Let Oakland Be Oakland Again
I was invited to Annie Campbell Washington’s “Farewell Party” at the Old Kan Beer & Company. I brought my camera. Someone else brought the photo booth.
I took a few photos. I recommend viewing them as a slideshow.
Annie is not really going away. After thirteen years working for the City of Oakland, Annie is going back to Cal to work for the Goldman School of Public Policy.
Speaking from personal experience, I do not know if farewell means forever. I moved to Alameda a little over a year ago, and I haven’t learned the ways of the Alameda Folks yet. I met my new mayor, Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, at Annie’s event. I reminisced with my old mayor, Libby Schaaf, about the first time we met when she was a city council candidate knocking on my front door.
As I am still writing during the last hour of One Christmas Eve and forcing creativity between the space of inspiration and appropriation, I realize that it is sometime necessary to step away from something you love before you can return. Maybe Annie will return too.
When I photographed Annie last week, I realized that I captured a few “similar” images. I also wondered if here emotions were the same now as they were when she started as a council member. Was Annie more relaxed at her going away party when her family performed “the wave?”
Or was Annie more relaxed four years earlier at her inauguration ceremony? During the last four years, I have thought about this picture often. I remember Annie’s enthusiasm… and something I don’t often see in politics. Annie seemed like a genuinely good person. Many politicians are genuinely good people, but Annie didn’t hide it.
This is my favorite photograph of Annie. I took it at the Mayor’s 50th birthday celebration. (Please read more about that 50th Gala Here.)
During Annie’s term, I photographed her often. When she was with her kids last week, she smiled as she had the night of the mayor’s party.
In politics, waves are often used as metaphors. For example, the last mid-terms were a “wave election.” Perhaps, Annie will create a new wave metaphor when she returns to politics. Waves always return. It’s what they do.