LCR

Today began rainy as we trekked to Starbucks on our way to the second day of Barry Bonds' trial.  The prosecutor called its second witness and introduced new evidence in the case.  However, most of our concentration was focused on reading the Twitter posts of someone from the media in front of us.  This guy was constantly tweeting updates from the case, which amused us as Kramer proceeded to follow his tweets of the case throughout the rest of the day.


At noon we headed back to our hostel to fix lunch and prepare for the afternoon with Kayte.  Kayte lives in East Oakland in a very diverse community which experiences frequent violent crime, including weekly gunshots.  This area is located along International Boulevard and has a high proportion of immigrants, especially from Mexico and Guatemala.  Kayte is serving a two year internship-building relationships with her neighbors, leading bible studies and workshops, among other projects.  At her house she showed us a short video that depicts the struggle and fight of the tenants of the Oak Park Apartments located right across the street as they sued the slumlord they lived under for legal living conditions, repairs, etc.  The tenants won the case and were granted one million dollars to split among the tenants.  Many used this money for the medical bills and health problems begun and worsened by the unimaginable living conditions they suffered.  Many of the community activists who assisted the tenants with the furtherance of this case remain in the community just a couple houses away and are very involved and committed to seeing it prosper.  We took a short walking tour of the neighborhood, admiring the fruit trees and street taco vendors.  Kang vowed to eat a taco before leaving the neighborhood so we stopped at the best taco truck in the neighborhood for a few tacos.

After snacking on a few tacos which set Brookes and Kang's mouth on fire, as they consumed not only the tacos but jalapeño peppers, radishes, and lemons; we drove to downtown Oakland where Lake Merritt was located.  As we walked around the lake we admired the beauty and serenity amid a bustling downtown city center.  To my dismay, the Children's Fairyland was closed due to inclement weather, however we found sanctuary in a Banzai Garden as rain again tried to dampen our day.  We next came across a Bird Sanctuary where many species of birds were gathered, resting, and feeding.  We realized that we were only about a third done of the 3.3 mile trail loop around  the lake back to our car.  This encouraged us to book it back to the car to arrive in time for our dinner arrangements.

Per usual, we arrived early to dinner.  We played a couple games of LCR (Left-Center-Right) in the car which is likely the most fun, simple, and travel-friendly game available.  Our dinner reservation was located at the Warehouse, a sports bar and restaurant in downtown Oakland, popular among police officers and lawyers.  Eric Swalwell, an Alameda County Deputy District Attorney and University of Maryland alumnus arranged the dinner for us and many of his coworkers.  We enjoyed a delightful dinner and were able to talk with experienced prosecutors about their jobs and its importance in the criminal justice system.


Finally, we enjoyed a special treat.  Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry ice cream was in abundance and consumed rapidly.  As I conclude after writing for the past two hours, I look forward to sleep.


-Brookes