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What are your two favourite shops in Oakland for browsing?
I’m cooking again these days, so I love to linger in Oaktown Spice Shop for all manner of flavor and cooking inspiration. The shop itself is beautiful, everything they carry is high-quality, and the whole space is curated and presented with an eye towards beauty. I also love Walden Pond Books on Grand Avenue, which is just down the street from me – they have a large selection of new and used books. At some point in life, I made a choice that no matter what my job or financial position, the two things I’d never put on a budget were food and books, so I often leave Walden with three or four new things to read.
- What are your two favourite restaurants in Oakland?
Easy, I only have one – Pizzaiolo on Telegraph. I’ve been a regular for ages, because it’s gorgeous and welcoming and warm, and Charlie and his team consistently produce the freshest, most inspired and most beautiful food I know in Oakland, and everyone who works there is down-to-earth, lacking pretense, but also cool. It’s one of the few places that when I visit, I exhale the second I sit down, and think – “There’s no other place like this, in the entire country. I’m home”
- What are the two best things in life that are free?
Courage and dance. And laughter.
- What are your two favourite places to go in Oakland when you need to relax?
Left Power Power Yoga is my current favorite, because I discovered yoga a few years ago, and it changed my life. But if I want serenity or a sense of peacefulness by myself, I can easily find it in the Morcom Rose Garden. But the most honest answer to this one is: my house. It’s not fancy, but it’s full of light, and opens onto a garden I built, and people often walk in the front door and say, “Ohh, this feels beautiful and healthy!” I think it’s a peaceful spot.
- What are the two items you always carry?
In my little shoulder purse, I always have a round orb made out of solid Onyx. A dear friend gave it to me when I took on a new role, with a notecard about its properties. Evidently Onyx boosts intuition and self-confidence, strengthens connection to the natural world, and provides protection and strength. That, and a vape pen and vape cartridges.
- What are your two favourite apps for navigating your life?
Ummm… none? I’m not an app person or app organizer. The ones I reliably use are DuckduckGo and Spotify.
- What are the top two reasons why you chose to live in your neighbourhood?
It’s exceptionally diverse, in both people and flora! It’s near the Lake and little shops on Grand Avenue and Lakeshore, but I’m tucked up on a hill surrounded by green and big views out my windows. I’m also near the Piedmont border, which I can’t afford and wouldn’t choose to live within, but I benefit from their tax bracket – it’s safe, and also leafy where I am, but my neighborhood is still mixed incomes and people.
- What two things are you the most grateful for?
I’ve always felt very grateful to come from a family that prioritizes honesty, integrity and kindness, above all else, and I still feel grateful for this. I am also acutely aware of the caliber of people I call my dear friends – they are open-hearted, generous, loving and intelligent people – growers – to a one. At this point in my life, I also feel grateful that my health is in tact, and that most days I feel strong, fit and energetic.
- Who or what are your two favourite icons of Oakland?
Angela Davis and Huey Newton.
- What two things inspire you the most?
Courage. Courage in other people, who have dared to fight for others, to challenge injustice, to face loneliness, to sacrifice for their art, to live honestly, or with adventure. And the incredible magic, the slow, precise, and ineffable beauty of the natural world, whether a root system, or a flower bud or insect, or sand erosion patterns on cliff facades, or an alpine ecosystem. Nature: like the Whitman quote: “The smallest sprout shows there really is no death. All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses. And to die is different than anyone supposed, and luckier.”
- What are two things you aspire to accomplish in your life?
I wish I knew! Although people say I am ambitious and I know that I am driven, I’ve never had specific long-term aspirations or goals… I just don’t think that way. I tend to pursue objectives based on what I find compelling or inspiring in given periods of time. Lately I find myself wanting to return to school to study the fungal kingdom, and write a book.
- What are two qualities that you look for in a soulmate?
Honesty and courage. The honesty to ask the hard questions, and the courage to answer them honestly.
- What are two pieces of advice that you would give yourself at a younger age?
Stop smoking, and don’t question your instincts, they’re always right. Also: RUN from anyone who makes you feel bad about yourself, or whom you suspect of lying.
- What are your two most treasured possessions?
A gold necklace that belonged to my grandmother, my grandfather’s watch, and any of the drawings my brother has made for me.
- Name two inspiring people with whom you would like to share a meal (and what you would eat!).
Pope Francis, not because he’s Catholic, but because I believe he is a true reformer, who thinks systemically with a hugely tender heart. And Waangari Maathai, a political activist who started the Green Belt Movement in Kenya long before any form of environmental activism was cool. Or Beryl Markham – she grew up in Africa when it was still wild, full of megafauna and open spaces. She was a very early female pilot, utterly fearless, and the first person to fly across the Atlantic by herself. She was kind and brave, and at times lonely – her life was connected to the natural world, hugely full of adventure, but she made time for her own self-reflection and beautiful love affairs. Her book, West with the Night, about her life, is one of my favorites and I’d like to ask her about her choices.
- What are the two best habits that you have learned?
Exercise, almost every day, in the morning, and do it for joy, balance and energy as much as anything else. That, and learn to identify and name your feelings, and then learn how to do two things with them: regulate them when you need to, so they don’t rule your actions… but also, be hugely open about them with people you trust, including the messy embarrassing bits – that’s where life happens. Oh, and keep your word, make every effort to do what you’ve said you will do. And if for some reason you can’t, warn people about it ahead of time.
- What are the two best-kept secrets of Oakland?
I don’t know if there are any anymore! Rents are down again? Does that count? There’s a new social club called CouchBar that seems cool. The bartender at The Wolf makes great drinks, and is a warm and wonderful soul to hang out with on a Thursday at 5… but I’m not gonna share which bartender.
- Name two pieces of music that lift your spirits.
On the Road to Find Out by Cat Stevens, Up All Night by Sault and Man on Fire, by Edward Sharpe.
- Name two scents that transport you.
The smell of parts of Berkeley and Oakland in February, because it’s the real beginning of Spring here, and the air becomes a march of flower smells in rapid succession. First the daffodils, then the cherry and plum blossoms, then the sweetest scent in the world – wild freesias – on so many streets. After that, it’s game on – every plant here explodes with some sort of flower, for a solid month, and Jasmine blooms throughout every street, through May! The only equivalent transport I can think of to flowers is love. If I’m in love, it’s hard to beat the smell of a beloved’s sweat.
- What are two places that you want to visit?
Patagonia and Alaska, while they are still wild.
- What are two things that you appreciate about yourself?
I know that I am brave, and I know that my heart is kind by default.
- What are two things that you'd like to change?
About myself, or the world? If myself, I’d give myself another two inches of height so I don’t feel so shrimpy in business settings, and I’d give myself a few more shades of melanin, so I don’t always have to worry about my skin burning in the sun – I’m super whitey. If the world, I’d banish greed from the spectrum of human emotions. So, so much good would have an easier time flourishing if humans didn’t experience greed. If I got a third, I’d help more people be comfortable dancing!
