Early morning, near West Oakland BART, Oakland, California.
Ajuan Mance
Category Archives: Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#560
During the recent BART strike, if you happened to have been driving through the Jack London area around 8am and you spotted a long line of people dressed in sweaters and jackets (even in early July), you were probably seeing part of the line of commuters waiting to take the ferry into San Francisco. After 4.5 days, BART workers negotiated a one-month extension of their existing contracts, the trains started rolling again, and a lot of people who spent the week riding the the high seas of the San Francisco Bay returned to their typical routine.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#559
In the middle of last week’s Bay Area heatwave, with temperatures well into the 80s in Oakland, this guy was in Starbucks ordering a hot coffee.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#558
Another happy, comfortable air-conditioned employee of the Westfield Mall, Market St., San Francisco. Outside, literally hundreds of thousands of people were happily basting in the heat as they watched the city’s annual gay pride parade. Inside, the mall was uncharacteristically quiet for a sunny summer day. The man in this drawing assured me that the quiet was only temporary and that he and the mall employees were bracing themselves for the onslaught that would begin as soon as the parade was over.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#557
On Sunday, June 30, 2013, the only people in San Francisco who were wearing layers were the ones who worked in the Westfield shopping mall. This guy was pushing an empty hand truck through the concourse level of the mall. Not sure where he worked, but on one of the hottest days of the year, he was wearing two shirts and he was smiling.
By the way, the air-conditioned mall interior was wonderfully refreshing. I know it’s a big strain on the power grid, but I have to say I totally get why certain parts of the country open air-conditioned cooling centers during the hottest months of the year.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#555
The weather report says the high in Oakland today was around 85 degrees. That may well have been true, but the Bay Area has made me a climate wimp, and a dry 85 makes me feel like I’m wilting. When I make my way out to a part of the country in which there is actual humidity, my wilting point is around 75. I remember a trip to New York back in 2002, during which the temperature rose to about 73 or 74. The combination of heat and humidity zapped all of my energy and I found myself trying to discretely catch a short nap in one of the side galleries of the Guggenheim.
All of this brings me to the man in this picture. He was standing on the curb, waiting for the rental car shuttle and, unlike me and everyone else who was standing outdoors, he was not sweating. With his short-short sleeved, form-fitting t-shirt, gold hoop earrings, and neatly trimmed hairline, I think this brotha was just too cool to be hot.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#554
Last week I did more walking and BARTing to and around San Francisco than I’ve ever done before. Although I wasn’t exactly pleased with some of the smells I encountered along certain stretches of Market, it was really pretty wonderful to be outside on a chilly, sunny day in the City. This is one of the people I encountered along my way to the CIIS main building on Mission. For a couple of blocks, we were on the same path, heading along Mission toward 10th, with a brief stop at the Allstar Coffee Shop on 9th. There we each purchased beverages to go, and then our paths diverged. He headed up toward Market and I continued down Mission, alone.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#553
Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Market Street near Castro, San Francisco, CA.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#552
Peet’s Coffee, Market St. near Castro, San Francisco, CA. I loved that this guy was wearing an autumn-style sweater vest and blazer ensemble in late Spring.
Ajuan Mance
PS: Every time I see someone with a gap in his (or her or their) teeth I think of the Wife of Bath from The Canterbury Tales. In The General Prologue to the Tales, poet Geoffrey Chaucer describes her as “gat-tothed.” I might be the only in Black person in America who can look at a 21st-century Black man and be reminded of a 14th-century white woman.
Ajuan
1001 Black Men–#551
Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Market St. near Castro, San Francisco, CA.
This guy’s smile was so open and welcoming that just looking at him made me feel like we must have been friends at some time. His was one of those smiles that required his entire face, including his eyes. In fact, I think it was his eyes that made him seem so accessible. Although, it only took me a moment to realize that I did not actually know this gentleman, it’s really quite amazing how little it takes to feel at ease with a perfect stranger. It’s even more interesting to consider how feeling a certain level of comfort with someone makes them feel like a friend, even when they’re not.
Ajuan Mance