hey students! want to learn curling?

I can attest that curling is a lot of fun. Read about my experience learning to curl a couple of weeks ago.

Ever wanted to try curling? Yep, that crazy Olympic sport in which players throw granite rocks across ice, sweep like crazy, and yell "HARD!" at each other! All ages and physical abilities can play. The Bay Area Curling Club gives you all the equipment and personal certified instruction you need to play a game. In the lead-up to an all new student lesson series, they'll be holding Learn-to-Curl clinics especially for students, families, teachers and educators—details and registration below.

Times: Saturdays, 2:30-5:00pm
Cost: Oakland Ice Center, 1/2 block from 19th St. BART station
Registration required:

4/7 - Students & Families Learn-to-Curl: Parents, students, and families are encouraged to play either with or against each other! All ages welcome, though it helps if you weigh more than the 42lb. curling stone.

4/14 - Teachers & Educators Learn-to-Curl: All educators are invited to bring families and friends to a clinic especially geared toward sharing the potential of curling in your classrooms. Our curlers are physicists, engineers, teachers and other educators who are even willing to visit your classroom with an Olympic medalist and hands-on instruction.

4/21 - Students-only! Learn-to-Curl: Want something unique for your job or college application? This clinic is just for students, no grown-ups allowed!

4/28 - Lesson Series Begins: The six-week lesson series includes instruction, full games, meeting an Olympic medalist, and rink-side tutorial at our annual tournament. The upcoming lesson series is intended for ages 12-22ish*, and begins Saturday, April 28 3-5pm. Registration required

*Adult waitlist: Though the upcoming lesson series is intended for ages 12-22ish, with enough instructors and space, we hope to accommodate adults as well. To join, email lessons-oakland@bayareacurling.com

upcoming Oakland events

Every week in the rainy season I think I won't have enough interesting events for listing, and every week I end up with more than I have time to process. Get out there and enjoy Oakland and help make it better!

Dinner and Bikes - Wednesday, March 28, 7:30-9pm. Join East Bay Bike Coalition for an evening of dinner and bicycle inspiration at Arbor Cafe in Temescal. ($5-$10) SOLD OUT - limited tickets for people who join EBBC at the door

Beyond Emancipation fundraiser Wednesday, March 28, 5-9pm Dine out and help foster youth succeed and thrive. Italian Colors will generously donate a percentage of your dinner bill to support Beyond Emancipation's programs for current and former foster youth in Alameda County.

Tribune Forum on Education - Thursday, March 29, 3:30-5:15pm. A public forum on the recent Oakland Unified School District changes, including new 11-month positions and requiring more teachers to apply to stay at their current position. Katy Murphy of The Education Report will be moderating; panelists include superintendent Tony Smith; OEA president Betty Olson-Jones; several Oakland teachers and at least one student. (free)

Cesar Chavez Youth Day Garden Festival - Sunday, April 1, 11am-3pm. Celebrate the legacy of Cesar Chavez, the farm worker struggle, and youth empowerment, with food, art, music, and more. Festival put on by Phat Beets Produce and sponsored by People's Grocery, Planting Justice and Children's Hospital. (free)

looking further ahead:

Author Anne Lamott Appearing in Montclair - Wednesday, April 4, 7pm. Anne Lamott and her son Sam (featured in Operating Instructions) discuss their new book, Some Assemby Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son. (free; more info)

Book Sale by FOPL - Thursday, April 5 – Sunday, April 8. Books 50% off for members on Thursday (you can join that morning), and 30%-50% off Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (website)

Oakland Veg Week - April 15-21. Thought about eating vegetarian? Oakland Veg Week will have a variety of events to introduce people to the idea. (website)

4th Annual 24 Hour Film Challenge - April 21-22. The East Bay Express' annual 24 hour film challenge. Teams pick up the topic, then have 24 hours to shoot, edit and produce the film. Sponsored by Actual Cafe, Trumer Pils, and the Oakland Underground Film Festival.

10 Connect :: group art show - April 13-May 25. Exhibition of the remarkable work of ten artists who helped pave the way for a distinctive, flourishing arts community in Jingletown. Opening reception April 13. (free)

Herbal First Aid - Sunday, April 22, 1-3pm. Learn bike-portable first aid remedies for common biking-related ailments. Two hour workshop at Homespun Bikes ($20-$30)

California Preservation Conference - May 3-6. The California Preservation Foundation's annual conference is being held in Oakland this year. There are ton of related tours and events of interest to historians and Oaklanders alike.

plus the usual events:
Piedmont Avenue Art Walk (3rd Thursday)
Art Murmur (1st Friday)
Saturday Art Stroll (Saturdays)
Mt. View Cemetery Tours (2nd and 4th Saturdays)

Mountain View Cemetery: Flowers

tulips and mausoleum

Oakland flower lovers take note: this weekend is the annual tulip exhibition at Mountain View Cemetery. There are thousands of tulips blooming right now around the grounds of the cemetery. Unfortunately the unusually warm weather followed by storms made them peak earlier than normal, but they're still gorgeous and should be OK through the weekend.

In addition to the tulips around the always-beautiful grounds, there will be a special exhibition in the Tower Chapel between 10am and 4pm, Friday through Sunday. At 1pm each day there will be a special demo.

Even if you aren't interested in the expo, I recommend checking out the grounds while the tulips are in bloom. There are other flowers and trees blooming around the cemetery, too, making it even more beautiful.

And for the taphophiles in the crowd, there are lots of stone 'flowers' around the cemetery, too. While sometimes flowers were selected as decorations simply because people liked them, on older graves they frequently have symbolic meanings, too:

• tulip - love and passion
• rose - love, beauty, grace
• lotus - creation and rebirth; particularly on Egyptian-themed graves
• Easter lily - purity, innocence
• lily of the valley - renewal, resurrection
• evening primrose - eternal love, memory, hope
• morning glory - departure, farewell, resurrection
• thistle - Scotland, Scottish
• daisy - innocence, hope; frequently found on children's graves
• bellflower - gratitude

Sara Plummer Lemmon

For the history buffs it should all be interesting, but of particular note is the grave of Sara Lemmon. She shares a marker with her husband, John Lemmon, which reads:

partners in botany
the California poppy was named the state flower in 1903 due to the persistent efforts of Sara Lemmon

Unsurprisingly, her marker features a California poppy.

lots more pictures of flowers in Mountain View:


See more Taphophile Tragics posts from the world, and at Oakland Daily Photo here in Oakland for an interesting marker.

upcoming Oakland events

The big event coming up is the Oakland Running Festival on Sunday. Even if you're not running or volunteering, street closures (PDF) may affect you, whether walking, driving or taking public transit (AC Transit changes). If you do watch part of the race, cheer the runners on! Runners from past years say they love the encouragement. People are coming from all over the world to run in the races, so this is a chance for Oakland to shine.

Friends of Sausal Creek: Peregrine Falcons - Wednesday, March 21 7-9pm.
Come learn about peregrine falcon recovery efforts from conservation biologist Glenn R. Stewart, director of the UC Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group. All are welcome. He will be accompanied by a live peregrine falcon. No RSVP required. At the Dimond library. (free)

Bikeshare - Thursday, March 22, 7pm. Join cyclists sharing ideas, skills and stories of inspiration to send you on your next adventure. (free)

Tulip Exhibition - Friday, March 23 to Sunday, March 25. It's time for the annual tulip exhibition at Mt. View Cemetery. The already beautiful grounds come alive with color for spring. You can check out the tulips any time, but Friday through Sunday there will be special exhibitions in the Tower Chapel. (free)

Oakland Running Festival - Sunday, March 25. Whether you're running the 5K or the full marathon, or (like me) just volunteering, the Oakland Running Festival is a fun blast of Oakland love. The marathon and relay go all over Oakland, so check it out. (website)

looking further ahead:
Dinner and Bikes - Wednesday, March 28, 7:30-9pm. Join East Bay Bike Coalition for an evening of dinner and bicycle inspiration at Arbor Cafe in Temescal. ($5-$10)

Beyond Emancipation fundraiser Wednesday, March 28, 5-9pm Dine out and help foster youth succeed and thrive. Italian Colors will generously donate a percentage of your dinner bill to support Beyond Emancipation's programs for current and former foster youth in Alameda County.

Tribune Forum on Education - Thursday, March 29, 3:30-5:15pm. A public forum on the recent Oakland Unified School District changes, including new 11-month positions and requiring more teachers to apply to stay at their current position. Katy Murphy of The Education Report will be moderating; panelists include superintendent Tony Smith; OEA president Betty Olson-Jones; several Oakland teachers and at least one student. (free)

Book Sale by FOPL - Thursday, April 5 – Sunday, April 8. Books 50% off for members on Thursday (you can join that morning), and 30%-50% off Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (website)

Oakland Veg Week - April 15-21. Thought about eating vegetarian? Oakland Veg Week will have a variety of events to introduce people to the idea. (website)

plus the usual events:
Piedmont Avenue Art Walk (3rd Thursday)
Art Murmur (1st Friday)
Saturday Art Stroll (Saturdays)
Mt. View Cemetery Tours (2nd and 4th Saturdays)

learn to curl...in Oakland

Last week I got an unexpected email. Did I think Our Oakland readers would be interested in learning curling? Was I interested? Did I want to give away a pair of tickets to an "introduction to curling" class? Curling? Uh, OK. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to give away tickets in the short amount of time, but I definitely wanted to check it out myself. While hockey has grown in popularity since the Sharks came to the Bay Area and a number of championship figure skaters call the Bay Area home, I figured there wasn't that much interest in the Bay Area in curling.

It turns out there is a lot of interest, and it's not new—the Bay Area Curling Club has been around for 50 years. They have meet-ups, lessons and a league, using ice rinks in San Jose, Fremont and here in Oakland. Normally the events sell out quickly, but this event was added last-minute so they still had room. There were about 50 people at Saturday's event, but most have well over 100. In addition, there were volunteers from the club to act as instructors and set up the equipment.

Curling dates back to the 1500s in Scotland, and the basics are fairly simple. A regulation rock or stone is about 42 pounds, and made of granite. A match is played on a sheet, a strip of flat, level ice about 150 feet long and 15 feet wide. Circular targets at each end are the "house" and scoring consists of getting one or more of your team's rocks in the house at the far end. Only one team scores per end, with a point for each rock that's closer to the center than any opponent's rocks. One player delivers a rock, the "skip" or captain indicates where to aim the rock and what kind of curl to give it, and the other two players can sweep the ice in front of the stone as it travels to make it go further. Deliveries alternate between the teams, and like in bocce or boules, later rocks can move earlier rocks into or out of scoring position.

The basics may be simple, but it definitely requires some practice to actually put it all together and deliver the rock. You put one foot on the hack (a rubber stopper to push off of) and the other on a slippery shoe (they also make special shoes for curling). One arm holds a broom for balance, and the other grips and rotates the rock as it's released. You move from a hunched position, push off the hack, into an almost kneeling position and slide down the ice. Before reaching the "hog line", you release the rock and give it the desired rotation to give it some curl. And there are strategies and tactics about aiming the rocks, when and how much to sweep, and reading the ice to learn, too.

Besides being surprised at how much interest there is in curling, I was also pleasantly surprised at just how much fun it is. It's one of those activities that's easy to learn but that you can spend a lifetime mastering. There are no age restrictions, and there are modifications to allow people in wheelchairs to curl, so it's open to a wide range of people. I definitely plan on learning more.

The Bay Area Curling Club has a variety of events coming up, with a student series (ages 12-22) beginning in April. They also host corporate events, have league play, and generally have fun. To learn more, check out the Bay Area Curling Club website. Special thanks to Colleen for arranging the tickets and to all the instructors for their time and patience. And shout outs to Michael, Shad, @mcplanner and all the other folks who showed up to learn about curling. I hope you all had as much fun as I did!

more pictures:


links:
Bay Area Curling Club
CBC Coverage of curling
curling (Wikipedia)