MONTCLARION: March 14, 2014
Our cup runneth over in Oakland these days. Not only are we drawing some of the best chefs in California, our love affair with food is spilling over to the wine industry.
Town Crier: Murals dress up Montclair and districts around Oakland
MONTCLARION: February 28, 2014
“Art is love times love. The creator loves it, and his audience adores it.” — Vincent Price.
This quote comes to mind as I see students from Skyline High creating a beautiful mural on the south side of Rite Aid in Montclair. Commissioned by the Montclair Village Association, artist Pam Consear works with the kids every Saturday — a kind of art internship that gives the students practical experience and gives the rest of us public art on a once-blank wall. Continue reading
Happy Wanderer: Your own Olympic experience
CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM: February 28, 2014
My job in the sled was to stop my big head from knocking into the driver. Kind of an odd Olympic memory, but true. Continue reading
Town Crier: Oakland artist paints variety of birds migrating through city
MONTCLARION: February 21, 2014
There’s a lot of air travel into Oakland these days, and I don’t mean passenger flights. It turns out our town is a winter resort for birds coming down from Alaska, Canada and other northern environs. Continue reading
Forty years and counting: One woman’s dedication to teaching
MONTCLARION: FEBRUARY 14, 2014
When Dorothy Lee started teaching in 1974, the world was a much different place. Richard Nixon was resigning in the wake of Watergate; high gas prices were spawning the 55 mph speed limit and a hot new electronic device was hitting the shelves — the pocket calculator. Continue reading
Town Crier: It’s time to look to heavens for rain
MONTCLARION: February 7, 2014
God knows we need rain. Could February be the month we get it? The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts higher than normal rainfall for the Bay Area this month, but still short of what we need. Seems to me it’s time to take action. Continue reading
Town Crier: East Bay’s Pacific Mambo Orchestra wins Grammy
MONTCLARION: January 31, 2014
This is the stuff dreams are made of. An East Bay big band has won its first Grammy for “Best Tropical Latin Album.”
Pacific Mambo Orchestra — or PMO — beat out a field of heavy hitters Sunday night to bring home the gilded gramophone. What makes this story even sweeter is that several of the musicians are from Oakland and two even help run the Bay Area-based school music program — M.U.S.E. Continue reading
Happy Wanderer: For Valentine’s Day, head to San Mateo Coast
CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM: January 30, 2014
With two weeks until Valentines Day, it’s time to scout out some sea salt and chocolate. The sea salt is the fun part.
Twenty minutes south of San Francisco is the fishing village of Princeton by the Sea. You may know it as the home of the Mavericks Invitational — one of the most extreme big wave surf contests in the world. Continue reading
Town Crier: For East Bay bird-watchers, a diamond in the slough
MONTCLARION: January 24, 2014
Ever since childhood, I have loved birds. And I think the feeling is mutual. Once a hummingbird landed on my red shirt and tried to sip nectar from my cheek. Just recently, I had a long and loud conversation with a Stellar’s Jay. So when a reader told me that one of the best birding spots in the country was just south of Oakland, I perked right up. Continue reading
American Queen – time machine on the Mississippi
MERCURYNEWS.COM: January17, 2014
The “y’all” in his drawl was as thick as Tupelo honey. “In the South, we don’t call it the Civil Wawr. We call it the Wawwwr of Nawthern aggression.” Continue reading
Ginny Prior 