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22 years ago John Elway sent me to the Pro Bowl armed with many Sony Watchman TV's...
John Elway sent me to the Pro Bowl. Guess who is my favorite all-time NFL player. The Pro Bowl generally is a laid-back affair, past and future, at Aloha Stadium. It features special rules such as no blitzing, no zone defenses, no trick offensive formations. The games are low-key for a while, that is until the second half when the all-star competitive juices -- not, those kind, lighten up -- kick in and some rules are better honored in their breach than their observance. But the Pro Bowl is an afterthought as yet, the week before the Super Bowl this year, and in past years the week following the Super Bowl when most everybody has gone football home. Not for me. The Pro Bowl is mine, baby, all mine, thanks to Elway.
ESPN divided the field into sections by yard markers and hash-marks. Plays were assigned point totals. A running play to the right side was one point. A 10-yard pass to the left side was three points. A completed pass of more than 25 yards between the hash marks of the middle of the field had the highest point total. It was five freakin' points. Under the very fine print section of the rules, ESPN deigned to disclose a toll-free number would be provided if requested. I believe there was some kind of law requiring this. I requested, baby, and I got to work. I studied the offenses of the teams that would appear in the four contest games.
So it went and so I went. I missed one the four games for some reason. Guess I had a life beyond football then, can't remember. But basically, I won every quarter of the three games -- two by Elway -- I played. It all came down to that toll-free number and Elway's brain. People didn't much hanker to the $5.95 per call price tag. As an Elway expert, I rode his arm all the way to paradise. I ended up with eight Sony mini-TV's, a sports video collection, and an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii, and cash, for the Pro Bowl.
The trip was awesome, of course. I hung out with Japanese girl tourists who gave me strange tasting candy and a...well, PG-rated here. I sat behind the Miami Dolphins offensive line in the stands, amazing them with my play calling expertise as I shouted out each play before it happened.
Ah, good times. ESPN discontinued the contest after that. However, whatever, Elway earned a fan for life. Journey to the top of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (from the lemon twist to artesian road)
Me, and tired at top of Hill#2
Heading up the road feeling glad...
Anonymous secret lake
Gravel rock trail
Crosby Estate featuring golfing opportunities for the .1 percent.
Trail on top of Hill#1, Hill#2 in the background
High fallutin' stables
Going up Hill#3
Cutting through the haze towards home...
Actually, needed to jump this due to page break glitch, really, sorry... A cautionary tale In honor of 'How To Not Write Bad'
This one guy who had been there forever was the worst writer I have seen -- EVER. His stories made absolutely no sense. However, the editor above us was extremely lazy and also couldn't write a lick. Issue after issues the abomination blighted actual journalistic efforts. It pissed me off that I was working my ass off writing great stories that nobody at the paper cared about, and this guy was walking around like he was dong an equivalent job. I decided to take some action. Silly me, as a joke, I decided to mimic his style and see if anybody noticed the difference or if they would say anything. I was inspired by the example of John Robert Starr, my editor at the Arkansas Democrat who incidentally gave Bill Clinton the nickname "Slick Willy." One day Starr shaved off half his mustache and walked around the newsroom all day waiting for somebody to say something. Nobody did. Either they figured it was just another day of weird or were too afraid he would fire them if they said anything. So inspired, I set out to write like this fool. First lesson: It was REALLY difficult writing like him because it was so screwy. The closest I can think of was it was kind of like writing like Yoda speaks, but not nearly as "wise." Despite the degree of difficulty -- stories took longer to write in this convoluted way and I was laughing so hard it hurt -- I approximated this guy's style for three issues. Grammar, basically, was free-form and words askew left and right. The stories were horrible bad full of sound and meaningless fury, signifying what. Nobody said anything. Finally, I ended the experiment because, well, it was ridiculous and embarrassing to boot. That wasn't the end of it though. When I tried to write back in my usual style, I flat-out COULDN'T. Writing like this freak totally threw my actual writing out of whack. It took like two weeks to unlearn that guy's style and get back to writing semi-well. The lesson I learned: Writing bad is not as simple as it seems, so some reverse respect for people that take it to the limit (of bad taste etc.) And, writers, don't try this at (your) home (page). Taxicab Confessions
Ed, the Escondido, Calif. cabby, piqued our interest. As he waited for a fare outside a local Albertson's, we asked Ed a few questions about those who also drive ---- for hire.
Let's put it this way: In New York, Chicago, San Francisco, even Orange County and Orleans Parish, Louisiana, cabbies are more than useful. But Escondido, Fallbrook, and even Solana Beach in suburban San Diego County... taxi cabs? What's the deal? Where are they all hiding? (Below is a special Ah-Ha Solana Beach taxicab confessional...) And Courtesy Cab of Vista. At last, a North County cab company worth something. Courtesy owner John Gazdayka was the only manager of a local cab company to give me the courtesy of some insight into the state of the state of North County taxi cabs. He is a longtime cab company employee and owner in several different taxi-cabal incarnations. He has owned Vista-based Courtesy Cab since 1997, running 11 vehicles that his drivers lease.
Sept. 11, 2001: California ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at 'Ground Zero'
That's where San Marcos, Calif. ironworker Paul Pursley found himself Sept. 17 on a first-ever visit to New York. For the next 10 weeks, in a city reeling with shock, Pursley helped cut away the massive wreckage of the World Trade Center, allowing relief workers to recover some of the 2,992 people killed on Sept. 11. Pursley flew home on Dec. 6. Later, sitting in his quiet San Marcos kitchen, he told of the horror of body parts, the sad daily trek through crowds of people anxiously searching for missing loved ones, the kindness of Salvation Army workers and of being able to touch President Bush. "You never found a whole piece, whole people," said Pursley, who worked as part of an ironworkers' union contingent attached to a Yonkers, N.Y., wreckage excavation crew. Twenty men worked the day shift and 20 worked the night shift, he said. "The first few weeks there was nothing really stationary to walk on," Pursley said. "There was so much energy in the pile that stuff would get catapulted 200 to 300 feet in the air. We were cutting through 50-ton pieces of iron. Stuff was all over the place. But the more iron you could cut, the faster firemen could get part of somebody out. "I've never seen anything like that in my life," Pursley said. "The ground was so hot I went through three pairs of boots in the 2-1/2 months I was there." But the heat, the dirt, the smoke, even the horribly acrid smell and danger of ground zero were nothing compared to the emotional toll, Pursley said. "I was working one day and we found a fireman and a civilian trapped in Tower Two," Pursley continued. "They survived the plane crash, made it down to the lobby but they couldn't get out. That was hard. "It was hard seeing the little kids in town," Pursley said. "Hundreds of people used to line the gates at night when we got off work. They asked: 'Did you see my daddy?' They all were holding pictures. "There was nothing you could tell them," Pursley said. "That was the hardest part. What do you tell them?" Marine to ironworker A 41-year-old Allentown, Pa., native and former Camp Pendleton Marine, Pursley said he was "fascinated" with walking on steel beams as a child. So after receiving an honorable discharge from the Marines with the rank of sergeant he became an ironworker in 1985. He lived in Oceanside before moving to San Marcos in 1998. Pursley's odyssey to ground zero began in Hartford, Conn. A member of San Diego Ironworkers Local 229, Pursley was on a job for Lewis Equipment of Grand Prairie, Texas. The crew was finishing installing beams with tower cranes for the huge Mohegan Sun Casino around Hartford "the day it happened," he said. "We had a rented van and another job to go to in Washington, D.C.," continued Pursley, a strapping man with a soft voice. "We saw both buildings smoking as we were going by New York on the way. We were in D.C. a day-and-a-half finishing up a job at the convention center. They didn't need our help at the Pentagon but when we finished we asked Kyle Lewis, the owner of Lewis Construction, if we could go to New York and he said, 'Sure, you guys can volunteer there.' "I had never been to New York," Pursley said. "My partner, Rusty Henry from Stillwater, Okla., and myself went there on the (Sept.) 17th, right down to the job site. As long as you were an ironworker you had carte' blanche. Worked non-stop the first day "It was pretty much disorganized with guys everywhere trying to volunteer in the chaos. We went to the union hall the next day," he said. While plenty of police and fire personnel swarmed across the dust-filled, chaotic scene, they couldn't do much without help from skilled ironworkers who cut through the mangled iron and steel with cranes, torches, and big tools, not to mention sweat and desire. Pursley said he and Henry were the only two out-of-town ironworkers at the scene. For 10 long weeks, the steel burners cut up towering beams and iron. "Ironworkers worked every day," Pursley said. "We went on 12-hour shifts starting at 6 (a.m.) or 7 (a.m.) The more iron we cut up, the more firemen we could find. But we only found parts; a hand, a leg, a torso, never a complete body. We found parts from 650 people. You thought you would find somebody alive at first, but we never did." Pursley added: "With all that debris and elevator cables pulling the pile, guys were getting fingers and hands smashed. Lots of accidents. Lots of guys hurt. I thought we were going to be there for a year." Pursley said he and his partner were paid through the union but ended up renting a hotel room in lower Manhattan, then a motel room in Secaucus, N.J., that cost them $6,000 to $8,000. Salvation Army workers brought them food at the site. At the end of a grueling day's shift, the ironworkers would hike a mile to get beyond the crime scene, maybe grab a snack, head out through the Port Authority Terminal on a bus to New Jersey, finally collapsing from exhaustion into motel beds. "People would sit by you on the bus and you were so filthy," Pursley said. "Not even like being dirty, such a weird odor. I'd wash my clothes three times and still they were dirty." Several close calls One of Pursley's closest calls came on Oct. 23, according to a notification filed with construction contractors. Police believed they had cleared out some of the estimated 1.7 million .38 caliber rounds from a destroyed U.S. Customs arsenal at the World Trade Center and directed Pursley to burn iron at one of the swept areas. A loud pop and painful burning of his cheek later, he found himself taken to St. Vincent's Hospital emergency room for treatment. He still has the scar on his face. Alert and in good spirits, Pursley returned to the scene the next day and kept on working. On Nov. 13, a large excavator swung across a debris pile near where Pursley was burning through steel. The pile collapsed and Pursley fell down the 25-foot pile, injuring his left wrist. Medical workers had to use 18 stitches to close the wound, according to an accident report filed with city of New York Department of Design and Construction. When celebrities descended on ground zero to lend support, Pursley took pictures with a disposable camera he bought. He has a picture with actress Susan Sarandon[Unlink] and with Jason Alexander [Unlink], who played George in "Seinfeld." And President Bush. Pursley said he went up to the President when he toured ground zero and "pulled on his shirt sleeve." "I told him, 'I didn't vote for you, but I'm going to touch you.' " He then took a picture of the surprised president. Thank you letters meant a lot Pursley said he got a lift from schoolchildren's thank you letters forwarded by Salvation Army workers. He said he planned to answer all of the dozen or so letters he brought back to San Marcos. A lot of them shared sentiments like those expressed by Ryan Moran, a sixth grader at Pearson Elementary of Poulsbo, Wash.
