A separate peace What was I (a Jew — and a nonobservant one at that) doing with such a piece? I’d never spoken to a nun in my life. All I remembered of them from …
November 9, 2019
Back to profile
Stories by Connie Bruck
Best Reader stories from 1977
Best Reader stories from 1974
Monument Road The peaceful atmosphere along Monument Road is astonishing. Only 15 or 20 minutes from downtown, a ride along southernmost San Diego's Monument Road is like flipping through a book of Dorothea Lange photographs. …
October 27, 2019
Best Reader stories from 1973
Serious witches in San Diego Force claimed he had played a role, witch-wise, in the indictment of San Diego's former Mayor Curran and his staff, in the Yellow Cab Scandal. “A friend of mine, Jodi …
October 26, 2019
Encanto – snubbed but proud
On top of this little corner of the world Here on Skyline Drive, great swaths of sward stretch out below, springy and green. Here, there are vacant lots littered with possibility, within sight of a …
May 13, 2019
Holy Week in San Diego: our mish-mash of Christianity
Medical explanation of Christ's crucifixion and other Easter stories The severe scourging, with its intense pain and appreciable blood loss, most probably left Jesus in a preshock state. Moreover, hematidrosis had rendered his skin particularly …
April 15, 2019
Explorer scouts help LAPD make busts
WE HAVE pulled over to the side of the road, primed for transgression. As usual on a Friday night, latecomers for “Laserium” at the Griffith Park Observatory are parking their cars further and further down …
March 17, 1977
Vows of enclosure: Carmelite nuns in Normal Heights
The night before I was to visit the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Normal Heights, I called a friend, feeling anxious and full of misgivings. This story was not my idea, I complained, but the editor’s …
February 3, 1977
Loma Portal nudity healthier than Carol Doda era in San Francisco
Could one of these girls walk into a place like the Voyager over on Harbor Island, and act like a lady?
May 30, 1974
Combo Bravo? Combo Boo?
The curtain rises, and a young man dressed as an Elizabethan page walks to the center of the stage. He unrolls a long parchment scroll with gold lettering, and proclaims: "Let's welcome here this night …
February 14, 1974
Serious witches in San Diego
Force claimed he had played a role, witch-wise, in the indictment of San Diego's former Mayor Curran and his staff, in the Yellow Cab Scandal.
November 1, 1973
More House commune funded by real estate inflation
“What more could I want?” asked Barbara. “I have a mansion, a pool, a butler, a maid, my old man, my kids, limousines. I live the the people I love. I never have to do any housework, I only cook a meal if I feel like it!"
September 6, 1973
San Martin used to be the dump for all Tijuana
We sit in the outer room of the Clinica San Martin, trading words like amulets. Each one, an additive charm, wards off the silence of estrangement, builds bridges of humor at the difficulty of our …
August 16, 1973
Encanto's Apostolic Prayer Temple, house of exaltation
"I want to testify." A large black woman in blue-flowered dress stands swaying slightly, heavily, "I want to thank God for coming with me on this journey..." her voice trails off, and her body becomes …
July 12, 1973
National City's protege of Blind Lemon Jefferson, friend of Howlin' Wolf
"I was supposed to record with Howlin’ Wolf in Chicago. Wolf killed a guy over a woman, he was sentenced to the penitentiary for 25 years. That knocked out my record chances, back in 1930.”
July 5, 1973