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Whatever Happened to Downtown Artists? The Experiences of Three Creative Souls Who Survived

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By Jim Bliesner

It is a familiar story to hear about how artists settle in unwanted areas of major cities, occupy unused space, and begin to create excitement and a sense of uniqueness and a creative spirit. Eventually developers arrive to capitalize on the aura. What happens to the artists who were the urban pioneers? I interviewed three artists who are downtown or were there in the past. Their experiences cover a period of twenty or thirty years and provide lessons for artists today.   [Read more…]

Field of View: Museum Roadshow at Cuyamaca College

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Each year, the Heritage of the Americas Museum holds a “Museum Roadshow” on the Cuyamaca College campus. Craig Helm, a certified appraiser who has worked in the field for more than 50 years, specializes in Native American, pre-Columbian and Asian artifacts, as well as western memorabilia and antique pictures.

There was a $5 charge to have each multiple of three items appraised–the money was donated to children’s programs hosted by the nonprofit museum.

This museum is really worth a visit. The staff is not only extremely knowledgeable, but they are there because they want to be and that shows. If you go, don’t forget to ask to see Brutus, the very-docile female Chilean Rose-haired tarantula.

All photo by Annie Lane.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line — The GOP Jobs Program: More Fact Checkers

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Day 2.5 of the Republican National Convention brought out more big guns for the TV cameras and the party faithful. There were the usual failed attempts at partisan humor (a bipartisan affliction) including rim shots at the President’s golf game, which seemed a bit odd in a hall dominated by the country club set. Oh wait! Maybe the jokes were there because he was the black guy on the golf course…. nah, the Republicans wouldn’t do that, would they?

 The crescendo of the convo’s evening was the speech by Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan.  This is the guy on the ticket who is supposed to be everything that Mitt Romney is not. A decisive leader with unquestionable credentials that appeal to the core conservatives and the tea party activists that makes up the bulk of the GOP’s committed voting block. His “white bread” quotient makes him a good bet with uncommitted voters; he’s no grizzly mamma, having crafted a persona going back to Jack Kemp that gives the perception of just enough wonkiness wrapped around a mid-western sensibility to make him a safe choice. And his willingness to play fast and loose with facts and history make him an ideal pairing with the GOP’s Main Man of the moment.

The “liberal” media of the East Coast was all over Congressman Ryan’s lack of command of the facts in his speech. What they didn’t get, apparently, is that facts don’t matter here. Having spent four years buying into the alternative reality crafted for them by their party’s leadership, the party faithful in Tampa and the vast majority of those watching Ryan’s speech on television were certainly not going to be troubled by mere facts. Sally Kohn at Fox News said it, but nobody was listening. The roar of crowd, the sense that, finally, “we” can “take America back” was all that mattered…   [Read more…]

Sex In San Diego: Who Gets to Say Vanilla Is Boring?

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by Catherine Scott/Bitch Magazine

If we bemoan the oversexualization of culture, should we also be concerned about the kinkification of culture? As BDSM blogger Clarisse Thorn writes, “Being a sex-positive feminist, I worry that other women will read my work and it will increase their performance anxiety … that it will lead other women to feel like, ‘gosh, is this something liberated sex-positive women do? Is this something I should be doing?”. Thanks to a prescriptive media, the competition to be having the most out-there, kinky, freaky, dirty sex keeps escalating, with “Ultimate Perv” engraved on the winner’s medal. Fantastic if you’re antsy to compete, but what if you’re just not into all that stuff? What if you think you secretly might be…[whisper it, now!]…vanilla?

One of the reasons I didn’t dare join a fetish community website, or go to a play party, ’til years after I was first curious about BDSM, was a subconscious sense that I was probably “too vanilla.” I didn’t dress head-to-toe in latex or own any seven-inch heels, and I didn’t take my partner down to the local shops on a dog leash. I’ve since realized that the scene is open to anyone who feels their sexual tastes land outside the mainstream—there’s no test you have to pass. However, by labelling every non-kinky person as effectively the same, is the BDSM community just as judgmental as those who judge us?   [Read more…]

San Diego for Free – Salk Institute for Biological Studies – An Architectural Gem Nestled Above the Pacific

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 A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free!  We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Neighborhood & Address:  Torrey Pines Mesa; 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, San Diego, CA 92037

Best For: Architecture students and fans

Hours: 8:30 – 17:00 daily, closed holidays

Free Hours: Free guided tour Monday through Friday at 12:00,  online registration required.  Visitors are also welcome to explore public areas on their own during regular hours.

