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‘Always Fly Away’ : Teaching Children to Be Smart, Strong and Safe

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Milena (Sellers) Phillips’ book “Always Fly Away” is not the work of someone who has made a career of writing books for children. This brightly illustrated book written for elementary school children is a reflection of how the author herself has come to understand the world as much as it is a children’s story.

“Always Fly Away” acknowledges the necessary transition that takes place when young children want to start exploring the world with an ever growing degree of independence. It also helps to develop the critical judgement that young children need to recognize when a situation doesn’t feel right and what to do when this happens.

Phillips spins a story that retains the joy and mystery of a child’s explorations while providing ways to assure that the exploration is as safe as possible. It is a remarkable story because she personally experienced the devastating death of her nine year old son Jonathan Sellers.   [Read more…]

Housed to Homeless in San Diego: Could It Happen to You?

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Quick— imagine a homeless person. Did you conjure up the image of an utterly ordinary looking seventy year old white woman attending classes at SDSU? or a neatly dressed young Latino waiting at a bus stop? or a pregnant African American woman passing by your house? or a neighborhood kid who disappears and reappears and seems disconnected, rootless?

We don’t hear much about these men and women, young and old, who are homeless. Instead, we read about the uptrodden who have to deal with homeless people crapping on the sidewalk in front of their expensive condos downtown or the bad optics and shabby aesthetics of the tents and battered pieces of cardboard where the homeless visibly bed down every night, also downtown.

The reflexive stereotyping of the homeless demands little of us individually and collectively. It is therefore no surprise that our civic efforts in housing the homeless in San Diego have been such a dismal failure.   [Read more…]

Maria Garcia Inducted into San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame

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Recognized for writing the people’s history

Five San Diego County women were inducted into the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame on Sunday March 6 at the Joe and Vi Jacobs Center. Maria Garcia, Evonne Seron Schulze, Sally Wong Avery, Elizabeth Lou and Christine Kehoe were recognized for their lifetime work and achievements and hailed as role models.

Each of these dynamic women has left an indelible mark on our civic life, making it more inclusive and vibrant. Each of these dynamic women also exemplifies a unique voice and story. For Maria Garcia, her story is history—she was inducted into the Hall of Fame as Historian.   [Read more…]

Se Habla Something Else: Have You Learned a Second Language?

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The wretched, wonderful path to bilingualism is strewn with flashcards

A recent conversation with my neighbor Mari turned to the subject of rats. Big rats had suddenly appeared in her yard and were even bold enough to eat Chavo’s kibble while the chihuahua helplessly looked on. I ventured that the rats had fled the apartment on the corner when it was fumigated. But no, I hadn’t seen rats. “Our cats won’t keep hungry adult rats away, but they do kill the maids. They have left a few on the porch.”

Mari quickly corrected me–“They kill the young.” I laughed. Mari laughed.   [Read more…]

Want to Know How Much Water Your Neighbors Use?

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City of San Diego residents– look at your water bill

We were told last year that our water rates in the City of San Diego would go up on January 1st of 2016. That prompted me to look a little more closely at the most recent bill which includes December and January. This year’s bill for the winter months, when outside watering was unnecessary, broke a hundred dollars.

Yes, the rates have gone up. But in addition to the amount due other information on the bill caught my eye.   [Read more…]

Fear and Shopping in San Diego

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Actually, there wasn’t much fear

Our national zeitgeist certainly has turned nasty and fearful since the last Republican debate. World War III! Armageddon! Terror at home! I never imagined myself ever saying this, but I am grateful that the pressures of last minute holiday shopping have partially restored our national sanity–short-lived as it will no doubt be.

My Beloved and I recently joined thousands of our like minded neighbors making their way to Mission Valley. We left our home unarmed, optimistic that a good guy and good woman with cash and charge cards would be capable of handling whatever came our way.   [Read more…]

Excerpt from Sunshine/Noir II: Samsay on the Porch

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Editor’s Note: We’ll be publishing excerpts from Sunshine/Noir II: Writing from San Diego and Tijuana, an anthology of local writing about San Diego over the coming weeks, starting with the chapters written by SD Free Press writers. As City Works Press co-editor Jim Miller says in his introduction: “…San Diego is still a city in need of a literary voice, a cultural identity that goes beyond the Zoo, Sea World, Legoland, and the beach. With Sunshine/Noir II we persist in our romantic, perhaps Sisyphean, effort to address this need and expose the true face of “the other San Diego.”

