ICYMI: Some perspective and a Foodventure deferred

A foodventure turned liquid lunch

From the archive:

Can the Inclusion Beer Project prompt real change at East Bay breweries? Sometime ago there was minor effort brewing in the craft beer industry. After a year of watching the effort, I circled back and asked a question of whether it was working out.

Put It In Perspective:

In recent years, as a joke I’ve been nicknamed “Ike” by a number of people close to me. In kind, I’ve refer to that person— regardless of gender— as “AnnaMae”. Part of this comes because I share the same birth date as Ike Turner, as well as Kris Jenner. The other part is much like both of those individuals, to put it mildly, I can be aggressive when I see someone’s potential and they don’t act on it.

Basically, I may abuse you a bit but you will be wildly successful. As an aside, Diddy’s birthday is November 4th. Maybe it’s a Scorpio thing. I’m sure someone will disillusion me of this notion eventually.

Hearing news of Tina Turner’s passing reminded me that while I have taken the nickname in jest, there’s real violence that existed in their relationship.

Tina herself had to relive the incidents over and over again when she was interviewed. She heard it in songs that she used to make during that time. None of her experiences during that relationship left her. They shaped so much of her legacy and how we, music lovers, remembered her. But shaping her legacy also gave the Black community a language to deal with our own relationship to something that was familiar to so many of us who have endured abusive parents and partners.

Within the Black community we often quote from the movie “What’s Love Got To Do With It”. It’s a cultural communication that comes from understanding that even in traumatic experiences we can find something to laugh at. We take liberties where we can, pushing them to that line of discomfort and use them as fuel to bring levity to situations that carry us through. There’s no right or wrong here. I’m far from judging this because obviously I’m party to it.

I write all this to say, while we don’t need the pain to make us great, there’s something magic that has come from it.

I’m also saying I’m going to keep referring to men as “AnnaMae Bullock”. I think Tina would have wanted it that way.

Foodventure: Oko Tribune 401 13th St, Oakland, CA 94612

As usual, I was far too early for the opening of an exhibition arriving before the doors even opened.

So I decided to go to the Oko to bide my time. Tribune Tavern closed for the second time in 2020 because of a dispute over rent. I figured it was worth a stop for a small bite. I ordered a “Gimme The Night” a whiskey based and peach concoction. Watching the bartender mix, I was disappointed to find that my $14 drink was being made using Evan Williams as the base. I buy Evan Williams for those BYOB parties when someone sends a mass text for someone to bring liquor and ice. The bottle itself costs $14.

Because my mission was originally to order something light from the menu, I at least attempted to look for something. Cerviche was a jerk something that didn’t appeal to me. The remaining selections of the “Pan-African comfort food” was unfortunately mostly pork and chicken options. When the bartender server returned smiling, I must have sneered too sharply at the menu when I declined to order.

Maybe it was my very vocal “I don’t want anything on here.,” that made her flinch and say “Oh… okay.” At some point the bartender brought Chef Mike Woods out of the kitchen to “look out the window.” 😂