Lists about what we love about Hayward, California

1) All the people of Hayward- Together we make this city great.

2) Library – The Hayward Public Library is somewhere where every one can go regardless of age, reading ability or physical ability. You don’t need money to go there or to borrow materials. It has lots of materials to lend and loads of free programs to attend.

3) The Farmer’s Market, gives us access to wonderful fresh low cost produce to keep us all healthy and happy.

4) The schools, community college, university and others places of learning in Hayward give us opportunity for learning and learning and education are always good.

5) The parks where we can have a bit of nature without leaving our neighborhoods.

6) City Hall is new and beautiful, it gives you civil pride.

7) Downtown Hayward. It has loads of restaurants, movie theatre and shops. Right now when some of the shops are not rented ,there is beautiful art in the windows.

8 ) Hayward Arts Council. It produces great art that is often shown for free in Hayward.

9) Sun Gallery, shows Hayward residents all different kinds of art.

10) Japanese Garden, this offers calm, beauty that reflects centuries of traditions

11) Senior centers, they offer so many chances at friendship, companionship and fun learning.

12) Churches and Houses of Worship and spitiruality give us some peace in this chaotic world.

13) Shopping at the various shops and malls around town, gives us shopping therapy.

14) Restaurants that reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of this city.

15) All the festivals thrown all over Hayward during any given year or season.

16) All the volunteer efforts that fuel great non-profits. This is a win-win situation, it helps the non- profit and it gives to the volunteer as well. Contact Volunteer Hayward or the Library to learn more about volunteering.

17) The Historic houses in Hayward that can help show us our history and other people’s history.

18) The weather that is so good for growing things, letting people walk and enjoy the outdoors and that keeps us content.

19) All the trees and flowers that grow in people’s gardens, wild spaces and all the kinds of in between places but that we get to see and enjoy.

20) The businesses that contribute to the city by supporting the children, the non-profits and the people.

I’ve been learning a lot recently. It’s funny. As an adult, you learn so differently than you did as a child. It’s easier in some ways and it is so much harder in others.

I find that because it is conscious, it is easier. I know what I am learning and I know why I am learning it. If it is for work, it is clearly defined and usually time specific. I need to learn this software program in order to do X by the fifteen of next month. It is a task. it is usually quite contained. I have something I need to do and the software is the way to do it and I need to learn the software in order to get this task done.

When it is for personal use, it is often less defined, less time specific and less clear what, if  anything, is going to be accomplished - but it is still conscious.

I am the one making the decision. People forget that they always have a choice about learning. No one is going to make you learn something. It just usually is that people do not want to live with the consequences of not learning whatever it is that they “need” to learn( at work or in a new relationship).

We rarely chart our process as we learn something new. We just see it in terms of whether we can do what we need to do. Can I send an email with a photograph enbedded in it? (or whatever job we set ourselves to learn). We might learn things that we can’t use today or tomorrow but might need in the future.  It is often an uncomfortable time when we are so acutely aware of what we do not know. It’s something that happens in school so much that we are constantly told what we do not know but in adult life, we can often avoid focusing on what we do not know and stay with what we do know. I am sure we all know people who at a dinner or other social setting just talk about what they know even if no one else shares that knowledge or enjoyment of that topic.

” Let me tell you about the aging process of the Blue Lascar Butterfly of the Burmese Highlands.” This might be right after someone mentioned a new movie called ” The Blood Pool of Knightsend”.

It’s sometimes makes me feel sad when I witness this because the person feels so out of place, they can’t even stay quiet and wait until the conversation comes back to something they do know about and can share in the conversation about.

I am reading a book about adults learning a new language as adults( Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich). The author says how hard it is and then offers studies that back her up on many fronts. Language is one set of skills but anything we learn as adults has a progression.

We talk about the learning curve but when you are actually in a learning situation, it is tough to see that it will all become more clear and that before too long we will be more knowledgeable than we were before.

I say, keep learning, it keeps the brain well oiled. We don’t all need to learn a new language or musical instrument but keep learning. Deal with feeling uncomfortable for the time in between when we do not know anything and when we start to know a little. Rejoice. You are uncomfortable but you are doing a great thing. Keep learning, encourage others to learn as well. It will help us all if we all keep learning.

