San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

A Restaurant Review: “Jiggle Jiggle” Korean Grill in the Midway

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“Jiggle Jiggle” Korean Grill
3146 Midway Drive
San Diego, CA 92110

Several days ago a request was made by one of our readers to do a review of  Jiggle Jiggle. She said the food was good; inexpensive; and the “mom/pop” running the restaurant are from Korea. It should be noted that this is not a Korean BBQ. There are no hot pots or woks on the table for you to do your own cooking. Rather, it is all done for you in a most delicious way.

I have a Korean student living with me to learn English – Monica – and some of you have already read about her problem with Wells-Fargo. Monica has been with me for almost 9 months. I also have a Japanese student – Yuko – who has only been in the United States 2 weeks, and when my two students get together they spend a great deal of time in a “giggle” mode. It truly is a kick to be around them, and you find yourself smiling with them most of the evening.  Tonight was no exception.   [Read more…]

The Invention of Glory: Pastrana Tapestries in Balboa Park

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by Micaela Shafer Porte

Lucky San Diegans have the rare privilege to host the unique and beautiful exposition of the Pastrana Tapestries, at the San Diego Art Museum in Balboa Park until the end of the summer, on its limited world tour of only six cities. Go see it!

These four giant tapestries, some of the largest in the world, were commissioned by the 14th century Portuguese king, Alfonso V, to glorify his successful campaign to capture the north African cities of Asilah and Tangiers to secure the passage of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Decorative arts meets history in “The Invention of Glory.” Master Belgian tapestry maker, Passchier Grenier, created these masterpieces of delight for the eye and the mind, and now, 6 centuries later, after major restoration, they are touring the world.   [Read more…]

Taking Note of City Heights Job Creators

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We are reminded time and time again that the only human beings in a position to rescue us from our economic woes are the enormously wealthy “job creators.” The bad news is that they are just too uncertain about the economy to tap their accumulated wealth parked far far away from City Heights to start investing again in the US, anywhere in the US.

We are also told that they simply can’t do their “job creating” job without more tax cuts and less government regulation. And they also want us to know that their feelings are very very hurt that we don’t love them enough. None of these wealthy aggrieved individuals live on my block, so I am of course getting this information second hand, but I extend the invitation for tea, even though it will not be accompanied with much in the way of sympathy.   [Read more…]

Homelessness: Love, Sex, Companionship

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“Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others’ actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others’ activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.” – His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New Millennium

In the above quotation, His Holiness points out the importance of having positive relationships with other people. Among the positive ways we may relate to others is through love, intimacy and companionship. But, do homeless people have these relationships? I asked homeless people about this topic and I thank them for their responses that follow.
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Choice of Paul Ryan as Veep Crystallizes the Choice in November’s Election

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The Republican budget hero provides a clear context and contrast to a race where there previously was little.

So it’s now official: Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has a running mate. Last weekend Team Mittens announced the selection of Wisconsin Congressman and House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan as Romney’s #2. You could almost hear the champagne corks popping in Chicago.

The selection of Ryan, the principal author of the official Republican budget proposal, entitled “The Path to Prosperity,” changes this presidential election in a very substantial way; it defines it in a way that it had not been defined before. Romney wanted to make this election exclusively about President Barack Obama’s handling of the national economy, a dubious tack to begin with for a number of reasons that need not be spelled out here other than to say that deliberate and systematic Republican obstructionism has played a starring role in the slow pace of economic recovery.   [Read more…]

Surviving Higher Education: A mad feminist gets her degree in Women’s Studies

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There is a nice little pool outside my office door. I recall thinking late one night that the thing would kill me before it ever became a reality. My excavated yard had metamorphosed into a mud pit, transformed by a malevolent deluge, and I was down, sinking into the sucking miasma, my flashlight lifted to the heavens, afraid that my corpse might be found in the morning’s muck.

Turns out, all I had to do was sit up: The mud was barely a foot deep.

But that sense of inundation, of being caught in a vortical force that I could not escape, that became my operating mode as I pursued a degree in Women’s Studies for the past 18 months.   [Read more…]

Trying to Rent a Car From Lemon Grove Enterprise Without a Credit Card

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As an attorney, I occasionally must attend court hearings in Imperial County, and when I travel that far east in this heat, I want a car with a good-working air conditioner. My ten year old PT Cruiser doesn’t pass that muster so, I decided that since I had a hearing at 1pm on August 14th, I had to ride to El Centro with a car with good coolant. I mean, my god, El Centro in mid-August!

First, I called Enterprise rental cars in La Mesa – thinking naively that my home town of Lemon Grove was too small to have its own rental car office. But was I wrong. I spoke to the guy at La Mesa Enterprise and told him I needed a compact car with good a.c. and that I did not have a credit card, but I did have a debit card. No problem, he said, all I needed to bring with my debit card was a utility bill with my name and address on it.

