Protest, march, demand rights, post demands on social media, agree with like-minded individuals, fundraise without seeing the benefit of funds. Rinse and repeat. The cycle can only go so far before a movement burns out without achieving its goals. …

Wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap that says Oakland California, Chris Pastena’s appearance looks like he could be part of any protest like the one that passed the restaurant he operates. When he tried to stop a white woman from taking a bat to the restaurant’s door during…

If silence is violence, the residents of Oakland have an answer for that; art. Throughout Saturday artists of all ages and ethnicities took their paint, paintbrushes and spray paint to claim boarded windows in Downtown Oakland as forms of beautiful expression.

It would appear as if certain people are more acceptable to misinformation and propaganda. That friend of yours on Facebook claiming COVID-19 came from 5G towers because they saw a YouTube video that “broke it down.” The Twitter rants against Bill Gates claiming he created the COVID-19 virus and is…

When I was growing up my mom wanted to kill my spirit. She did not want me to leave her side, she wanted me to stay with her for life and take care of her. Either that or marry a rich man who would take care of us both. She…

Shadows of Liberty Applied to Social Media (Written for Social Media for Journalism Class) Documentary “Shadows of Liberty” is like an owner’s manual guide in understanding the problems with media today. …

Originally published in Dope Era Magazine Spring 2018 print issue. Call it fake news, biased opinion, alternative facts or straight up lies; there is a real problem in this country that most people are not paying attention too. A propaganda cycle that lies deeply embedded in our Social Media habits…

I’ve now been to two Women’s March. The first one was in Oakland, CA and the second in San Francisco, CA. To be honest, I was not as enthusiastic about going to the second one. The first march was jam-packed in the Oakland streets, we were like sardines. The energy…

(Originally published in Fiterazzi.com in August 2014 before being purchased & renamed) 14 years ago I was diagnosed with Graves Disease at the age of 22 years old. My twin daughters were just 3 months old and my focus was on working hard to take care of them. I was…