Cover Story
What’s in a game?
I can hear my heart beating as I take one step forward, then another, until I’m in a full jog. I feel strangely powerful and my green eyes are so alert they practically light the forest. I’m somewhat anxious yet girded for whatever may come. I’m toned, fit, and agile. And my enormous breasts don’t…
PolyHouse takes six days to make dreams come true
The walls of the house were wet with paint, the carpets were nonexistent, and the cabinets were yet to be installed. Students frantically rushed around, patching up a wall here, installing a tile there. It all resembled the set of the ABC show Extreme Home Makeover. That’s fine with Cal Poly professor Roya Javadpour,…
Here are 55 rules (maybe less) for 55 Fiction
It’s that time of the year again! The days are getting longer, and your stories are getting shorter. Miniscule really. Practically non-existent. But, for whatever reason, a competition that awards brevity also necessitates a rather long, all-encompassing list of rules. There are a lot of cheaters with literary ambition out there. First rule. This one’s…
How do you feel about the California Supreme Court removing the ban on gay marriage?
Lucian Bledsoe retired Positively, people should be treated similarly and no one should be able to escape the rigors of marriage. Catherine Currie psychotherapist Fabulous, because I think gays should have the same rights as everyone else. JP Maddox singing teacher I agree with it, because I believe people should have the right to do…
A ripe tomato
“Tutti frutti, good booty. If it don’t fit, don’t force it. You can grease it, make it easy.” These, my friends, are some of the original lyrics to Little Richard’s first big hit, “Tutti Frutti,” before New Orleans writer Dorothy La Bostrie was brought in to clean up the song. Imagine how they might have…
A young heart needs help
Haley Collins of Los Osos underwent her first heart surgery when she was three weeks old. She’s had two more heart repairs since then and was doing well for years. But her heart is failing again, and she’s scheduled for yet another major intervention on June 2 at the Children’s Hospital in Fresno. Haley’s parents…
McIntyre Vineyards 2006 Chardonnay Santa Lucia Highlands
This Monterey County Chardonnay boasts of its heritage with elegance and class in a first estate vineyard release. Beautifully balanced, it speaks only subtly of fermentation in French oak. Opening with a pretty array of minerals weaved with nectarine and citrus aromas and flavors and highlights of hazelnut, it’s irresistible. Available at De Palo &…
Protect a just decision
On May 15, the California Supreme Court decided that all Californians have the right to marry without regard to their sexual orientation. The court ruled: “In light of the fundamental nature of the substantive rights embodied in the right to marry—and their central importance to an individual’s opportunity to live a happy, meaningful, and satisfying…
So you want to be a sommelier?
Certified sommelier Ali Rush Carscaden doesn’t like the fact that her hard-won title is tossed about by people who haven’t earned the right to use it. It’s true: Many restaurateurs single out a dining room server as their sommelier just because he or she has a handle on wine basics or happens to know local…
Just say ‘no’ to crack
At 21, Cuesta College fashion design student Melanie Berry decided to drop out. Not because she was discouraged, but because her fashion design classes were getting in the way of her fashion career. Almost three years on, Berry is virtually the only successful fashion designer on the Central Coast. A search for any others—online and…
SLO’s radical, left-leanin’, bean-growin’ past
It’s not very often that the lyrics to a Canned Heat song perfectly paraphrase the message of an exhibit hosted by the SLO County Historical Society. But the somewhat-socialist message, “together we’ll stand/ divided we’ll fall/ come on now people/ let’s get on the ball/ and work together” is surprisingly compatible with the 19th century…
So just who is Planning Commissioner Christie?