Well, I responded, I live with my partner in Lemon Grove, it’s her house and the utility bills come to our house with her name. Oh, the guy says, if you live in Lemon Grove, he advised, call Lemon Grove Enterprise and they won’t require the utility bill. Great, I thought, how convenient.
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As to Alaska, All I Can Say is “Wow!” (with a sprinkling of other “W” words)

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The other day we rented a car from Enterprise in Anchorage, Alaska, to drive south of the state a ways. Up to then the only words we had to describe what little we had already seen in the state they call the “Last Frontier” was: “Wow!”

And it had barely begun. Believe me. Those mudflats and sparkling waters, near where we hiked the day before, along with a stop on a mountain called Flat top, where cold winds gave life to our aging bones – all that was, indeed, “Wowful” but when I steered our midsized Kia onto the highway to Homer it was like rolling along a highway in the Twilight Zone, watching a world open up to us unlike any we had ever seen or dreamed of.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Escondido Denies Permit for Voter Registration Drive on National Voter Registration Day

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Here’s an example of too much government... San Diego’s ACLU chapter is challenging an Escondido ordinance that requires citizens to give the City two months advance notice in order to receive a permit for a special event. The group became aware of problems with the North County city’s permitting policies when they applied for a permit to hold voter registration and get-out-the-vote event at the Grape Day Park on September 25, 2012, to coincide with National Voter Registration Day. A city staff member told the San Diego ACLU that the event would require at least 60 days advance notice, and declined to accept the application.

A press release issued by the ACLU asserts that “Escondido’s ordinance represents an illegal prior restraint, pitting the public’s right to protected expression against the government’s power to approve or disapprove an application. On a number of fronts, the city’s current ordinance violates First Amendment protections…” The group is currently negotiating with the Escondido city attorney’s office, but indicates that litigation remains an option if necessary.   [Read more…]

Field of View: San Diego Free Press Meet-and-Greet

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More than 30 people attended the San Diego Free Press meet-and-greet held Sunday in Lemon Grove. Presentations on the history of the internet, how to write a blog post and the original SDFP were given before opening up the floor to general introductions and collaboration. Food and drinks were shared as well as ideas about how those in attendance could best contribute to the SDFP.

Papa Doug, if your ears were burning yesterday, this was why.

All photos by Annie Lane.   [Read more…]

From Petrolia with Love: Alexander Cockburn RIP

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Progressive media is only worth a damn when it has the courage to think bad thoughts and consistently afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.

I learned of Alex Cockburn’s death when I picked up a copy of the North Coast Journal in a gas station minimart in Eureka. My family and I were in transit between the deep woods near the California-Oregon border and our next destination off the Lost Coast Highway when we stopped to fuel up and get snacks. While I stood waiting for my son to finish buying a candy bar I picked up the paper and randomly flipped it open to an article entitled “Cockburn Country” in which Marcy Burstiner chastised the local daily, the Times Standard, for failing to adequately comment on Cockburn’s demise.

To rectify this omission Burstiner details how Cockburn had been living in Petrolia for two decades where he co-edited the left online journal and publishing outlet CounterPunch, continued to pen his column for The Nation, and published many books challenging the sacred cows of American Empire and skewering the pieties of the right and left alike. Burstiner tells the story of Cockburn giving a speech in 2009 to “a rag tag bunch of nobodies” in the rain inEureka with incredible passion and energy despite the circumstances. She then ends her tribute by musing, “Alexander Cockburn, if your spirit hovers over me at some rainy Eureka rally in the future, know that one of your fellow residents appreciated you for being a thinker in a world where most people avoid thinking, for calling out the bullshit you saw in the world around you, for exasperating people around you of all political stripes and for being part of our little world out here.”   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Water Gun Party Goes Out of Control: Balboa Park Pond Left Ruined

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Virtually all the news media in America’s Finest City have been breathlessly reporting on the vandals that trashed the lily pond in front of the Botanical Building on Saturday night. And, at least from what I saw on twitter yesterday, lots of people were very angry about the damage done to the park. Here’s a 39 second video of the chaos that ensued.

What started as a public late night water pistol showdown at the big fountain in Balboa Park got out of hand as a crowd, variously estimated at between 1500 to 2000 people arrived at midnight for the social media driven event. Although some organizers claimed that they originally expected about 100 people, over 6000 invites were sent out via a Facebook event page (since deleted), with over 1000 people RSVPing for the occasion.

The primary organizer for the “2nd Annual Water Gun Fight in Balboa Park” was Ken St. Pierre, until recently Sales Director for San Diego Gay and Lesbian news and San Diego Pix, owned by Jonathan Hale (partner of Carl DeMaio). A recent press release from Hale media indicated that Pierre is leaving that organization to accept a similar position with ultra-luxe Riviera Magazine. The event was promoted in SDGLN last Thursday   [Read more…]

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