One of the trials of my moving to California from Massachusetts that I didn’t envision and that no one warned me about was the loss of humor for a while. If you move to a place where you know no one, then you cannot joke. It is as simple and ugly as that.

If I were to attend a comedy club in Iceland where all the comics were Icelandic, I would undoubtedly miss all the really good jokes(This is even if the comics were speaking English which is the only language I understand- and why would a rocking club in Reykjavik have English speaking comics when the audience would be speaking Icelandic?). I don’t know any Icelandic history ( think all the George Washington, Abe Lincoln, George Bush jokes you’ve heard), I’m not proud of this. I know nothing about Icelandic eating habits, (think all the American fusion diet jokes, the as American as Apple Pie jokes). I know no Icelandic authors (even though I hear that they have some good mystery authors( Arnaldur Indriðason -Reykjavik Murder Mysteries 1. Jar City (2004) aka Tainted Blood 2. Silence of the Grave (2005) 3. Voices (2006) 4. The Draining Lake (2007) 5. Arctic Chill (2008) 6. Hypothermia (2009) and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir Last Rituals ( 2005) and My Soul to Take: A Novel of Iceland(2007)).

Think of some stupid joke; a duck walks into a bar. The bartender hands him a drink ( the newest Pomegranate margarita or mojito) and says; “That’s $25.97. How do you want to pay for that? The duck says; “same as always put it on my bill.”

Ok to understand that award winning joke, you have to know some cultural context. You need to know what a duck is, why it is unusual for a duck to walk into a bar, what a bar is, who the bartender is ( and all the bartender jokes) and then you have to understand why the punch line has a double meaning.

Ok, back to me coming to California. All the attempts at humor were in English. But I didn’t know any Californian geography( or distances between towns or cities), history, notables(Herb Caen, the twins), reputations(Why would anyone voluntarily go to Fresno?), institutions( Thrifty Jr., Albertsons, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Candlestick, the maze, Telegraph, the Haight, Stern Grove, The Greek Theatre.

One kind of humor is repetitive. If I say something like Excusssse Meee (think Steve Martin in the 80s), if I say it repeatedly, in every conversation, eventually it might become funny. It might not, it might become tedious boring and really annoying. If I tell a weird story where something doesn’t make sense but the rest of the story is absolutely normal, that might be funny ( Think Monty Python re dead Parrot or the Council of the Funny Walk). If I tell a story and something truly unexpected happens that might be funny. There are lots of different kinds of humor but a lot of it depends of some shared assumptions. If you are new to a place, a culture, a group of people, you have to be careful of your assumptions and many times you should not assume that others share them.

In the early days here in California, I was struck again and again by saying things I thought were perfectly normal and having people stare at me and say after a polite pause, “What?” Clearly what I had said to them had not been understood as I meant it, let alone as a humorous remark. I would then retreat and answer politely, and go another day without exchanging any humor with anyone. It was fascinating to watch when I would risk another humorous try. I always considered it a mark of true friendship when I knew someone well enough not to have to think before joking. I also found there were definitely times when I would be taken aback when someone would actually joke with me out of the blue. Be it at the grocery store, or in line at the bank (when one still stood in line at the bank).

I have lived in other parts of the world where language divided me from people and the ability to joke, but this move was the first time I was aware of being denied humor simply because I did not know people well enough to joke with them.

It was also a lesson for me in that I do not want to live long without some humorous interaction. I might have to but I always prefer a little humor…

I talk with Librarians at other libraries so I won’t mention what library this story comes from but it was in the bay area. A man came in and asked for the book the Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. The Librarian involved showed the man where the book was on the shelf. When the librarian turned to go, the man asked,” Is it realistic not to get angry?”

The Librarian was taken aback.  She said, ” Probably everybody but the Dalai Lama gets angry.” The man looked puzzled, maybe he didn’t know who the Dalai Lama is or maybe didn’t expect a Buddhist to be brought into the conversation.

