“Made In West Oakland” (or #MadeInWestOakland) is a series of posts this blogger happened upon during a random search under #Oakland on Instagram. The Featured Photo in this post is of Candase Chambers, who says via her Instagram profile that’s she’s a “digital content manager by day” and co-founder (with her sister Ashley) of B A Y B E L L E, a “a fashion-forward, sexy collection for women.” But I digress.
There is no website for “Made In West Oakland” (yet) – it just seems to have started by painted words “Made In West Oakland” on a building that seems to be owned by Elevator Works the co-working company, and then a few like Candase (who appears to live in Los Angeles) appeared in posts, and then has slowly grown, post by post, into a micro-movement. A small way of affirming a kind of West Oakland culture.
Only an outsider would write that there are many Oaklands, but the truth is, Oakland’s a small town that has been divided by the Internet. Maybe the Internet can be used to fuse Oakland back together? That’s for another time – et’s look at more of the #MadeInWestOakland posts (And maybe someone can explain what’s going on – and why I don’t see Stomper, eh Dave Kaval?)
This should be in more places than just Instagram. Otherwise, “Made In West Oakland” will suffer the fate of political campaigns that think they’re alive because they’re on Twitter. They’re going nowhere, fast – unless they become a social media trend. Can “Made In West Oakland” be made to trend?
“Made In West Oakland” On Instagram
Stay tuned.