Sealed with a Kiss“I think what’s made our marriage work is our ability to change,” says Marge. “When we got married, the priest told us, ‘For the rest of your life, everything you have is …
February 11, 2024
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Stories by Robert Kumpel
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San Diego lovers tell why they are still together
Downtown San Diego's homeless dream of Thanksgiving away from sidewalks
Homeless plans for Thanksgiving On a warm autumn afternoon, a homeless man lies against a wall on First Avenue just south of Ash Street. He's sharing a bottle of cheap vodka with an older homeless …
November 18, 2023
San Diego guys reflect on their dark skin
I'd never marry a pale girl "I don't really think about skin cancer too much. I'm not really worried about it. I've had a bad sunburn before. I couldn't put any lotion on or anything. …
December 3, 2022
The first Afghan wave, San Diego's true Okies
The Silk Road Ends in San Diego “One of the Russians said, ‘Treat these [Russians] and kill these [Afghans].’ The other doctor said, 'How can I do that?’ The Russian said, 'Like this!’ and he …
February 6, 2022
Van Dam murder divides Sabre Springs, Westerfield's jail inmates
Good Life in Sabre Springs “I think Brenda is amazing. She’s so strong. I asked her, ‘How do you get out of bed?’ She told me, ‘I do it for my boys because they don’t …
January 31, 2022
Judith Moore feels her daughters' pain, Reader writer marries Cynthis Heimel
Lines of Love, Lines of Pain We lived by the hospital. I heard sirens every day. When both girls were with me in the house, I felt a smug assurance when I heard the sirens …
January 30, 2022
Eccentric North Park bungalows, Mexican architecture everywhere in San Diego
Radical, Whole-Wheat Architecture He describes Dryden, who died in 1946, as “flamboyant, quixotic,” and “a personality who ranged from high to low.” He says, “He also describes this scene: “His family said he made and …
December 18, 2021
The hated game warden, the essential weatherman
We’re the New Wardens "A gray fox is a small animal, so usually the trap breaks their leg bones, and the only thing holding them in the trap is the skin that gets pinched between …
November 7, 2021
San Diego actors' worst stories, he guards Volcan Mountain, community college adjunct
Break a Leg In 1993, Hal Holbrook was performing King Lear in the title role. Tom Hall, a San Diego actor, likes to tell the story. Hal came on too soon and started a completely …
October 24, 2021
Reader writers get up very close to San Diego's homeless
Blood Brothers It wasn’t long before the owner of the radiator shop discovered that Rat had been sleeping in the van. But when the man saw Rat’s beat-up face and how sick he was, he …
June 27, 2021
Padres player scandals, city council caves to John Moores, farm manager Russ Nixon tells history
The Evil I Do Not Intend Dravecky raised some eyebrows that month when he appeared with Eric Show and Mark Thurmond at a John Birch Society booth at the Del Mar Fair. Back home in …
May 8, 2021
SEALs talk war atrocities, Rolling Stone embeds at Camp Pendleton
A Soldier's Pay Bradley is an animated woman of 36, whose tousled long black hair and French accent give her an exotic cast. When I acknowledge her accent, she replies, “Yes, I’m sorry, I’m from …
February 27, 2021
Angel dust on its way to San Diego, meth heads talk, Tijuana glue sniffers
Embalmed Angel Teer says that he started smoking sherm when he was 16. "I used it a lot. I used a lot of drugs, but the older you get, the less fun it gets. Smoking …
February 1, 2021
San Diego fires: Campo Creek, Volcan Mountain, Hauser Canyon
It Would Turn You To Toast Pete Scully, a battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry's fire protection agency, stands next to his camper-shelled pickup truck at a Highway 94 turnoff east of where …
January 2, 2021
9/11 affects San Diego business, average citizens, Middle Easterners living here
Al Qaeda Effect Le Travel Store sells luggage, travel equipment, and books from its Gaslamp Quarter store on Fourth Avenue. Owner Joan Keller believes the 9/11 attack nearly destroyed the travel industry. "It was immediately …
December 21, 2020
Raise your own eggs, a prince of a cat, intimate life with a duck
The chicken or the ego? Are chickens the proper enterprise for the modern family? Let’s get real about this right now. Chickens teach us about husbandry, domesticity, and death. The sole caveat to raising your …
December 19, 2020
Bear Valley ostriches, Balboa Park squirrels, edible food of San Diego canyons
In Lakeside, Chickens Make Good Neighbors You can't use your nose to find the ranch because the sharp ammonia odor you may associate with chicken farms is absent. Harold Hilliker, second-generation owner of Hilliker's Egg …
December 7, 2020
San Diego's gay bathhouses, wild life of our foreign cabbies, best light in the city
