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MONTCLARION: NOVEMBER 6, 2009
Nothing beats a beat cop on a bicycle. Just ask the seven suspects rounded up in the hills, recently, for soliciting
Officer Maureen Vergara patroling the hills.
without a license. “It’s easy for them to duck and hide around here,” says officer Maureen Vergara. “But on the bike I can sneak up on them.”
Armed with her gun and handcuffs, Vergara rides her mountain bike around the hills at least once a week – responding to calls about door-to-door solicitors. “Their company is supposed to get a police certificate,” she says, but in most cases they don’t. They just hire a bunch of people and bring them up in a van to neighborhoods that seem “ripe for the picking”. Some of the solicitors have criminal records – outstanding warrants and drug violations and such. In almost every case, they’ve been hired without background checks. Continue Reading »
Posted in Montclarion Columns | 1 Comment »
OAKLAND MAGAZINE: NOVEMBER 2009
The Six Questions
Who: Arngunnur Ýr, 46, of Oakland.
Photo by Ginny Prior
What: She’s a guide in her native Iceland, leading hiking tours in French, English and German, then returning to Oakland to capture the raw nature as a professional painter.
When: The tours take place in summer, when the sun never sets. Winters are spent in her Oakland studio working on dramatic landscape paintings. “They usually have around 100 to 200 layers of [oil] paint when finished, and the sheen of my work has an internal glow which radiates alluring, intense, luminous energy.”
Where: Tours leave out of the capital, Reykjavik, and highlight Iceland’s rare geological formations like glaciers, geysers and volcanoes. “I love explaining Iceland’s geological history. I know the dates of all the major eruptions, lengths of rivers, depths of lakes and ice sheets, heights of mountains, etc.”
Why: Even after 25 years of living in the United States, Iceland’s
raw landscape and intense weather are part of her character. “There
is something about the elements in the nature … so powerful … they
have such an impact on me.”
How: Her husband and two teenagers often spend summers in Iceland to facilitate her job and her passion. Her paintings are sold to collectors and featured in major museums. She will be exhibiting at Hosfelt Gallery in San Francisco for three weeks starting Dec. 12.
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CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM – October 30, 2009
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s the balloon boy. If ever a story captured our collective imagination –the recent balloon
odyssey in Colorado did the trick. And although the saucer-shaped aircraft turned out to be empty, it could very well have housed a boy, a baboon, or even something sinister like the Japanese bomb balloons in World War Two.
It got me thinking about ballooning, and my recent trip to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta – the most photographed event on the planet. With over 600 balloons punctuating the sky, it’s easy to see why.
The carnival atmosphere starts before dawn. Under a blanket of stars, vendors prepare for the throngs of visitors making the pilgrimage to this sacred ballooning site in the shadow of the Sandia Mountains. The smell of burritos and corndogs permeates the still air and flickers of light pierce the darkness as the first shots of propane surge into the nylon envelopes. Continue Reading »
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MONTCLARION: October 30, 2009
What condition my condition is in…
The older we get, the more we like to talk about our conditions. Next week I’ll be getting a procedure called a hip resurfacing. Sounds like something you get in a car wash – but I’m talking surgery – involving a titanium cup and a cap.
Oh, the sins of my youth. Looking back, I realize I was a bit hard on my little hippy. I had some blockbuster falls on my right side – doing crazy things like riding bobsleds and rodeo bulls. Continue Reading »
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MONTCLARION: October 23, 2009
I sent my son off to school, this morning, with his sports gear stuffed in his bag. But in another part of Oakland, a mother was grieving the loss of her young son. 20 year old Phat Vin Le was the victim of a drive-by shooting in East Oakland this month. His ties to our community came through his years of playing baseball in the Noll/Soll league. Reader Ron Ruma says a shrine near Phat’s house tells it all. “Amid the flowers and candles were such things as his photo from Tim Ryan’s 2002 NOLL/SOLL “Juniors” team, the Paw Sox, (and) some memento baseballs from prior years/games.” Phat was a young man with a bright future – who was driving home around dinnertime when he was struck by a bullet near his house. My thoughts and prayers go out to Phat’s family and friends. Continue Reading »
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MONTCLARION: October 16, 2009
WE’VE USHERED in a new era for politics — the age of contrition. Never have so many elected officials, nationwide, used the “s” word to apologize for bad policy and hasty mistakes. Love means never having to say you’re sorry — but then we haven’t really been feeling the love from our politicians lately, have we? Continue Reading »
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CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM – October 16, 2009
Once a year my husband partakes in an out of town male bonding ritual. He 
and a pal pick a city in which to immerse themselves in football. First, it’s Friday night lights with a high school game, then college ball on Saturday and the church of the NFL on Sunday. It’s understood that the wives aren’t welcome and frankly, I’m fine with it. Normally.
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MONTCLARION: October 9, 2009
Are we a little jittery – or what? When a low flying plane buzzed the hills, last week, some people ran for cover. They thought we were under attack, or at the very least, were in danger of being hit by a malfunctioning aircraft plummeting to earth. Turns out it was part of a military air show for the Cal/USC football game.
It reminds me of the time I checked into a hotel on Galway Bay in the Irish town of Salthill. Weary from a red-eye flight, I closed my shades to get a little shut-eye and was suddenly awakened by a squadron of screaming jets outside my window. The room was literally shaking and I thought certain we were under attack. It turned out to be a multi-national air show in the wake of 9-11 – an incredible display of military might. Once my heart stopped racing, I realized my good fortune. I had the best seat in town. Continue Reading »
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MONTCLARION: OCTOBER 1, 2009
To know them is to love them. Nine little storybook homes in Montclair’s quaint Fernwood neighborhood are being featured in a self-guided tour next month, put on by the Oakland Heritage Alliance. If you’ve never been inside one of these whimsical 1920’s homes, they are an architectural treat. They look like a page from a fairytale, with their secret gardens and picturesque bridges that crisscross Temescal Creek. For more information on the tour, see http://www.oaklandheritage.org/fernwood.htm. Continue Reading »
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MONTCLARION: September 25, 2009
GOOD THEATER has a tendency to tweak your comfort level. I knew that going into “American Idiot” at the Berkeley Rep, but the temptation was too strong to resist. Here was an album of angry punk rock set to a story line — and delivered, untested, on stage. All I knew was that Green Day was local and I actually liked a couple of their crossover hits, like “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”
But despite the fact that I didn’t fit the audience demographic, I completely bought into the angst and idealism that exploded on stage. It was a 95-minute firestorm of rage and redemption, told through the poignant words of 13 songs written when the country was bitterly divided over a war and a presidency. Continue Reading »
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Ginny Prior is a writer, broadcaster and blog designer. Her bi-weekly travel column appears in several East Bay MediaNews Group papers and her Town Crier column appears weekly in The Montclarion. Ginny’s adventure travel “Ginettes” can be heard on the Sports Byline radio network.Categories
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