If you make a right onto Dye Road off SR-67 north, past a sign advertising midget wrestling, tucked amidst dusty chaparral and dirt roads, you’ll find Grazin’ Pig Acres. A kitschy “Pig Lover” sign announces …
March 9, 2016
News & Stories
Slowly, the population of Grazin’ Pig Acres grew
From translation of Veni Creator Spiritus (Come Creator Spirit)
Creator Spirit, by whose aid The world’s foundations first were laid, Come visit ev’ry pious mind; Come pour thy joys on human kind: From sin, and sorrow set us free; And make thy temple worthy …
March 9, 2016
Jail diplomas in demand
San Diego County jail is looking for some new education providers for its incarcerated citizens. “The current program services allow inmates to increase their level of education, teach practical life skills, and teach a trade …
March 9, 2016
Magma from another planet
Even the most conceptually aggregated rock bands usually stop short of creating their own language. Call them prog, call them avant-garde, call them way out, but Magma founder Christian Vander took that plunge decades ago, …
March 9, 2016
Ukes for Ukraine
“Do I play the ukulele? Yeah. I actually do,” Quinn Boylan, the former Tan Sister Radio bassist tells the Reader. “When I was coming up with this project, I decided I’d better learn how. It’s …
March 9, 2016
Future fast food
“The methane that cattle produce warms the world 20 times faster than auto emissions.”
March 9, 2016
Pet project
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the San Diego Zoo and the 50th anniversary of the classic Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. Local history professor and music writer Steve Thorn has a pet project …
March 9, 2016
The cult of Magma
Magma sounds like a mini-opera company performing the music of Yes or King Crimson. But that doesn’t come close to describing the complete package. The full Magma ride is about prog rock with drums, electric …
Park in the hard-packed sand when visiting Bedrock
On the eastern edge of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park lies Split Mountain, the Carrizo Badlands, and a feature known as the Wind Caves. Here, the exposed sandstone of the marine beds from the five-million-year-old Imperial …
March 9, 2016
SUP with your pup
In 1778 John Webber, captain James Cook’s ship artist, sketched what is thought to be the first representation of a paddleboarder. He later added the image to an engraving in 1781 that depicted Cook’s arrival …
March 9, 2016
Three chances to catch El Gran Noche
The 23rd Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival runs March 10–20, and with it comes one of the biggest names in international cinema: Mexico’s incontrovertible auteur, Arturo Ripstein (Deep Crimson, La Tia Alejandra). Mr. Ripstein …
March 9, 2016
Where's that horse going to be dumped?
Gunilla Pratt has become accustomed to waking up at her house in Temecula only to discover yet another abandoned animal in her yard. “People will just leave them,” she says. “I’ll get up and be, …
March 9, 2016
Give us an inch...
I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books as a preteen, probably because every classroom in school had a near-complete set on the shelves. That, and we didn’t have iPhones to stare at. The best part …
March 9, 2016
Smell the campaign lilacs
Fallbrook real estate broker Paul Schumann has taken the helm of a new political committee established to run an initiative campaign on behalf of Lilac Hills Ranch. The controversial North County housing and commercial development …
March 9, 2016
The 14-dollar hot dog and sauerkraut are cries for help
Dear Hipster: I have two kids and a successful career. As you might guess, balancing those things makes my life more often than not pretty stressful, and I’m hardly swimming in opportunities to unwind. I …
March 9, 2016
Selections from the author of Industrial Oz: Ecopoems
Near Paisley, Oregon the ancient lake’s giant redband trout fin small creeks. Among swirling ice sculptures in thawing Chewaucan River, I daydreamed their lateral lines as one long red sunset after a bad storm, Buddhist …
March 9, 2016
Judgerella
Judgment gets a bad rap. This is understandable, seeing as the term sounds so much like the closely related “judgmental,” which is used to describe someone who is overly critical, even disapproving.
March 9, 2016
Gobies go on vacation
The endangered tidewater goby, native only to the California coast from Del Norte County to San Diego County, is a tiny fish. Growing up to two inches long, the species lives exclusively in coastal brackish …
March 9, 2016
Will the NFL be as powerful in three decades?
Anybody looking forward to Super Bowl LXXX? You could build a stadium for a sport that doesn’t exist.
March 9, 2016
Flesh meets hard concrete
My mother has been dead for two years now, but we never cease to feel that we have been given a gift by her inheritance, which allowed for our condo here. (Today, I am silently …
March 9, 2016
Gotta watch those Navy “internal control weaknesses”
There’s big trouble brewing with the Navy’s bill-paying setup in San Diego, and taxpayers face the unpleasant prospect of being robbed blind. So says a February 25 audit of the military’s Invoice, Receipt, Acceptance, and …
March 9, 2016
Erudite readers write in
Invincible Ignorance I had to laugh when I read Joe Deegan’s article on the history of World War I. This person is an historical illiterate, and does not know what he is talking about. The …
March 9, 2016
Sesame Street dreams
Eleanor Friedberger first went around the world as half of the Fiery Furnaces, which cut nine albums covering almost every base of Western music. The band went on hiatus in 2011. Friedberger comes to the …
March 9, 2016
March 3 Crossword Contenders
Martha Awdziewicz, Clairemont, 6. Dennis Butterworth, San Diego, 6. Chris Byzewski, San Diego, 6. Leslie Chase, Campo, 6. Allan Dorfman, Del Mar, 6. Chad Griffith, Poway, 6. Susan Haley, Chula Vista, 6. Ron Hootman, Santee, …
March 9, 2016
March 3 Sudoku Contenders
Evil Bliss Beedle, Encinitas, 6. Gregory Chauncey, La Jolla, 6. Patrick Driscoll, Santee, 6. Rafael Gaceta, San Diego, 6. Don Ganoe, San Diego, 6. Paula Henderson, La Jolla, 6. Richard Johnson, La Jolla, 6. Larry …
March 9, 2016