Riding in the Hood:

After the Mandela Market, we made our way to City Slicker Farms on Center and Peralta Streets. First we detoured to an OBUGS butterfly garden. There we met a neighbor who has been involved with bringing sorely needed community services to West Oakland. She has started a medical clinic and also, more recently, she has initiated a nutrition program at corner liquor stores. She teaches them how to use a blender to make nutritious and healthy fruit smoothies—this is in an effort to bring healthy food into the neighborhood. While West Oakland has been redlined by supermarkets, there are liquor stores on nearly every corner.

Standing in front of this neighbor’s home was a piece of indigenous sculpture: a local artist has carved portraits out of neighborhood tree stumps.