"Moore wants more," I would joke to myself.Busy Fingers Are Happy Fingers — Joe DeeganI couldn't find an angle to get my story started, I told her. "Forget all about angles," she then said with …
May 12, 2026
Joe Deegan started writing for the Reader in 1998 and enjoys writing about a wide variety of topics. Feel free to contact him directly.
Articles by Joe Deegan (RIP)
Judith Moore's tough-fisted regime at the Reader
Left Behind opens with a Russian attack on Israel
THE SUNDAY must have been June 11, 1967. As recalled by Jim DeSaegher, then a member of Scott Memorial Baptist Church, the minister opened his sermon with the exclamation, "Guess what happened yesterday?"Ron James recalls …
April 28, 2026
When the Temecula traffic hits Escondido
The Reader has started this series of its best stories from the past 52 years — 2600 cover stories and some remarkable interior features — to help make up for the loss of its physical …
November 21, 2025
Normal Heights – it's not what you think
Nothing normal about Normal HeightsEveryone who lived on that stretch of 34th Street, between Meade and Monroe, was used to finding things on their lawn — condoms from hookers and their tricks, malt-liquor bottles, garbage, …
November 25, 2023
Blood purity fight among Pala Mission Indians
Pala tribe cuts dissident members off rollsThe cited cause of tribal disenrollment is a blood-purity dispute. All 164 disenrolled members are relatives of the late Margarita Brittain, a woman whose lineage has long been questioned …
November 4, 2023
Tom Deméré takes us to Mission Valley of 50 million years ago
More or less sudden mountainsThe rocks in and around San Diego have composed amazing, fiery stories for a very long time. An ancient ocean once covered this county; volcanoes used to spew here; and more …
October 1, 2023
Mira Mesa has its critics
San Diego's most wretched neighborhoodIt is a bright, sunny Saturday afternoon in April and a small crowd has gathered in the Mira Mesa shopping center mall, the hub of a community that is as far …
September 17, 2023
Resurrection of El Cajon Blvd.
North Park vibe spreads northWhile the renovated Lafayette Hotel on El Cajon Boulevard in University Heights has raised the bar, commercial properties nearby haven’t been so successful. Going west on El Cajon Boulevard from Louisiana …
September 4, 2023
Old Otay Mesa
Otay before 50,000 homes In 1954 I sat on the school bus every day next to my best friend, Mark Robson. The ride home from Montgomery Elementary School in Otay was a straight shot east …
July 30, 2023