Practicing Diversity in Abandoned Buildings
On Saturday November 7, 2015, I photographed Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s 50th Birthday Gala at the Old West Oakland Train Station. Mayor Schaaf celebrated her birthday by having a fundraiser for the East Bay College Fund. The 50th Oakland mayor raised money for 50 scholarships. See my slideshow of the 113 year old building and the […]
2015 Girls Inc Taste Event
Last weekend I photographed the 2015 Girls Inc of Alameda County Taste Event. You can view my final photo gallery of 161 photos and you can scroll through this post and preview several of the images from the event in downtown Oakland. I photographed the 2014 Taste fundraiser last year too. It was also at the Rotunda. […]
2015 BAD Derby Champs
Last week I met sports journalist Justine Gubar. She wrote the book “Fanaticus, Mischief and Madness in the Modern Sports Fan.” The book is about crazy fans. Last night I watched the Major League Baseball playoffs. Toronto fans threw beer cans and other debris onto to the field after being upset with an umpire’s call (but mostly the fans hit […]
For All The World To See
For all the world to see… or not see. Preface The time has not yet come for a complete history of people with epilepsy. For a complete history to be told, those of us who live with epilepsy must create our history. We must write and gather our stories. We must research the topics that we believe […]
2015 D1 WFTDA Roller Derby Playoffs – Tucson
I would do anything for love (but I won’t do that) – Meat Loaf (1993) Links to photo galleries included at the end I almost did not attend the 2015 D1 WFTDA International Roller Derby Tournament in Tucson, Arizona last weekend. Even though I love roller derby, I was scared. At the beginning of September I […]
Derby, Dads, Dodgers and Demons
This post might turn out like my dinner tonight. I grilled a cheese sandwich with turkey, garden tomatoes and avocado. The sprouted bread fell apart, the crust became hard and the inside became mushy and cheesy. It tasted good, but I would not serve it to friends. While I rushed my dinner, I have spent several days trying to write this blog post. I have […]
EFNC Picture Day
Last week I photographed the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California staff. We met near the Walt Disney Family Museum in the San Francisco Presidio. The Presidio is a historical military fort that guarded the Golden Gate. Although the fort did not protect us from the wind, it provided many places to shoot. I especially enjoyed shooting next to The Walt Disney […]
Carnaval 2015 San Francisco
I attended the 37th annual San Francisco Carnaval Parade on Sunday May 24, 2015. This was the third consecutive year that I have attended as part of the Fogo Na Roupa contingent. I am allowed to walk the parade route with my camera, because my eleven year old daughter dances. I took some photos again […]
A Birthday Epilepsy Stroll (with my favorite aliens and the NSA)
Writing is linear. Living with epilepsy is not. So this blog post has started to resemble my life. I am trying to translate it for “you normals.” First: I had an amazing birthday on Saturday. My two children spent the day with me. They woke up early and followed the schedule that they had created. We […]
So I Was There With Forman and Asher
This is going to be a short post, but I could probably write a book… except I am not an author. (Sometimes I forget that I am not an author and I write too much.) Last week I attended an event where two best-selling authors, Gayle Forman and Jay Asher, promoted suicide awareness and I remembered that […]
2015 National Epilepsy Walk
I traveled to Washington, D.C. again for another epilepsy event. The Ninth Annual Walk for Epilepsy was held near the Washington Monument on Saturday morning April 11, 2015. After I received my t-shirt at the walk headquarters downtown, I walked another block to a bookstore where Tavis Miley was speaking about his new book, “My Journey With Maya.” He explained how Maya […]
BAD International Pi Day
The Bay Area Derby Girls opened the 2015 regular season on International Pi Day. Berkeley won the first bout against San Francisco (photo gallery here), and Oakland defeated Richmond in the second bout. (photos here.) Four people competed in a pie eating contest, which the audience won. The derby and sunset were grand, as was the marching band. […]
Hot Couture 2015 The Crucible Oakland
Before I continue writing about Hot Couture 2015, I should include a disclaimer. I wore a beanie both nights to the annual fashion show at The Crucible in Oakland. I do not know a lot about fashion, but I know that I was not fashionable. This year’s theme was “Air/ Earth/ Fire/ Water.” I did […]
EFNC 2014 Candlelight Gala Dinner
I’m just a soul whose intentions are good Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood In Oz When I arrived for the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California‘s 2014 Candlelight Gala, I noticed that I was “In Oz.” This was not the first time that I had walked into Oz. I have written about […]
In Search of Treasure Island
“The beauty that shimmers in the yellow afternoons of October, who could ever clutch it?” Ralph Waldo Emerson I found the Emerson quote in the new National Geographic book Life in Color. I bought the book a few days before this year’s Treasure Island Musical Festival. I photographed the two previous festivals and I was looking for inspiration. TIMF is a colorful festival […]
Costume Roller Derby
October 11, 2014 Santa Cruz, California Photo Gallery Last weekend I photographed the Santa Cruz Bombshells’ final bout of the season. Santa Cruz hosted the New York Bad Apples at the Kaiser Permanente Arena. Because the bout was held in October, there was a costume theme. Because this was roller derby, a costume theme seemed a […]
My Next 30 Years Living With Epilepsy
At the high school where I teach, students wear shirts that say, “You are stronger than you think.” Besides having epilepsy, I have dyslexia fueled by paranoia, so that the first few times I read the shirt, I thought it said, You are STRANGER than you think. As a person who has lived with epilepsy […]
A Bridge to Xanders Crossing
Two years ago I took an image that I consider my “most important photograph.” Even though I consider it my most important, it was not the best picture taken with my camera that day. While I consider photography important, I did something more important than take pictures that day. I handed my camera to a […]
Girls Inc Alameda County First Annual Taste
On Saturday September 13th, 2014, I photographed the 1st Annual Taste fundraiser for Girls Incorporated of Alameda County. The main event was held in the Rotunda Building in downtown Oakland. Guests gathered at the Girls Inc. main headquarters across the street before dinner and the live auction. (HERE ARE THE PHOTOS) I asked to photograph […]
Oakland Pride Parade and Labor Day
This recent Labor Day weekend, I took my kids and my camera to the Oakland Pride Parade. We walked with our Episcopal Church and several other religious groups. Many mayoral candidates, including Mayor Jean Quan, attended the parade. I took pictures. (HERE is my photo gallery!) While I was walking around before the parade, somebody asked […]
Bay Area Derby Girls 2014 Championship
Last Saturday, the B.A.D. Girls held their 2014 women’s flat track roller derby regular season championship. Roller derby has become a popular sport throughout the world. B.A.D. is one of the top leagues in the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, or WFTDA. The WFTDA lists leagues on their website. I am an official photographer for […]
Twitch and Shout – Advocacy Shaken and Stirred
Some of you may know that I have epilepsy. Some of you may know that next month I will have had epilepsy for thirty years. Others may know that I have been an advocate and spokesperson for several years. I speak, write, photograph and wear t-shirts. I was a Featured Blogger on the old Epilepsy Foundation […]
The Evolution Will Not Be Instagrammed
So, today is the 10 year anniversary of the day my father committed suicide. I was going to write a very dramatic blog post about how tragedy has visited my life too often and my life was unfair, but a funny thing happened on the way to this ten year anniversary. I started to see my […]
Music is the Best Medicine
If Music is the best medicine, what do you take with a Whiskey Lullaby? So I went to see Brad Paisley on Saturday night at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Wheatland, California. When I say that I went “to see Brad Paisley,” I mean that I went to talk to him and photograph his show. […]