As someone who doesn’t own a car, I spend a lot of time walking around my neighborhood of El Cerrito, California. One of my favorite places is the Ohlone Greenway, a beautiful pedestrian and bicycle path that is named after the Indigenous people of what is now known as the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area.
But despite the hundreds of times I’ve walked that path, the meaning of the name had never crossed my mind. I was always more engrossed in reading the signs posted along the path — complaints about piled up trash, owners searching for missing pets, flyers promoting upcoming events…you get the picture.