Skip to main content

Posts

BART Shooting: Rockridge BART Protest 3-19-09

I exited Rockridge BART Station and walked into a protest of the New Year's Day shooting of Oscar Grant by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle. I talked with onlooker, protesters, and BART Spokesperson Linton Johnson. According to the protester I talked to in the video, there are a series of these events pre-scheduled at http://nojusticenobart.blogspot.com

Newspaper Managers Don't Understand New Media

Newspaper Managers don't understand New Media at all. It's the key reason why papers all over America are failing. As more media outlets - webs, blogs, video - have been established, there's less money to go around per outlet. That coupled with the credit crunch and newspaper manager's failure to understand New Media is what contributed to this problem, and it's a big one. I remember 2006, when I approached my friend Oakland Tribune Columnist Monte Poole with an idea of something called "The Monte Poole Show" -- http://themontepooleshow.blogspot.com/ -- which combined the sports columnist's columns with video presentations and then took that video and used it for television. So Monte would be on TV, in print, and in online video, expanding sponsor exposure. But Tribune Editor Martin Reynolds was having none of the idea, even as the head of KOFY TV 20 San Francisco was interested in it. Martin claimed "Monte's under contract with the Tribune...

Cleveland Bellow Passes After Bought With Prostate Cancer

  I attended the opening event for what promises to be a great restaurant called Pican, when Councilmember Larry Reid informed me that Cleveland Bellow, a long-time friend who I got to know first when I was a columnist for The Montclarion between 1993 and 1996 passed away and his memorial is tomorrow, Thursday, at Taylor Methodist Church.   It's sad when a person who was known for so much life leaves this Earth.  Cleveland was a ball of creative, expressive energy who never seemed to age and was always a joy to be around.  This description of him on his website says it all: Oakland Bay Area artist, Cleveland Bellow, began his lifelong career as an "activist" artist back in the heady days of the Civil Rights Movement. Influenced by the words and deeds of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, the leaders of the Black Panther Party, and campus reformers, he became a dedicated and tireless contributor to the community. Edu...