“I want to play with those,” my 4-year-old nephew said, pointing at the Star Wars Lego magnets on the fridge.
“No, no,” my mom replied.
“And why not?” I interjected.
“Because they’re not toys,” she responded, deadpan.
Having purchased the magnets myself, I knew that’s exactly what they were. But I had to pause to appreciate the moment. It was 25 years in the making. [Read more…]
By Annie Lane
Feminism comes in many shapes and sizes, though if you ask author Karin Agness of the Time Magazine article Seriously? This Is What Passes for Feminism in America it appears that it should only ever manifest itself in the form of an 11-year-old girl who was shot in the head, as was the case for Malala Yousafzai.
Thankfully, Yousafzai survived the senseless and depraved attack on her life by the Taliban in 2012, and has gone on to be the voice for women’s education and rights in Pakistan. And the world is better because of her.
But according to Agness, American girls, such as the ones who appeared in the controversial FCKH8 video that went viral last week, don’t even graze the surface of what it means to be a Feminist, and instead are merely some part of a cheap marketing ploy to sell t-shirts. [Read more…]
By Annie Lane
The U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge took place in San Diego over Labor Day Weekend, with artists from all over the world coming together to compete. The subject matter of the sculpting ranged from the local Metropolitan Transit Service to steam punk designs to a shark attacking a boat. [Read more…]
By Annie Lane
Last week was a rather depressing one in the world of news. In Arizona, a 9-year-old girl fatally shot her gun instructor in the face with an Uzi. And right here in San Diego, a pediatric nurse was arrested for the sexual exploitation of a child after allegedly molesting the 2-month-old foster infant in his care.
Michael William Lutts, a Kaiser Permanente employee, came to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation after they executed a search warrant on an email address that was being operated by a person with the intent of distributing child pornography. According to officials, Lutts, 50, was identified as an account that had sent pornographic images of children to this unnamed individual.
A search of Lutts’ College Area home found several hundreds of images of child pornography on the computers, hard drives, CDs and other items seized. FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth stated that a cell phone taken during the search had numerous images and videos of Lutts sexually molesting the prematurely born male infant. [Read more…]
By Annie Lane
I recently traveled to Newport, Rhode Island, for a long weekend to attend my brother’s graduation. A Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, he had just completed a stint at the prestigious United States Naval War College.
Basically, he’s a badass. Although I now wonder if he’s the one who was actually adopted since the rest of my family tends to lean on the peace-loving, tree-hugging, hippie activist side of things. My brother assures me, however, that there were as many lessons on communication and negotiations as there were on strategy and tactical combat. Of course this news left my mom considering petitioning the college for a name change. (Tactical Peace College?) But I digress.
The good southern California weather came along for the trip, as the warm sky was often a crystal blue with fantastic cloud formations — a welcome respite from a tiring and long winter, according to the locals.
[Read more…]
The SDFP is switching gears from National Poetry Month to National Bike Month. There are several events throughout the month of May for avid and amateur cyclists alike. If you know of an event not listed below, please add it in the comment section. [Read more…]
By Annie Lane
Having relied on Goodwill for years as the place to drop off my “unwanteds” in the hope they would find new life with people who could better appreciate them (the tax write off was a nice touch, too), it saddens me to discover that the famous thrift store is, in many ways, just another large company run by a disconnected wealthy few who have forgotten what it means to demonstrate humanity, or, more aptly, good will unto others.
Sure, as the video below states, it should not be forgotten the incredible impact Goodwill has had on the communities it inhabits, including the countless people it has hired, disabled and otherwise. But wouldn’t you know my tolerance for companies that do mostly good while still managing to take advantage of some of the most vulnerable members of society is at an all time low. [Read more…]
It’s difficult to imagine anything other than a crusty, inflatable, creepy-looking … thing when picturing a sex doll in the mind’s eye. A likeness to the figure in Edvard Munch’s The Scream, though slightly more unsettling if that’s even possible.
But sex dolls actually have quite an interesting history, reaching back as far as 8 A.D. with the myth that Pygmalion obsessed over a woman he sculpted from ivory so much so that Aphrodite eventually made her real. In the 1940s, Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler devised the “Borghild Project,” which involved the production and shipment of sex dolls to German soldiers in an effort to lure them away from diseased French prostitutes. [Read more…]
By Annie Lane
At the corner of Euclid and University avenues in City Heights there is a wonderland of activity, architecture and, perhaps, some of the friendliest people in San Diego. That is where this Field of View will focus, with a quick jaunt up the street to some nearby Buddhist temples.
Cerberus Motorcycles is owned by Dave Hargreaves and Erik Borowitz, who moved here from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Housed inside the famous Egyptian Garage on Euclid Avenue, the pair is guarded by garage dogs, much like their business motif would suggest. [Read more…]
It’s not all that often that President Barack Obama has truly gotten angry at his Republican counterparts. It’s been well-deserved on so many occasions, yet Obama seems to believe that civility and decency can somehow still get through to the GOP. In a press conference on Friday, Obama demonstrated some refreshing gusto, scolding the GOP for making “the idea of preventing [millions of Americans] from getting health care their holy grail.”
“Their number one priority, the one unifying principle in the Republican Party at the moment is making sure that 30 million people don’t have health care,” Obama said. [Read more…]
By Annie Lane
After spending a solid three hours wandering the streets of City Heights, I found that it’s possible to do so and still only see a fraction of what the charming, lived-in neighborhood has to offer.
Freeper and longtime City Heights resident Anna Daniels served as my guide, taking me on streets less traveled to see sights like the 47th Street Canyon, where a sign read, among other things, that no guns were allowed. We also visited the nearby Cambodian Buddhist Society of San Diego, its signature orange facade a stark contrast against the blue sky. [Read more…]
By Annie Lane
Torrey Pines State Reserve is a scene I will never tire of seeing. Striking colors, views and wildlife surround easily accessible paths making the excursion enjoyable for hikers of all skill levels.
On this particular day, we ended our outing at the Torrey Pines Gliderport (a short drive), where we ate lunch at the Cliffhanger Cafe and watched paragliders and hang gliders flying among the birds. The food was decent, and made all the better by the scenery. We also met two of the birds from West Coast Falconry, who were hanging out cliffside with their trainers and would fly alongside them while they went paragliding. [Read more…]
