Cover Story
Take it outside, kids! Five stellar student essays explore the meaning and purpose of public artworks in San Luis Obispo
Last fall, we at New Times received an e-mail from Cal Poly assistant professor Eleanor Helms, who teaches a course in aesthetics. Would we be interested in publishing the best student art reviews from her class, she wanted to know? Sure, we said. We had originally planned to restrict them to the arts section, but…
NOLA says hello: Notes from the Crescent City
Happy New Year, y’all, and hello from the Big Easy! Since I am visiting my family in Mandeville, Louisiana, just north of New Orleans, it only seemed right to take in a band in the city and report back to our loyal readers. A few days before Christmas, my family and I headed across the…
What is the loneliest number and why?
Dominique Salazar student “Three, ’cause if you have two people then you’re just the third one.” Talln Brehm student “One, because you’re alone.” Lindsay Smith student “One, because you’re by yourself.” Mollee Barse and Jordan Dickey Students “13, because everybody hates it.”
Cuesta’s production “pool ’63” goes to L.A.
The Cuesta College Theater Department’s original play pool ’63—a work of devised theater that delves into issues of race and violence in 1960s Birmingham, Ala.—played to sold-out audiences throughout the month of December. Now, the play is heading to Los Angeles, where it has been selected to receive a full production at the 2014 Kennedy…
The answer, Mr. Frost, is hugging: An evening at the Winter Solstice Poetry Church
All around me, people are embracing. Eyes closed. Holding each other close for at least 30 seconds. I watch uncomfortably as one woman makes her way around the room, hugging no fewer than a dozen people. I wonder if I’ve gotten lost on my way to the Winter Solstice Poetry Church and instead stumbled across…
Clubs 1/2/14
Goin’ South … THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Road, 773-5000 or cliffsresort.com. CUVEE BISTRO AND CHAMPAGNE BAR: 550 1st St., Avila Beach, 595-2245. Live music Thurs. and Sat. 6-9pm. F. MCLINTOCKS SALOON: Two locations: 750 Mattie Road in Pismo Beach and 133 Bridge St. in Arroyo Grande. 773-1892 or mclintocks.com. Live music at the…
Roots of creation
Having lived in SLO for 22 years, I tend to take street names for granted, overlooking Osos’ furry foreground and never taking Toro by the horns. This is anything but the case with California Roots Deli, whose decision to open at 580 California Blvd. (in the location that was until recently Poor Boy Sandwiches) gives…
Sinor LaVallee 2012 Chardonnay San Luis Obispo County and Campo Viejo Cava Brut Rosé
Sinor LaVallee 2012 Chardonnay San Luis Obispo County This is the first chardonnay from this pinot noir focused winery, and it’s impressively layered in flavors from start to finish. Tangy flavors of Pippin apple and sweet pear meld harmoniously with mineral notes and subtle French oak spices in this beautifully balanced wine. No…
Sheep and llamas provide very efficient services for Central Coast wineries
It’s hardly something we wine lovers think about when we head out to SLO County’s agricultural trails for a fun day of wine tasting, but wineries with estate vineyards are, plain and simply, working farms. So while those cute little woolly sheep are quaint to watch grazing alongside the grapevines, they’re actually doing their job…
Killer jewelry: Bewley’s Rerun Productions in Arroyo Grande repurposes bullets into fashion statements
There’s nothing more intimidating than a girl with a gun and a guitar. At least according to Steve Bewley, creative mastermind behind Bewley’s Rerun Productions in Arroyo Grande. A family hobby and business for more than 20 years, Bewley’s Rerun Productions takes pieces of, well, anything to create functional art for homes and businesses. Born…
Cougars & Mustangs: New beginnings
Welcome to 2014, year of new beginnings! These beginnings include returning to school and possibly eating something on your birthday you didn’t know was considered food. I hope everyone has enjoyed their break so far and that Cal Poly students make the most of their remaining week. Cuesta’s Nursing Program, for one, has been keeping…
Q&A: Christopher Barnickel
San Luis Obispo County Library Director Christopher Barnickel doesn’t fit into most librarian stereotypes. He’s male, he’s only 37 years old, he’s married to a ballet dancer, he loves to ride his motorcycle, and he doesn’t even wear glasses. At his core, though, Barnickel is passionate about public service and literacy—and he has big plans…
