Sometime before I got married, I headed north to L.A. to pay a visit to Jason, a guy I was friends with in high school. He now works as a studio executive at a major …

I finally read Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities. I know I am a decade too late, but things don’t seem terribly different ten years later. I liked the men. I have enjoyed Wolfe’s men, …

The crest of the Brass Rail rises into the sky, an insistent purple and flesh-pink-deco-kitsch rectangle, colors mounting colors. It might be the prow of a ship — a purple, flesh-pink, and terracotta ship, with …

Victoria, a girl I knew in college who later moved to Rome, fell in love, and got married, is moving back to the States. She is expecting her second child and says the treatment she …

Dad was a great sports dad, in part because he paid attention. I was a decent athlete in a town of 20,000, which meant I got occasional mentions in the paper, especially when reporters searched …

'But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." -- Matthew 6:6 The …

Why go to heaven? When you consider the popular “Family Circus” image — sitting on clouds, playing harps, singing hymns, and watching the doings on earth as if they were some reality-based TV show — …

Until his junior year of college, when he decided he needed to save the world, my dad wanted to be a sportswriter. His career began when he didn’t make the cut for his freshman basketball …

"You really watch television?" The question hung in the air, unencumbered by any trace of snobbery or pretension, buoyed up by a genuine sense of wonder. That simple, sincere wonder made the question all the …

When the first hard contraction hit my wife Deirdre, buckling her at her middle and squeezing from her lungs a shocked cry, her first thought was, “I don’t know if I can do this without …

Rosa came west from Pennsylvania -- "two and a half, three years ago" -- with her new husband. Her ex-husband "was really abusive toward the kids. He threw my son through a wall. My husband …

George sleeps under an awning just past the corner of 12th and Market, "or if it's a nice day, in the parking lot across the street from the barber college." If he's up by 6:00 …

I love baseball. I grew up watching the Yankees suffer through the misery of the '80s -- despite having Mattingly and Winfield and Guidry -- on WPIX Channel 11, listening to Phil Rizzuto exclaim, "Holy …

My earliest remembered taste of alcohol is of a sip of Black Russian given to me by my mother at a relatively early age — say, ten. Thinking of it brings to mind an old …

'Downtown, Open Sunday, 2-5, 3 story, 3 fireplaces, Old Mansion, needs restoration, 3450 sf house. $249,000." -- ad in the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Boy, if these walls could talk." -- woman at open house. I …

"Matthew? Matthew! Fin's in the middle of the road!" Wheneer we go out for breakfast at the Antique Row Cafe on Adams Avenue — California omelette (hold the olives), homestyle potatoes, English muffin, orange juice, …

It's good that we went away now, because Fin's till too young to voice any objections." My dearest wife Deirdre, whose devotion to our son is a constant lesson to me, had done it again. …

Window shopping at Fashion Valley clothing stores is like window shopping at La Jolla art galleries. Commerce has been raised to high culture by an infusion of atmosphere, and shopping has become an event, an …

Just before I hit puberty, I think it was sixth grade, our gym teacher corralled us boys into the boys' locker room to see a movie describing the dramatic — not to say traumatic — …

Let me explain. I managed to make it through about 19 years of life without ever seeing a roach in the horrible, hard-shelled flesh. On a visit to my brother Mark, who was living in …

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Finian Thomas Lickona turned one year old on May 6; he celebrated with a small group of close friends. After he had eaten his strawberry shortcake, homemade by Mama and overburdened by whipped cream pseudo …

Julian caught our attention because it ranked fourth in SAT scores among public schools, despite being so small and so rural. The high school and the community seem to have a truly symbiotic relationship,

Last month, I ended this column by wondering what part (if any) of my East Coastness I would pass on to my California-born son Finian. Now, as he approaches his first birthday, I have had …

T.T., 36, matronly, with a sweet face and a soft, wondering voice, doesn't match the expected image of a recovering manic-depressive acid-head, pill-popper, and heroin addict. It is hard to picture her fencing clothes to …

"To the woman, He said: 'I will greatly multipy your pain in childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children.'" -- Genesis 13:16 "We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together …

