By Angela Kilduff
Like any superhero, mystery surrounds the true identity of the Vagina Lady. She makes appearances at Bay Area events wearing a cape and a plush, pink vagina costume nearly as tall as she is. Even among the unusual characters San Francisco is known for, she stands out in a crowd.
In her other life, Julie Vanadis, 30, is a writer and editor. Her co-workers don’t know about the character she plays, so she uses an alternate last name in interviews.  She prefers to keep her personal life and role …

By Karen Weise
Even for S&M fans, the pain of the current economy can be too much.
At last weekend’s Exotic Erotic Expo and Ball, a tradeshow and party billed as a “Celebration of Flesh, Fetish, and Fantasy,” small adult entertainment businesses said they are facing bleak balance sheets, with declines in customer spending and decreased access to credit for their own businesses.
Sitting behind a display of vacuum pumps for penis enlargement and erectile dysfunction, Dr. Joel Kaplan bemoaned the downturn his business has faced this past year. Kaplan said his regular …

High School Junior Andrea Shyu did not even know who the mayor of Fremont was before signing up to volunteer for his re-election campaign. Now, the 16-year-old spends up to eight hours a week canvassing door-to-door and putting up lawn signs.
Shyu is one of 130 students Mayor Bob Wasserman’s campaign recruited from high school classrooms and at school activities fairs. The campaign offered students like Shyu community service credit, an “intern” title for their resumes and college recommendation letters. While this all seemed like simply offering students campaign experience and …

By Guo Shipeng
Li Zhijian was a millionaire in local currency terms before he emigrated to Oakland from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong in June.
Like many fresh immigrants in  Chinatown who come to America for a better life but are overwhelmed by cultural and social differences, the 45-year-old former construction contractor is struggling with elementary English classes in an adult school in the hope that he could find a paying job soon.

By Mateen Kaul
People dressed in traditional Indian clothes celebrated Diwali with food, music and prayers at Fremont’s Hindu Temple on Saturday night, October 25.

By Guo Shipeng
Ho Ming’s first experience with the Oakland police was far from pleasant.
He still remembers the frustration he felt, trying to explain to an officer in broken English, how someone broke into this car and stole $2,000 worth of equipment he used for his business. That was in 1985, when Ho was an immigrant fresh from Hong Kong.

By Angela Kilduff
The results of the highly contested fourth district congressional race between State Senator Tom McClintock and Democrat Charlie Brown remained too close to call as of Thursday and may face a recount.

Photos and Story by Linsay Rousseau Burnett
April 1st, 2008. The 911 call came at 2:30am from a woman reporting that she had been raped and robbed inside her apartment. Fremont patrol officers quickly located the suspect in an adjacent apartment where he had barricaded himself inside. It was time to call in the SWAT team. The team quickly surrounded and locked down the building. But after nine hours of failed negotiations, SWAT officers fired tear gas into the apartment. The suspect immediately surrendered was taken into custody without injury.

By Adelaide Chen
As health care costs continue to rise, the expansion of the largest clinic in Oakland’s San Antonio area for uninsured and low-income patients has come at a needed time.

The San Antonio Neighborhood Health Center that once operated out of a house in the late ‘70s is expanding into a development that will cost altogether $9.85 million.

The renovated two-story warehouse on International Blvd. is located next to the building that housed the health center for the past three decades. The old building will be under construction until June. …