“I can tell when someone’s from that area. There’s a way they pronounce words, a certain intonation. Sometimes they’ll try to disguise it. The Chinese are just as class conscious as anyone else, maybe more so.”
February 3, 2000
News & Stories
What it means to be Chinese in San Diego
Black birdmen
During World War II, Germans called them the schwartze vogelmenschen or “black birdmen.” White American bomber crews called them the Black Redtail Angels. Various other white Americans called them spades, spooks, coons, or sambos, and …
February 3, 2000
Web of Confusion
It's all in the eye of the beholder. San Diego public relations representative Vicki Garcia regards her client's plan to perform surgery on the Internet as a "news event -- because it's never been done …
February 3, 2000
Tijuana Plans Respect
A funny thing happened at Tijuana's cultural center the other day. As dozens of kids, teens, and parents lined up near the giant dome for tickets to the highest-tech movie showing in Tijuana or San …
February 3, 2000
Million-dollar Secrets
KPBS, the radio and television station operation owned by the state university system and funded in part by California and federal taxpayers, is stonewalling public requests for information about its big private contributors. The KPBS …
February 3, 2000
Hot Air Cowboys
"Did you feel how I used both hands and feet to do that? Now I want you to do it, back and forth between the lake and the bald spot, using hands and feet in coordination.”
February 3, 2000
Marriage is Temporary, Dogs are Forever
Terry Wilson has won five Emmys for his television directing, producing, and on-camera hosting; he’s been a national martial arts champion; and his 1998 article on the Marine dogs of World War II won best-short …
February 3, 2000
Climb to the top of Anza-Borrego's Sunset Mountain, the peak that warmly glows in late-afternoon light.
Sunset Mountain stands lofty and somewhat isolated from the main ridge of the Vallecito Mountains in the center of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. As seen from Borrego Springs and other far points to the west, …
February 3, 2000
Grape Leaves and the Gulf War
The week 150,000 Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait, I felt relieved when I went with Marc and Leah to the airport. Security was tight A lot of plainclothesmen in bulky Israeli sportscoats stood around the lobby.
February 3, 2000
Are there "munchkin" houses built in La Jolla?
Matt: My mother-in-law swears that several years ago she went on a tour and saw a street in La Jolla (perhaps in the Mt. Soledad area), or even a block, of "Munchkin" houses. They were …
February 3, 2000
Distinguishing between the new and old Harrison Ford.
As long as we're stumbling down Memory Lane, now's the perfect time to make our biennial phone call to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Walk of Fame division, to see whether the brain trust has …
February 3, 2000