On the way to Oakland's First Friday on 3 August 2012, I stopped to photograph the models who were standing on the street, but would later appear in Mario's Fashion Show. I then went on to look in a couple of galleries, and did not make it back for the Fashion Show until it was too late to find a place where I could take any decent photographs in the underground space. The community spirit was high there, everyone delighting in the way Mario provided teenage girls a chance to "vogue" with a night of glamor.
Oakland still loves Obama, and there were signs of that in Mario's world, spilling over from the Obama headquarters next door. Coming and going, I passed the Obama headquarters, full of a good spirit, including the presence of children, and so it was disheartening to learn that within an hour after I had taken these photographs someone had broken one of the two very large glass windows there. We can assume it was wrong-headed white revolutions from outside Oakland, intruding in the loving atmosphere of Oaklanders.
When I walked by a couple days later, the graffiti on the huge plywood over the broken window was in blue letter, with loving wishes, and improvised blue flowers. A willowy young white woman and a somewhat older African-American woman, well dressed and smiling were standing inside, and I could not resist ducking into the door way to say something. I nodded toward the boarded-up window and said, "Sorry about that. Not very loving." Their response was sweet and friendly.
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