Addressed to Iron Workers, Ground Zero, N.Y., N.Y., Moran's letter began, "Dear Savers of Helpless Citizens," and continued: "You guys are really brave and your heroic actions during the tragedy will remain in our hearts forever. We know we can count on heroes like you. You've changed everyone's lives." Salvation Army workers also gave Pursley a red-white-and-blue hard-hat signed by many of them with inspirational sayings as a parting gift. "It's our house ---- never forget," one aid worker said. But in the end, the experience was a once-in-a-lifetime, and a fulfilling one, Pursley said. "All the people I met there were fantastic to me," Pursley said. "It was incredible. It was weird leaving and coming home. Hopefully there is closure for the victims and their families." Despite local contractors wanting him to resume work as a foreman, Pursley said he wants to relax for a month. "I have never seen so much iron in my life. I never cut so much steel in my entire life. I hope I never have to again," he said. -------------------------------------------------
Lawrence Weschler in conversation with photographer Joel Meyerowitz in the living room of the latter’s New York City home, 7 April 2003 is available at the pdf file posted here. This portion of the interview dealt with Pursley, and his iconic image that Meyerowitz displayed next to another iconic...c. 1650 image by the Spanish painter Velazquez. LW: Well, this. JM: Amazing. What a guy. He was a welder, commonly called a burner down there. His job was to go through the site and as each level was exposed, he would walk through with a torch and burn all the small standing steel so that men could walk through and do their search. LW: Do you know his name? JM: I do know his name . . . Paul Pursley. LW: What is fascinating to me here is that we’re playing off the Velázquez of Mars[Unlink] with his tool and his helmet and his mustache. I don’t want to suggest or insist that you had this specific thing in your head, but you too are treating this worker as a kind of god or a personage of great nobility. JM: I was just going to say that he was noble. The reason I saw him as noble was that he came up the road bend here, and I saw him, and we had just heard a bugler playing Taps, and there were eight of us standing around and we were all in tears and as he came to me I saw this little glint of a tear in his eye – you can see it in the photograph, he’s slightly dewy-eyed. And as he came forward, I just felt the power of this man and his nobility, and I stepped in front of him and just made a photograph. We didn’t have much of an interaction. He really didn’t even pose for me, he just stopped walking. And then I asked him something and he laughed and he said, “I was just wounded today. I was burning the steel and I exploded some ammunition that was buried.” He said, “A piece of bullet shell hit me in the face and I got five stitches under here.” He laughed. He laughed. And then he just stood there and I made this picture and I realized he is heroic. LW: One of the things that’s amazing about Velázquez is how when he chooses to do a god, for perhaps one of the first times in history the god is just some mill worker. I mean, this is clearly some guy who worked as some smithy or something, who knows who he is. This is some guy who is a working-class guy, patently not a nobleman, you don’t think? JM: No, not a nobleman. LW: And yet a god. So, that’s kind of interesting. Ride, Sally Ride (Editor's Note: Sally Ride, the first US woman in space, died of pancreatic cancer at age 61 today, Monday July 16 at her home in La Jolla, Calif. She soared into space on the space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983.)
Sally Ride died today at San Diego. I did the FIRST INTERVIEW with her when I was at the Clear Lake Daily Citizen. (I also interviewed Tom Wolfe when he had just finished "The Right Stuff" at the same time.) Lou Wortham sent me. He was a former city editor for both the Houston Chronicle and Houston Post who got term limited out into the boondocks, namely Clear Lake City, just outside the Johnson Space Center in western Galveston County, Texas. I was his trusty Sancho Panza, at least one of three reporters, two of whom were young women he didn't trust and couldn't stand. Wortham had a twisted old school journalist's sense of humor, and proper place. Among my more mundane duties, he made me editor of the society and religion page. Really? Apparently, he did it just because he thought it was so frickin' funny, he could laugh his ass off every day. Think 'Front Page' with Lou sitting at his desk growling in undertones about the Rotary Club president tool of a publisher out to subvert the press for lousy cash money. Lou was tenacious about the news, competitive the way they were back then. He loved beating the other papers every which way he could. Nothing satisfied him more than seeing one of our articles appear a few days later in the Chronicle or Post. We got those suckers again, he would yell with glee. Somehow, Wortham got wind of the first woman in the astronaut program, arranged an interview and sent me over to the space center. He was impressed she was from Stanford, but wondered how she would fare among the macho space men in the program. He wanted to find out all about her including if she were butch. Fair enough, over the long, flat road to the space center, a collection of research-looking buildings and huge mega-warehouses. They ushered me into a small book- and report-lined office where I met Ms. Ride. The conversation lasted 20-30 minutes and I would be curious to find a copy of the article. She considered herself a scientist among the air force pilots, but had been motivated from early youth to be an astronaut, she said. When the space program expanded its astronaut base to include six women, she applied and was accepted. Ride said was just one member of the team. She felt a bit uncomfortable being singled out just because she was a woman, but also wanted to inspire young girls growing up with the example they could do anything, she said Ride was ruggedly attractive, a little nervous because it was her first official interview, and interesting enough. Not knowing the future, we were unaware she would be the first US woman in space on the seventh shuttle flight in June 1983. Oh well. Wortham debriefed me when I returned with the all usual questions. Was she a troll? How smart was she? What da ya think? 30. Cool. That's about it for the tale. However, interestingly enough, not soon afterwards, I was dispatched to the scene of a local bookstore where one Tom frickin' Wolfe was holding court. He had finished 'The Right Stuff' and was doing a book signing of some other more pedestrian effort, don't even remember its name.
The first major topic, as one might suspect, was about the space program and the men who made it. He was fascinated by the top flight attitude, the test pilot mentality of the men, as I recall just here just now for the first time in years. He liked their ladies for being so strong. I asked him a few questions about the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, because the Merry Pranksters once rolled through our part of town. Major topic #2 was a bit of a surprise, or maybe shouldn't have been. Wolfe went on in great, and individual, detail about the merits and faults of every Mexican restaurant within a 20-mile radius of Clear Lake City. He really was into that stuff. Really. I can take Mexican food or leave it, but Tom Wolfe thought the Tex-Mex stuff was so amazingly great, awesome and so forth.
I rendered a few complimentary comments about his attire, which he thought was a bit much for the current midsummer mid-afternoon South Texas milieu. And so it went. Wolfe is still alive, at least according to Wikipedia, but Ride, Sally Ride, rode off into the great beyond for the last time today. More power to her and the dream of mankind finding peace and progress in space despite the challenges on Earth. She is, as Sun Ra liked to say, traveling the spaceways and speed. Colorado theater shooting, TV media news porn and us
One take-away from the Dark Knight theater shooting's cable TV media coverage is the utter lack of morality and classic journalism values that plagues us as a society. This partially accounts for the inability of this nation, and the world, to deal effectively with catastrophic issues such as climate change, economic depression, politics and war, to name but a ghastly few. As we are wont to do in this ever-moving age of communications advancement, I've addressed a few other issues related to the theater shooting on my Twitter feed and Facebook page. For example at my site, https://twitter.com/AhHa_RSF : Ah-Ha Ranch Santa Fe @AhHa_RSF #theatershooting #aurora #breakingnews @cnn We say APPROPRIATE COVERAGE ONLY. This is major story among MANY. DON'T NEWS PORN FOR RATINGS. Ah-Ha Ranch Santa Fe @AhHa_RSF #theatershooting #aurora HEY @CNN AND ALL NEWS PORN: You're so media concerned with victims? How many people died in Syria or Congo today? Ah-Ha Ranch Santa Fe @AhHa_RSF #theaterkilling #aurora Dark Knight mass murder horrible, but TV, cable covering it wall-to-wall like 9/11 amounts to news porn for ratings. Ah-Ha Ranch Santa Fe @AhHa_RSF #theaterkilling #aurora Easy to cover, everything blown out of proportion. As sad in its media way as the killings. Ratings glee for TV. As well, I took to Facebook and received affirmative responses. However, these are my friends after all for a reason. I suspect though many others share their thoughts, and mine.
