MONTCLARION: August 6, 2015
The Sixties. They say that if you remember them, you didn’t really live them. Still, someone in the Skyline High class of 1965 must know where the time capsule is buried. The reunion committee went out to dig it up the other day and couldn’t find it.
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MONTCLARION: July 30, 2015
In the distance, the mounds of gray sand look like pyramids, rising abruptly above the landscape. Soon enough they’ll be gone as the foundation is poured for a brand new shopping center at Pleasant Valley Road and Broadway. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: July 22, 2015
Nights like this make me grateful to live in Oakland. I’m sipping white wine under a purplish sky kissed by a crescent moon. In a few minutes, one of my favorite productions will come to life on the stage below. “Mary Poppins” will soar across the sky and land light-footed in a home where her magic is sorely needed. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: July 10, 2016
Almost a half-century ago, the Skyline High class of 1966 poured out the doors of their hilltop school, wide-eyed and ready to take on the world. They were a close-knit bunch, according to Lafayette’s Anne Grodin — one of 630 students to graduate that year. Continue reading
MERCURYNEWS.COM: July 9, 2016
From my lookout over the San Simeon coast, the elephant seals looked like cigars — their long, brown bodies splayed side-by-side on the beach below. I strained to see past the blubber and protruding proboscises for a green scar on the neck of one male — a mammal called “Green Tie” because of the mark left from a deeply embedded packing strap. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: July 3, 2015
Happy birthday, America. There’ll be celebrations from sea to shining sea Saturday, but none sweeter than the Piedmont parade, which is turning 50. Continue reading
CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM: July 3, 2015
To quote a lyric from Johnny Cash, Cuba is suddenly “hotter than a pepper sprout” on the world travel stage with U.S. travel to Cuba jumping 39 percent this year. But is this island — frozen in time for more than five decades — a must-see destination? Christopher P. Baker, who helped found the Bay Area Travel Writers (www.batw.org) in the mid-1980s, is the premier authority on tourism to Cuba. “Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro’s Cuba,” is one of six books and dozens of articles Baker has penned on the island nation. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: June 25, 2015
Chalk one up for the fathers out there. In the wake of Sunday’s Father’s Day celebration, the images of one man, in particular, stand out. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: June 17, 2015
The hills are abuzz these days. Whirring weed whackers and high-pitched chain saws are a necessary annoyance as homeowners brace for hot weather and Oakland’s fire safety inspections. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: June 12, 2015
“The Condor Lady” — that’s what the CBS radio network called me in 1983. I was a reporter for affiliate KSDO, covering efforts to save the California condor from extinction. With just two or three dozen birds known to exist at that time, the news was so big that it always aired nationwide. Continue reading
Ginny Prior 