“I did some work for a lady. I was supposed to get paid. I went to collect my check but she said my boss had collected the check.” He paused.” I try to live a good ethical Christian life.” He paused again and looked down at the Librarian. “What should I do? I had already asked my boss and he had said he’d never collected any money from her.”

The Librarian was stuck. How can one answer? She told me that she showed him the books on the shelf, which were all sorts of self help, both Christian and non-denominational. She told him, “9 out of ten people would feel angry about being lied to and cheated. Being angry was a normal reaction but we always have a choice how as to how we react.” She said she went on about one of the good things about a Public Library is you can go inside and see how many different ways there are to be in the world. You can learn how to react to events in ones life a new way, a nonviolent way, or how to negotiate with ones boss to get the money you are owed.

The Librarian said the man walked away with his book then turned around and went back to the shelf to look at some of the other books. Who knows how his story turned out but this story struck me as another example of how valuable the Public Library is in the lives of so many of us.

The wisdom of the ages and continents contained within four walls and an internet access.

I recently read a great piece by Monique le Conge who is Director of the Richmond, CA Public Library system. She wrote an article entitled 7 Ways Your Public Library Can Help You During Tough Economic Times.
I liked her ideas so much I wanted to customize it; 25 Ways The Hayward Public Library Will Help You Survive Tough Times. Here are my ideas:
1.)    We’re here for you and we lend our materials free of charge. How great is that?! It’s free to get a Hayward Public Library card. It’s the MASTER key that opens every door. The doors of opportunity, of education, of relaxation, of family togetherness, of possibility, and self discovery all can be opened with a free Hayward Public Library card.




2.)    We have public access computers with internet access to help you look for jobs, submit job applications, file your resume on various list servs and receive emails concerning jobs and interviews.




3.)    Those same computers can help you write your resume and we have printers that can print out your resume if you are submitting it in person somewhere.


4.)    Those same computers can also be used to keep in touch with friends and family during these times when we need all the emotional support we can get.

5.)    We loan DVDs and videos to both provide instruction to help you learn something new ( like cooking or Taibo) as well as simple entertainment when you are relaxing.



6.)    We loan audio books and cassettes to help with the commute when you live far away from your job and have quite a commute. The audio books are fiction, nonfiction and language instruction. That means you can enjoy a good mystery while driving, learn Russian or learn Donald trump’s secrets of salesmanship. Put that commute time to good use.


7.)    We also loan downloadable audio books and Ebooks( think free Kindle).Explore these possibilities either during your commute or when doing chores, increase the time you can learn or enjoy books. Someone reads them aloud and you download them to your computer, MP3 player or other device.




8.)    We loan Books. These come in all shapes and sizes, fiction, non-fiction, in various languages and for children, teens and adults. Books can teach us how to write a resume, how to conduct a job interview, how to write a cover letter and which jobs are going to pay us what we need to make. Books can also take us away from the everyday reality by transporting us to another time, another place, even another galaxy. They can make us see the world differently, they can help us to understand the world in which we live and they can help us to change ourselves.



9.)    We have book groups where you can join a community of readers and explore mystery books, literary books, autobiographies, or books from around the globe. These groups can provide a forum for discussions and can also provide a loose structure to explore a subject like autobiography. The group means you don’t have to do all the work yourself. It is not like a college class but it has the rewards without the papers, the exams and the professor. It can provide companionship, intellectual interaction and some great reading.




10.)    We provide computer classes to get you started in the complex world of computers.




11.)    We offer English Conversation groups as a means where people learning English as a Second Language can come together and practice speaking English.




12.)    We also offer a wide range of one time programs ranging from an evening learning about Arabic Calligraphy to Japanese Brush Painting. We offer music  from local musicians, local authors come to talk about their work, we provide programs detailing how to avoid Termites, Fall prevention, craft programs as well as how to improve your writing.



13.)     We offer yoga workshops every month to give you an opportunity to come and learn to relax, to breathe and even to laugh.


14.)    We encourage and teach  literacy as the most fundamental skill that will keep us employed, employable and enjoying life.  We provide this valuable life skill in both English and in Spanish.