This all addresses the larger issue that we will stuff into the back story pack for future reference; how our society is poorly served by many areas of the media and how a site like Allvoices can cut through the official garbage of advertising-based greed-driven new coverage of events that greatly harm our society. Ed Murrow and company in the 1950s would not have had, for example, negative political ads, entertainment and drug commercials regularly interrupt the breaking news. However, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, local TV stations et al were doing it with the theater shooting ad nauseam. A disgrace to be sure, but we all will move on and the media certainly will as this becomes that. For all the breathless ah-ha news porn coverage of the moment, the media will move on as fast as a squirrel with a nut. Not to pile on, but I do have a personal eye for details pertaining to this story. As a matter of fact, I edited several newspapers in the Torrey Highlands area of San Diego where alleged (we have to say that, but...) gunman James Holmes lived until college.
(Photo: Media news porn at Holmes' Torrey Highlands home, Friday, July 20, 2012.) In fact, I regularly drove by his house, a detail I only know now because dozens of news porn media reps are camped outside that house. It's in a very upper middle-class suburb inhabited by extremely well educated and upwardly mobile San Diego residents. As depressingly usual in today's America where very few people talk, or act, straight, the developers and real estate people dubbed the neighborhood Torrey Highlands, to associate the area with the tony Pacific Coast neighborhoods. However, the area is set in rolling hills about 20 miles from the La Jolla coast. It does, however, have beautiful scenery, easy living and a legitimate calling card as part of the Poway Unified School District, one of the best public school districts in California. What immediately struck me about Holmes, the neighborhood and the incident, was the apple pie upscale suburban sprawl that framed each component. Let me digress briefly and then explain. Firstly, I've spent a great deal of time in Denver as well and also recognized that Aurora area for what it is, a gritty, working class area about as far from Denver's downtown core as Torrey Highlands is from downtown San Diego. However, that's not the connection that came to mind. No, I immediately thought about Denver's other mass shooting: Columbine. That took place in a Denver suburb exactly like Torrey Highlands; the same houses, the same economic class, same everything pretty much except for scenery and maybe rooting for the Broncos instead of the Chargers. Holmes is only a few years older than the Columbine shooters. The victims at the midnight Batman showing were predominantly young as well. Just as I drove around Torrey Highlands all the time, I drove around unincorporated Jefferson County where Columbine was located a lot. There is a spiritual and intellectual blandness in these places. The kids are from great families. They go to great schools. Yet, something is missing. There's not a lot to do. It's stifling. They hang out at shopping malls and skateparks. They're bright. They're bored. They're missing a certain something just as our society, as a whole, is missing something. Heart, soul, something. These places feature vast spaces between veneer and truth. There is an emptiness of spirit, at least in my mind, that mirrors an emptiness in America, as greedy plutocratic pigs and political charlatans attempt to steal this nation, destroy the world for money or power or whatever drives evil people to do evil things. (Right now, they're winning as most of us are losing)
Everybody will draw their own conclusions about this event and pretty much everybody has an opinion about something like this. We could go on and on, but it's time to move on for me. My final takeaway: Cable and TV news as well as many types of corporate greed-driven media have displayed their despicable 'porning' down of the news again at the very time our society more than ever needs a strong, just, credible journalism to help citizens create context and work towards better solutions to urgent problems. It's a shame. It's our shame. Unless we are able to correct this corrupt media and cultural environment, the future appears gray, even grim. Notes from the political underground: July 16, 2012
1. VEEP, BAIN, AND BS (Bobby) Jindal truly turns my stomach. I'd bet on Pawlenty at this point for veep nominee. He's a moron who speaks faux reasonably -- kind of a Huntsman light -- so that may resonate with these lunatics. Nominating Portman is like admitting you can't win Ohio otherwise and a black mark on his spin. Pawlenty and Portman are interchangeable otherwise. And by the way, when DOES Romney release those tax records? Hiding and lying may work when you're outsourcing jobs and ripping off people, but this is America still and if you want to president...Oh yeah, while I'm at it, I saw a doc on the Utah Olympics in which practically everybody in the management structure and SLC government said Romney did nothing except take credit for what other people did, so how does this 'I was running the Olympics' crap go unchallenged. And another thing while I'm at it, if Romney takes credit for jobs created after he was at Bain because he laid the groundwork, how does he deny laying the groundwork for outsourcing EVEN if he weren't in charge at the time (which we know is a lie, he was in charge and what's more obviously, interacted with his fellow econ-criminals on a regular party hardy basis.) It's time to get real with this election.
Business as usual in Congress. And yes, this is the GOP's fault considering their countless filibuster stoppages of much-needed help for the American people. Yes, dirty tricks are used by both sides but not equally, more like 10-1 GOP-to-Dem. What Karl, you have a problem with full disclosure of who is trying to buy elections in Citizens United Era thanks to the 5-4 Scotus vote (guess Clarence Thomas' vote counts, or maybe it should have died 5-4 with a Scotus supermajority needed, if this were like the Senate) as if we didn't know, cough Koch, cough, Koch, cough and the rest of the plutocrats. Just the fact the VOTE DIED 51-44 is ridiculous. Before the GOP started abusing the filibuster loophole, 51 votes was a majority. So, that, in itself, is a sham. You know who actually is 'dependent on government programs?' The banks, the financial institutions, the non-wealth creators who had taxes halved from 30 percent to 15 percent on capital gains while outsourcing jobs to get more; not the poor, unfortunate economic victims who struggle to get by. Reality check time, dude, the party's over. Are you a millionaire? Why do you enable these thieves and try to muddy the issue with your faux fairness BS?
3. 'Both Sides Do It' Well then, that is the fault of the television programmers. Why isn't there a credible news-only TV outlet? Because the corporate owners don't believe they will generate ratings, instead segment the audience. CNN is conservative as well despite what the right-wing spinsters say, just look at their 'pundits.' I don't watch MSNBC or Fox, instead get what I can from responsible news sources like WAPO or NYT or watch CSpan. The actual problem isn't 'division' or spin. It's not people who need to 'draw their own conclusions.' It's a few super-wealthy individuals who hijacked the system thanks to Bush and the GOP and don't want to give it back to a more representative picture of America. To solve this problem, and save the planet, we need to tell it like it is and not do this 'both sides' crap. 4. Reality Check No the GOP is far worse. And when the Dems didn't respond tit-for-tat we got all this how weak the Dems were, so we should let the GOP destroy what's left of the planet. This both sides stuff is garbage at this point and merely enables the pigs to continue this despicable economic situation of subsidized corporate plutocracy while continuing to try to do even more damage to real people. From Dr. Bronners 'HEMP BLAST-OFF' to Encinitas Rotary Wine Festival ALL-IN-ONE-JUNE2-DAY
This was the 'official' notice of the first event we attended. Unfortunately, our arrival was at 4:30 p.m., so the venue had calmed. Fun and free soap for all!
Ah, the Faire Foam Zone, missed it in action.
THEN IT WAS OVER, UNDER AND OVER THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO THE ENCINITAS ROTARY WINE FESTIVAL AT SAN DIEGO BOTANICAL GARDEN. TRES CLASSY KEEPING SAN DIEGO IT... A totally different scene, thanks to Shana Witkin. Here it was ALL YOU COULD EAT (and drink) but eating was our major motivation and the eating was GOOD. So good. So good.
ERR, BUT WE DIGRESS...
Unfortunately, so much eating was done that making a historical record was forgotten except for these remnant. However, Ruth's Cris et al was...
fly.
HAHAHA. Actually, surprisingly fun, all things considered...
And so it ends, sudsy trail, hemp history week along with the capitalist, ahem...but we digress... THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS JUNE 2, 2012 AND YOU WERE THERE (sorta). (old school) 10 - 30 A bemused Gary Carter discusses something with me at the Astrodome. Me and Felix Culpa (and a camera) were at the baseball game. Naturally, the Expos offered up The Kid. MY DAY (OCCUPYING) AT THE CROSBY ESTATE -- REDEFINING WEALTH, HEALTH AND MINTY MELTS...
Yes, well, it's a fabulous day around Rancho Santa Fe. However, having no money, food and gasoline, to name a few of life's pleasures, it was necessary to do a little foraging in the immediate neighborhood of La Hacienda. Sorry.
YUM
YUM
DOUBLE YUM... OMG! Will you look at that? The back gate to Crosby Estate, somehow ajar.
You know what this means.
-------- TIME TO OCCUPY AT CREEPY ESTATE. EXCELSIOR!!! ------------------
ENTERING THE MAGICAL KINGDOM OF CREEPY ESTATE CLUBHOUSE...WHERE IS HARRY POTTER WHEN YOU NEED HIM? FRODO BAGGINS?
FIVE...
Time to get back to business. Looks like dinner in the dumpster for us tonight, dears. Perhaps Devorah Rose will come!