By Anna Daniels

The sudden attentiveness of the cats alerted me to the faint sounds coming from the front porch. Moments before they were curled like fur commas around the suitcase that was splayed open on the bed. I straightened up from the suitcase that I had just finished packing and turned toward the window and the darkness beyond.   [Read more…]

‘Sunshine/Noir II’ is for Bibliophiles

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San Diego City Works Press’ distinctive approach to book as object

By Anna Daniels

While mass market publishing continues to flourish and self-publishing has increased, small independent presses have declined over the past decades. Those of us who can’t imagine a trip to San Francisco without a visit to the City Lights bookstore are an indication of the limited but passionate support that still remains for independent publishing.

Small presses release limited runs of titles and address a specific niche and readership which mass marketing publishers largely ignore. They seek out emerging talent, provide a platform for out of the mainstream views and take risks that go far beyond the financial– City Light’s publication of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl in 1955 resulted in an obscenity trial.

Another small press hallmark is the attention to how the book as an object feels and looks. That means high quality paper and unique cover art and illustrations. San Diego City Works Press’ release of Sunshine/ Noir II is a reminder of what small independent publishers can do better and differently than the big guys.   [Read more…]

Are Journalists Safe in Mexico? Benefit Concert to Support Independent Journalism in Mexico

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By Anna Daniels

On Saturday September 12, virtuoso leona player and poet Laura Rebolloso will perform in a special San Diego benefit concert in which all proceeds will go to support the efforts of independent journalists in Mexico. Pianist Alonso Blanco and percussionist Vladimir Coronel will accompany Ms. Rebolloso.

The urgency of support for Mexican journalists not only within that country but in every country that values freedom of the press is summed up in The Guardian‘s horrifying headline “‘Journalists are being slaughtered’- Mexico’s problem with press freedom.” This is an issue that we are not watching closely enough in this country, primarily because it receives so little main stream media coverage.   [Read more…]

Postcard from Puerto Rico: Someone Gave Us a Cistern. Thank God.

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By Anna Daniels

Hola My Tia. Yes they r talking about closing schools. It’s really scary my niece writes from the municipality of Carolina, which neighbors Puerto Rico’s capital of San Juan. The bagmen who are now running the show have proposed laying off teachers and closing schools as one solution to the island’s financial crisis.

There was a time when we could agree that our children’s public education was a collective responsibility and one of the best investments in their future and our future as a democracy. That time seems to have passed as hedge fund managers, investors and banks demand to be paid today.The future be damned.

And now with the water issues the schools r closing half a day.   [Read more…]

SDFP Writer Maria Garcia Thanks Neighborhood House Story Tellers with Appreciation Luncheon

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By Anna Daniels

San Diego Free Press writer Maria Garcia hosted a very special thank you luncheon for the men and women whom she has interviewed for her award winning series “The History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights.” The event, attended by over sixty people, was held on August 9 in the community room of the Logan Heights Library.

These men and women, many of whom are in their 80s and 90s, shared personal details of their lives and old photographs during their interviews that enabled Maria to weave together a unique social history of Logan Heights with Neighborhood House as the focus. That history spans from World War I to the early 1970s, with the take over of Chicano Park and the occupation of Neighborhood House.
  [Read more…]

Freeps in the News: Jim Bliesner, Barbara Zaragoza, Jeeni Criscenzo

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By Anna Daniels

San Diego Free Press contributors are a diverse and talented group of individuals. It will be a busy weekend for three of them with the unveiling of Jim Bliesner‘s sculpture Cultural Fusion, Casa Familiar’s Abrazo Award for Barbara Zaragoza and An Evening of Provocative Poetry with Jeeni Criscenzo. These events follow upon last week’s screening of SDFP video- journalist Horacio Jones‘ short film “Wingin’ It” at the 48 Hour Film Project in San Diego.   [Read more…]

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