From outside it sounded like a Santeria initiation. I heard the call of the bata drums, then the lead voice, followed by the chorus to Eleggua, the trickster orisha and the spirit of the crossroads: …
January 5, 1995
News & Stories
San Diego drummers play Cuban, West African music
What keeps contact lenses on your eyes
Matt: Is it really possible for contact lenses to slide around to the back of your eye and get lost somewhere in your head forever? My mother tells me this is true. She says it …
January 5, 1995
American Indians were the first tobacco smokers
Dear Matthew Alice: Where did cigarettes come from? I mean, did somebody invent them or did they just evolve from ancient times or what? — Marlene Walter, Boston, MA Tobacco was originally wrapped in corn …
January 5, 1995
UPC bar codes — backwards and forwards
Dear Matthew Alice: Every time I’m in the grocery store, I always wonder how the machine that reads the UPC bar codes can tell what is front and what is back. They don’t line up …
January 5, 1995
Dive bars and eggnog —where they came from
Dear Matthew Alice: Where does the term “dive,” meaning a sleazy bar, come from? — Maria, El Paso, TX Matt: I know what “egg” is, but what’s “nog”? — Tom G., San Diego Some festive …
January 5, 1995
I was a substitute teacher at Pendleton, La Paloma, Fallbrook Elementary, Potter Jr. High, and Fallbrook High
I’m the substitute, so I sit at a stranger’s desk beneath a poster that displays a Ferrari in the driveway of a mansion. “The rewards of higher education,” it reads. A boy named Eric, who was called to the office during the first hour, is working on his test and talking to two girls, so after three warnings, I give him detention. “You bitch!” he shouts across the room.
January 5, 1995