I'M HENEREY THE EIGHTH I YAM...SECOND VERSE SAME AS THE FIRST...I'M...
see ya later... Life of John: E-books
It is so convenient, and for a person with a disability, like me, it makes reading a lot easier. I don't have to ask someone to get a book out of the bookshelf for me, and since I can no longer turn the pages of a book, the click of the mouse, or in my case a hands-free mouse, is all it takes to turn pages. If not for e-books, I would have to listen to audio books or have someone read to me. Listening to audio books can be enjoyable, but it is not the same as reading the written word on a page. Though e-books are a great benefit to me and many others, I still miss the old-fashioned book. I remember going to the book store, perusing the stacks and buying a pile of books. The alluring smell of new books filled the store. I recall the crack of the spine of a new book as I opened it for the first time, and the sound of pages flipping as I moved through the book. The sight of various books filling a bookshelf was always a pleasant sight and much preferable to a shelf of knick-knacks. I enjoyed going into used bookstores and looking for low-priced treasures and coming out with a bag full of books. The dusty smell of old books reminded me of neglected relics of the past. Or going to the library and roaming through the stacks and being overwhelmed with so many choices of books to check out. There were so many ways to interact with books.
I look at my once crowded bookshelves, and now see a paltry selection of books. It's like losing friends. Books were a tangible thing that could be touched, held, smelled. An e-book is a file on a computer, which you interact with in a more sterile way. Though I may miss these things, I have learned to embrace this new technology. Without it, I would be unable to continue my love of reading. 
Sept. 11, 2001: Local ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at "Ground Zero" following attack.
That's where Escondido ironworker Paul Pursley found himself in September 2001 on a first-ever visit to New York City. For the next 10 weeks, in a city reeling with shock, Pursley helped cut away the massive wreckage of the World Trade Center, allowing relief workers to recover some of the 2,992 people killed on Sept. 11.
Pursley flew home on Dec. 6. Later, sitting in the stilliness of a former girlfriend's San Marcos kitchen, he told of the horror of body parts, the sad daily trek through crowds of people anxiously searching for missing loved ones, the kindness of Salvation Army workers and of being able to touch President Bush. "You never found a whole piece, whole people," said Pursley, who worked as part of an ironworkers' union contingent attached to a Yonkers, N.Y., wreckage excavation crew. Twenty men worked the day shift and 20 worked the night shift, he said. "The first few weeks there was nothing really stationary to walk on," Pursley said. "There was so much energy in the pile that stuff would get catapulted 200 to 300 feet in the air. We were cutting through 50-ton pieces of iron. Stuff was all over the place. But the more iron you could cut, the faster firemen could get part of somebody out. "I've never seen anything like that in my life," Pursley said. "The ground was so hot I went through three pairs of boots in the 2-1/2 months I was there."
But the heat, the dirt, the smoke, even the horribly acrid smell and danger of ground zero were nothing compared to the emotional toll, Pursley said. "I was working one day and we found a fireman and a civilian trapped in Tower Two," Pursley continued. "They survived the plane crash, made it down to the lobby but they couldn't get out. That was hard. "It was hard seeing the little kids in town," Pursley said. "Hundreds of people used to line the gates at night when we got off work. They asked: 'Did you see my daddy?' They all were holding pictures. "There was nothing you could tell them," Pursley said. "That was the hardest part. What do you tell them?" Marine to ironworker A 41-year-old Allentown, Pa., native and former Camp Pendleton Marine, Pursley said he was "fascinated" with walking on steel beams as a child. So after receiving an honorable discharge from the Marines with the rank of sergeant he became an ironworker in 1985. He lived in Oceanside before moving to San Marcos in 1998. He moved to Escondido in 2007. Pursley's odyssey to ground zero began in Hartford, Conn. A member of San Diego Ironworkers Local 229, Pursley was on a job for Lewis Equipment of Grand Prairie, Texas. The crew was finishing installing beams with tower cranes for the huge Mohegan Sun Casino around Hartford "the day it happened," he said. "We had a rented van and another job to go to in Washington, D.C.," continued Pursley, a strapping man with a soft voice. "We saw both buildings smoking as we were going by New York on the way. We were in D.C. a day-and-a-half finishing up a job at the convention center. They didn't need our help at the Pentagon but when we finished we asked Kyle Lewis, the owner of Lewis Construction, if we could go to New York and he said, 'Sure, you guys can volunteer there.' "I had never been to New York," Pursley said. "My partner, Rusty Henry from Stillwater, Okla., and myself went there on the (Sept.) 17th, right down to the job site. As long as you were an ironworker you had carte' blanche. Pursley said they worked non-stop the first day. "It was pretty much disorganized with guys everywhere trying to volunteer in the chaos. We went to the union hall the next day," he said. While plenty of police and fire personnel swarmed across the dust-filled, chaotic scene, they couldn't do much without help from skilled ironworkers who cut through the mangled iron and steel with cranes, torches, and big tools, not to mention sweat and desire. Pursley said he and Henry were the only two out-of-town ironworkers at the scene. For 10 long weeks, the steel burners cut up towering beams and iron. "Ironworkers worked every day," Pursley said. "We went on 12-hour shifts starting at 6 (a.m.) or 7 (a.m.) The more iron we cut up, the more firemen we could find. But we only found parts; a hand, a leg, a torso, never a complete body. We found parts from 650 people. You thought you would find somebody alive at first, but we never did." Pursley added: "With all that debris and elevator cables pulling the pile, guys were getting fingers and hands smashed. Lots of accidents. Lots of guys hurt. I thought we were going to be there for a year." Pursley said he and his partner were paid through the union but ended up renting a hotel room in lower Manhattan, then a motel room in Secaucus, N.J., that cost them $6,000 to $8,000. Salvation Army workers brought them food at the site. At the end of a grueling day's shift, the ironworkers would hike a mile to get beyond the crime scene, maybe grab a snack, head out through the Port Authority Terminal on a bus to New Jersey, finally collapsing from exhaustion into motel beds. "People would sit by you on the bus and you were so filthy," Pursley said. "Not even like being dirty, such a weird odor. I'd wash my clothes three times and still they were dirty." Several close calls One of Pursley's closest calls came on Oct. 23, according to a notification filed with construction contractors. Police believed they had cleared out some of the estimated 1.7 million .38 caliber rounds from a destroyed U.S. Customs arsenal at the World Trade Center and directed Pursley to burn iron at one of the swept areas. A loud pop and painful burning of his cheek later, he found himself taken to St. Vincent's Hospital emergency room for treatment. He still has the scar on his face. Alert and in good spirits, Pursley returned to the scene the next day and kept on working. On Nov. 13, a large excavator swung across a debris pile near where Pursley was burning through steel. The pile collapsed and Pursley fell down the 25-foot pile, injuring his left wrist. Medical workers had to use 18 stitches to close the wound, according to an accident report filed with city of New York Department of Design and Construction. When celebrities descended on ground zero to lend support, Pursley took pictures with a disposable camera he bought. He has a picture with actress Susan Sarandon and with Jason Alexander, who played George in "Seinfeld." And President Bush. Pursley said he went up to the President when he toured ground zero and "pulled on his shirt sleeve." "I told him, 'I didn't vote for you, but I'm going to touch you.' " He then took a picture of the surprised president. Thank you letters meant a lot Pursley said he got a lift from schoolchildren's thank you letters forwarded by Salvation Army workers. He said he planned to answer all of the dozen or so letters he brought back to San Marcos. A lot of them shared sentiments like those expressed by Ryan Moran, a sixth grader at Pearson Elementary of Poulsbo, Wash. Addressed to Iron Workers, Ground Zero, N.Y., N.Y., Moran's letter began, "Dear Savers of Helpless Citizens," and continued: "You guys are really brave and your heroic actions during the tragedy will remain in our hearts forever. We know we can count on heroes like you. You've changed everyone's lives." Salvation Army workers also gave Pursley a red-white-and-blue hard-hat signed by many of them with inspirational sayings as a parting gift. "It's our house ---- never forget," one aid worker said. But in the end, the experience was a once-in-a-lifetime, and a fulfilling one, Pursley said. "All the people I met there were fantastic to me," Pursley said. "It was incredible. It was weird leaving and coming home. Hopefully there is closure for the victims and their families." Despite local contractors wanting him to resume work as a foreman, Pursley said he wants to relax for a month. "I have never seen so much iron in my life. I never cut so much steel in my entire life. I hope I never have to again," he said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well-known New York photographer Joel Meyerowitz took seminal images at Ground Zero, many of which were displayed at a groundbreaking exhibit titled "Echoes of Ground Zero" in 2003. Lawrence Weschler in conversation with photographer Joel Meyerowitz in the living room of the latter’s New York City home, 7 April 2003 is available at the pdf file posted here. This portion of the interview dealt with Pursley, and his iconic image that Meyerowitz displayed next to another iconic...c. 1650 image by the Spanish painter Velazquez.
LW: Well, this. JM: Amazing. What a guy. He was a welder, commonly called a burner down there. His job was to go through the site and as each level was exposed, he would walk through with a torch and burn all the small standing steel so that men could walk through and do their search. LW: Do you know his name? JM: I do know his name . . . Paul Pursley. LW: What is fascinating to me here is that we’re playing off the Velázquez of Mars with his tool and his helmet and his mustache. I don’t want to suggest or insist that you had this specific thing in your head, but you too are treating this worker as a kind of god or a personage of great nobility. JM: I was just going to say that he was noble. The reason I saw him as noble was that he came up the road bend here, and I saw him, and we had just heard a bugler playing Taps, and there were eight of us standing around and we were all in tears and as he came to me I saw this little glint of a tear in his eye – you can see it in the photograph, he’s slightly dewy-eyed. And as he came forward, I just felt the power of this man and his nobility, and I stepped in front of him and just made a photograph. We didn’t have much of an interaction. He really didn’t even pose for me, he just stopped walking. And then I asked him something and he laughed and he said, “I was just wounded today. I was burning the steel and I exploded some ammunition that was buried.” He said, “A piece of bullet shell hit me in the face and I got five stitches under here.” He laughed. He laughed. And then he just stood there and I made this picture and I realized he is heroic. LW: One of the things that’s amazing about Velázquez is how when he chooses to do a god, for perhaps one of the first times in history the god is just some mill worker. I mean, this is clearly some guy who worked as some smithy or something, who knows who he is. This is some guy who is a working-class guy, patently not a nobleman, you don’t think? JM: No, not a nobleman. LW: And yet a god. So, that’s kind of interesting. Casey Anthony gone from Rancho Santa Fe but not forgotten: her RSF attorney Todd Macaluso threatens lawsuit against The Morton Report...
