By Ernie McCray
Growing up in Arizona
I used to have simple dreams:
Eating in any cafe;
sitting anywhere in a movie theatre
or skating at the rink
at any time on any day;
attending any school
I could get myself to
and swimming in any pool.
I dreamed in a state
where black people like me
drove the city fathers insane
when we dared to
carry ourselves with dignity
in our constant struggle
to be free.
[Read more…]
By Ishmael von Heidrick-Barnes
A diamondback stream
winds out of river scales
where rainwater ran off trails
stripping vegetation from roots
Debris kneels into rocks
damming what should have been
swept to sea [Read more…]
By Doug Porter
A federal appeals court has struck down rules permitting counties in California to impose restrictions on carrying concealed weapons in public. The 2-1 decision by U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel is aimed at restrictions primarily imposed in the states’ urban regions including Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and San Francisco.
California’s rules will remain in effect for the foreseeable future, pending appeals, including a potential rehearing before a larger 9th Circuit panel. Many news accounts quoted lawyers saying the issue would eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ruling is contrary to decisions in the Second, Third, and Fourth Circuits in Drake v. Filko (New Jersey), Woollard v. Sheridan (Maryland) and Kachalsky v. Cacace (New York.)
This case will likely push the Supreme Court to weigh in to work out the various conflicts on the circuit level. The high court has not ruled on what restrictions on an individual’s right to bear arms are constitutional.
The original lawsuit targeted the San Diego sheriff, whose policy requiring specific reasons over and above the usual “for personal protection” in advance for issuing a concealed carry permit infuriated gun owners. For the time being 9th Circuit ruling affects only California and Hawaii, states whose legislation was based on a “may issue” versus a “shall issue” interpretation of prior high court rulings on permitting. [Read more…]
By Will Falk
when I feel crazy or when
I run out of things to say
as if there really is a difference
I wonder why I even bother
to write all this down
when I feel crazy or when
I run out of things to say
I go to Joshua Tree
I like to find a warm, flat stone
to sit on and read and think [Read more…]
By Will Falk
she spent all her money
and a long time
getting to California from Chicago
it was good
she saw a lot of America
on the freeways
crossing the plains
then up over the Rockies
finally arriving in La Jolla
just as the sun set [Read more…]
By Judi Curry
San Diego has some remarkable native-grown youth. We probably hear about many of them in a negative way, and it is always so uplifting to meet one that is making a difference in the world. When I sat down to talk with Jake Ducey I found that it was so exciting, so much fun, that I didn’t want it to end.
Who is Jake Ducey, you ask? He is an extremely tall – think basketball tall – handsome young man of 22, born and raised in Encinitas, with long curly hair, a smile that goes from ear to ear, blue eyes that sparkle with mischief, enthusiasm, and sincerity. He has gone from a drug filled life and a basketball scholarship to an author, a script writer, a motivational speaker, and an actor that will soon be a household name all over the world. He has written a book that appeared on the Amazon best seller for weeks – “Into the Wind” – and is writing his second book to be published in 2015 having to do with setting your principles and going after them. In his second book he interviewed 27 people and has written about their successes and how they were obtained. [Read more…]
The findings of a major new Pew Research Center’s study confirm the importance of secularism.
By CJ Werleman / Alternet
Studies demonstrate the world is becoming less violent, and that human warfare is on the decline. There is one aspect of the human existence, however, that continues to ignite humans to commit violence and atrocities against fellow humans. A major new study published by the Pew Research Center shows that religious hostilities reached a 6-year high in 2012.
Dr. Steven Pinker, Pulitzer prize-winning author and Harvard psychology professor, writes, “Today we may be living in the most peaceful era in our species’ existence.” He acknowledges: “In a century that began with 9/11, Iraq, and Darfur, the claim that we are living in an unusually peaceful time may strike you as somewhere between hallucinatory and obscene.” Pinker points out, wars make headlines, but there are fewer conflicts today, and wars don’t kill as many people as they did in the Middle Ages, for instance. Also, global rates of violent crime have plummeted in the last few decades. Pinker notes that the reason for these advances are complex but certainly the rise of education, and a growing willingness to put ourselves in the shoes of others has played its part. [Read more…]
By Doug Porter
Now that the “We Support the Chargers by Wearing a Bolo” meme has collapsed, there’s nothing standing the way of San Diego’s mayoral contest rising to the top of the daily news heap.
The reporting on sports and politics contests have much in common: a mix of subjective logic is mixed with euphoria or dejection as events progress. ‘Our team sucks’ can quickly become ‘Our team is invincible’ during the course of a contest.
On the political front there was lots of action over the past few days. The first wave of negative mailers from Kevin Faulconer’s corporate allies rolled into area mailboxes, with messages tailored towards party registration and residential location. Some people (including me) called it “Race Baiting”, (at least in my case) putting the ads in the context of the last 50 years of GOP campaigning. Others didn’t think so. [Read more…]
Enero Zapatista Committee Organizes Month Long Series of Events
By Brent E. Beltrán
Twenty years ago on January 1 an unknown, rag tag rebel group walked out of the fog and rain forest of Chiapas, Mexico and into the imaginations of millions of Mexicans, indigenous people and lefties throughout the world.
On that fateful day, from below and to the left, the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN/Zapatista Army of National Liberation) made their first of many appearances upon the world stage.
Named after the great Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata the Zapatistas demanded work, land, shelter, food, health, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice and peace not just for themselves but all Mexicans and oppressed people throughout the world. [Read more…]
By Will Falk
these deserts lack the scaffolded
red-bud Judas trees
there are only Joshua trees
though they are drenched
in silver pieces
of starlight spying [Read more…]
By Ernie McCray
For the opening of David’s Imperial Avenue office
I was asked to read a piece I wrote about our mayor to be,
something to which I took heed and agreed
because right away it seemed like something cool to do to me.
But then it occurred to me
that there ain’t a whole lot of
“Orale”
in reading an essay, ese. [Read more…]
By Judi Curry
My grandma has a case of shingles,
She hurts terribly bad,
I wish I could do something for her,
It makes me extremely sad.
Grandma went to her doctor,
Who gave her a strong pain pill,
But all that it managed to do for her,
Was to make her feel more ill.
Grandma went back to the doctor,
Begging for some relief,
The doctor said to get a weed card
And then go buy some leaf.
So Grandma looked on Google’s list
To find the closest place,
Drove herself to the parking lot –
Of course it was owned by ACE.
…… [Read more…]