15.)    We offer an extensive range of programs for children, starting the day they are born.


16.)    We offer programs for children and their parents together.


17.)    We offer programs for teenagers. Some of these programs are just fun( like crafts), some are  computer games and some of them are actually learning skills and growing as a person- such as a recent photography project that culminated in a city wide gallery showing of their photographs.


18.)    We offer library services for shut-ins and seniors who can no longer get into the library. We bring the library materials out to them.


19.)    We offer a repository for living Hayward local History. We are continuing for a third year to collect video stories of Hayward residents telling of their lives in California and specifically Hayward. Come in and tell us your story. We want to save it for the generations of the present and the future.


20.)    We answer questions. If you need to know how to get to that interview in Oakland but don’t know the way, you can ask us and we can print out a map or show you on your map how best to get there. We can tell you what year Benjamin Franklin was in France if you want to find that out. We can tell you who is offering classes in Excel in the Hayward area if you want to improve your skills. We can give you the telephone number for East Bay Works. We can find the poem that starts; It was many and many a year ago in a kingdom by the sea. We can answer where to find Health or Medical issue answers(see recent entry in this blog).


21.)    We are going to be here. We have the daily papers, come in and read them. We have magazines you can follow international politics, design from Martha Stewart, Oprah’s monthly interest, magazines explaining men’s health issue. Come in, relax and read them without having to subscribe.


22.)    We loan music cds. Come in and see what relaxing or stimulating music we have from around the country and across the globe.


23.)     We offer free legal help, two to three times a month, we have a lawyer into the lawyer to answer library patron questions. The sessions are brief, just fifteen minutes but they are free, confidential and will help start the solution to the problem bothering you.


24.)    We offer many of these services in Spanish, Chinese, Farsi, Vietnamese and Hindi.


25.)    We have online services such as an online catalog, events blog, Refresh Your Life Blog, reference books, database offerings,  the ability to put  books on hold that  you are looking for, notification of the status of your books, online payment of fines, and many many other online resources.

Taking a line from long ago and far away and changing it a bit…;

Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.

(I think this was an R.Crumb line; Drugs will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no drugs. I like mine better- no offense RC)

‘image: www.freeimages.co.uk’

The end of August makes me think of learning. You get trained as a young person that the end of August means back to school. In college the start dates differ but the season is the same. For those of us who are not currently in school, there is no reason why we can not use our free resources and learn something new.

There is no reason to wait for a season to learn something new. I think that the secret of aging successfully will prove to be learning something new . The current thinking is that we should exercise our brains. One of the best ways to exercise your brain is to learn.

If I learn how to learn( no matter the subject) than I will be able to prepare for learning, I will have my materials and I can brush up on the skills I need to use. If I want to learn the piano, I know I will need to work on the health issues of now moving my fingers in an unfamiliar series of movements. Same will be true if I want to learn how to use chopsticks. I will have to pay attention to my finger and hand health.

If I want to learn to speak Hindi, I will need to pay attention to my materials, what paper products will I need to learn the writing?

What audio-visual materials will I need to listen to the spoken language? What other methods can I use to learn this language that is not currently spoken where I am living? Are there movies I can rent in Hindi? Are there native speakers I can meet at a cafe to practice with someone who would gently correct my words and pronounciation? Is there a restaurant where I could go and eat the food most often consumed where they speak Hindi? Which textbooks am I going to use to learn this language? Where do they teach Hindi in a classroom? What level is the instruction? Who are the other students?

I think learning is an exciting thing to do. We get transformed and we don’t even feel it usually. Maybe it’s learning how to use email on our computers. It is difficult until one day we receive an email and respond with no difficulty. Or maybe we are able to open the attached photographs and send them along to another family member without asking for help. Our learning successes are usually more quiet than our failures or our questions.

Till the season, go out and learn something new. Of course I would say start at your local public library. It’s free to take out the books, dvds or language discs. You can learn how to cook like Julia Child, you can learn to play the guitar, speak Russian or knot a Persian rug. The Public Library these days contains the infinitude of the possible - learn how to use it.

