Keep Calm and March On – Season Openers
On Saturday March 1, I attended two season openers. One was a campaign and the other was a sporting event. There is probably a cheap joke here, but neither event felt cheap.
In the morning, I attended Libby Schaaf’s “Libby for Mayor Oakland Campaign Kickoff.” (I took a few hundred pictures; here is the edited photo gallery.) In the evening, I photographed the Bay Area Derby Girls Season Opener. The events felt similar. There was music. There were people from different ages and backgrounds. Young people held signs. Older people cheered. Everyone seemed committed. Positive.
As someone who pretends to be a journalist, I do not officially endorse anyone, but I support many people and causes. I support Libby. Before she was elected to City Council, she supported my kids and neighbors. I support people who help my kids and neighbors.
People at derby support me and my kids. My daughter attended derby last night. Some of my old friends and new friends attended too. It loved seeing them. All of them. I hugged the other photographers. I taped my feet while the taping expert took my picture with my camera. Our DJ played amazing music. He played a Social Distortion cover of my favorite Clash song and so many other great songs that I am still dancing on the inside. (I wish he were a Pandora station.) My daughter and her friend collected money for Rocket Dog Rescue. I bought from vendors. At derby, we support each other and I am grateful that I have a platform where I can share my gratitude.
At both events, I gave my camera to younger people to take a few pictures. If a few photos are misidentified as belonging to me, I will try to change the copyright information. I also edited this post after I published it. There were a couple mistakes and I wanted to improve the first couple sentences. I fixed the errors. I may not have improved the introduction. You may also see some photos belonging to “P Giddy.” I have a derby photography persona. I chose it, because I stopped smiling and derby makes me smile (at least on the inside.) I am trying to be a little more outwardly giddy.
I will also update the galleries as photographs upload. There are two galleries for the derby season opener. You can find the Berkeley Resistance vs. San Francisco bout photos by clicking the link. You can view the photos from the second bout between Oakland Outlaws and Richmond Wrecking Belles by clicking the second bout photos link. Here is the link again for the Libby Campaign Kickoff. You might also want to view last year’s blog post when Oakland’s current mayor, Jean Quan, attended derby.
bryan farley / P Giddy