As I advance in age, I try to stay away from expensive restaurants or restaurants where I feel I have to “dress up”. I have always felt that I could not shop at Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom’s because it was too expensive for me, and people would look askance at me wearing sandals and cutoffs. Funny, because I have charge accounts at both stores, but do most of my shopping on line.
Grassroots Democracy Takes Patience at the Ocean Beach Planning Board
The meeting room at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center was quickly filling up last Wednesday night, the 2nd of January, as the monthly meeting of the Board was about to begin. No “OB-time” here, as the Chair, Jane Gawronski, gaveled the meeting to order right at 6:00 pm. In the audience was a “who’s-who” of the community’s merchant establishment and friends, and it included the heads of the OB Town Council; the merchants’ group, the Mainstreet Association; the local non-profit OB Community Development Corporation.
Bringing in the New Year with My Bongos
On New Year’s Eve
as I sat quietly
in my easy chair,
out of thin air
from a place called nowhere,
Maxi, my cat,
skittered across me
in the middle of my ease,
creating a little breeze,
landing on the mantle over the fireplace
with a couple of tip taps of her feet
and I picked up the beat
and patted rhythms on my thighs
and on my knees
and my bongos
and the next thing I know…. [Read more…]
The US Has Averaged More Than 18 Gun Deaths Every Day Since the Newtown School Shooting
By Laura Gottesdiener / Alternet
There have been more than 400 guns deaths since the Newtown massacre on December 14, according to a new interactive project between Slate.com and the anonymous twitter user @gundeaths.
The two launched the project because, as Slate writes, there are few real-time chronicles of daily gun deaths in the United States, despite the daily mention of firearms and gun politics in the media since the shooting. In fact, the onslaught of reporting on guns has been so intense, The Huffington Post published an article [Thursday] with the headline “So You’re Bored of the Newtown Massacre?” [Read more…]
The Celebrations Continue: Three Wise Men and a Rosca, Orthodox Christmas and Rusyns
This was a wonderful year for Christmas lights in my City Heights neighborhood. They cheerfully, often exuberantly, illuminated the night from the day after Thanksgiving until the day after New Year’s. It is sad to see them extinguished, put away, for yet another year, although ours stay up in the house year round. You can never have enough illumination in the darkness…
But that is not to say the seasonal celebrations are over- far from it. Sunday January 6th is the Three Kings Day celebration in Mexico and other Spanish speaking cultures; it is also Orthodox Christmas Eve for those religious traditions based upon the Julian calendar, as opposed to our Gregorian calendar. What that boils down to is that I have to order my rosca de reyes so that I can take it to our Orthodox Christmas Eve dinner. [Read more…]
Restaurant Review: Ponce’s Mexican Restaurant in Kensington
Restaurant Review:
Ponce’s Mexican Restaurant
4050 Adams Ave.
San Diego, CA 92116
619-282-4413
Joe, a friend that I have reviewed restaurants with before, called me and asked if I was interested in having lunch at Ponce’s Restaurant in Kensington. Mexican food is one of my favorites, so I agreed to meet him at the restaurant. It is very easy to get to – right off Highway 15 at Adams. We met at 11:45am. The timing was good, because even though we had a 10 minute wait for a booth, by noon people were in line waiting for a table.
There is a very extensive menu – beginning with appetizers ranging from $4.95-$7.95; soups and salads from $5 to $8.75; combinations where you can choose 2 items, plus beans and rice, start at $9.95 and for 3 items it is $11.95. [Read more…]
Desde la Logan: Riding Low on New Year’s Day
San Diego Car Clubs Celebrate Culture, Family and Friends
I’ve never been a car guy. Never owned my own ride. Never really had an interest. I only recently got my license a couple year’s ago at 40 years old. And that is because my son was going to be born and I needed to be able to drive my wife to the hospital when he was ready to pop out.
One thing I’ve respected though is the lowrider car and the lowriders themselves. Seeing them cruise the calles in their firme rides. Low and slow. Gliding along the street as though riding on air. The lower the better. When a fine carrucha makes it’s way through the barrio heads turn. Life pauses for a few seconds as everyone stops to look and admire the works of art on four wheels.
