OAKLAND UBER ALLES
Today I saw an "Oakland Uber Alles" bumper sticker and realized that twenty-four years after the Dead Kennedy's predicted a presidential appointment for, then governor, Jerry Brown I find myself living in the city he now "resides" over. But, trust me, it's not like the DK's might have envisioned it..
"Zen fascists will control you/100% natural/You will jog for the master race/And always wear the happy face/Close your eyes, can't happen here/Big Bro' on white horse is near/The hippies won't come back you say/Mellow out or you will pay/California Uber Alles/Uber Alles California/Now it is 1984/Knock knock at your front door/It's the suede/denim secret police/They have come for your uncool neice" (Dead Kennedy's - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 1980)
Even though I may be the uncool neice, Oakland is worlds away from the horror show the Dead Kennedy's pictured. Oakland isn't filled with Saab driving, academic hippies with trust funds. That's Berkeley. But that's not to say that the t-shirt two of my roommates (Elka and Brian) just designed and printed - "Oakland is for Lovers" - isn't true. Oakland is for lovers, but it's for fighters too. This is a scrapper city and, having come from Providence, there's no better way to make me feel at home.
BAKER BEACH
Just over a week ago, I went with Elka and her radio DJ boyfriend, Dan, to Baker Beach by the Golden Gate bridge. It was the first time I'd been on the Pacific shore but the fog rolling in and out left us so cold that I didn't even want to wet my feet. We stuck it out for a while but once we were wrapped up inside our blankets instead of laying on them we knew it was time to head out. Ozzie, the dog, could probably have stayed.
But the best part of of Baker Beach wasn't seeing the foundation of the Golden Gate and the waves of the Pacific rolling in...it was the couple laying up-beach from us. Laying together in spoon formation the couple was snuggled and buried beneath a big, white down comfortor sound asleep. But the scene was surreal, like some kind of wacky mattress ad. "So comfortable it's like being lulled to sleep by the sounds of the ocean..Every night!!" Or some thing like that..the kind of copy I'm just not capable of writing.
Today I saw an "Oakland Uber Alles" bumper sticker and realized that twenty-four years after the Dead Kennedy's predicted a presidential appointment for, then governor, Jerry Brown I find myself living in the city he now "resides" over. But, trust me, it's not like the DK's might have envisioned it..
"Zen fascists will control you/100% natural/You will jog for the master race/And always wear the happy face/Close your eyes, can't happen here/Big Bro' on white horse is near/The hippies won't come back you say/Mellow out or you will pay/California Uber Alles/Uber Alles California/Now it is 1984/Knock knock at your front door/It's the suede/denim secret police/They have come for your uncool neice" (Dead Kennedy's - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 1980)
Even though I may be the uncool neice, Oakland is worlds away from the horror show the Dead Kennedy's pictured. Oakland isn't filled with Saab driving, academic hippies with trust funds. That's Berkeley. But that's not to say that the t-shirt two of my roommates (Elka and Brian) just designed and printed - "Oakland is for Lovers" - isn't true. Oakland is for lovers, but it's for fighters too. This is a scrapper city and, having come from Providence, there's no better way to make me feel at home.
BAKER BEACH
Just over a week ago, I went with Elka and her radio DJ boyfriend, Dan, to Baker Beach by the Golden Gate bridge. It was the first time I'd been on the Pacific shore but the fog rolling in and out left us so cold that I didn't even want to wet my feet. We stuck it out for a while but once we were wrapped up inside our blankets instead of laying on them we knew it was time to head out. Ozzie, the dog, could probably have stayed.
But the best part of of Baker Beach wasn't seeing the foundation of the Golden Gate and the waves of the Pacific rolling in...it was the couple laying up-beach from us. Laying together in spoon formation the couple was snuggled and buried beneath a big, white down comfortor sound asleep. But the scene was surreal, like some kind of wacky mattress ad. "So comfortable it's like being lulled to sleep by the sounds of the ocean..Every night!!" Or some thing like that..the kind of copy I'm just not capable of writing.
posted by Carla at 12:37 AM
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