habits, the importance of balancing immediate and long-term gratification, and the profound journey of integrating the physical brain with spiritual growth. Tune in to understand how we can harness our mammalian brain and elevate our lives through intentional soul evolution.00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction01:05 Loretta's Background and Academic Psychology02:35 Animal Behavior and Brain Wiring03:23 Motivation and Soul's Role05:25 Neuroplasticity and Rewiring the Brain08:20 Managing Impulses and Threat Chemicals22:22 Childhood Wiring and Self-Compassion29:32 Social Comparison and Animal Training37:58 Oxytocin and Psychological Safety41:42 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsLoretta Graziano Breuning, PhD, is author of Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin and Endorphin Levels. She's Founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and Professor Emerita of Management at California State University, East Bay. Dr. Breuning's many books, videos and podcasts explain the brain chemistry we've inherited from earlier mammals. It shows that our "happy chemicals" evolved for specific jobs, not to flow all the time for no reason. Our brain is not designed to produce constant happiness, yet Dr. Breuning's work explains the natural way to enhance our power over these chemicals. Her ten books are translated into sixteen languages. Before teaching, Loretta worked for the United Nations in Africa. Today, she gives zoo tours on animals behavior, after serving as a Docent at the Oakland Zoo. The Inner Mammal Institute offers videos, podcasts, books, blogs, multimedia, a training program, and a free five-day happy-chemical jumpstart.

Anxieties are rising in the East Bay as communities brace for the possibility of federal immigration crackdowns under President Trump. With guest co-host Trishala Vinnakota, we unpack California's upcoming effort to redraw its congressional maps, Alameda County's scramble to expand immigrant services, Trump's threat to deploy the National Guard in Oakland, and mounting concerns that the former federal women's prison in Dublin could be converted into an ICE detention center.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists.   In this two-part series of Oakland Asian Cultural Center's “Let's Talk” podcast Eastside Arts Alliance is featured. Elena Serrano and Susanne Takehara, two of the founders of Eastside Arts Alliance, and staff member Aubrey Pandori will discuss the history that led to the formation of Eastside and their deep work around multi-racial solidarity.   Transcript: Let's Talk podcast episode 9  [00:00:00] Emma: My name is Emma Grover, and I am the program and communications coordinator at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, known also as OACC. Today we are sharing the ninth episode of our Let's Talk Audio Series. Let's Talk is part of OACC'S Open Ears for Change Initiative, which was established in 2020. With this series, our goals are to address anti-Blackness in the APIA communities, discuss the effects of colorism and racism in a safe space, and highlight Black and Asian solidarity and community efforts specifically in the Oakland Chinatown area. Today's episode is a round table discussion with Elena Serrano, Susanne Takahara, and Aubrey Pandori of Eastside Arts Alliance.  [00:00:53] Aubrey: Hello everybody. This is Aubrey from Eastside Arts Alliance, and I am back here for the second part of our Let's Talk with Suzanne and Elena. We're gonna be talking about what else Eastside is doing right now in the community. The importance of art in activism, and the importance of Black and Asian solidarity in Oakland and beyond.  So I am the community archivist here at Eastside Arts Alliances. I run CARP, which stands for Community Archival Resource Project. It is a project brought on by one of our co-founders, Greg Morozumi. And it is primarily a large chunk of his own collection from over the years, but it is a Third World archive with many artifacts, journals, pens, newspapers from social movements in the Bay Area and beyond, international social movements from the 1960s forward. We do a few different programs through CARP. I sometimes have archival exhibitions. We do public engagement through panels, community archiving days. We collaborate with other community archives like the Bay Area Lesbian Archives and Freedom Archives here in Oakland and the Bay Area. And we are also working on opening up our Greg Morozumi Reading Room in May. So that is an opportunity for people to come in and relax, read books, host reading groups, or discussions with their community. We're also gonna be opening a lending system so people are able to check out books to take home and read. There'll be library cards coming soon for that and other fun things to come.  [00:02:44] So Suzanne, what are you working on at Eastside right now? [00:02:48] Susanne: Well, for the past like eight or nine years I've been working with Jose Ome Navarrete and Debbie Kajiyama of NAKA Dance Theater to produce Live Arts and Resistance (LAIR), which is a Dance Theater Performance series. We've included many artists who, some of them started out here at Eastside and then grew to international fame, such as Dohee Lee, and then Amara Tabor-Smith has graced our stages for several years with House Full of Black Women. This year we're working with Joti Singh on Ghadar Geet: Blood and Ink, a piece she choreographed, and shot in film and it's a multimedia kind of experience. We've worked with Cat Brooks and many emerging other artists who are emerging or from all over, mostly Oakland, but beyond. It's a place where people can just experiment and not worry about a lot of the regulations that bigger theaters have. Using the outside, the inside, the walls, the ceiling sometimes. It's been an exciting experience to work with so many different artists in our space.  [00:04:03] Elena: And I have been trying to just get the word out to as many different folks who can help sustain the organization as possible about the importance of the work we do here. So my main job with Eastside has been raising money. But what we're doing now is looking at cultural centers like Eastside, like Oakland Asian Cultural Center, like the Malonga Casquelord Center, like Black Cultural Zone, like the Fruitvale Plaza and CURJ's work. These really integral cultural hubs. In neighborhoods and how important those spaces are.  [00:04:42] So looking at, you know, what we bring to the table with the archives, which serve the artistic community, the organizing community. There's a big emphasis, and we had mentioned some of this in the first episode around knowing the history and context of how we got here so we can kind of maneuver our way out. And that's where books and movies and posters and artists who have been doing this work for so long before us come into play in the archives and then having it all manifest on the stage through programs like LAIR, where theater artists and dancers and musicians, and it's totally multimedia, and there's so much information like how to keep those types of places going is really critical.  [00:05:28] And especially now when public dollars have mostly been cut, like the City of Oakland hardly gave money to the arts anyway, and they tried to eliminate the entire thing. Then they're coming back with tiny bits of money. But we're trying to take the approach like, please, let's look at where our tax dollars go. What's important in a neighborhood? What has to stay and how can we all work together to make that happen?  [00:05:52] Susanne: And I want to say that our Cultural Center theater is a space that is rented out very affordably to not just artists, but also many organizations that are doing Movement work, such as Palestinian Youth Movement, Bala, Mujeres Unidas Y Activas, QT at Cafe Duo Refugees, United Haiti Action Committee, Freedom Archives, Oakland Sin Fronteras, Center for CPE, and many artists connected groups.  [00:06:22] Aubrey: Yeah, I mean, we do so much more than what's in the theater and Archive too, we do a lot of different youth programs such as Girl Project, Neighborhood Arts, where we do public murals. One of our collective members, Angie and Leslie, worked on Paint the Town this past year. We also have our gallery in between the Cultural Center and Bandung Books, our bookstore, which houses our archive. We are celebrating our 25th anniversary exhibition.  [00:06:54] Susanne: And one of the other exhibits we just wrapped up was Style Messengers, an exhibit of graffiti work from Dime, Spy and Surge, Bay Area artists and Surge is from New York City, kind of illustrating the history of graffiti and social commentary.  [00:07:30] Elena: We are in this studio here recording and this is the studio of our youth music program Beats Flows, and I love we're sitting here with this portrait of Amiri Baraka, who had a lot to say to us all the time. So it's so appropriate that when the young people are in the studio, they have this elder, magician, poet activist looking at him, and then when you look out the window, you see Sister Souljah, Public Enemy, and then a poster we did during, when Black Lives Matter came out, we produced these posters that said Black Power Matters, and we sent them all over the country to different sister cultural centers and I see them pop up somewhere sometimes and people's zooms when they're home all over the country. It's really amazing and it just really shows when you have a bunch of artists and poets and radical imagination, people sitting around, you know, what kind of things come out of it. [00:08:31] Aubrey: I had one of those Black Power Matters posters in my kitchen window when I lived in Chinatown before I worked here, or visited here actually. I don't even know how I acquired it, but it just ended up in my house somehow.  [00:08:45] Elena: That's perfect. I remember when we did, I mean we still do, Malcolm X Jazz Festival and it was a young Chicana student who put the Jazz Festival poster up and she was like, her parents were like, why is Malcolm X? What has that got to do with anything? And she was able to just tell the whole story about Malcolm believing that people, communities of color coming together  is a good thing. It's a powerful thing. And it was amazing how the festival and the youth and the posters can start those kind of conversations.  [00:09:15] Aubrey: Malcolm X has his famous quote that says “Culture is an indispensable weapon in the freedom struggle.” And Elena, we think a lot about Malcolm X and his message here at Eastside about culture, but also about the importance of art. Can we speak more about the importance of art in our activism?  [00:09:35] Elena: Well, that was some of the things we were touching on around radical imagination and the power of the arts. But where I am going again, is around this power of the art spaces, like the power of spaces like this, and to be sure that it's not just a community center, it's a cultural center, which means we invested in sound good, sound good lighting, sprung floors. You know, just like the dignity and respect that the artists and our audiences have, and that those things are expensive but critical. So I feel like that's, it's like to advocate for this type of space where, again, all those groups that we listed off that have come in here and there's countless more. They needed a space to reach constituencies, you know, and how important that is. It's like back in the civil rights organizing the Black church was that kind of space, very important space where those kind of things came together. People still go to church and there's still churches, but there's a space for cultural centers and to have that type of space where artists and activists can come together and be more powerful together.  [00:10:50] Aubrey: I think art is a really powerful way of reaching people. [00:10:54] Elena: You know, we're looking at this just because I, being in the development end, we put together a proposal for the Environmental Protection Agency before Donald (Trump) took it over. We were writing about how important popular education is, so working with an environmental justice organization who has tons of data about how impacted communities like East Oakland and West Oakland are suffering from all of this, lots of science. But what can we, as an arts group, how can we produce a popular education around those things? And you know, how can we say some of those same messages in murals and zines, in short films, in theater productions, you know, but kind of embracing that concept of popular education. So we're, you know, trying to counter some of the disinformation that's being put out there too with some real facts, but in a way that, you know, folks can grasp onto and, and get.  [00:11:53] Aubrey: We recently had a LAIR production called Sky Watchers, and it was a beautiful musical opera from people living in the Tenderloin, and it was very personal. You were able to hear about people's experiences with poverty, homelessness, and addiction in a way that was very powerful. How they were able to express what they were going through and what they've lost, what they've won, everything that has happened in their lives in a very moving way. So I think art, it's, it's also a way for people to tell their stories and we need to be hearing those stories. We don't need to be hearing, I think what a lot of Hollywood is kind of throwing out, which is very white, Eurocentric beauty standards and a lot of other things that doesn't reflect our neighborhood and doesn't reflect our community. So yeah, art is a good way for us to not only tell our stories, but to get the word out there, what we want to see changed.  So our last point that we wanna talk about today is the importance of Black and Asian solidarity in Oakland. How has that been a history in Eastside, Suzanne?  [00:13:09] Susanne: I feel like Eastside is all about Third World solidarity from the very beginning. And Yuri Kochiyama is one of our mentors through Greg Morozumi and she was all about that. So I feel like everything we do brings together Black, Asian and brown folks. [00:13:27] Aubrey: Black and Asian solidarity is especially important here at Eastside Arts Alliance. It is a part of our history. We have our bookstore called Bandung Books for a very specific reason, to give some history there. So the Bandung Conference happened in 1955 in Indonesia, and it was the first large-scale meeting of Asian and African countries. Most of which were newly independent from colonialism. They aimed to promote Afro-Asian cooperation and rejection of colonialism and imperialism in all nations. And it really set the stage for revolutionary solidarity between colonized and oppressed people, letting way for many Third Worlds movements internationally and within the United States.  [00:14:14] Eastside had an exhibition called Bandung to the Bay: Black and Asian Solidarity at Oakland Asian Cultural Center the past two years in 2022 and 2023 for their Lunar New Year and Black History Month celebrations. It highlighted the significance of that conference and also brought to light what was happening in the United States from the 1960s to present time that were creating and building solidarity between Black and Asian communities. The exhibition highlighted a number of pins, posters, and newspapers from the Black Liberation Movement and Asian American movement, as well as the broader Third World movement. The Black Panthers were important points of inspiration in Oakland, in the Bay Area in getting Asian and Pacific Islanders in the diaspora, and in their homelands organized.  [00:15:07] We had the adoption of the Black Panthers 10-point program to help shape revolutionary demands and principles for people's own communities like the Red Guard in San Francisco's Chinatown, IWK in New York's Chinatown and even the Polynesian Panthers in New Zealand. There were so many different organizations that came out of the Black Panther party right here in Oakland. And we honor that by having so many different 10-point programs up in our theater too. We have the Brown Berets, Red Guard Party, Black Panthers, of course, the American Indian Movement as well. So we're always thinking about that kind of organizing and movement building that has been tied here for many decades now.  [00:15:53] Elena: I heard that the term Third World came from the Bandung conference. [00:15:58] Aubrey: Yes, I believe that's true.  [00:16:01] Elena: I wanted to say particularly right now, the need for specifically Black Asian solidarity is just, there's so much misinformation around China coming up now, especially as China takes on a role of a superpower in the world. And it's really up to us to provide some background, some other information, some truth telling, so folks don't become susceptible to that kind of misinformation. And whatever happens when it comes from up high and we hate China, it reflects in Chinatown. And that's the kind of stereotyping that because we have been committed to Third World solidarity and truth telling for so long, that that's where we can step in and really, you know, make a difference, we hope. I think the main point is that we need to really listen to each other, know what folks are going through, know that we have more in common than we have separating us, especially in impacted Black, brown, Asian communities in Oakland. We have a lot to do.  [00:17:07] Aubrey: To keep in contact with Eastside Arts Alliance, you can find us at our website: eastside arts alliance.org, and our Instagrams at Eastside Cultural and at Bandung Books to stay connected with our bookstore and CArP, our archive, please come down to Eastside Arts Alliance and check out our many events coming up in the new year. We are always looking for donations and volunteers and just to meet new friends and family.  [00:17:36] Susanne: And with that, we're gonna go out with Jon Jang's “The Pledge of Black Asian Alliance,” produced in 2018.  [00:18:29] Emma: This was a round table discussion at the Eastside Arts Alliance Cultural Center with staff and guests: Elena, Suzanne and Aubrey.  Let's Talk Audio series is one of OACC'S Open Ears for Change projects and as part of the Stop the Hate Initiative with funds provided by the California Department of Social Services in consultation with the commission of Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs to administer $110 million allocated over three years to community organizations. These organizations provide direct services to victims of hate and their families and offer prevention and intervention services to tackle hate in our communities. This episode is a production of the Oakland Asian Cultural Center with engineering, editing, and sound design by Thick Skin Media.  [00:19:18] A special thanks to Jon Jang for permission to use his original music. And thank you for listening.  [00:19:32] Music: Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all part of one another. Don't become too narrow, live fully, meet all kinds of people. You'll learn something from everyone. Follow what you feel in your heart. OACC Podcast [00:00:00] Emma: My name is Emma Grover, and I am the program and communications coordinator at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, known also as OACC. Today we are sharing the eighth episode of our Let's Talk audio series. Let's talk as part of OACC's Open Ears for Change Initiative, which was established in 2020. With this series, our goals are to address anti-blackness in the APIA communities, discuss the effects of colorism and racism in a safe space, and highlight black and Asian solidarity and community efforts specifically in the Oakland Chinatown area.   [00:00:43] Today's guests are Elena Serrano and Suzanne Takahara, co-founders of Eastside Arts Alliance. Welcome Elena and Suzanne, thank you so much for joining today's episode. And so just to kick things off, wanna hear about how was Eastside Arts Alliance started?   [00:01:01] Susanne: Well, it was really Greg Morozumi who had a longstanding vision of creating a cultural center in East Oakland, raised in Oakland, an organizer in the Bay Area, LA, and then in New York City where he met Yuri Kochiyama, who became a lifelong mentor.   [00:01:17] Greg was planning with one of Yuri's daughters, Ichi Kochiyama to move her family to Oakland and help him open a cultural center here. I met Greg in the early nineties and got to know him during the January, 1993 “No Justice, No Peace” show at Pro Arts in Oakland. The first Bay Graffiti exhibition in the gallery. Greg organized what became a massive anti-police brutality graffiti installation created by the TDDK crew. Graffiti images and messages covered the walls and ceiling complete with police barricades. It was a response to the Rodney King protests. The power of street art busted indoors and blew apart the gallery with political messaging. After that, Greg recruited Mike Dream, Spy, and other TDK writers to help teach the free art classes for youth that Taller Sin Fronteras was running at the time.   [00:02:11] There were four artist groups that came together to start Eastside. Taller Sin Fronteras was an ad hoc group of printmakers and visual artists activists based in the East Bay. Their roots came out of the free community printmaking, actually poster making workshops that artists like Malaquias Montoya and David Bradford organized in Oakland in the early 70s and 80s.   [00:02:34] The Black Dot Collective of poets, writers, musicians, and visual artists started a popup version of the Black Dot Cafe. Marcel Diallo and Leticia Utafalo were instrumental and leaders of this project. 10 12 were young digital artists and activists led by Favianna Rodriguez and Jesus Barraza in Oakland. TDK is an Oakland based graffiti crew that includes Dream, Spie, Krash, Mute, Done Amend, Pak and many others evolving over time and still holding it down.   [00:03:07] Elena: That is a good history there. And I just wanted to say that me coming in and meeting Greg and knowing all those groups and coming into this particular neighborhood, the San Antonio district of Oakland, the third world aspect of who we all were and what communities we were all representing and being in this geographic location where those communities were all residing. So this neighborhood, San Antonio and East Oakland is very third world, Black, Asian, Latinx, indigenous, and it's one of those neighborhoods, like many neighborhoods of color that has been disinvested in for years. But rich, super rich in culture.   [00:03:50] So the idea of a cultural center was…let's draw on where our strengths are and all of those groups, TDKT, Taller Sin Fronters, Black artists, 10 – 12, these were all artists who were also very engaged in what was going on in the neighborhoods. So artists, organizers, activists, and how to use the arts as a way to lift up those stories tell them in different ways. Find some inspiration, ways to get out, ways to build solidarity between the groups, looking at our common struggles, our common victories, and building that strength in numbers.   [00:04:27] Emma: Thank you so much for sharing. Elena and Suzanne, what a rich and beautiful history for Eastside Arts Alliance.   [00:04:34] Were there any specific political and or artistic movements happening at that time that were integral to Eastside's start?   [00:04:41] Elena: You know, one of the movements that we took inspiration from, and this was not happening when Eastside got started, but for real was the Black Panther Party. So much so that the Panthers 10-point program was something that Greg xeroxed and made posters and put 'em up on the wall, showing how the 10-point program for the Panthers influenced that of the Young Lords and the Brown Berets and I Wor Kuen (IWK).   [00:05:07] So once again, it was that Third world solidarity. Looking at these different groups that were working towards similar things, it still hangs these four posters still hang in our cultural, in our theater space to show that we were all working on those same things. So even though we came in at the tail end of those movements, when we started Eastside, it was very much our inspiration and what we strove to still address; all of those points are still relevant right now.   [00:05:36] Susanne: So that was a time of Fight The Power, Kaos One and Public Enemy setting. The tone for public art murals, graphics, posters. So that was kind of the context for which art was being made and protests happened.   [00:05:54] Elena: There was a lot that needed to be done and still needs to be done. You know what? What the other thing we were coming on the tail end of and still having massive repercussions was crack. And crack came into East Oakland really hard, devastated generations, communities, everything, you know, so the arts were a way for some folks to still feel power and feel strong and feel like they have agency in the world, especially hip hop and, spray can, and being out there and having a voice and having a say, it was really important, especially in neighborhoods where things had just been so messed up for so long.   [00:06:31] Emma: I would love to know also what were the community needs Eastside was created to address, you know, in this environment where there's so many community needs, what was Eastside really honing in on at this time?   [00:06:41] Elena: It's interesting telling our story because we end up having to tell so many other stories before us, so things like the, Black Arts movement and the Chicano Arts Movement. Examples of artists like Amiri Baraka, Malaguias Montoya, Sonya Sanchez. Artists who had committed themselves to the struggles of their people and linking those two works. So we always wanted to have that. So the young people that we would have come into the studio and wanna be rappers, you know, it's like, what is your responsibility?   [00:07:15] You have a microphone, you amplify. What are some of the things you're saying? So it was on us. To provide that education and that backstory and where they came from and the footsteps we felt like they were in and that they needed to keep moving it forward. So a big part of the cultural center in the space are the archives and all of that information and history and context.   [00:07:37] Susanne: And we started the Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival for that same reason coming out of the Bandung Conference. And then the Tri Continental, all of this is solidarity between people's movements.   [00:07:51] Emma: You've already talked about this a little bit, the role of the arts in Eastside's foundation and the work that you're doing, and I'd love to hear also maybe how the role of the arts continues to be important in the work that you're doing today as a cultural center.   [00:08:04] And so my next question to pose to you both is what is the role of the arts at Eastside?   [00:08:10] Elena: So a couple different things. One, I feel like, and I said a little bit of this before, but the arts can transmit messages so much more powerfully than other mediums. So if you see something acted out in a theater production or a song or a painting, you get that information transmitted in a different way.   [00:08:30] Then also this idea of the artists being able to tap into imagination and produce images and visions and dreams of the future. This kind of imagination I just recently read or heard because folks aren't reading anymore or hardly reading that they're losing their imagination. What happens when you cannot even imagine a way out of things?   [00:08:54] And then lastly, I just wanted to quote something that Favianna Rodriguez, one of our founders always says “cultural shift precedes political shift.” So if you're trying to shift things politically on any kind of policy, you know how much money goes to support the police or any of these issues. It's the cultural shift that needs to happen first. And that's where the cultural workers, the artists come in.   [00:09:22] Susanne: And another role of Eastside in supporting the arts to do just that is honoring the artists, providing a space where they can have affordable rehearsal space or space to create, or a place to come safely and just discuss things that's what we hope and have created for the Eastside Cultural Center and now the bookstore and the gallery. A place for them to see themselves and it's all um, LGBTA, BIPOC artists that we serve and honor in our cultural center. To that end, we, in the last, I don't know, 8, 9 years, we've worked with Jose Navarrete and Debbie Kajiyama of Naka Dance Theater to produce live arts and resistance, which gives a stage to emerging and experienced performance artists, mostly dancers, but also poets, writers, theater and actors and musicians.   [00:10:17] Emma: The last question I have for you both today is what is happening in the world that continues to call us to action as artists?   [00:10:27] Elena: Everything, everything is happening, you know, and I know things have always been happening, but it seems really particularly crazy right now on global issues to domestic issues. For a long time, Eastside was um, really focusing in on police stuff and immigration stuff because it was a way to bring Black and brown communities together because they were the same kind of police state force, different ways.   [00:10:54] Now we have it so many different ways, you know, and strategies need to be developed. Radical imagination needs to be deployed. Everyone needs to be on hand. A big part of our success and our strength is organizations that are not artistic organizations but are organizing around particular issues globally, locally come into our space and the artists get that information. The community gets that information. It's shared information, and it gives us all a way, hopefully, to navigate our way out of it.   [00:11:29] Susanne: The Cultural Center provides a venue for political education for our communities and our artists on Palestine, Haiti, Sudan, immigrant rights, prison abolition, police abolition, sex trafficking, and houselessness among other things.   [00:11:46] Elena: I wanted to say too, a big part of what's going on is this idea of public disinvestment. So housing, no such thing as public housing, hardly anymore. Healthcare, education, we're trying to say access to cultural centers. We're calling that the cultural infrastructure of neighborhoods. All of that must be continued to be supported and we can't have everything be privatized and run by corporations. So that idea of these are essential things in a neighborhood, schools, libraries, cultural spaces, and you know, and to make sure cultural spaces gets on those lists.   [00:12:26] Emma: I hear you. And you know, I think every category you brought up, actually just now I can think of one headline or one piece of news recently that is really showing how critically these are being challenged, these basic rights and needs of the community. And so thank you again for the work that you're doing and keeping people informed as well. I think sometimes with all the news, both globally and, and in our more local communities in the Bay Area or in Oakland. It can be so hard to know what actions to take, what tools are available. But again, that's the importance of having space for this type of education, for this type of activism. And so I am so grateful that Eastside exists and is continuing to serve our community in this way.   What is Eastside Arts Alliance up to today? Are there any ways we can support your collective, your organization, what's coming up?   [00:13:18] Elena: Well, this is our 25th anniversary. So the thing that got us really started by demonstrating to the community what a cultural center was, was the Malcolm X Jazz Arts Festival, and that this year will be our 25th anniversary festival happening on May 17th.   [00:13:34] It's always free. It's in San Antonio Park. It's an amazing day of organizing and art and music, multi-generational. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful day. Folks can find out. We have stuff going on every week. Every week at the cultural center on our website through our socials. Our website is Eastside Arts alliance.org, and all the socials are there and there's a lot of information from our archives that you can look up there. There's just just great information on our website, and we also send out a newsletter.   [00:14:07] Emma: Thank you both so much for sharing, and I love you bringing this idea, but I hear a lot of arts and activism organizations using this term radical imagination and how it's so needed for bringing forth the future that we want for ourselves and our future generations.   [00:14:24] And so I just think that's so beautiful that Eastside creates that space, cultivates a space where that radical imagination can take place through the arts, but also through community connections. Thank you so much Elena and Suzanne for joining us today.   [00:14:40] Susanne: Thank you for having us.   [00:15:32] Emma: Let's Talk Audio series is one of OACC'S Open Ears for Change projects and is part of the Stop the Hate Initiative with funds provided by the California Department of Social Services. In consultation with the commission of Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs to administer $110 million allocated over three years to community organizations. These organizations provide direct services to victims of hate and their families, and offer prevention and intervention services to tackle hate in our communities.   This episode is a production of the Oakland Asian Cultural Center with engineering, editing, and sound design by Thick Skin Media. A special thanks to Jon Jang for permission to use his original music, and thank you for listening.   [00:16:34] Music: Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all part of one another. Don't become too narrow. Live fully, meet all kinds of people. You'll learn something from everyone. Follow what you feel in your heart. The post APEX Express – August 14, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Over the past 40 years, Afghans have steadily immigrated to the East Bay town of Fremont, hoping to start new lives close to others who share their language and culture. We trace four waves of immigration and check in with Afghans who've chosen to settle in Fremont. Additional Resources: How Did Fremont Become Known As 'Little Kabul'? Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Asal Ehsanipour. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Gabriela Glueck and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Olivia Allen-Price, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsay and everyone on Team KQED.