Chicanos were the first lowriders. They put their time, effort and hard earned dollars into making their cars shine like stars. During the early 90’s other cultures jumped on the lowrider bandwagon and started tricking out their rides like Chicanos. They wanted to be cool too. Wanted people to admire them as they drove up and down their respective neighborhoods. [Read more…]
Is Organic Food Really Organic?
Food labeled and sold as organic often isn’t
In an article entitled “Canada’s Organic Nightmare” put out by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, authors Mischa Popoff and Patrick Moore contend that many foods labeled as USDA organic may not actually be up to that standard because there is a lack of field testing in Canada, and, furthermore, free trade agreements allow the importation of such foods into the US. There are also “organic equivalency” agreements with other countries that allow imported organic food to be considered as equivalent to that grown in Canada. Popoff and Moore contend that organic crops and livestock are not tested in Canada before they are certified thus making certification essentially meaningless. Inspections consist of checking out the records at organic farms to see if the paperwork is in order, but the actual products are not tested making it more likely that the records could be falsified. [Read more…]
America Needs a New Story That Gives Meaning to the World
By Charles Eisenstein / Alternet
Every culture has a Story of the People to give meaning to the world. Part conscious and part unconscious, it consists of a matrix of agreements, narratives, and symbols that tell us why we are here, where we are headed, what is important, and even what is real. I think we are entering a new phase in the dissolution of our Story of the People, and therefore, with some lag time, of the edifice of civilization built on top of it.
Sometimes I feel intense nostalgia for the cultural mythology of my youth, a world in which there was nothing wrong with soda pop, in which the Superbowl was important, in which the world’s greatest democracy was bringing democracy to the world, in which science was going to make life better and better. Life made sense. If you worked hard you could get good grades, get into a good college, go to grad school or follow some other professional path, and you would be happy. With a few unfortunate exceptions, you would be successful if you obeyed the rules of our society: if you followed the latest medical advice, kept informed by reading the New York Times, and stayed away from Bad Things like drugs. Sure there were problems, but the scientists and experts were working hard to fix them. Soon a new medical advance, a new law, a new educational technique, would propel the onward improvement of life. My childhood perceptions were part of this Story of the People, in which humanity was destined to create a perfect world through science, reason, and technology, to conquer nature, transcend our animal origins, and engineer a rational society. [Read more…]
Ethical Traveler Shares 10 Best Destinations for 2013
By Tara Lohan / Alternet
Ready for a vacation — or just ready to start dreaming of one? Ethical Traveler, a nonprofit organization that is a project of Earth Island Institute, just released its annual list of the top places to hit if you want to pack your conscience on your holiday. “Where we go—where we spend our travel dollars—has real economic and political significance,” the organization says. “Ethical Traveler believes that mindful travel can bring many benefits, both personal and global. By choosing our destinations well and remembering our roles as citizen diplomats, we can create international goodwill and help change the world for the better.” [Read more…]
Ringing the Bell on the Best of San Diego 2012
In some Buddhist traditions people bring in the New Year with contemplation, evaluation, and meditation. One element of this celebration can be a fire ceremony where the karma of the old year is symbolically burned leaving one open to the next moment. Usually, after yet more meditation, at midnight a bell is rung to welcome in the New Year. Or, to put it more accurately, they bring in the happy new instant.
So, before the old moment bleeds into the new one, here are a few things cultural and political to remember and be grateful for about the last calendar year in San Diego as the next one comes into being. [Read more…]
SDFP Exclusive – Jean Marc Barr: Cruise Control, Soul Grind, and Jack Kerouac
By Micaela Shafer Porte
Jean Marc Barr, international French/American film actor and director, and part-time Pacific Beach, California local, loves Pacific Beach for its mellowness and great skateboarding. “San Diego is the place where ‘nothing’ is supposed to happen. It is a nice break from my hectic life, living out of suitcase, travelling around the world. “ He is here for the holidays, in preparation for attending the Sundance Independent Film Festival 2013, in his latest role as Jack Kerouac in the film, Big Sur, which is being presented on January 23.
“I started skateboarding late in life, at the age of 42, because I was inspired by my nephew, Oliver, and I needed a physical activity to keep me in shape during my stays with my family in California. Entering my 40’s, I felt “vulnerable,” so wanted to try a new sport, a dangerous one, as a challenge…” [Read more…]
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