There are over 400,000 people of many different backgrounds who live spread out over 55 square miles in Oakland. What can you even say about the shared experience of all of these different people? We can say a few things about how we're all united by Oakland's climate and geography; the built infrastructure of houses, roads, and public transportation; the many external forces that shape our options (everything from the things that City Council does, to the Bay-Area-wide tech boom, to the international flows of money that affect employment and development in Oakland); and the fact that the people of Oakland, like people all over the world, are always just trying to get by and lead happy, secure lives..maybe even making things better for other people as they do so. With people in so many different circumstances and coming from so many different backgrounds, all of our experiences of living in Oakland might be very different, but the cool thing is that here on the wiki we have loads of space and can include all of the diverse experiences and cultures of Oakland.
