Happy Wanderer: Berkeley by App

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HILLS NEWSPAPERS: March 4, 2011

Three little letters are changing the way we travel. Around the world, “apps” are helping tourists navigate the most interesting and exotic locales.

Take Berkeley, for instance. Exotic doesn’t begin to describe this unique destination, which now has its own iPhone, iPad and iTouch application, thanks to 30-year resident Lee Foster. Foster is a decorated travel journalist with 10 books, four apps and 200 worldwide articles and photo subjects on his website at www.fostertravel.com. For just $2.99, you can download his Berkeley Essential Guide on the Apple iTunes App Store and be ready to see our famous East Bay neighbor in a different light. Continue reading →

Town Crier: Coming to a neighborhood near you – more meters

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MONTCLARION: March 4, 2011

Oakland never met a tax it didn’t like, and parking meters seem to be the new cash cow.

Last June the City Council voted to spread the joy that only a ticket dispenser can bring and add enough meters to generate $267,000 a year.

Never mind that they didn’t know where to put them — they just forged ahead like they’ve done with so many other misguided projects. (Can you say pot farm fiasco?) Continue reading →

Piedmont author discusses life after Oprah

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HILLS NEWSPAPERS: March 4, 2011

She’s a daughter and mother and author and wife. Piedmont writer Kelly Corrigan has a schedule that makes you marvel at how it all gets done — yet she makes it work.

Sitting in her gracious Piedmont home looking as relaxed as a woman coming out of a weekend yoga retreat, the author of “Lift” and “The Middle Place” talks about life after Oprah (the full page review that O Magazine did on “The Middle Place” in 2008) and her upcoming benefit for Children’s Hospital: Continue reading →

Happy Wanderer: The Bay Area is my classroom

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HILLS NEWSPAPERS: February 18, 2011

SMC Travel Writing students at Point Montara Lighthouse and Hostel

When I was a young mother, I often wondered what it would be like to raise a large family. I mean a big “Jon and Kate plus eight” kind of family, or a brood akin to the kids living with the old woman in the shoe.

After teaching a semester of travel writing to 24 Saint Mary’s College students, I have a pretty clear picture of what this would be like.

“You’re taking them all on a road trip EACH WEEK?” asked a colleague in disbelief. She makes her living leading press trips for journalists and never takes more than a handful of writers — and they’re all adults.

I, on the other hand, would be leading four half-day trips with no one to help but the bus driver, who, of course, had no obligation beyond drop-offs and pickups. Continue reading →

Montclair citizens outraged over dog attack

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MONTCLARION: February 18, 2011

Animals — they can be our best friends or our worst enemies.

When I was in high school, a neighborhood dog bit my finger. It was a deep, gaping wound that still gives me trouble today. How did it happen? The dog I was walking was attacked by an aggressive animal — and I tried to protect him.

Fast-forward to today and an incident that’s been making headlines in the hills. Two rescue pit bulls that killed an elderly woman’s Shih Tzu are still living with their owners near Broadway Terrace and Pinewood. Neighbors are outraged and are urging the city to act. Continue reading →

California: One wimpy winter

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A Minnesota lounge chair - made of ice

MONTCLARION: February 11, 2011

They say midlife is a time for self-revelation. Well, I made a doozy of a discovery this week. I do not like warm weather in the middle of winter.

Having grown up in Minnesota, I’ve always felt I was a little different. My friends in California lap up the sunshine and I complain about eye strain. They wear tank tops and I prefer fleece.

Last week I went back to the Midwest and it hit me like a wet snowball. Folks there like winter and are actually giddy about the record amounts of snow that have been falling. Great mounds of white are piled up along city streets and instead of being put out, people are building snow caves and making ice sculptures. Continue reading →

A theater for the ages – in Rheem

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MONTCLARION: February 4, 2011

ALL THE BEAUTIFUL people gathered in Rheem this week for the California Independent Film Festival. I haven’t seen this many tuxes and pearls since I wandered through Macy’s at prom time.

It’s a big deal when a small town rolls out the red carpet. The classic Art Deco Rheem Theater beams as her patrons sip wine from local vineyards and dine daintily on crunchy bruschetta. Continue reading →

Things are “looking up” in Oakland

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MONTCLARION: January 27, 2011

THINGS ARE looking up — literally. Our mild, springlike weather has been perfect for stargazing at Chabot Space & Science Center. On Friday and Saturday nights (weather permitting) Chabot’s outdoor plaza is filled with amateur astronomers and their telescopes.

“Look at the swirling gas cloud around the nebula,” said an enthusiastic volunteer showing a computer image on his iPad last weekend. He was warming up the crowd for what they would see when they looked through a telescope trained on Orion. Continue reading →