News :: Commentary

Transmissions: Exist, we must

Transmissions: Exist, we must

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Aug 28, 2019

It's so damned hard to be transgender right now, and just existing is a radical act. It shouldn't have to be like this.

Transmissions: Emerging victorious

Transmissions: Emerging victorious

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Jul 31, 2019

At long last, North Carolina's House Bill 2 is dead.

Transmissions: Not your performance

Transmissions: Not your performance

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Jul 17, 2019

Scarlett Johansson has ended up in the news again. The actress and sometimes singer faced heavy criticism after she — a white woman — played an Asian woman in the live-action adaptation of "Ghost in the Shell" in 2015.

Transmissions: After Pride comes change

Transmissions: After Pride comes change

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Jul 2, 2019

As I write this Sunday night, June 30, we're in the last waning hours of Pride Month 2019.

Transmissions: Pride and injustice

Transmissions: Pride and injustice

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Jun 19, 2019

It's Pride season, and I want to remind you that, as everyone grabs a cup of slightly-cool beer and goes out to party in the streets, we are honoring the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.

Transmissions: The lines blur

Transmissions: The lines blur

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • May 8, 2019

Caster Semenya is a South African middle-distance runner. She took home Olympic gold in both 2012 and 2016, and has won the world championships three times.

Bay Area Cannasseur: Tips for a cannabis garden

Bay Area Cannasseur: Tips for a cannabis garden

  • by Sari Staver
  • May 1, 2019

Attention: Cannabis shoppers.

Seeing in the Dark: 'In the Dark' gets the blind experience wrong

Seeing in the Dark: 'In the Dark' gets the blind experience wrong

  • by Belo Cipriani
  • May 1, 2019

Over the past year, there has been a lot of public debate on able-bodied actors playing characters with disabilities.

Transmissions: Beyond shame, lies hope

Transmissions: Beyond shame, lies hope

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Mar 13, 2019

When I was growing up, I had a secret that was so terrible, so shameful, I knew I could never let anyone ever know: I was transgender.

Commentary: Resist: Striking teachers go back to roots

Commentary: Resist: Striking teachers go back to roots

  • by Christina A. DiEdoardo
  • Mar 6, 2019

Before the weeklong Oakland teachers strike formally ended Sunday night with teachers ratifying a new contract, members of the Oakland Education Association marked the fourth day on the picket line against the school district by focusing on a school.

Commentary: Resist: Love means showing up

Commentary: Resist: Love means showing up

  • by Christina A. DiEdoardo
  • Feb 20, 2019

While much of the city was rushing for last-minute gifts on a rainy Valentine's Day, a small group of activists with Pangea Legal Services showed up to support Aida Carolina Andrade-Amaya, who has been in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

Commentary: Resist: Defending People's Park

Commentary: Resist: Defending People's Park

  • by Christina A. DiEdoardo
  • Feb 6, 2019

It's strange to be writing about the latest round in a fight that has gone on for 50 years (and that originally began when I was 2 months old), but that seems to be the nature of any story about People's Park in Berkeley.

Transmissions: Join or die

Transmissions: Join or die

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Jan 30, 2019

For the last couple of years, I have spent a lot of time warning of the dangers to come. Now I no longer have to. Because, you see, the danger is here.

Commentary: Resist: Checking out the Manny's boycott

Commentary: Resist: Checking out the Manny's boycott

  • by Christina A. DiEdoardo
  • Jan 23, 2019

To its defenders, Manny's — a cafe, bookstore, and self-described "civic social gathering space" (whatever that means) — is the best thing to hit the Mission since Hillary Clinton.