I hope you all continue to concentrate on your various creative projects. I’ll be back in a week and we’ll continue on together. Dream. Focus.  Create. Concentrate. Enjoy.Walk. Repeat from the beginning; focus, concentrate, enjoy,create,  walk, repeat…

When I say the library is an oasis, think in the big sense not in the quiet sense. In these days when money is in short supply for everyone, it is a good time to reflect on the wealth of fun and adventure available for free at the Hayward Public Library.

Have you ever heard of Library browsing? This is a great cheap sport. There are no referees, no uniforms and only a few errors that could get you thrown out of the game.

Step 1. You go to your local library, in our case the Hayward Public Library.

Step 2.You pick an area to explore. Let’s say fiction. That’s always fun.

Step 3. You start at a random letter and you look at the shelves. This means you aren’t looking for a particular book. You’re not checking to see if War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy is in. You are simply browsing through the Ms to see if anything appeals.

Now since we have little space and many books, all the titles are showing only their spines. That makes it hard to see enough to judge a book by its cover. This is where the fun comes in.

Step 4. pull out a book, examine it, read the back cover or the inside cover blurbs. Open to a random page and read a paragraph or start at the beginning and read the first page. Does it capture you? Are you interested? Have you ever thought about this as a book to read? The great thing about the library is that you can take it out and try it. If you don’t like it, simply return it the next day and start again.

I can’t tell you how many great authors I have found this way. At a book store, sometimes there is a table of fiction all lying face up and you can browse by covers. This is called marketing and we only have the room to do that with the newest books. In Hayward, we have these set aside in a bookcase near the front door so you can see them as you walk in. new books are fabulous but I would say, do not forget the books that are a little older. They can represent hours of fun without having to wait in line.

We have some other aids to help you in your browsing, we have little stickers on some of the novels. There is one which identifies that the author is African-American, one that identifies the author as Asian and one that identifies the author as Latino/a. These are simply to help you before you pull the book off the shelf to examine it.

We have a separate Mystery section, ditto Science Fiction and Western. We don’t have a separate romance section since isn’t romance a part of almost all of our lives?

If you discover an author who has written a series, we (Librarians) can help you find the other books in the series and how to identify which books come in which sequence.

This same sport can be played in any of the sections of the library including the non-fiction, the audio books, the music CDs, the movies(either video or DVD) and even the EBOOKS.

If you don’t know about the EBOOKs; let me explain them a bit. They are a resource that you sign up for inside the library. Then at home if you have a computer that has internet access, you can access a book that will display on your computer. At home, you read the entire book on your computer screen. These are often used when the entire book doesn’t need to be read but simply a portion has to be referred to for research or other specific non-fiction research. You might have heard of the Amazon.com KINDLE. That device is for EBOOKS. It is a stand alone product. We use your computer so there is no expense  incurred by you using our EBOOKS, as there is with the KINDLE and the books downloaded onto it.

We also have downloadable Audio books that you can access through your computer at home if you have signed up inside the library. These you would listen to at home through your computer and it’s internet link or you can transfer them to an MP3 device.

 Enjoy the Oasis, it is an island of amazing in this land of gloom and doom. Enjoy the American Free Public Library. I know I do.

It seems to me that we all have to work very hard these days to keep our focus on what is really important to us. It doesn’t matter what is important to us. It is for us to know. The important thing is that you keep it in front of you. Try not to let the bad news, the anxiety, the drama distract you. You’ve heard about keeping your eyes on the prize. It is true. Whatever your goal, keep your eyes, thoughts, dreams, energies on that goal. We all have our our own feelings about the economic news, our emotions about the recent deaths of celebrities, the talk of your friends, co-workers or neighbors but remember to keep pulling yourself back to the center of your efforts.

If you are writing a novel, keep working on it every day even if it is only a sentence at a time. If you are looking for a job, keep trying, keep thinking up new angles. If it is looking for a special someone, do not give up the quest it is well worth it.

Whatever your dream is, do not forget why you choose that goal or why that goal chose you.

