Dolliver’s Neck
A family house binds relatives together in a web of memories and ghosts on Christmas Eve.
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Sarah Weld
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
The 1995 film Home for the Holidays, starring Holly Hunter, about a comedic (both dark and light) trip back home for Thanksgiving, inspired our essay roundup. Eight essayists tell stories from a child’s eye to the mind’s eye, from poignant family lore to lighter fare. Each of these literary lights takes us into the season with moving, funny, irreverent moments in time.
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News about great shops in your neighborhood
Issues—A pocketsize store on Piedmont Ave. sells an eclectic mix of traditional and alternative periodicals, ’zines, T-shirts and letterpress cards. By Susan Sanford
Jeanomix is a new shop on Bay Street in Emeryville that seeks to fit every woman and man to just the right pair of jeans (with actual salespeople who know what will work on your body.) By Andrea Lampros
Oakland’s Oliveto Café, downstairs from the restaurant, has a new look and a new kitchen that can turn out even more savory dishes. By Sarah Weld
Pleasanton’s Sola-Brite is the Bay Area’s biggest distributor of the Solatube, an energy-saving device that lets natural light into your rooms. By Sarah Weld
Westbrae Nursery, a small nursery under new brother-sister ownership, specializes in offering color succulents and drought-resistant plants with personal attention. By Andrea Lampros
SHOPPING FOR SCHOOLS
If you’re puzzled about how to find the best public, private or parochial school for your child who’s approaching kindergarten, middle or high school, here’s your step-by-step guide. Believe it or not, you should start right now—for next fall. We talk with school officials and parents who have survived the process and provide a behemoth list of resources that includes school contact information and open-house dates.
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Closing the Gap
Standardized test scores continually reveal an achievement gap that has white and Asian students performing better than their Latino and African-American counterparts, regardless of economics. Are black and Latino students being well-served in our public schools? Many East Bay parents and educators say “no” and are coming up with solutions, many of which begin with a frank discussion about race.
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Separated From the World by Choice
Hidden in the East Bay hills, the Carmelite nuns of Kensington live at the most secluded monastery in the United States.
Faces of the East Bay
Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton Urges Parents to Discuss Race
A Cal psychologist has a simple prescription for race relations.
Being a Long-Distance Caregiver
Experts say that when caring for an elderly parent who lives far away, the most important thing is to join a support group with people experiencing the same challenges.
In the Philanthropic Swim
Rockridge residents John Bliss and Kim Thompson may live far removed the gritty flats of East and West Oakland. But this philanthropic couple see themselves as one with the citizens of Oakland, particularly those who are struggling financially, and they’re leading a campaign to get their “financially blessed” peers to invest in the community like they have by funding city programs to teach kids how to swim.
My Father, My Lie
Oakland author Meredith Maran accused her father of the ultimate betrayal. Then she un-accused him. In this first-person essay, adapted from her new book, My Lie, she reveals how it all went down.