Kaya Oakes
Writer of nonfiction, Oakland kid, faculty in writing at UC Berkeley. Book #6, Not So Sorry, is available now. Ask me why breast cancer sucks. Missives: kayaoakes.substack.com
- This essay from last year seemed to be helpful to quite a few people, so, here it is again. kayaoakes.substack.com/p/against-am...
- Reposted by Kaya Oakes"The age of gilded journalism was mostly smoke and mirrors, a magic show with no one behind the curtain." @kayaoakes.bsky.social recommends books on the ghosts of media past: www.commonwealmagazine.org/ghosts-media...
- Thanks to the editors at @commonweal.bsky.social for asking me to be part of this year's Christmas Critics edition. This essay wound up being a Gen X anthem about the death of the gilded age of journalism. www.commonwealmagazine.org/ghosts-media...
- UC Berkeley has its 71st Nobel Laureate, this year in Physics. But did you know we have Nobel Laureate bicycle parking, and that David Card, 2021 Nobel in Economics, apparently actually uses it? news.berkeley.edu/2016/06/16/n...
- For @ncronline.bsky.social, I reviewed @philipchristman.bsky.social's new book, which gave me the opportunity to dunk. "When you choose a politics, you can choose one that covets power or one that sees power as something to be shared. It really is that simple." www.ncronline.org/culture/new-...
- Reposted by Kaya Oakes💚 💛 Ballers fam, @MayorBarbaraLee just announced that we're going to keep the party going! 🎉 See you there! 🍾
- Reposted by Kaya OakesOAKLAND WE DID IT!!!! 🏆
- Reposted by Kaya OakesIf you've been thinking of reading Elizabeth Gilbert's new memoir, please read this first, by @kayaoakes.bsky.social. And even if you don't care one bit about Gilbert, this is an excellent, helpful read about cancer, love, ego, and so much else. open.substack.com/pub/kayaoake...
- Reposted by Kaya OakesWhat does a writer “who lives every day with cancer looming in the background like one of those giant Halloween skeletons” think about what’s she’s seen of the latest Elizabeth Gilbert memoir and the discourse around it? You should really read @kayaoakes.bsky.social, and not just to find that out.
- Reposted by Kaya OakesThis piece by @kayaoakes.bsky.social is really good. I recommend reading it. kayaoakes.substack.com/p/not-your-i...?
- UC Berkeley asks us to provide headshots for the department website and I hate the way I look in photos, so this year I uploaded this instead.
- It's true: my post cancer treatment, mid career shift that absolutely nobody predicted is that I decided to write about sports. Once, anyway! Go Ballers.
- Do you like baseball? Here is an essay about baseball by my friend @kayaoakes.bsky.social:
- Still alive! Still writing! I have an essay in this month's issue of @commonweal.bsky.social as part of a symposium on Christian Smith's new book and religious obsolescence. Thanks to the editors for asking me to pitch in.
- The June issue is here! Feat. - 'Remembering Pope Francis': reflections on the late pontiff - The Editors on Leo XIV - Bishop Mark Seitz on immigration & the Church - A symposium on American religious 'obsolescence' and more! www.commonwealmagazine.org/issues/2025-...