The story from the Morton Report Blog and here has spun near and far with HLN's Nancy Grace devoting helf of her Monday show to the sighting. That's when the kitchen got hot and the going got going, if you catch my drift. An interesting sidebar has developed over this story between Macaluso, with his residence under foreclosure at Rancho Santa Fe according to sources, and The Morton Report. The legal threats by Macaluso directed against Dawn Olsen apparently began when KSWB-TV's Fox Morning Show contacted Macaluso to ask for comments about the reported sighting of Anthony at his disputed property. KSWB also had invited Olsen and myself to the studio for a Thursday morning appearance. Macaluso sent an email to the station making untrue charges, which he forwarded to Dawn and me. In my case, I pointed out I never said I spoke to his neighbors -- the emails are posted below -- and he seemed to apologize, or at least square things with me. Dawn out of Los Angeles, wasn't so lucky. I will start off her account here and then direct you to The Morton Report account of the Macaluso legal threats.
HERE NOW LIVE AND DIRECT TO BEHIND THE SCENES OF A MEDIA INTERVIEW REQUEST GONE WILD....
1.)
Hi Dan
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
Have any other local San Diego television stations contacted you?
We'd love to be the first to have you on a san diego morning show.
We're looking at thursday with an interview time of 8:10 a.m.
I'd ask that you arrive by 7:40 a.m. to our studios at 7191 Engineer Rd, San Diego, CA 92122.
You can ask for me when you get there.
Thanks,
Brad Luck
FOX5
From: 92067 Rancho Santa Fe Free Press [92067freepress@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011 3:22 PM To: Luck, Brad Subject: Re: fox5 kswb san diego request - Show quoted text -
2.)
FYI Regards, Todd Macaluso Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: From: Todd Macaluso <tmacaluso@macalusolawsd.com> BradThe reports of these "bloggers" are completely false. If there any false statements aired, we will pursue any and all legal remedies available by anyone who disseminates such false information. We have verified with our neighbors that no such statements were made to the Ah ha Rancho Santa Fe news or the Morton report. We will pursue an action against Mr. Weiss an and Ms. Olson of false information is disseminated.
3.)
 Reply
That's cool, but if you read the story I never said I spoke to neighbors, I cited Ms. Olsen's reporting. I'm very careful in how I approach possibly touchy subjects and have won first place investigative reporting awards from both the California and Florida press associations. Dan
- Show quoted text -
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Ah-Ha Rancho Santa Fe News, dedicated digital media for an independent and unique population. Visit us at http://ahharsfnews.com/ 4.)
Ok Dan
We are at our wits end with the media.
Regards, Todd Macaluso Sent from my iPhone
- Show quoted text -
4.)
Hi Dan, I’m sorry we actually have to cancel. Something came up and we won’t have the time to be able to do this tomorrow. But please stay in touch and let us know if you write anymore on this subject. Thanks, Brad From: 92067 Rancho Santa Fe Free Press [mailto:92067freepress@gmail.com] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WELL, THERE YOU HAVE IT...FOR NOW. REMEMBER TO SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MEDIA!!! 'Feeding the Rich' RETURNS With Twist! 'The Kingdom of Eric Parker, Where I Rule the Internet'...
"cutest. picture. ever." bullshit! We've all seen this poor behavior. As unregenerate children, we have probably done it ourselves. In the social media world, we want our friends to know how great of a time we're having or how wonderful something of theirs is, so we resort to hyperbole and punctuation abuse: "cutest. picture. ever." (This was an actual facebook comment made on a picture of a woman and her baby.) One of the major downsides to the Internet Age is that office speak travels like wildfire. (Office speak? Think of the rising intonation people use when describing the list of shit they did at work today.) This kind of behavior will not be tolerated in the Kingdom of Eric Parker for several reasons: 1) You sound like an idiot. If you verbalize that comment above aloud––"cutest. picture. ever." [emphasis added]––you sound like what people my age would call a stupid Valley Girl (not a good thing). It really translates to "Oh, my God, that is, like, the cutest picture, ever!" The Valley girl dialect, unfortunately, has become the dialect of reality television and much of everyday life. Avoid it. 2) You're following a trend, which makes you boring. Think of something original to say. 3) You're misusing the period. I know, rules are meant to be broken, you punker, but not in my kingdom. A period follows an independent clause that can stand alone. It does not mean a pause. It needs a noun and verb; that's it. Eric rules. That is a complete sentence (and true). If you insist on sounding like a stupid Valley Girl who works in an office, try this: "That is the cutest . . . picture . . . ever." At least you're using proper punctuation. 4) You're lying, on several fronts. First, the said picture or nail job or day at the beach was probably not the cutest or best in the history of the world, or even your own dumb life. I get it: you're using hyperbole. You're smart. You're funny. All your friends like you. But good hyperbole, while always an exaggeration, captures an emotional truth: "It took an eternity for me to lose my virginity." We know, for most people who haven't entered a monastery, this isn't true. But the two to four (six? eight? ten? twenty? are you serious?) years it took from reaching puberty to losing your virginity felt like an eternity, and it gave most young boys a distinct understanding of what hell must be like. Second, you're being insincere, which makes you a bad person, an ego stroker. Third, you're lying. Especially in the case of the comment mentioned above: "cutest. picture. ever." The baby wasn't even that cute. The mom was actually much better looking. And on the scale of cuteness, human babies don't even come close to other animals. Do you need evidence?
The above image of a polar bear cub is, on a cuteness scale of one to ten, as close to a ten as you can get. The picture of the mom and baby, if we're being honest (and honesty is valued in my kingdom), would be a five.
WHY I AM BOYCOTTING RANCHO SANTA FE'S JULY 4 ACTIVITIES
THE FOURTH OF JULY should be a great celebration of a great nation, a nation committed to equality of opportunity, charity at home and promoting the cause of freedom around the world. It should be a great time for friends, families and strangers to celebrate our wonderful lives and hopes for the future. What do we have this July 4? We have the amazing increase in disparity of wealth with the top 1 percent of Americans -- YOU AT RANCHO SANTA FE -- controlling 40 percent of the nation's wealth. This economic class gap has increased 100-fold since Ronald Reagan's years. This trickle-down cynical crap is not an "ideology" but an excuse to rip off the majority of people, so the few can enjoy luxury estates, Jaguars and Porsche's, luxury loaf-styles while their countrymen and women scrimp and starve, lack even basic health care or the opportunity to advance economically. Bankers, financial pigs, oil con companies and a lot of YOU around Rancho Santa Fe are responsible for the degradation of the world's climate and opportunity for real Americans so you can drive your luxury MercedesBMWLexus to this parade, pretending you're real Americans instead of greedy frauds. Of course, Reagan raised taxes, but his legacy gave us these sick politicians, and their beneficiaries/sponsors; their endless pork and legislative and tax loopholes; and ever-increasing tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, their corporate jets and oil companies making billions of dollars monthly while tens of millions of Americans lack even the basics for a fruitful existence or a shot at a better life. Since the people ripping off our children and our future are the ones celebrating the loudest, passing out flags as if it's theirs and not ours, actual patriots will not participate in your farce. Closest to home, the hypocrisy is even more mind-blowing. Start straightaway with Martin Garrick, last year's parade bigwig. He was busted for suspicion of DUI last month at the state Capitol. His public response: A quick, pro-forma apology and back to business as usual. Garrick just sent out a round of emails at taxpayer expense detailing in simplistic form how he was fighting to lower taxes. Thanks for nothing. No, make that thanks for not killing an innocent person while you were driving drunk. Garrick's post-DUI behavior has been outrageous. See ya at the July 4 parade then, slugger. I won't be there. Garrick last year draped himself in red,white and blue as he waved to the crowd and spoke about what a great guy he is, you know cutting taxes and screwing poor people. Of course, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, convicted bribe taking felon congressman, also rode proudly in this parade as grand marshall and flag-draped what-not for years, DECADES even. So, too has Brian Bilbray and Bill Horn, and a number of other GOP politicians and fellow rip-off artists. Screw YOUR July 4, where a bunch of a-holes will be going around parading to the effect they're ripping you and me off, opposing health care for people, attempting to bring down the entire financial structure of the world because they want continued ridiculous tax breaks for the people who don't need them while cutting any help to poor or unfortunate people to the bone. Hey: You want lack of government and lack of oversight protection for people who can't afford it, how dare you even celebrate the Fourth of July that is dedicated to every value and institution you abhor. Oh, that's RIGHT, hypocrisy, the shame of our nation. Sorry, I'm not covering this travesty, not putting it out there as anything more than a sham. I'll leave that to the people with no conscience and no interest in the actual principles of equality and freedom that created our great nation. I believe I am going to boycott his parade, arranged by people who rip off the nation and the world and celebrate July 5, maybe the day we have the start of a new revolution a'la Founding Father's Thomas Jefferson's admonition. The pursuit of freedom is not something left to Egyptians and Tunisians, but to you and me, here and now. Fight On! A SAN DIEGO COUNTY FAIR BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD BE BUTTERED TO BE FRIED AND STUFF...
