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Community forms bonds within farmers’ market

Street Spirit Newspaper.
Photo by Jolie Ebadi

BERKELEY Calif. — The downtown Berkeley Farmers’ Market is an ongoing tradition within the small community. All around the neighborhood, people look forward to coming to see the vibrant colors, diverse group of people, different produce, street performers and most important, the relationships and friends they have made over the years.

Anthony King, a spirited man selling Street Spirit newspapers, had much to say about what he thought about the market and community at Berkeley. “Here you meet a lot of different people, from a lot of different places.”

Etanna Sack, who works at Octoberfeast Bakery, had been an artist and writer before picking up a weekend job at the market for about the last seven years.

Etanna Sack.
Photo by Ramsey Frank

Sack described the bakery as a mother-daughter duo and a “women-run bakery,” making authentic, organic German bread and pastries. “It feels like family working for them. I look forward coming to work every day,” Sack said.

Sacks’ daughters also have gained much from the family-oriented business. “My daughter had become a foodie herself growing up around the bakery,” she said, and baked for the family this summer.

She said the community at the farmers’ market was her home and her family, not only the venders that come every weekend, but also the customers as well.

“I feel like community has become lost in American culture. Coming here, I work for people, not a corporation. I know my customers on a first-name bases and treat them like human beings rather than a number,” she said.

Sack said she never had such a market in her hometown.

“It makes me tear up a bit,” she said, adding that “everyone here is family. Some jobs I dreaded coming to, but this one, if I won the lottery, I would still come to this job. This is my home.”

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Why Berkeley?

Sproul Hall, home to many protests at the University of California Berkeley. Is now the undergraduate administration office. Photo by Jolie Ebadi

BERKELEY, Calif. — When visiting the campus of the University of California, Berkeley  one sees and hears a diverse and passionate culture.

The famous green-arch entrance at Sather Gate stands for new beginnings. Some are drawn here for academics or the eclectic laid-back city, but what else causes people to stay?

Viry Cabral, a 19-year-old local, said “Berkeley is a cool place to work in because it is interesting and diverse.” She attends community college in nearby San Pablo.

In informal interviews across campus, some students said that although the university is more affordable than a private college, there are underlying issues socially.

One described a racial dispute in the library; others were concerned about the recent housing crisis and lack of  affordable space for students.

Maritza Geronimo, a UCLA student, was visiting the campus for a symposium directed at research and scholarships. She said she didn’t think the campus was “welcoming for people of color,” but knows this is something students are working on. ( To read more about Racial issues at Berkeley, go to http://www.dailycal.org/2016/10/23/student-groups-block-sather-gate-latest-protest-relocation/ ) Her colleague, Christian Vasquez, also from UCLA, said he’s enjoying “a different culture than I am used to back home in Westwood. There are more food options for expressing ethnic communities in Berkeley, and more opportunity for all social classes financially and politically.”

Several students said they saw a renewed political activism and welcoming spirit and a general encouragement for artistic expression. One student’s favorite artistic piece was a car covered in chains that she saw around town often.  

Nicole Blake, associate director of the undergraduate admissions office, said the school has “an eye for diversity, not just how people look, but where they come from, making it very inviting for students and staff,” which is why she has stayed for 12 years.

“I would want other people to know that I know how young people feel,” she said. “I think they believe it’s about the GPA and the rigor, but I would say to them: Berkeley is for you.”