Author Archives: Aimee Allison
YouthSpeaks Grand Slam – and I’m a Judge
March 15, 2010 – 10:21 pm
I feel so honored - this is THE poetry slam event in the bay area and I'm one of three judges on April 3rd, 7pm at the historic Warfield Theater in San Francisco. The teen poets are fierce, funny, filled with fire. Also with that blinding truth. Oh, and I know I'm in for quite a night because my judges' instructions included this: Have fun. Clap and laugh and cry as much as you want to. Stand up and jump around. You will be booed. There is no doubt about it and it's all part of the fun. The crowd
Chinaka Hodge – Holding the Mirror in Every Corner
March 12, 2010 – 10:17 am
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="166" caption="Chinaka Hodge, Playwright and Poet"][/caption] Chinaka Hodge is magnetic - at once warm, introspective, and energetic. She joined me on the KPFA Morning Show today to discuss her latest work. This former Youth Speaks poet is now a successful playwright - and she puts herself squarely in the tradition of Ntozake Shange. Her first play, "Mirrors in Every Corner" is now playing at the Intersection for the Arts in SF until March 21st, 2010. It explores what race means. She asked, "if the lights are out, how do you know you're black?" I responded, "how do
A Billion People Don’t have to Starve: Enough
March 11, 2010 – 6:03 pm
Latest interview: Roger Thurow, author of Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in the Age of Plenty. He's a man on a mission - having left a 30 year reporting career at the Wall Street Journal to work on international agricultural policy full-time. It was all about Africa, he told me - the Green Revolution of the 1970's that increased farming yield never made it to the motherland and the food aid and international development and trade policies are self-interested and do not feed hungry people in the long-term. Turns out that the Gates Foundation and their billions brought the
OaklandSeen – Inventing New local Media
March 9, 2010 – 4:58 pm
This radio promo was produced at the start of our OaklandSeen pilot series. It's a media project with the radio as a foundation. Now, the website will launch on the 16th at http://www.oaklandseen.com, and that will expand the OaklandSeen social networks on Facebook and Twitter. [audio:http://www.aimeeallison.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/01_OaklandSeenCART1020.mp3|titles=OaklandSeen Radio Spot] And mark your calendar for our OaklandSeen launch - Thursday, March 25, 2010 at Somar on Broadway in Oakland. //
Interview with Cornell West
March 9, 2010 – 9:17 am
[caption id="attachment_145" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Cornell West and Aimee Allison"][/caption]
Oakland says goodbye to “Sweet Jimmie” Ward – and the End of an Era
February 11, 2010 – 4:55 pm
[Aimee Allison | OaklandSeen] For much of the time Sweet Jimmies was the heart of Oakland nightlife in the 90's, I would catch glimpses of nighttime boisterous dancing and singing at the spot through the grainy lens of Soul Beat TV. Now Soul Beat and Sweet Jimmies nightclub are a decade gone, and I find myself longing for that Oakland spirit. "Sweet Jimmie" Ward died Friday night at the age of 74 - a former longshorman who was one of hundreds of thousands who came from the South to work at the shipyards or on the Army base during
We haven’t forgotten you, Hassani Campbell, and we want you home
February 11, 2010 – 4:52 pm
[Aimee Allison | OaklandSeen] Hassani, you are our son. In the six months since you have been missing, the community hasn't forgotten you. We're doubling our resolve to make Oakland a city where all children - ignored, vulnerable, poor - are safe and protected. The small group that held a candlelight vigil speaks for thousands of us - we want the police to continue to investigate the case. More than that, we want to understand where the system that places and tracks foster care children has failed, and what we can do to fix it. Thanks to the community members
Haiti earthquake update – my friends safe and sound
January 14, 2010 – 1:32 pm
Early yesterday, I found out friends Walter Riley and Barbara Rhine were in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit, I wrote for my local media project www.oaklandseen.com and www.facebook.com/oaklandseen about it to spread the word. SF Gate blogger Zennie62 picked it up, then KICU and so on. In the evening, we recieved word that Walter and Barbara had been found, and are in fact doing what they can to help. Here's the story that KTVU did on the issue yesterday. http://www.ktvu.com/news/22231394/detail.html
America’s Best Dance Crew Winner Trained in Oakland
September 29, 2009 – 11:21 am
One of the best new shows is America's Best Dance Crew - it's exciting, lifts up talent from communities that don't get much play - putting often under appreciated hip hop dance talent on the national stage. It encourages young people to dream - just love that. Now, if you've been following the show, you might not know that Nichelle Thrower of the newest winning group, "We Are Heroes" trained in Oakland at the New Style Motherlode dance studio youth program. There she is, sistah in the white. We Are Heroes was the first all-female crew to win - not