As for the Fair, these are a few quick Summer Solstice images with more to follow later. I was there when that ride went bonkers and injured the guy and that kid. Hmmm. I also could not bear to be part of the elephant opression clique so wished them solidarity from afar, appropriately enough the Fairgrounds security Apparatchik gathering hole.
As I've said, I've got a bunch more, but got to run just now.Anyone wanting to post their own photos, videos and stories from the Fair, feel freeto do so or email them to me at 92067freepress@gmail.com and I'll do it. Dan W.
Marco Lazaro, stung to death by bees, his humanity nearly killed by mainstreet media et al...
Lazaro was clearing brush near San Elijo Lagoon when he suffered more than 500 bee stings as he ran from the backhoe to a nearby shack to avoid the attack, then collapsed there. Paramedics took Lazaro to nearby Scripps Memorial Hospital at Encinitas where he was pronounced dead. He died of anaphylaxis, an allergic reaction to the stings, according to the San Diego Medical Examiner. Experts who later investigated the hive said it was unusually large, containing 60,000 to 80,000 hybrid Africanized bees. The hive had sat undisturbed in the field for untold years, they said. Lazaro was a refugee from the Guatemalan highlands who came to Olivenhain more than 30 years ago, living at the property as a caretaker and landscaper, according to sources. Two aspects of this story struck me quite personally. Bees and Me Firstly, when I was about 10 years old attending summer camp, I horribly ran straight into a beehive and was stung 50 to 100 times. Since now I know experts consider 150 to 300 bee stings enough to immobilize a large person, I can thank my lucky star I wasn't more badly injured that day. As it were, it hurt like hell for a week, or so, and made me bee-shy for a long time. I've gotten over that, and, in fact, love bees. After reading about bee intelligence, I'm impressed, not scared at all. In fact, I give them mad props. For example, did you know bees have incredibly large brains for their size? Researchers believe bees are highly efficient, actually -- just like I pretend to be -- and work only a few hours a day at their appointed tasks. Then, they spend a lot of down-time relaxing, doing whatever they do for fun, and even daydreaming, according to specialists. Oh, the humanity: Poor Marco Lazaro and the even poorer remnants of corporate journalism That's all cool, but the second aspect of the story striking me squarely at its roots, was more disturbing. Marco Lazaro, the person, seemed more like a tragic bystander than victim. Every, and by that I mean EVERY, local news source immediately shifted from Lazaro's death to lame, impersonal, by-the-press-release dissertations on the dangers of bee stings, adding cautionary warnings about what to do in bee attacks, the growth of the bee problem, and related generic nonsense. Marco Lazaro, the victim? Sorry, Charley horses, nothing else to say about him; whether he was a good guy or hard worker, what people thought about him, what he might have accomplished in life, or not.
Despicable excuses for news coverage, which unfortunately was the way of much of the world up to today as journalism was turned into a cash cow to be looted by faux business types starting in the late 1980s. (Locally, you can just look at Gilroy-based Mainstreet Media, publishers of the Rancho Santa Fe Review-Del Mar Times-Solana Beach Something and the Coast News "Group" who may, or may not, still be in business at Encinitas.) So, actual journalists were downsized, and then laid off, in the 2000s as the bottom-feeding, bottom-line non-journalist publishers sought to maximize their greed, a kind of journalistic shadow play of Wall Street and the real estate frauds. Without actual journalists driving coverage, looking for the humanity inside the breaking story rather than its bottom line coverage, people such as Marco Lazaro, went by the wayside, yielding to the mediocrity illustrated by his ultimate story's coverage demise. New digital media partnerships restoring responsible journalism Thank goodness, then, for the Internet and the new digital media environment bringing together citizen bloggers and professional journalists in a responsive, and responsible, partnership. The dinosaur corporate profit-mongering breed is on its way out the door with vastly hyper-bloated overhead costs and no reliable, or interesting, content, hemorrhaging money by the bank account-load. The lean, and not so much mean as appropriately resourced, models such as Ah-Ha Rancho Santa Fe are thriving. With that said, we return to Marco Lazaro's real-life story. WaveBlog of New Encinitas ran the story the way it should have been run in the first place, talking about the man who was victimized by fate and a wrong turn of his backhoe, not the hype of "bee danger." WaveBlog alone -- citizen journalists -- did the story right. What's left of "professional" -- substitute the word "corporate" -- journalism hyped the alarmist crapola, ignoring the humanity. WaveBlog was there with actual insight and compassion. So, letting you know a bit more about Marco Lazaro, the man, we re-publish, and pass along, the WaveBlog story, which ran without a byline, even, well under the dying media radar, restoring the humanity somewhat to this overlooked, and most important, element lost in corporate journalistic translation. Long story short, please read on... --- Dan Weisman founder/editor Ah-Ha Rancho Santa Fe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MY FRIEND MARCO, GUATEMALAN, STUNG TO DEATH BY AFRICAN BEES IN ENCINITAS In 1989, my wife Sarah and I were expecting our second daughter; Molly Margaret, I was working for Noren Honda and Mike Doyle of Doyle Sports that retailed surf-wear in The Lumberyard on Highway 101, when I was first introduced to Marco Lazaro and his common-law wife, Rosa. A mixed-non-marriage, Rosa from Central Mexico and Marco hailing from the Guatemalan highlands lived in a tin shack in a gully off a barranca on the property of Mrs. Rosemary Woods (Wiegand) on a ramshackle rancho squeezed between Encinitas Country Day School and the San Elijo Lagoon. When the local temps dropped below freezing we always took new blankets purchased at clearance sales to Marco and Rosa. They could have a small fire in the shack to keep warm, but always had to leave the door open to the freezing wind to avoid asphyxiation. Coincidentally, Rosa was a beloved cleaning lady for Walter Steidel who was the San Diego County Regional Retail Vice-President of Robinson’s Department Stores; that my wife, Sarah was a buyer for. There were several connections. Marco was Indio, deeply red skinned and with the almost-Central American ability to build almost anything out of everything to achieve whatever it was you asked of him; as long as you didn’t care what it looked like; and he earned his money. Marco was the most dependable person you ever met and was so cynical in his world-view that just a sour look and squinting of his Asiatic visage would make me break into uncontrollable laughter as I read his mind. Especially when I would come upon one of his phantasmagorical creations tied onto the back of his truck combined with his ability to, somehow, transport everyone else’s cast-offs to Tijuana only to build an entire apartment complex in south-east Tijuana for his common-law non-married mother-in-law; Lourdes, who ended up inheriting a nearly new wheel chair when my own mother-in-law, Beth Lyon faded into the constant shifting mist of Alzheimer’s disease. Then, in 1992, Marco’s mother became ill, and Marco felt duty-bound to travel down to say goodbye to her as she was near death. Normally, I would see him every other Tuesday morning, but as he left to return to Guatemala, it was the last time I saw him for over two years. In January of 1993, Rosa, her sister and mother-in-law (in the Lyon Familia wheelchair) arrived at our home across the street from Park Dale Lane Elementary (where I was the PTA President). Rosa had a bunch of federal paperwork informing us that Marco would not be allowed back in the United States; unless Rosa could prove that there was a job waiting here in Encinitas for him. Thus began an incredible odyssey of California corporation creation, Mexican and Guatemalan Visas, work permits, federal investigators and even, an ex-girlfriend chick fight between Rosa and one of Marco’s former girlfriends…on my front lawn (Don’t ask). Finally, in 1994, I convinced the Feds to allow Marco to travel back over the border and become my full time employee. Marco arrived at my door and we had a little impromptu party as he recounted his adventures with federales, gun thugs, bureaucrats and his mother’s burial trip into the jungles. This lasted for a week until Mrs. Woods rehired him back and having convinced Rosa of his faithfulness during his exile outside of Guatemala City for the two years, Marco was back home again and ready to work. But the economy had changed (Euphemism) and we no longer could afford to have Marco garden nor Rosa clean and straighten. Mr. Steidel, the big Robinson’s boss in La Jolla passed away and Rosa no longer rode the bus to La Jolla every Wednesday to care for the Steidel’s only child and plan her Quincenera. Then, Rosa’s mother passed on; her sister, passed, and after a year without contact, Rosa, came by the house, emaciated with breast cancer she could not afford treatment for and feigning like nothing was wrong, I fixed tea while she and I reminisced about all the people we loved that have passed away and of the great ‘city’ that Marco had built in Calle Obregon, south of the border. Six months later, walking out of the Cardiff By The Sea Post Office, I ran into Marco. (Photo) Tears came to his eyes as he recounted Rosa’s last days and he reached inside his truck for he wanted to bring some of the porcelain animals my daughters had made for Rosa at Carla’s Art Camp back a dozen years earlier to my girls; as one of Rosa’s last requests. I snapped a quick photo of Marco so I could show my daughters that he was still alive and cooking, and then a week later I fell ill and before I knew it, I was in surgery. I did not see my friend, Marco again. Over the years, he’d helped me move several times, was a guest at my home, was Mr. Dependable at all times; had one of the keenest abilities to read people (Especially Noren ‘Napoleon’ Honda) and also had one of the trippiest naturally spikes of a hair for all time. WEDNESDAY, June 16, 2010 We all shuddered at the table and asked for more morbid details. The next morning, just before 5:00 a.m., I jumped on the computer and popped up the local daily and to my horror, slowly my disbelief became tears boiling out of my eyes and down onto my keyboard. My friend Marco, who I had jumped through federal hoops to return my longtime friend to his common-law wife, Rosa, had died an incredibly painful and violent death. Stung to death by 500 ‘Africanized’ bees on Mrs. Wood’s rancho. Marco absolutely did not deserve to die the way he did and I am sure that somewhere today, maybe many places in Calle Obregon, many a candle is being burnt for Marco and Rosa; as we held our own prayer vigil for him with some smoking votives surrounded by the porcelain animals that Marco had returned to Amanda and Molly after his life mate had passed on. Vaya con dios, mi amigo. Yes, go with God. Your very hard, very happy life is finally over. We hope you are at peace. Marco, my friend... ...For more from WaveBlog, visit http://newencinitasnetwork.org/blog/?p=313 FALLING UP -- COMINGS AND GOINGS AROUND RANCHO SANTA FE, CALIF. AREA WITH DAN WEISMAN
Some short takes from around town this week, A few of these are in the what da ya know variety, but if you didn't' see them here, you wouldn't see them anywhere. Somewhat surprising stuff if I do say so myself in best Ed Grimley fashion. Actually, I first wrote an amazing 5,000 word diatribe to go with this update. a lot of it was talking about what a little money would do for us here, but then it sounded kind of whiney although totally true. So, I'll skip it for now. The story began: "I'm continually amazed about the quantity and quality of stories around Rancho Santa Fe, Olivenhain, Del Dios, etc. that go unreported and unrecognized..." And away we go... COMINGS
Farm Fresh Market always was a bit of a misnomer. Oddly out of sync with this, the most upscale of areas
GOINGS
I've spoken to Gracie a few times over the years and have so much respect for her it's funny, since I don't usually think much of...well, anyway, this lady so has it together I'm sorry we're not married. So there, I said it.
