Artist & Craftsman supply, Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#669
Outside Nasan Market, 34th and Adeline, Oakland, CA.
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The corner outside the Nasan market is all the way live, especially mid-morning, when the folks selling scrap metal, glass, and plastic at Alliance Recycling are stopping in for food and beverages on their way back out to San Pablo. On some corners in West Oakland, outside some corner stores, men tend to gather in the early evening, after a long day of work or a long day of looking for work. At these intersections, hanging out is an end-of-day, time-to-relax kind of thing. Outside Nasan market, though, a lively street corner means the work day has just begun. The nights there are relatively quiet, but daytime is when the block is alive with the men and women–mostly men, though, and mostly Black–who eke out a living from the things that Oakland throws away.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#668
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
1001 Black Men–#667
Peet’s Coffee and Tea, Temescal area, Oakland (near Genova Delicatessen).
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#666
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
1001 Black Men–#665
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
1001 Black Men–#664
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
1001 Black Men–#663
This is a quick sketch I did on a napkin while I was waiting for my burger at Scolari’s Alameda.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men–#662
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
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1001 Black Men–#661
Another face from my amazing day of sewer inspection!
Ajuan Mance