SLO County Court treatment program gives military veterans alternatives to jail time for low-level crimes
On a recent morning, SLO Superior Court Judge John Trice’s courtroom was filled with staffers from various county agencies, citizen volunteers, and of course, some 20 men and women ready to stand accountable for their criminal violations. The odd thing was, everyone seemed glad to be there. The latter group was in a courtroom about…
A Big Sur blaze caps the driest year on record
As 2014 approached with little to no sign of rain, weather watchers prepared to declare 2013 California’s driest year on record. Just before that became official, a wildfire tore through Big Sur, destroying 34 homes. What’s being called the Pfeiffer Fire ignited around midnight on Dec. 15 and burned for five days before being contained.…
Everyone’s flabbergasted in Grover Beach
At a politically charged Dec. 30 special meeting of the Grover Beach City Council, seemingly everyone in attendance was flabbergasted. Supporters of Mayor Debbie Peterson were flabbergasted that she’d been removed from her seat on the county’s Air Pollution Control District (APCD) board earlier in the month. Peterson’s fellow council members were flabbergasted at her…
Los Osos Wastewater project contracts are delayed
The county was set to approve an additional $4.2 million to complete another phase of the contentious Los Osos wastewater project without so much as a presentation for the public’s benefit. But the vote was effectively blocked. On Dec. 17, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors planned to approve two contract amendments: one…
Nothing new
Ahhh … 2014! Can you smell that fresh new year smell? It’s got notes of Tang and pine needles and leftover Yule log, with a lingering hint of possibility, the promise that attends opening a new chapter and bidding farewell to the disappointments, failures, squalor, petty grievances, and moldy tennis shoes that followed me like…
Who’s intolerant now?
Regarding Phil Robertson’s “hate speech” and the Duck controversy: Homosexuals, such as represented by GLAAD, are intolerant of opponents insisting that those critical of them have an irrational homophobia. But the great majority have no hateful intent. I don’t, and Robertson doesn’t. Many Christians hold this belief because of sincere religious views on sin, as…
We need the grass roots
Whenever there is a special budget committee set up in Congress by the Dempublican and Republicrat politicians to reach a “balanced” approach to budgets and deficits, you can bet that working people, veterans, students, minorities, and the poor are going to take a hit. To these political servants of the big banks and corporations, “balanced”…
Deadly New Year
Driest year on record, worst storms on record, warmest year on record, most carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since the dinosaurs. Those who continue to believe climate change is a farce or have thrown up their hands in surrender, take note: It will get worse. CO2 continues to rise as fossil fuel use increases worldwide.…
Billie Holiday, where are you?
A few new verses I wrote for the old jazz blues classic, “Tain’t Nobody’s Bizness”: If I should take a notion/ To jump into the ocean,/ ’Tain’t nobody’s bizness if I don’t wear a bathing suit./ Yeah, at Pirate’s Cove, we run around bare,/ Without a stitch of underwear./ ’Tain’t nobody’s bizness if we do.…
Happy Newd Year!
Thank you for running the pic of Mickey Weedon and his letter (“Bare necessities,” Dec. 26)! I missed the Nov. 28 letter to which he was responding, but completely support nudity at Pirate’s Cove and not being ashamed of a naked body. I certainly hope the cove will be clothes free forever and not let…
Thanks for the freedom of cheeks
Mr. Weeden makes a very good case for Mother Nature and Pirate’s Cove and against uptight Americans (“Bare necessities,” Dec. 26). Please be assured I was not all offended by his graphic depiction of his exercise of freedom. Thank you, New Times, for posting his letter and accompanying photo. It made me smile … and…
Sock it to soda
It is time to take on the scourge of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages. They are a large contributing factor to the growing obesity epidemic and increase in diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions. Soda and its kin are also costing billions of dollars in health costs. A recent study found that one can…
