This young man was standing on the opposite side of High Street from Walgreens, but attempting to carry on a conversation with another young man who was standing in the Walgreens parking lot. I heard him before I could see him, and I was impressed by how well this slim young man could project his high tenor voice. He was speaking from the diaphragm, for sure, and in another world he might have become an opera singer.
Ajuan Mance
Nob Hill Foods, Alameda, CA.
Ajuan Mance
Loved this geeky, freckly brother’s deer-in-the-headlights expression when the lady behind the counter at Panda Express told him they were out of the Shanghai Angus Steak.
Ajuan Mance
I passed this brother on MacArthur the other day. I’d just come out of World Ground Cafe, and I’d only made it a couple doors down. He was dressed in the uniform of a house painter (white shirt and white painters’ pants), and he was talking on his cellphone. I’m not sure how or why I remember those details, since I was completely distracted by his hair.
His head was shaved clean except for a little line of short braids (or locks) located just above the nape. His mustache and sideburns were trimmed to perfection, and someone had put tiny white beads on each of the braids/locks on the back of his head.
The line of hair at the back of the head is not my particular taste, but I have to give this brother his props. I might not like the style, but for what he was doing, the upkeep was flawless.
Ajuan Mance
Third floor lobby, Kaiser Oakland.
Ajuan Mance
Ajuan Mance
Staples, San Leandro, California.
There’s a certain kind of brother who knows he’s doing something really special when he puts on a white tie. You know kind of man to about whom I’m referring. He tends to be middle-aged, with diamond stud earrings or 23 carat gold hoops, and he’s got a super clean, freshly-trimmed hairline. His style consciousness is arrested in time, and his way of accessorizing and dressing recalls the decade during which he came of age. For this man, it was the early 1990s.
Ajuan Mance
Powell St. BART Station, San Francisco, CA.
Ajuan Mance
Powell St. BART Station, San Francisco, CA.
Ajuan Mance
The clientele and the employees at Kaiser Oakland are a true reflection of the ethnic and cultural diversity of this city. This brother was talking to the person in front of him while he was waiting in line at the pharmacy. The person to whom he was speaking, an elderly Korean woman, seemed polite but a little unsure. I tried not to eavesdrop, but he was speaking pretty loudly, and I couldn’t help put pick up the occasional word or phrase. The conversation was all over the place, from the pain in his shoulder to his workout regimen to professional basketball. I’m not sure she cared about any of what he was saying, but it seemed that she was choosing the mild inconvenience of pretending to be interested over the awkward discomfort of asking him to please shut up.
Ajuan Mance
This gentleman and I have a lot in common. Like me, he can fall asleep just about anywhere, apparently with little prompting. I spotted him at the Starbucks at the East Bay Bridge Center shops. I’d stopped in for a trenta-sized iced tea. This particular Starbucks is one of the busiest coffee houses in the area, and it might seem to be a terrible place for a nap; but for those of us who can sleep through just about anything, the bustle and chatter make for the perfect white noise lullaby.
Ajuan Mance