By Angela Kilduff
Halloween festivities combined with election-day fervor at “Abuzz for Obama” on Friday night. Berkeley resident and artist Stacey Moss celebrates Halloween each year with a candy corn-themed fête. For this, the seventh annual get-together, she transformed candy corn cutouts into honeybees abuzz for presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Photos and Story by Linsay Rousseau Burnett
Robert Wesner, 39, sat hunched over his sewing machine, his waist-long hair pulled back in a half ponytail, while a topless woman laced up a leather corset behind him. Wesner, owner of Leather Mystics, began stitching together his sixth leather choker of the night. Laughing, he said that he never would have believed this is where his life would end up: “It’s not like you grow up thinking, ‘Geez, I think I’ll be a bondage leather specialist.”

Photos and Story by Linsay Rousseau Burnett
Since 1961, the mission of the all-volunteer Pacific Locomotive Association (PLA) has been to operate a working railroad museum that preserves the physical aspects and atmosphere of Pacific Coast railroading from 1910 to 1960. Starting in 1984, the organization opened the Niles Canyon Railway as a living history museum.

Story by Angela Kilduff and photos by Casey Miner
Even before the polls closed on November 4, excitement – mixed with a bit of anxiety – permeated the streets of downtown Oakland.

By Adelaide Chen
Oakland’s ReGeneration Church is popular with college students and singles for its rock n’ roll sermons and acceptance of all denominations.
But lately, another program is becoming popular among families who live in the area but who are not officially part of the church — martial arts.
Known as the Taekwondo Ministry, the Korean martial arts class brings the gospel to youth as early as the age of five.

By Mateen Kaul
Presidential candidates Senators Barack Obama and John McCain spent significant time in the two presidential debates discussing their potential Pakistan policies, if elected to the Oval Office. But many Pakistani-Americans see these policies as largely the same.

Audio and Photos by Linsay Rousseau Burnett
Ed Frakes has been painting for over 50 years. Now 71, Frakes describes his life as an artist and explains the meaning behind some of his paintings in this audio slideshow.

Story by Linsay Rousseau Burnett
Since the age of 14, when he first picked up a guitar, Michael McNevin knew he wanted to be a musician. During his career, this singer-songwriter has opened for artists such as Johnny Cash and Richie Havens and produced four albums. But McNevin’s music is not his only form of artistic expression. When he’s not busy writing songs, he’s drawing detailed scenes of the events he sings about on…an Etch-a-Sketch.

Video and story by Angela Kilduff
A team of UC Berkeley undergraduates tried their luck against more than thirty teams at the Red Bull Soap Box Race on October 18. The members of Team Husky spent a week constructing their soap box in the living room of Delta Chi, their fraternity.
Seniors Niket Desai and Matthew Pies and Juniors Kenji Kurita and Daniel Mangels are Team Husky. Watch the video to see how they fared…

Photos, Video and Story by Linsay Rousseau Burnett
Fremont’s Niles community — a historic, quaint and close-knit neighborhood — proved once again that it is not afraid to show some flare, after residents held the 10th annual Pink Flamingo Pee-Wee Golf Classic. The “wacky and tacky” event raised over $2,000 for the Niles Main Street non-profit association.