Vol 9 # 11 August 15, 2025

Friends of PAL

Meeting August 26, 6:30 - 7:30, at the library, 80 Echo Ave.

Please join us to support our library.



The mission of the Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Branch Library (PAL) is to advocate for the Piedmont Avenue Branch library through collaboration, outreach and financial support.

Since 1993, the Friends of PAL have supported the branch and the community with volunteer time and donations. Here are highlights of that support this year. Thanks to dozens of volunteers and contributors who make this possible!



Volunteer Angie McGowan proposed a new book club for the branch called “Plot Twists and Page Turners.” Open to all, the book club meets on the second Tuesday of the month starting at 6:00pm. Each month there is a new theme and participants share their current reads and chat about books in general.

Pam Feack (on the right) volunteers with Branch Manager Sabah Abdulla to bring the library to seniors at Piedmont Gardens once a month. Residents may check out books from a selection curated by Sabah, pick up holds, and return books.



The Friends also fund programs at our library. While all Oakland library branches receive funding for library programs for children, teens, and adults from City and grant sources, that funding is limited. The Friends of PAL support extras that enhance the offerings of our branch library and provide engaging programs for our community. So far this year we have spent $1,550 to bring the following well-attended programs to the Piedmont Avenue Library:

• Kokedama Workshop with Crimson: Crafting Japanese Moss Balls – January 2025 
• Adult Art Club (6-month series) – January through June 2025 
• Knitting & Crochet Circle (6-month series) – January through June 2025 
• Belly Dance Performance – April 2025 
• Baby Bounce & Baby Café (Coffee) – May 2025 
• Chair Yoga (3 sessions) – June 2025 

The Friends volunteer board approved an additional $1,600 for the remainder of the year. That additional support makes the following possible, along with other activities to be scheduled:

• Reimburse expenses for snacks for the Children's Zita the Spacegirl Book Club
• Extend the popular Chair Yoga series with an additional 6 sessions in the fall due to community demand 
• Book Amor Eterno Program (Screen Printing) in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month – November 2025 

The cost of a single program ranges from $100 to $450, and covers the fees for the performer or instructor and supplies for participants. We welcome donations that will allow us to support these activities at our Branch. Please consider making a gift today!

Would you like to donate? 

There are several ways. Visit our website to make an online donation https://www.friendsofpal.org/donate/. Another option is to send a donation through Zelle to treasurer@friendsofpal.org (a bank-to-bank transfer) where there are no charges to the sender or FOPAL. Or you can mail a check to Friends of PAL, Piedmont Avenue Branch Library, 80 Echo St., Oakland, 94611. The Friends of Piedmont Avenue Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our tax ID is 84-4203055. All contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. We will acknowledge all donations promptly!



-- Winifred Walters

Enjoying Mike the Magician Magic Show

Programs - For more information about each event go to the OPL website.



Ongoing -

Toddler Storytime, every Tuesday, 10:15 - 10:30 am

Songs, active rhymes and stories especially for ages 18 months to 3 years. Stay and Play after Storytime with fun age-appropriate toys through 11:15 am.

Knitting & Crochet Circle, every 2nd & 4th Monday, 11 am – 1 pm

Join us for a delightful early afternoon of yarn, needles, and good company. Everyone is welcome!

Teen Pop Up Crafts, Tuesday, every 2nd and 4th Tuesday, 3:30 – 4:30 pm

Teens, come to hang out and get creative with the library staff. Supplies provided. Just bring yourself and creativity. 

Plot Twists & Page Turners: A Piedmont Branch Book Club, every 2nd Tuesday, 6 – 7:15 pm

Come together with your fellow book lovers and discover your next literary adventure at our monthly Book Club.

More Events -

Chair Yoga Series Continues by Popular Demand! Monday, August 18 & Sept 15, 

10 – 11 am

Learn from a certified yoga instructor how a daily practice will improve your strength, flexibility, and balance.

Gardening Workshop: Native Plants, Saturday, August 30, 2 – 3 pm

Explore the beauty and benefits of California Native Plants in this engaging talk led by UC Master Gardeners. Learn how to select, plant, and maintain these ecological gems to create a thriving, sustainable garden.

Container Gardening Workshop, Saturday, September 13, 2 – 3 pm

In this session, a UC Master Gardener will share the do’s and don’ts of successful container gardening. Discover how container gardening opens up endless possibilities for enjoying beautiful, healthy plants.