Bathhouse Quagmire "I was in those San Francisco bathhouses in the late 1970s," says James Hartline, an HIV-positive Hillcrest man who is campaigning to get San Diego's three bathhouses shut down. "Those bathhouses were a …
November 23, 2020
Tijuana's respect for the body, goodbye Revolucion flower sellers. Frank Lloyd Wright and Tecate
Grateful to the Dead Earlier in the day I attended a one-hour lecture given by Dr. Luis Antonio Martínez, a dental surgeon who teaches anatomy to students at the university’s dentistry school. His lecture was …
November 22, 2020
Internet love, the Mitchells' 30-year marriage, mom to an unusual child
How Bob and Amy and Chris and Samantha and Ted and Roy and Kurt and Becky Found Love on the World Wide Web Passion by the gigabyte. BOB | Age: 35 Q How did you …
October 26, 2020
In vitro baby trouble, Mark Twain's daughter, after foster care
Never Die Like many newly married couples, Cristen and Jeffry Hays wanted to get pregnant soon after their wedding in 1992 but felt it best to wait. They used birth control until Jeffry finished three …
October 10, 2020
Religion in Christmas movies, Yellow Deli a cult?, San DIego Sikhs, Christmas without Jesus, Hare Krishnas
Church on Sunday? If not, did you ever wonder why people do? One man's search for Christianity's core. By Matthew Lickona, April 8, 2009 | Read the full article Joy to the Screen Isn’t the …
September 26, 2020
Little Italy landmark gets red marble and white marble
As little Italy adds condos and shops, its centerpiece, Our Lady of the Rosary Church, has undergone a restoration. On the corner of State and Date streets, the church is noted as a place guaranteed …
September 21, 2020
Afro hair, piercings, obsession with abdomens, T-shirts talk, the beauty of henna, worry about fat
Afro Puffs ’Dos that don’t. I’m overjoyed that my daughter loves her hair. I’m also afraid there will come a day when she tells me she wishes it were long, straight, and yellow. By Elizabeth …
September 21, 2020
San Diego's squirrels, ostriches, cactuses, chickens, mosquitos, apples
Contagious Buzz As the hysteria over the West Nile virus moves westward, California appears to be the inevitable destination of the mosquitoes that carry the deadly virus. David Faulkner, 51, is a forensic entomologist and …
September 6, 2020
Most notable San Diego Reader stories of the early 21st Century
Bathhouse Quagmire "I was in those San Francisco bathhouses in the late 1970s," says James Hartline, an HIV-positive Hillcrest man who is campaigning to get San Diego's three bathhouses shut down. "Those bathhouses were a …
August 23, 2020
What you'll never read in Baja tourist press
Grateful to the Dead Earlier in the day I attended a one-hour lecture given by Dr. Luis Antonio Martínez, a dental surgeon who teaches anatomy to students at the university’s dentistry school. His lecture was …
August 22, 2020
San Diegans on love, marriage, and everything in between
How Bob and Amy and Chris and Samantha and Ted and Roy and Kurt and Becky Found Love on the World Wide Web BOB | Age: 35 Q Did she send you a photograph? A. …
July 18, 2020
Poignant human drama in San Diego
Never Die They used birth control until Jeffry finished three years of chiropractic school, passed his preceptorship, and established a practice in San Diego. Then, in their mid-30s, with “it’s now or never” nagging them, …
June 20, 2020
My daughter's Afro, tongue piercing, obsession with stomach looks
Afro Puffs I’m overjoyed that my daughter loves her hair. I’m also afraid there will come a day when she tells me she wishes it were long, straight, and yellow. By Elizabeth Salaam, July 11, …
May 31, 2020
A close look at religions in San Diego
There Is One God "The equality of all people and all religions is central to our faith. We didn't want to seem as though we were saying, 'No! We're not Muslims! Don't attack us! Those …
May 2, 2020
San Diego love stories
Why Knot? Randy said that some years ago he bought a thirty-foot trimaran, intending to sail it to the South Pacific. “Now we’re going to fly to the South Pacific on our second anniversary,’’ said …
February 14, 2020
More than one point of view on Thanksgiving
The ideal hipster Thanksgiving As I’ve pointed out before, no holiday lacks the potential for a hipster makeover. Thanksgiving is no exception. Not only is it nestled comfortably between epic Halloween costumes and ugly-Christmas-sweater parties, …
November 26, 2019
Robert Kumpel and the Reader
Robert Kumpel wrote for the Reader from 1993 through 2007. He lives with his family and teaches school in Georgia. Editor's picks of stories Kumpel wrote for the Reader: She let me know what she …
April 28, 2019
Back on the street after six months in the San Diego County Jail
Michael Jackson is in a good mood. It’s a muggy Saturday afternoon downtown, and he’s just been released from jail at Front and C Street after six months inside. “I was in for narcotics. My …
September 1, 2010
What's Your News IQ?
