Authors

Jeanine

Jeanine is a slightly neurotic planner and list-maker. She's almost always wired to a computer or her iPhone, though she does occasionally see sunlight. In her time away from work, you can find her baking delicious treats, doing different paper crafts, or really any type of homemaking activity (her domesticity is really quite unintentional). Jeanine adores good books, trying new foods, and exploring new places. She has an affinity for getting to know new people around her from the security guard in the building to the guy that gives her a daily caffeine fix at Tully's.

Lisa

Lisa works too much, talks too loud, and thinks she's funnier than she is. As a Senior Fellow at Movement Strategy Center, she spends most of her time writing for, with and about Strong Families. In addition to editing the blog, she is vaguely addicted to exercise, chocolate and the art of conversation. She lives in Oakland with her husband, two kids, and PK the cat.

Nina

Sometimes Nina daydreams about writing the next "Great American Novel." She loves the internet, bargain shopping, and a really good cup of tea.

Tavae

Tavae is a self-identified ghettonerd as defined and popularized by Dominicano author Junot Diaz. She has terrible eyesight and doesn't wear corrective lenses so the world is a brighter, blurrier, and better-looking place for her. In the first grade, she sincerely believed she would grow up to be a bird. She is still crossing her fingers and waiting for technology to catch up to her six-year-old imagination. Until then, she is fully and wholeheartedly committed to social justice.

Shanelle

Shanelle has a knack for words, though is far less witty than she cares to admit. You can usually find her buried in a good book, riling up protestors for a cause, or at the bottom of a pint of cookies n' cream. She loves wine of all varieties, for cheeses – the stinkier the better – and prefers to not wear shoes unless she absolutely has to. Shanelle prides herself on her ability to motivate and mobilize via communicative efforts – she attributes the growth of her plants to constant verbal empowerment.

Priscilla

Oh. Hey. I hate writing bios because I always feel pressured to share enough about myself to impress you and make you like me. My name is Priscilla (you can call me P, P-$crilla, pscrill, peace gorilla, or any other variation you can think of) and I am a high school student born and raised in the bay. I enjoy organic urban gardening, biking, sewing, attempting to bring the hyphy movement back, thizzing, repping the WEST SIIIDE!, hiking by beautiful scenery, singing, writing spoken word, being a mediocre MC, and eating everything in sight. One of my best friends and I share life goals: to unlearn most of our socialization, love, give, and be happy. I am an angsty, confused teen and I have no idea what I am doing. Wait, I'm on a blog? Whaaa?

Mai

Mai is a moon-loving, tree-climbing, poem-writing dreamer who can't leave her house without making the bed. Currently, she is integrating cultural work and youth work in oakland and, every now and then, writes a blog or two in an attempt to complicate over-simplified and / or completely inaccurate mainstream narratives.