Da's star is ascendant. Finian is making his first tentative tugs on the old apron strings. He is venturing from the bosom of his mother, working in the kitchen — the bosom of the home …

Now it can be told. Now the growers of the top-ten moneymaking crops in San Diego County for 1996 can gather 'round, take a look back over 1997, and weigh in with their judgments. They …

Fat is plentiful. Fat is cheap. What's more, it's "energy dense," according to Dr. Richard Zinn, a professor of animal science at the 280-acre University of California at Davis Desert Research and Extension Center just …

At eight months, Fin has taken a turn for the mysterious. Who can know the ways of Fin in his babyness? Who can know the source of the straight-faced, emotionless screams that fly from his …

You have seen them, these Porsches — on highways, on city streets, in parking lots — and you have coveted. You have gazed at them as they passed you, stopped and walked around them when …

He's up. Finian is up on all fours, rocking back and forth, mouth open, eyes alight with desire for Da's keys, just out of reach. He rocks because the legs are willing, but the arms …

When she was 16 and living in Guadalajara, Juana met Gerardo. Two years later, she says, "we got together. My father was born here [in the U.S.], and by that time, he was doing the …

Why we wrote these stories Happy holidays, holy-days; Merry Christmas, Christ-mas. Once again, a voice cries out in the wilderness, this time a wilderness of shopping malls and office parties, saying, “Make ready the way …

I would like to enter Annalia Russell into your “San Diego’s Best" contest. Annalia is an exceptional individual in the field of colon hydrotherapy. She has made me feel very much at ease with the …

“There are three events in a person’s life that are very significant: birth, weddings, and death. I think the people in this profession have an opportunity to be part of a very major event; we …

Dear Reader, “Walkup...Walkup...Walkup," I said over and over again. “What are you saying?” he asked. “Your name." "Why?" he laughed. “So I’ll never forget how wonderful you are.... Walkup...Walk-up...Walkup." I was 19, and after the …

Dear Reader, The Best: Sarah E. Valdez Occupation: CNA/Direct Care Provider Reason: It would be easy to dismiss Sarah as just another paid-to-give-a-damn professional, but that would be doing her a great disservice. Over the …

Christmastime is here, and to commemorate the Father's gift of His Son to the world, fathers everywhere are buying loot for their kids. Oh, what a generous God; oh, what a generous Dad. This is …

When I was in college, some of the tutors would bring their families up to campus on Sundays to attend Mass and stay for brunch. When your school has only 200 students, the influx of …

Let's start off on a nice bleak note. The standard line these days is that one out of every two marriages ends in divorce. Given those odds and the trauma of pulling the threads of …

Four months. Four months since I left the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, a little surprised that they were letting me just leave with this newborn, half expecting some sort of institutional monitor to be sent …

Vern Robinson’s Little Pistol Pete, a 16 month – old, 1250-pound, largely black Maine-Anjou/Angus steer, stands on the clean concrete slab under the burning blue sky of an August day that is just beginning to …

"Your wife has left you and taken your first-born son." "Shut up." That conversation, held between Jon (my roommate from college) and me, made up what it lacked in length in frequency of occurrence. At …

Though he could star in commercials for products that promise a perfect, healthy baby, I believe Finian was born flawed. Though his sleeping face suggests cherubic innocence, I believe he entered the world stained with …

'What do you make of the whole Cunanan story?" I asked. The bartender at the Whaling Bar in the big pink La Valencia Hotel leaned toward me. "I'm glad he's dead. That way, we won't …

I want to eat my baby. I want to press him to my chest until he is a part of me, which of course he already is. This is love — seeking union with the …

When Deirdre went into labor at around noon on May 5, she did the dishes and put in a load of laundry. We called our parents to let them know and to ask for prayers, …

Lillian's small house sits tucked between two dun stucco apartment rectangles in Normal Heights. Unlike most of the residences on her block, she has a front yard, and the walk leading to the tiny, ivy-covered …

Deirdre and I went home to my parents' for Easter. I still find myself calling it "home," even though I have been living and working in San Diego for almost two years and married for …