1. Peter Barry Lawrence, 71, pleaded guilty to robbing a bank on July 26 in downtown San Diego. Lawrence is popularly known as A. The Geezer Bandit B. The Geritol Bandit C. The Rest Home …
August 18, 2010
What's Your News IQ?
1. Toyota is recalling 412,000 cars in the United States. The majority of the cars recalled are which model? A. Prius B. Camry C. FJ Cruiser D. Avalon 2. Philanthropist Donald Shiley died recently at …
August 11, 2010
What's Your News IQ?
1. Countywide consumption of what commodity decreased by 13 percent during San Diego’s 2010 fiscal year? A. Milk B. Gasoline C. Water D. Natural Gas 2. Sales of what product rose 30 percent in San …
August 4, 2010
What's Your News IQ?
1. La Jolla artist and publisher Jim Lee recently won notoriety for redesigning which comic hero? A. Spider Man B. Superman C. Dick Tracy D. Wonder Woman 2. Caltrans has proposed expanding Interstate 5 from …
July 28, 2010
What's Your News IQ?
1. Noted surgeon Dr. Jack Copeland has joined the staff of the UCSD Medical Center to relaunch what medical program? A. Nuclear medicine B. Artificial heart C. Heart transplant D. Laser oncology 2. Which city …
July 21, 2010
What's Your News IQ?
1. Tijuana’s new mayor, Carlos Bustamante is American-born, has a degree from USD, and speaks fluent English. In what town was Bustamante born? A. Chula Vista B. East Los Angeles C. Riverside D. National City …
July 14, 2010
What's Your News IQ?
1. The San Diego Padres lead all other Major League Baseball teams in which statistic? A. They have fired more managers mid season in the past 30 years than any other team B. They have …
July 7, 2010
Reader writers on our country this July 4th
I grew up in a religion that loved everything I would be taught to disdain in graduate school: America, authority, marriage, motherhood, and divine revelation. My father was a history-reading intellectual who treated me like …
June 30, 2010
What's Your News IQ?
1. One Southern California municipality recently offered its citizens big discounts on electric lawnmowers if they would drop off their old gasoline mowers at a local stadium parking lot. 1950 mowers were collected. What stadium …
June 30, 2010
What's Your News IQ?
1. Which of the following actors was NOT born in San Diego? a) Cameron Diaz b) Dennis Hopper c) Robert Duvall d) Gregory Peck 2. Many San Diegans recently observed Memorial Day by attending ceremonies …
June 9, 2010
What's Your News IQ?
1. Which of the following Republican candidates running for Barbara Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat has openly opposed Arizona’s new immigration laws? a) Tom Campbell b) Carly Fiorina c) Chuck De Vore d) None of the …
June 2, 2010
23 Reader writers describe the regime of editor Judith Moore
Busy Fingers Are Happy Fingers — Joe Deegan Mother Reader — Barbarella Build Your Writing Muscles — Ollie Let the Tape Recorder Do the Work — Matthew Lickona Faith — Abe Opincar Make Something Better …
August 16, 2007
She Let Me Know What She Didn't Want
Judith Moore remains an enigma to me. When first asked to write for the Reader, I was instructed to run everything by Judith. Who was this lady? Why did she live in Berkeley if she …
August 16, 2007
More From The Quizmaster
On February 2, while in sheriffs' custody at the downtown San Diego courthouse, Richard Tuite escaped for three and a half hours. Tuite is facing trial for what offense? A. grand theft B. murder C. …
March 4, 2004
Bullwhip, Bagpipes, or Cobra?
1. Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante is facing a lawsuit alleging that he took from Indian tribes $3.8 million more than is allowed by the state's campaign limits. Who is the plaintiff in the lawsuit? A. …
February 12, 2004