I did the outline for this sketch at Peet’s in the Temescal area of Oakland. I added the background image and colors a few days later. The image in the background captures a scene from the Great Migration, during which unprecedented numbers of African Americans moved from the South to the North. The photo was made around 1919 and it depicts a migrating Black family, newly arrived in Chicago.
Ajuan Mance
Peet’s Coffee and Tea, Temescal area, Oakland (near Genova Delicatessen).
Ajuan Mance
Here’s the last drawing from last week’s trip to Kaiser Oakland. This security officer passed through the area where I was waiting to get my flu shot. Most of the hospital security staff I’ve seen at Kaiser work for the Securitas company; but, as you can see from this drawing, I took some liberties with their three-circle logo. I think it looks sportier this way. If they’d like to use it for a little bit of an image upgrade, I’d be happy to share.
Ajuan Mance
Here’s another drawing from my recent flu shot trip to Kaiser Oakland. This man was standing in the lobby across from the elevators at the Fabiola building. We made eye contact for an extended moment, and I am not sure if his was a gaze of approval or curiosity (wondering, perhaps, how someone with such a young face could have so much gray hair). I do know, however, that he was still staring as I boarded the elevator for the third floor.
Ajuan Mance
This is the happy guy who gives out the yellow flu shot form and clipboard at Kaiser Oakland. If you run into him on the third floor of the Oakland Medical Center, tell him to check out drawing #664 on 8-Rock dot com.
Ajuan Mance
This is a quick sketch I did on a napkin while I was waiting for my burger at Scolari’s Alameda.
Ajuan Mance
It’s been fun rediscovering children’s literature with my niece. The Alameda Free Library is the setting for most of our reading adventures. Two Wednesdays before Christmas, we went to the library and read a whole pile of picture books, including Robin Tzannes and Korky Paul’s Professor Puffendorf’s Secret Potions. I loved this book, but my niece didn’t quite feel the same way So, I put it in the books-for-Ajuan pile, along with Mo Willems’ Knufflebunny (which both of us found laugh-out-loud funny). Then, we went upstairs to the nonfiction section and played hide and seek in the stacks while I looked for books on paleo nutrition. I sorta kinda bumped into this guy as I was leading my niece back down the stairs to the checkout area.
Ajuan Mance
I
Another face from my amazing day of sewer inspection!
Ajuan Mance
This guy was waiting beside me at the rental counter in the High Street Home Depot. He was renting some sort of tree stump crushing equipment. I was looking to rent a motorized sewer snake … until the very nice elderly man behind the counter explained that the machine I needed would never fit into the trunk of my car.
Ajuan Mance
Ever since I completed my Black Santa ‘zine, I’ve been hyper aware of those older brothers who have Black Santa potential. This man was shopping at the Berkeley Bowl on one of those warm pre-Christmas shopping days that blew through the Bay Area last week. He was wearing a dark v-neck T-shirt that showed off his impressively muscular upper-body. If Black Santa was a body builder, he’d probably look like this guy.
Ajuan Mance