Website: http://www.salk.edu/

Just south of the famed Torrey Pines Golf Course lies the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.  The institute was created in 1960 by Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine.  Salk wanted to build on the success of the polio vaccine and create a institute to increase knowledge of biology and a unique, inspiring environment for researchers to work in.  Today the research at the Salk Institute is focused on molecular biology and genetics, neurosciences, and plant biology.  Over 50 years after being created, the Salk Institute continues to build on past successes.  As described by Jonas Salk:  “The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.”
  [Read more…]

The Starting Line — Reporter Assaulted by Goons at Mission Valley Hilton Press Conference Exposing Mistreatment of Employees

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Mission Valley mayhem… A press conference being held yesterday by the Employee Rights Center to air charges that the hotel’s operator, Connecticut-based HEI Hospitality, had been named in a complaint alleging wage theft totaling approximately $250,000, was disrupted by loud music apparently at the direction of hotel management.

Reporter Dave Rice, whose account of the incident is online at the SDReader, found the source of the noise behind a hedge over a hundred feet from the presser. Photographs published with the story clearly demonstrate the Hotel’s involvement:

When I walked around the corner to ascertain the source of the music, I found two men next to a limousine with large speakers aimed at the crowd and a power cord leading back toward the hotel….   [Read more…]

Still Loving San Diego and Its Children After 50 years

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Looking at a picture of me on stage at the Lyceum Theatre, honoring a couple of girls who had written a remarkable play, I couldn’t help but reflect on my fifty year love affair with San Diego and its children – going back regarding the city to when I first laid eyes on the place, after flying here with my University of Arizona Wildcat basketball team back in the 50’s. The raw beauty I observed on the ride from the Grant Hotel through Balboa Park on what was then 395 (now 163) absolutely mesmerized me. So it was easy for me, after earning a couple of degrees, to leave the burning deserts of the Old Pueblo and head to a town where there existed cool ocean breezes.

I arrived in a rusty 49 ford with my mother at my side because she was afraid I would fall asleep on the drive. My wife and kids had preceded us by a couple of days.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Mission Valley Hotel Workers Allege Unlawful Treatment; Father of Prop 8 DUI Busted (Updated)

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Hotel employees blow the whistle… Employees at the Hilton Mission Valley will speak at a press conference today, detailing claims that they have filed against HEI Hospitality, owner of the property, for nearly a quarter million dollars in lost wages with the State Labor Commissioner. The event, scheduled for noon in front of the Hilton, will be hosted by Alor Calderon of the Employee Rights Center and Rabbi Laurie Coskey, Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice.

  [Read more…]

The Future Versus the Austerity Crowd: Why We Must Support Proposition 30

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Near the end of August, I helped organize the Governor’s visit to City College and stood with him, despite the many fierce disagreements that I have had with Jerry Brown’s policy positions and political judgment. I did so because it’s not an overstatement to say that the future of our children is on the line this coming November. While much of the attention will be on the Presidential race at the national level, here inCaliforniathe destiny of our children and the education system is up for grabs. Specifically, Proposition 30 represents a chance to put a halt to years of cuts to education and vital public services. If it fails, we will be throwing our kids under the bus. It’s that simple.

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The Starting Line – Romneyfest Rained Out By Issac as Paul, Protestors Steal the Thunder in Tampa

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The “We Can Do Better” theme that Republicans had planned for day one of their National Convention in Tampa Bay has been set aside, usurped by a hurricane named Isaac, ten thousand raucous Ron Paul supporters, a thousand social conservatives, a couple hundred Occupy demonstrators and one former Florida governor who’s decided to break ranks with the GOP.  The deluxe $2.5 million stage, which was supposed to frame the highly choreographed ascension of Republican wonderfulness starting today will sit dark.

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Video: Raging Grannies Explain (NSFW) ‘Legitimate Rape’

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Nothing like having a bunch of Raging Grannies break down legitimate rape for us. It’s the weekend, so it doesn’t matter that it’s not safe for the work place (except for those of us who work on the weekends…)

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Can You Hear Me Now? The Violence of Eastern Congo Is Calling

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by L.A. Moore

Ten thousand miles away, a small woman weeps into her delicate hands whispering the horrors she faces: Her husband was killed when he tended their crops. The rebels killed her son who tried to hide their money. The soldiers raped her. She has no home and no way to feed her children.

In this video from The Guardian UK, her voice comes across the miles from somewhere in Eastern Congo, where she and others pound mineral grit that will make a cell phone ring.

The grit from gold, coltan, tin and tungsten is used in the manufacture of electronic devices. The cellphone in your pocket or the iPad in your hands connect you directly to this horrific conflict.

Remember that film Hotel Rwanda, which brought the horrors of Africa violence into the mainstream American consciousness? Eastern Congo seems like Rwanda all over again. Who could forget exiting the theatre overhearing the same blithering comments: “Someone should have done something; all those people slaughtered ….”

Similar violence is taking place in Eastern Congo, and little to nothing is being done to stop it.   [Read more…]

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