Posted in Travel Essays, Video on November 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: November 9, 2012
His steely eyes stared at me from across the sweeping lobby. Long hair tumbling down his back, he wore black boots and armor and spoke in a strange, guttural tongue.
I’ve met a lot of men in my travels, but never a Klingon. In fact, dozens of these Star Trek aliens were staying at the Hyatt Regency SFO recently as part of a science fiction and fantasy convention. (more…)
Posted in Montclarion Columns, Video on October 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
MONTCLARION: October 5, 2012
Lions and turtles and condors — oh my. The Oakland Zoo opens its impressive 17,000-square-foot veterinary hospital on Oct. 11. This handsome cedar structure at the top of the hill will be a lifesaver for animals of all stripes. There’ll be two veterinarians on staff (in addition to zoo director Dr. Joel Parrott), two vet techs and interns from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. (more…)
Posted in Travel Essays, Video on June 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: June 8, 2012
It’s a blur on the landscape for many — a cow town ignored on a speedway toward greener pastures — like the Bay Area and Tahoe.
Yet Davis is a destination in its own right, with a vibrant downtown and a bicycle culture that makes it the most freewheeling city in the country.
Posted in Travel Essays, Video on March 31, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
HILLS NEWSPAPERS:March 29, 2012
In all the Bay Area, who knew that Half Moon Bay would be a great place to pick up chicks?
I’m talking about the feathered kind, the kind popping up in coops around the Bay. Day in and day out, Half Moon Bay Feed and Fuel sells more baby chicks than their competitors — some 200 peepers a week. And these are not your father’s hens. Some lay white eggs, and some lay light brown. But some chicks lay pink, green and blue. Think Easter eggs without the dye.
Posted in Travel Essays, Video on June 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Civic Center turns into a carnival for Pow Wow
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: JUNE 10, 2011
It was the Black and White Ball on steroids — cakebread cabernet flowing like water; lavish presentations of food every few feet and pulsating entertainment on several stages.
The climax of five days of International Pow Wow was a party of epic proportions, where Civic Center became a sort of San Francisco Disneyland, complete with a Ferris wheel and confetti raining down on the crowd during a laser light show on the front of City Hall.
City Hall with Stripes
Posted in Video on April 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Video produced by Lion’s Club volunteer Stephen Woo (Stephen Woo Photography)
Posted in People Profiles, Video on January 14, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: January 14, 2011
The three guitars resting on her living room couch tell the story. “These are the girls” says Oakland hills singer/songwriter Caren Armstrong — each instrument poised to be played by an artist who can make the strings sing.
Mention the name to any local guitarist and you’ll find Armstrong has a big following. The free-spirited redhead with hair the color of warm cherry wood teaches as many as 25 lessons a week in her cozy hills apartment and is a regular in acoustic clubs around the Bay. But her monthly songwriter’s showcase may well be her signature event. (more…)
Posted in People Profiles, Video on January 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
OAKLAND TRIBUNE: January 6, 2011
For many kids, playing the piano is a rite of passage that ranks somewhere between breaking a bone and getting braces. But for 13-year-old Omar Abdul-Rahim, the piano holds the key to helping other children.
On Sunday, this eighth-grader at Corpus Christi School in Piedmont will play a benefit concert for the George Mark Children’s House in San Leandro, a hospice for terminally ill children. It’s his second fundraising performance in a year, and it underscores how even a child can make an important contribution in the world.
Omar’s epiphany came after hearing a speaker in church make a plea for donations for children living in the slums of Calcutta. After Mass, he went up to the representative and said, “I don’t have any money, but I can play the piano.” (more…)
Posted in Travel Essays, Video on December 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: December 24, 2010
Now that it’s officially winter, boating season is under way in the upper Midwest. We’re talking ice boating here — a sport that combines sailing and snowmobiling in weather so raw your whole body has to be covered. (more…)
Posted in General, Travel Essays, Video on April 30, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It was a dark and stormy night. No, really. The rain fell in punishing waves and the wind whipped the trees like a dungeon master. There were voices, too…shrill, torturous sounds coming from the sea that was thrashing about, just yards from my bedroom window.
My mind was racing. 400 years of history were flashing before me as I lay in my bed on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Wind and weather forged this chain of four islands – spits of land surrounded by sea and constantly shifting sands.
