Auschwitz A message in a bottle has been found in a concrete wall on the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Dated 9 September 1944, the message, in French, contains names, numbers and home towns …
February 15, 2017
News & Stories
Why does the dolphin see you and disappear into the sea?
Wrecking crew
Efforts by Democratic billionaire Irwin Jacobs to bulldoze a costly road and parking garage project through the heart of Balboa Park has been getting lobbying support from an outfit called Balboa Park United. The group …
February 15, 2017
Then the circus came to town
Roots-rocker Alejandro Escovedo jumped ship from his longtime base of Austin, Texas, to what would be considered a less-hip locale — Dallas. So, is this the Lone Star State version of ditching San Diego for …
February 15, 2017
“It was the funniest thing I had ever read”
Growing up in Chicago, Richie Keen would ride his bike down to where John Hughes was shooting Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and sneak onto the set. Later, he started as an actor before becoming a …
February 15, 2017
SDSU’s fleeing faculty
While San Diego State president Elliott Hirshman and California State University trustee vice-chairman Adam Day jockey behind closed doors for a costly new football stadium in Mission Valley, statistics aired last week at a meeting …
February 15, 2017
Take your tongue on a side-trip to East Africa
"Whooo! Whooo!” This is Mary Beth and her friend Jef. Waving their arms, pointing their fingers, whooping like werewolves, doing a dance in place here in row 32 at SDSU’s Viejas Arena. Confession: This is …
Standing Rock protest movement re-gears up
"We knew these attacks were coming, and now more than ever we must grow the resistance," opened Abel Macias, reading a statement from tribal leaders at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, where …
February 15, 2017
Brazilian tapestry
“Before we started this nine years ago,” says vocalist Allison Adams Tucker, “many San Diegans had no experience with Brazilian culture — the language, the music, the dances. Now it’s become a part of the …
February 15, 2017
Moxie’s Blue Door confronts evil spirits
Moxie Theatre is conjuring African-American history from Tanya Barfield’s healing nightmare Blue Door. When you enter Moxie’s intimate space, you won’t see a door or the color blue. Instead, five pale gray, diaphanous panels stretch …
February 15, 2017
Bible in one hand and New York Times in the other
Membership: 300 (125 average attendance) Pastor: Madison Schockley Age: 61 Born: Los Angeles Formation: Harvard University, MA; University of Missouri, Columbia, MO; Union Theological Seminary, NY; Claremont Graduate University, Claremont , CA Years Ordained: 38 …
February 15, 2017
The happiest place on earth, if you’re a dog
It is hard to say who has more fun when watching the dogs and their humans play. Dog Beach, in Ocean Beach (O.B. to locals), was established in 1972 and has become a required destination …
February 15, 2017
Verbinksi on vacation
With Pirates of the Caribbean, Gore Verbinski took a silly-spooky theme park attraction and built it into a multibillion-dollar defense of bucking the system and living by your wits. With A Cure for Wellness, he …
February 15, 2017
Whiskey practice with the Ass Pocket Fellas
The Clairemont High rock scene honored in Cameron Crowe’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High lives on, more or less, in the eight-piece rollicking Irish-rock band Ass Pocket Whiskey Fellas. “We’re all from Clairemont,” says guitarist …
February 15, 2017
At least the Charger Girls aren’t heading north
Alternative Facts [The scene: the basement of Our Lady of Sorrows church, Mission Valley. A circle of chairs. A despondent array of suffering souls.] Walter Mencken: Hello, everybody. Please sit down. Welcome to Walter Mencken’s …
February 15, 2017
Santa Ysabel property models world’s largest ranch
Beds: 5+ Baths: 5+ Current Owner: Stuart Jamieson List Price: $16,000,000 Double S Ranch, situated just west of Lake Henshaw near Santa Ysabel, comprises four residences, including “a multi million-dollar log cabin” set on 560 …
February 15, 2017
High school survivalists the Regrettes
They’re too young to hold office and at least two of them can’t vote, but the Regrettes, four teens pushing back against conventional notions of beauty, status, and worth, have a Warner Brothers recording contract, …
February 15, 2017
How to spot a poser
Dear Hipster: How do you spot a poser? — Deb Oh, damn. Let’s just take a breath here. Slow down a minute before we dive into a long answer for a short question. Talk about …
February 15, 2017
Bebop revivalist Miguel Zenón
Miguel Zenón is not your grandmother’s jazzman — so many of them are, for better or worse. Ever since a handful of the perkiest among them invented bebop in the 1940s, followed by the next …
February 15, 2017
The legs get stuck in your teeth
“Buddy! Over here! Buy something, amigo! It’s all cheap! Free tequila shot!” Street salesmen in Tijuana usually try to shove things down your throat, whether you want them or not. They yell at you in …
February 15, 2017
North Park Jack in the Box rebuild permit has yet to pop up
Jack in the Box and North Park neighbors return to court.
February 15, 2017
Outrigger canoes for newbies
That I haven’t been in an outrigger canoe doesn’t mean I haven’t wished for one. I remember when my first two-piece paddle snapped while “digging in” (paddling hard) a couple miles off La Jolla in …
February 15, 2017
We had to read before we could do anything else
Name: Helen Paris Age: 19 Occupation: Student Neighborhood: La Mesa Where interviewed: Barnes & Noble, Grossmont Center What have you read lately? Hush, Hush; it’s a series by Becca Fitzpatrick. The books are about fallen …
February 15, 2017
Unidentified flying Hillary
Last summer’s dump by WikiLeaks of thousands of emails generated by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign honcho John Podesta turned out badly for the Democrats’ standard bearer, who later blamed her loss partly on the work …
February 15, 2017
Tell us how you really feel
As Long as You’re Taking an Interest... This he said/he said article about C3 Church is fine as far as it goes. The trouble is that it doesn’t go very far. We’re given a father …
February 15, 2017