These are dark days yet we need to keep as stable as possible. Remember the little rubber raft that goes down the worst rapids, it is because the people in the raft are rowing. They are not allowing themselves to be controlled by the water’s force, they are creating their own current by rowing. They row and then use the river’s currents to the raft’s advantage.

Think of that sometimes, see if you can use this turbulent river’s currents to your advantage while you keep your destination in mind and you keep rowing, paddling, working towards the end point.

There are loads  of images that can be used here but imagine your own, find a powerful symbol that reminds you in the blink of an eye, what you are working towards and why.

If it is making enough money for a child to go to college, put a photo of that child and add a mortar board complete with tassel. Make the symbol for your goal and keep that imagine in front of you so you can not be distracted.

Good luck

I was playing cards with some friends on the fourth of July. We were 4 adults playing Spite and malice, drinking tea and coffee and having a good time. As I lay in bed later reflecting on it, I thought how telling it was. I had a relaxing evening and I was savoring it. I know the value of relaxation. There was no cut throat completion, as there can be with some card games. Even one of the people on the evening of the fourth, asked if I played Bridge. I said no, it was too competitive for me. People take it too seriously. If I am going to relax then I do not want to compete. I want to enjoy the little mental puzzles, not any big ones. I know which card to play but if I flub up, no one cares, not even me.
I think that it’s a hard thing for us to learn in this society; when to relax and why. I see people who are ambitious and do not see any value in relaxing. I see people in their careers, fearing relaxing because if they go away for a week, they will not want to go back to that killer schedule, or those mind numbing meetings. They are afraid if they step out of the “rat race” it will move on without them and they will be left behind.
Years ago I was in business for myself. I took no vacations for the first years of my business. I was it. If I wasn’t working, no one was and so no work was getting done. I was single, living alone, it worked fine for about five years and then I felt I needed a break. I took a month off. I went geographically away from my business and home. When I came back I had decided to sell my business and did. To make that decision, I needed perspective that I couldn’t get while running on the treadmill I called my sole proprietorship. I have never regretted either the working so hard on that business nor the decision to sell it.
I now see how important relaxation is to any project. In writing, you need to let the words sit for a period, so you can go back to them fresh and see what is actually on the page, not the projection of what you think you have written. In painting, you need to let the paint dry, you need to come back to it to see the colors and how they interact once dried and set.
In intellectual pursuits, it is just as true. If you’re working on a big paper or project, you need to work and then sit back. You need to be able to clear your mind of the details and the minutiae. You need to be able to look at the big blocks, then go look at the details. Only stepping back, turning your back on these things will let their true nature be revealed as it is.
In fine dining they always say you have to cleanse your palate to be able to appreciate the next course. I think it is also true of your brain especially when creativity is involved. Relaxing is nature’s way of cleansing the palate of your mind so we can appreciate the next course of life, whatever it is.
Ok, so we’ve decided we need to relax. Do something else, what should we do? I mentioned playing cards. I know so many people who see it as a waste of time. You actually spend money to take home 54 little slips of paper and then you waste time flipping them over. Of course some of us see it differently.
I think anything repetitive that requires a bit of mental effort ( not too much) is great for this curative relaxation. Besides playing cards, think knitting (or any needle or thread art( quilting, weaving, spinning, tatting, crocheting, embroidery, macrame ) or walking (we’ve covered this activities benefits in another post ( see May 16th post) I’ve already mentioned crosswords(or any word or number problems Sudoku etc.) and then there are all the logic games like go or chess or checkers.
And then there is reading. It’s a relaxation of a different kind. It can steal us away from our problems and take us for an exciting ride or to a magical land or into the future or far into the past. Reading non-fiction can help educate us about whatever it is we’re working on. If you’re writing, you need to do research. If you’re building, then it’s great to both do research but also surf the web for new and exciting solutions that other people have built. And lest we forget there is also boring reading, that can actually put you to sleep if you need it to.
I wonder at people who do not want to retire. I see retirement as a way to both keep working on my projects versus those from my employer, as a great time to volunteer for the causes I believe in as well as getting through this long list of ways to relax. I’m going to need years to get through testing them all out to see which one works the best.
Keep me posted as to which method works best for you.