Wednesday Night Art Club: Blotted Line Ink Drawing,

September 17, 6 – 7:30 pm

Create cool retro art in the style of Andy Warhol! In this fun and accessible workshop, we’ll use ink and tracing paper to transfer images onto watercolor paper using Warhol’s early “blotted line” technique. No prior experience needed; all materials provided.

Oakland Animal Services Dog Adoption, Saturday, September 20,

11 am – 1 pm

We’re partnering with Oakland Animal Services to bring adoptable dogs directly to the community. If adopting on-site, the adoption fee will be waived and they will process the adoption that day.

MOCHA At The Library! Saturday,

September 20, 11 – 12:30 pm

Join us for monthly art workshops for children and families led by teachers from the Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA). For ages 5-15 and caregivers.

Make Your Own Mini Piñata, Saturday, September 27, 11 am – 12:30 pm

In this hands-on activity, you’ll get to design your very own mini piñata. All materials will be provided, just bring your creativity!

Fearless dance moves

at the Swiftie Dance Party

Ethiopian/Eritrean Coffee Ceremony

Little Explorers Petting Zoo

Borrow, don't buy that tool you need. For home improvement, remodeling and repairs, gardening and landscaping, and more.

5205 Telegraph Avenue, (510) 597-5089

The Avid Reader by Louis Segal

I’ve been an avid reader since I could read. In high school I used to cut school to read in the Berkeley Public Library.  I’m writing this column to share some of the books I love. I hope, perhaps, you might grow to love a few of them. 

On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed, 2021

This pithy book of essays by Annette Gordon-Reed,the Carl M. Loeb University Professor of Harvard, circles around the history and legacy of June 19^th, 1865, when the Union General Gordon Granger announced in Galveston, Texas, the General Order Number 3 and the end of legalized slavery in Texas, some 70 days after the Confederate surrender in Appomattox.  Texas-born and Pulitzer Prize-winner of The Hemingses of Monticello, Gordon-Reed is a versatile writer and this book demonstrates the various lenses with which she approaches Juneteenth. 

Her preface succinctly reviews the historical documents and history surrounding Confederate Texas’ dilatory acknowledgment of the end of slavery. “It is the American story told from the most American place.” The first chapter covers the breadth and span of Texas history and culture in the story of the Americas: first Indigenous; next, a subject of the Viceroyalty of New Spain; then, when it was a state of the Republic of Mexico; then the Lone Star Republic; and when, in 1845, it became the 28^th state of the United States based on slavery and cotton, and later ranching and oil. In conclusion Gordon-Reed tells of her family’s and neighbors’ celebration of Juneteenth. She became a historian of this history and popular culture. “As the years have gone by, I’ve had occasion to think about tragedy and triumph in relationship to Texas, its past, present and future. It is possible, very likely, actually, that my time there prepared me for the work I do as a historian of the Early American Republic…” 

History and zeitgeist shape the history we write.

To buttress this thought she talks about the Texas towns, Conroe and Livingston, places she grew up in. Drawing on the words - surprise! - of Faulkner and Hugo Black - she expands on her theme and her historiography. Drilling down on her credo, in chapter three, she goes back to the African experience in Texas in the sixteenth-century and the sojourns of Cabeza de Vaca and Estebanico.  The fourth essay touches on the treatment of people of color in Texas’ past and present, poisoned roots from Texas’ past. For those interested in a deeper treatment. I commend them to David Montejano’s 1987 Anglos and Mexican in the Making of Texas. Surprisingly, Gordon-Reed doesn’t reference it.

Juneteenth concludes on the mythogenic “Remember the Alamo” and the history it occludes. Her final essay is devoted to the interesting demographic and strong assertions of the rights of the enslaved and the independent minded resistance of those men and women in Galveston, Texas.   Including Jack Johnson! The historian’s final chapter and the books coda tie a black ribbon around the history of race, history and culture in Texas and these United States.

 ******

On this year’s Juneteenth Trump issued the following words on social media: “Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every …working day of the year.  It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

And now we have renewed gerrymandering in the heart of Texas.

MAGA, you should be ashamed! 

By Louis Segal. Louis was born in Oakland, raised his family in Oakland, dropped out of school in 1968, worked many jobs over the decades, dropped back into school in the 80s, got a Ph.D. in history, taught as an adjunct professor from 1993 to 2015. Retired but not withdrawn. 

Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Library Board of Directors 2024

President: Ronile Lahti; Secretary: Arleen Feng; Treasurer: Joanna Smith

The Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our tax ID is 84-4203055.

All contributions are tax deductible.

Donate to Friends of PAL