Sadly, however, she closed her Del Rayo Village store after a dozen years, and after closing her Paseo Delicias shop last year. The shops were doing surprisingly well in these economic times, but Gracie wanted t take personal time to spend with family and such. Joining the glorious heritage of the dearly departed Robyn Nussbaum Shoe Lounge, these two stores should be in the Fairbanks Ranch Merchants Hall of Fame as charter members. Salutations and salute....
DUMPSTERS (DIVING OPTIONAL)
I've said it before and I've said it again. Rancho Santa Fe has the BEST of everything, including the BEST DUMPSTERS FOR DIVING IN THE WORLD.
In my humble opinion, however, these particular dumpsters reign supreme. I am naming them the #1 dumpsters for diving in San Diego County and possibly the West Coast (haven't been to Montecito or Atherton lately). A special Ah-Ha Rancho Santa Fe News shout-out then. Do you recognize these dumpsters. the finest dumpsters in all the land. IF you do, we will be having a special flash mob meet-up there 4 p.m. Sunday, June 19. See ya there.
RANCHO SANTA FE FIRE STATION #3
This is your big boy. The $5 million uber-fire station and training facility at 6356 El Apajo, across the street from Helen Woodward Animal Center is WAY behind schedule and...Cool, but did you know there were some political shenanigans taking place behind the scenes, too. Maybe that has something to do with the delay. That story continues to develop and will be addressed later in June.
As for Fire Station #3, Rancho Santa Fe , we sing praises of thee...Once promised for May, May has gone and now the new date is when? Whenever they get round to it, I guess, they haven't provided an update. Oh well. MISCELLANEOUS
Lemon Twist now open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday at 8175 Del Dios Highway Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067 - (858) 756-0826. Good stuff! But what about this outrage?
I'm "outing" this "scoop" at the end since it's such a scandal, but a dumb scandal. The former proposed site for the ill-fated moronic 'The Lilian' mixed-BS development -- it went belly-up and couldnt get any county permits by the way -- has morphed and phoenix-like risen from its own ashes as THIS...Plaza de Acacias monstrosity. Same song, different verse. You will be reading it's unfiltered PR line soon enough at the Ecinitas Coast News and Rancho Santa Fe at Carmel Valley, San Diego Review, but this is the first of what it looks like and good luck to this piece of tomfakery.
YEAH THAT'S HOW WE ROLL! All for now folks.... Kurt Bardella GONE WILD - You can't keep a fired Issa-Bilbray aide down...and other San Diego County GOPisms...
He's back. And forth. Just like Bardella went from Bilbray to Issa to Bilbray to Issa's employment over the span of a few years - you know, GOP staffer trading, should come with bubble gum and trading cards -- I'm not sure what to make of it either. Guess it's an addiction. Bardella resumed issuing press releases, but this time FOR BOTH ISSA AND BILBRAY AT THE SAME TIME. He did it on Rostra, the GOP Tea Party blog site. Take it for what it's worth. The scallawag of a Bardella and some of the other Tea Party bloggers are all up into it over the newly proposed congressional districts that appear to reflect the area more accurately than in the past, which is bad news for the Republicans apparently, at least judging from the early whining. First, a bit more of the Politico coverage of Bardella's indiscretions, followed by the latest in GOP-(Think?) on the congressional redistricting etc for Rancho Santa Fe and North County courtesy of local GOP guru Jim Sills. Enjoy! -- Dan Weisman, founder/editor Ah-Ha Rancho Santa Fe News
THE NEW WAVE BARDELLA FILES ETC.: BILBRAY TO RUN IN NEWLY FORMED DISTRICT THAT UNITES PAST AND PRESENT Friday, June 10, 2011
Press Release Just Issued from Congressman Bilbray’s camp: (SAN DIEGO, CA) – Congressman Brian Bilbray released the following statement on the new congressional district boundaries proposed by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission: “The preliminary maps released by the Citizens Redistricting Commission have ensured that communities of interest are not divided and that political partisanship is not a factor in the districts created to represent San Diegans.
BILBRAY TO RUN IN NEWLY FORMED DISTRICT THAT UNITES PAST AND PRESENT Friday, June 10, 2011 posted by Kurt Bardella Press Release Just Issued from Congressman Bilbray’s camp: (SAN DIEGO, CA) – Congressman Brian Bilbray released the following statement on the new congressional district boundaries proposed by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission: “The preliminary maps released by the Citizens Redistricting Commission have ensured that communities of interest are not divided and that political partisanship is not a factor in the districts created to represent San Diegans. This is a preview of “Bilbray to Run in Newly Formed District that Unites Past and Present”. Read the full post (203 words, estimated 49 secs reading time) ISSA PLANTS FLAG IN OC-NORTH COUNTY DISTRICT Friday, June 10, 2011 posted by Kurt Bardella From Issa Camp: VISTA, CA – U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Vista) today released the following statement on the first draft of Congressional district boundaries made public today by the Citizens Redistricting Commission: “Taking the redistricting process away from state legislators and backroom deals is something I have long supported. While I recognize these maps are not final and there may yet be legitimate questions or revisions, I thank the members of the Citizens Redistricting Commission for their hard work in this process. This is a preview of “Issa Plants Flag in OC-North County District”. Read the full post (219 words, estimated 53 secs reading time) REDISTRICTING MAPS ROUND 1 RELEASED… Friday, June 10, 2011 posted by Kurt Bardella Here is a link to the draft maps: http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/maps-congress-1st-draft.html Tuesday, June 7, 2011 posted by Jim Sills Oh Doctor! Overnight the State Redistricting Commission posted their June 7th revised maps, and voila, a no-incumbent Republican congressional seat appears! (Susan Davis is in the “blue” district. Other incumbents are to the North, East and South.) The “new” district has Rancho Bernardo, Point Loma, Penasquitos, La Jolla, Mira Mesa, Clairemont, Bay Park, Scripps Ranch and the City of Poway. This district, if adopted, is a lock to elect a Republican member of Congress next November. So what are you waiting for, Poway Roger? Opportunity is knocking, and loudly no less! This is a preview of “Who wants to be a Republican Congress Member? — June 7 maps create the “Gold” one shown here …… Poway Roger take Note !”. Read the full post (206 words, 1 image, estimated 49 secs reading time) Tuesday, June 7, 2011 posted by Jim Sills Greetings, Redistricting fans! Overnight the Calif. Citizens Redistricting Commission published draft new State Assembly maps, and in North County they still create a Coastal district (Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas), and an Inland seat (Escondido, Fallbrook, Ramona). If adopted, this map means a potential Rocky Chavez (of Oceanside) vs. Sherry Hodges (of Encinitas) GOP race along the Coastline. It is also very good news for Escondido City Councilwoman Marie Waldron as the clear Republican leader now on the Inland side. Her district would absorb much rural territory now held by termed-out Riverside State Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries of AD 66. Stay tuned to SD Rostra for further late-breaking coverage of the State Redistricting Rodeo and Strawberry Festival. You can also follow the festivities at this link as well: http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/meeting_handouts.html Friday, June 3, 2011 posted by Jim Sills The State Redistricting Commission will view these draft maps drawn by their staff this week. View all of them here for the entire state: http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/meeting_handouts.html If they are adopted (no certainty!) here’s how they appear to affect North County’s Assembly districts. Caveat: These analyses are written on the fly, and the Maps may well be changed later. First, the COASTAL District: Runs north/south from Oceanside to Carlsbad to Encinitas and Solana Beach, also Vista to the east. That means recent State Veterans Secretary Rocky Chavez of Oceanside competing with legislative aide and ex-school board member Sherry Hodges of Encinitas for the GOP nod to succeed Martin Garrick. This is a preview of “Preliminary North County Assembly Maps— Rocky Chavez vs. Sherry Hodges on The Coast— Marie Waldron now the Inland District Republican frontrunner”. Read the full post (273 words, 1 image, estimated 1:06 mins reading time). English Surfer Ben Ellis Does Cardiff (-at-the-sea, Calif.) on his way to enlightenment, or at least San Clemente... For more from Ben Ellis, check out Surftide/UK at http://www.surftide.co.uk/.