In this special Transforming Trauma series, we are exploring the “origin stories” of influential therapists. These episodes offer a rare opportunity to peek behind the curtain and understand what inspired these therapists to pursue healing work - and how they have brought their life experiences into their professional work, impacting and inspiring many people along the way. By learning from seasoned master therapists who openly share their professional journeys, as well as the painful personal life lessons along the way, we gain valuable insights to support our own growth, both professionally and personally. On this episode of Transforming Trauma, host Emily Ruth welcomes back Marcia Black, a licensed psychologist, faculty member at the Complex Trauma Training Center (CTTC), and a trainer and master therapist in the NeuroAffective Relational Model® (NARM®). Marcia shares defining moments from her remarkable 40+ year career and reminiscences about the generous mentors who have shaped her professional life. The pair also explore the role that curiosity plays in forming meaningful relationships with clients, colleagues, and the broader professional community. About Marcia Black: Marcia Black, PhD is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and CTTC Faculty member. Marcia has a passion for mentoring students and Training Assistants in NARM® Trainings and the SPACE Inner Development Program for Therapists. She enjoys nurturing the growth of the CTTC professional community who are committed to ongoing learning. Marcia is also a NARM Master Therapist and has been in private practice for over 40 years in San Francisco and the East Bay, specializing in treating complex and developmental trauma. Coming from a background in Attachment, Relational and Intersubjective approaches, as well as experience as a Somatic Experiencing practitioner and SE Assistant, Marcia's mentorship is based in a relational approach that invites an exploration into the therapist's inner experience and growth, alongside that of the client's. Marcia is excited about supporting ongoing training, consultation, and mentorship in her role at CTTC. Learn More: Complex Trauma Training Center To read the full show notes and discover more resources, visit https://complextraumatrainingcenter.com/transformingtrauma SPACE: SPACE is an Inner Development Program of Support and Self-Discovery for Therapists on the Personal, Interpersonal, and Transpersonal Levels offered by the Complex Trauma Training Center. This experiential learning program offers an immersive group experience designed to cultivate space for self-care, community support, and deepening vitality in our professional role as therapists. Learn more about how to join. *** The Complex Trauma Training Center: https://complextraumatrainingcenter.com View upcoming trainings: https://complextraumatrainingcenter.com/schedule/ The Complex Trauma Training Center (CTTC) is a professional organization providing clinical training, education, consultation, and mentorship for psychotherapists and mental health professionals working with individuals and communities impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Complex Trauma (C-PTSD). CTTC provides NARM® Therapist and NARM® Master Therapist Training programs, as well as ongoing monthly groups in support of those learning NARM. CTTC offers a depth-oriented professional community for those seeking a supportive network of therapists focused on three levels of shared human experience: personal, interpersonal & transpersonal.  The Transforming Trauma podcast embodies the spirit of CTTC – best described by its three keywords: depth, connection, and heart - and offers guidance to those interested in effective, transformational trauma-informed care. We want to connect with you! Facebook @complextraumatrainingcenter Instagram @complextraumatrainingcenter LinkedIn YouTube    

Hercules native August Lee Stevens dropped her debut album “Better Places” last year earning her a following and praise for her indie soul sound. The 25-year-old singer and songwriter started classical piano when she was in elementary school and continued her study at the Oakland School of the Arts. In her senior year, she picked up singing – a decision that changed her life. She is now part of a wave of emerging musicians from the East Bay. Stevens joins us for a special live performance, and to talk about her musical roots and journey. Guests: August Lee Stevens, Bay Area-based musician and singer-songwriter; her debut album “Better Places” came out in 2024 Frankie Maston, vocalist Ash Stallard, vocalist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices