High Street Neighborhood News

by Adelle Foley

How Did They Do it? The holiday lights in the neighborhood were outstanding this year, but my favorite was the string of colored lights wound around the trunk high up into the tree on Monticello at the top of Walnut. How did they ever get the lights up there? Black Inventors and Life on the Railroad When I wandered into Melrose Branch Library on a sleepy post-holiday weekend, library assistant Vic Vickers was helping a little girl looking for coloring pages. The library has a book of copies of popular pages for youngsters to color. "Oh," she exclaimed, "Sponge Bob, my favorite." She also pointed out the Cheetah Girls and told me all of their names. During February the library will celebrate African American History month with two special attractions. Did you know that black inventors patented an improvement to the electric lamp (in 1881) and an early traffic signal (in the 1920s)? Drop in and check out this hands-on exhibit from Monday, February 5, through Thursday, February 8. On Saturday, February 17, at 2 p.m., there will be a live performance about black Americans and the railroad. The year started with a new program Melrose Tween Time. Children from eight to 12 years of age are welcome for games, snacks, and to start writing to pen pals in other states on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. The library is open from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, from noon to 5:30 p.m. on Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on other days. It's closed on Sunday. Releafing Oakland at Horace Mann It threatened to rain, but the sun came out for 60 volunteers who gathered at Horace Mann School to plant 22 trees, assemble tables and planters, and clean up the yard and surrounding hillside. Organized by Jeanne Nixon, members of the Melrose/High Hopes NCPC were joined by Oakland Releaf (which donated the trees), Keep Oakland Beautiful, students from UC Berkeley, and AmeriCorps volunteers. The hillside was swarming with people, from bantam-weights with shovels to "lumberjacks" wielding a pickax or a jackhammer. Success came from teamwork digging holes and removing recalcitrant tree stumps from the dry, stony soil. Some of us took time to admire the recent renovations at the school and to check up on the trees we planted earlier in the year. Happily, they were doing well. Thanks to Councilmember Jean Quan's office for their support and the refreshments we enjoyed. Jeanne Nixon has truly adopted Horace Mann. Her other project is the re-creation of a library for the school. If anyone is interested in helping out on that project during weekday hours, send me an e-mail, and I'll put you in touch with Jeanne. Crows on the wire Watching, circling and diving Fly little birds, fly! West over the Bay Cranes against an orange sky Panorama -- ! Adelle Foley can be reached at jandafoley\@sbcglobal.net.