The kindness of strangers So I’ve been staying in Cardiff By The Sea for 5 nights now and loving every moment of it. The weather has been perfect, sunny with a cool breeze. Waves have been a mixed bag. But what has topped it all off is the kindness and friendliness of everyone I have met. After leaving the boys in Vegas I have been travelling solo and camping out of the back of my SUV. I don’t have any blankets, pillows, sleeping bag or anything. So I improvised and have been sleeping in the back of the car in my board sock, fully clothed, using my dirty laundry sack as a pillow. Some may call that RAW camping!
I’m now in San Clemente staying at the San Mateo State Park and am fully kitted out and you could say I am almost glamping! Might even treat myself to a hot shower tomorrow as I haven’t had a proper wash since last Sunday! Tonight I’m going downtown in San Clemente to see Mike (another Mike) and having a few beers and some pizza with my new OC crew! Happy times! Catching a few at Cardiff By The Sea, CA from Ben Ellis on Vimeo.
Meeting Shaun Tomson at Cardiff By The Sea So last night after spending the afternoon surfing at Cardiff By The Sea I headed over the railroad tracks and up into town in search of some food. I decided to pop my head in the Patagonia store on the way and to my surprise there was a little book signing event and presentation by former pro-surfer Shaun Tomson. Shaun is one of those guys who is inspirational and full of stoke. I had previously bought his book: The Surfer’s Code and loved it. He has just bought out a second edition and I took the opportunity to purchased a signed copy. Whilst I was there I couldn’t resist getting my skateboard signed and also getting a photo with the man himself. One word, stoked!
Cardiff By the Sea - Ride #1 from Ben Ellis on Vimeo. Cardiff By the Sea - Ride #2 from Ben Ellis on Vimeo.
San Clemente friends So I met Mike Morse in the surf back in Cardiff By The Sea a few days back. After trading waves with him, Ben and Eli for a few days I was invited to come down to San Diego for the weekend for a house party. Last night I met a bunch of Mike’s friends, all super cool and chilled out. We had a blast having a few beers and some take out food down here in PB. This morning we all grabbed breakfast and did a little thrift shopping. Heading back to San Clemente soon and then one last surf and then it’s time to say my goodbyes and I’m driving up to San Francisco for the flight back home tomorrow. It’s been a great end to an awesome trip and hopefully well keep in touch and get a few more waves in the near future. Great people and good times all round, you’ve gotta love SolCal. Lee DeWyze is trending this week. Remember him? Really. Really?
Lee DeWyze is trending this week. Remember him? Really. Really? Lee DeWyze was last year's winner of American Idol. No kidding. Huh. What. When? Fame is so fleeting. Cyberspace was abuzz this week with the fallout from last year's American Idol winner either not being invited to take part in the big Wednesday Finale or being asked at the last-minute, and refusing, depending on the source. DeWhodat was there alright and quite square, according to many sources, including zap2it, reporting Dewyze twitter feeds -- how 2011 -- saying he "was not asked to be involved in the finale. It wasn't until about 2 minutes before they announced that Nigel (Lythgoe, executive producer) had approached me and asked if he could 'borrow' me for a second. I didn't feel a last second jump on stage was right. It was Scotty (McCreery)'s moment." One year after being No. 1 with a bullet star of America's top-rated TV show, DeWyze already is a where-is-he-now type story. Did he actually release any music last year. Dunno. Where did he tour - New York, Chicago, Los Angeles? Nope, Malaysia. The DeWyze DeWhodat story raises so many issues on so many levels about American culture and society though. Despite reality show popularity, nobody remembers 99 percent of the cast members as soon as the shows end. Even the winner of the most popular reality game show in America, circa. 2010 is almost unrecognizable a year later, a cyber of an afterthought.
Since this is the case, might not a reasonable person argue reality shows are evil and part of the reason for a general decline in cultural values and social achievement. The reality shows promote narcissism and instant gratification in lieu of principles such as hard work and talent that once were important in America. Wouldn't America be better off without these abominations, and Americans be better off with, say Shakespeare plays, more cultural, educational and nature programming or other real, non-reality programming. Lee DeWyze and America's demise Who is choosing all these reality shows anyway? News flash: Corporate flunkies with no true connection with really real people, and not the Real Wives franchise of their imaginary kind. (Guess the network yes-people greenlight these shows because they are cheap to produce, but at what cost to society and even America's future.) It also goes to the Idol experience. The namby-pamby non-criticism of judges Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy ??? instead of Simon Cowell's over-the-top honesty meant the voting public had no clue how to vote. So, the best talent went weeks before two country western mediocrities competed for the top spot. Even DeWyze on his twitter feed figured he needed to do some reminding. The feed proclaims: "American Idol Season 9 Winner!" just to let people know. The twitter feed had 92,717 followers this week, nor exactly mind-numbing figures on a social media outlet where celebrities routinely get hundreds of thousand of followers. If DeWyze is so easily forgotten, where does that leave country cornball Scott McCreery. Never was Idol's artificial promotion machine so obvious as the propping up of this kid as some sort of heart-throb, usually surrounding him with several clueless teenage girls. Come on man. And since when did American Idol become American Country Idol? The real question amidst the whatever happened to Lee DeWyze American Idol finale confusion isn't what happened to American Idol, but what happened to America. What do you think? 'Life of John' I'm Back.
I 'm back. It has been a while since I last posted to my blog. I had some more health problems and took a break from blogging. My last two posts (Hospital, A Shocking Visit to the ER) were about my heart problems, and since then the health problems continued.
After hours of waiting, I was finally moved to a room in the ICU. I was transferred from the gurney to the much more comfortable hospital bed. The gurneys in hospitals are like concrete slabs. I wonder what sadist invented them. When the respiratory therapist suctioned my trach, my heart started acting up again, and it did it again when the nurses turned me. Through the evening I kept having heart problems. The next two evenings were no different. Finally, after trial and error they found the right heart medication, Fleccanide. and for the rest of my hospital stay, my heart stayed in a normal rhythm. It was a relief to go days without my heart acting up. Now, my only concern was beating the pneumonia. As a person with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy I understand how serious pneumonia can be if it is not under control. It has the potential to be deadly for people like me. In addition, they found fluid around my heart. The only treatment was to let it go away by itself. Feeding the Rich RETURNS!!! - Others Say It Better: May 5, 2011...(Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
I am a liar. I said I would continue blogging, but I haven't. I wanted to tell you about John Winthrop's original vision for his Puritan colony in Massachusetts, laid out in his essay "A Model of Christian Charity," the famous "city upon a hill" speech. How God has made some people rich and some poor so that they could honor God by "dispensing his gifts to man by man [rather] than if he did it by his own immediate hands " and "that every man might have need of others . . . [and] be all knit more nearly together in the bonds of brotherly affection." But the tornado happened in Tuscaloosa last Wednesday. Normal life stopped. And then people acted out Winthrop's vision, especially the part about a community in peril: "Question: What rule must we observe and walk by in cause of community in peril? "Answer: The same as before, but with more enlargement towards others and less respect towards ourselves and our own right. Hence it was that in the primitive Church they sold all, had all things in common, neither did any man say that which he possessed was his own." Objects have lost meaning when the cease to exist, so the objects that still do exist feel like they belong to all. Door signs––mi casa es tu casa––become literal. Wallets open to buy others food, toiletries, and, more importantly, drinks to share stories over. "Where were you?" "What did it sound like?" People say "How are you?" and "I'm glad to see you" and mean it. Trivial enmities cease to exist. Some of the haves have become have nots, and the have nots have become have even less. People are screwed. But people are also loving and sharing and helping one another like I've never seen before. It's a beautiful moment. Yet moments, by their very definition, are an indefinitely short period of time. But those who were here, who lived through this storm, will live in this moment for a very long time . . . I don't think I can put this experience into any more words, but there are those who have done so, well: Brian Oliu, BJ Hollars, Michael Martone, and Wendy Rawlings(you have to know what you had to know what you lost).
(Editor's Note: Longtime local resident Eric Parker, and former Leucadia Pizza delivery driver around Rancho Santa Fe -- hence the blog's name -- was laid off and ran out of unemployment benefits. Talk abut bad timing, he moved to Tuscaloosa, Ala. last year to take an appointment as an English instructor at the University of Alabama. He continues to blog and we continue to follow his posts with great interest as the Fresno State creative writing graduate, and lifetime California resident, seeks to cope with his new life in the Old South. Unfortunately, as we all know, in the midst of spectacular news here and there, the tornado destruction is kind of like, as one man says in the video below, Alabama's Katrina, quickly knocked off the front pages as reconstruction ensues. People around here experienced similar emotions during the October 2007 Witch Creek Fire that thankfully did nit result in the loss of life as at Tuscaloosa and New Orelans.) |
