Arlene is a firecracker — bold, vibrant, and free-spirited. She says exactly what’s on her mind at any given time, and when she speaks, she speaks with an excitement that she seems to be trying her best to suppress.
As an Oakland native, Arlene confidently walks around Uptown, a neighborhood she could navigate effortlessly with her eyes closed. It only takes one afternoon spent with her to feel the hometown pride seeping from her.
Arlene received a Bachelor of Arts in communications and public policy from UC Berkeley, despite struggling with a severe mental illness for most of her life. She’s worked as a bank teller in the past, and she often reads astrology books for fun.
“I have a really great memory, and I like to memorize all of the sun signs,” Arlene disconnectedly mentions, immediately following a conversation on her mental illness. She quickly switches from intimate and heavy conversations to lighter ones — making her remarkable story a bit more digestible for herself and everyone else.
“A lot of people don’t believe in astrology, but I do. People have characteristics as a result of their signs. The way a person acts and thinks is accredited greatly to astrology. I’m a Taurus — the bull.”
Arlene poses outside of Oakland City Hall, just a short walking distance from her home. (Photography by Erin Lubin)
Arlene discovered Project Open Hand in 2007, after having been diagnosed with HIV 17 years prior. Upon diagnosis, Arlene decided she wasn’t going to take medication for the illness.
“I didn’t take medication because I was in denial. In fact, I didn’t take medication for 10 years.”
At 91 pounds and fighting an HIV diagnosis, mental illness, and pneumonia, Arlene’s body finally gave up.
“I fell, unconscious, in my apartment and my mother and grandmother found me. An ambulance took me to Fairmont Hospital. I was suffering badly and was hospitalized for three days at Saint Rose Hospital in Hayward. I don’t really remember it.”
2018 will mark the 11th year of Arlene’s nourishing partnership with Project Open Hand. “I take my medication now and eat good food like I’m supposed to. I eat three meals a day even. Project Open Hand has helped me get the variety of foods I never used to eat — meat, milk, vegetables, and grains. I get a healthy diet from this grocery center.” Arlene glances around at her surroundings — a dietitian’s scale, stacks of printed recipes, bins of dried grains — and she smirks and lights up a bit, as if she’s seeing it all for the first time.
With an estimated 5,649 Alameda County residents living with HIV, and the majority of newly diagnosed HIV patients being African American, Project Open Hand’s nearly 30-year-old Oakland grocery center is crucial to the city’s health, now more than ever. Arlene lives close by and can easily walk to and from the grocery center. She no longer has to carry a cart full of groceries on the bus and is grateful for its location.