May 18 was a sort of symbolic day for outspoken SLO County Planning Commissioner Sarah Christie. On that day, Christie won ECOSLO’s top environmental award, an honor that shows how she’s regarded by much of the environmental community. Yet that same day a Tribuneeditorial called for her to step down from the Planning Commission because…
Beyond Botox: SLO skate park will get full-scale facelift
More than a 100 skaters showed up for the May 20 SLO City Council meeting to show support as the council voted to redesign and update the Santa Rosa Skate Park. At council chambers, kids and teenagers literally filled the seats, lined the walls, and spilled into the lobby outside. The council approved up to…
Dune protection goes missing
Sierra Club leaders are crying foul after two elements in SLO County’s Local Coastal Plan that could prohibit vehicles on a tract at the Oceano Dunes were mysteriously omitted from a staff report that was presented to the Planning Commission in January last year during deliberations about the sale of the property to the state.…
The easiest solution to oil troubles? Electricity
I know for a fact that an electric auto could be built tomorrow. So do all the automakers of the world. Building a prototype, using current technology, parts, and equipment, could be done for less than a million dollars. And it wouldn’t have to be plugged into an electric outlet to be recharged every 200…
True conservatives conserve
Let me start off by saying that I live out on the Carrizo Plains, I farm, and I have always considered myself a conservative Republican. The other day I was in a gun store buying a scope for my rifle and was talking to the young man at the counter when I overheard a conversation.…
Remember the dead
The other day, as I was walking into Albertsons, I saw a guy all dressed up in new black leather motorcycle gear placing some stuff he bought in a black leather rucksack on the back of shiny new big black Harley. He had parked it just left of the entrance next to the wall. I…
Save the Printery
It is a measure of a city how well it protects and maintains its parks and historic buildings. Plans for renovation of the historic, beautiful Atascadero city hall are underway. The Sunken Gardens is a little gem in the middle of downtown. It is joyful to walk through the Lake Park any afternoon or evening…
Don’t let them take one more acre
Okay, I have to speak up. I am a farmer and a strong advocate for agriculture in SLO County. There are many opportunities for agriculture on the horizon, including changes in local food distribution, growing fuel crops, and harvesting energy, to name a few. Demand for traditional commodities, like cattle and grain, is on the…
Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind
Remember that old song about, “signs, signs everywhere there’s signs?” Well I’m starting to drive up the grade the other day and I counted—are you ready for this—30, yes 30 large billboards. So I want to know, who’s approving this commercial assault on the scenery and on our already way-over-advertised psyche? Let me guess, the…
I’m not buying what Arnold’s selling
This Arnold/Patterson debate is really starting to grate. I mean, Debbie Arnold is. First she accused Patterson of being abusive, and then she got abusive herself (“Smoking the vote,” May 15). She said, “He’s stooped to name calling—like a schoolyard bully who thinks he can intimidate anyone who opposes him.” Later, she said, “I’ll never…
Her words paint pictures
ARTS Obispo wants to thank Ashley Schwellenbach for her well-written, informative piece (“Where the vengeful, enlightened, and incarnated play,” May 15). Like an artist, her words read like brush strokes, painting a clear, understandable picture of the complex sacred paintings—called thankas—created by Tibetan artist Karma Thupten. The depth and clarity of the piece could only…
Bring back control
Barbara Harris bemoans classrooms with 30 to 35 kids in her commentary (“Save our schools,” May 8). “When I was a girl,” as the hackneyed saying goes, our classrooms all had that many kids, and I have the school pictures to prove it. Granted, this was in the Boston area, and granted, it was a…
Small grant seeks big change
The San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District has awarded the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club $10,000 to implement a climate protection plan and encourage local governments in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. The control district allocated a total of $147,000 to assist local governments in the implementation of their…
Call the bomb-sniffing robot!
The county Bomb Task Force was called in May 19 to detonate a World War II era mortar shell on Cal Poly land north of SLO. Cal Poly Environmental Health and Safety Manager Dave Ragsdale said that the Army Corp of Engineers found the 16-mm mortar shell during a scheduled sweep of the area, east…
Would you like a nice dry red on your dry campus?
For the record: Cal Poly officials are still calling it a dry campus, but it soon won’t be quite as parched. Cal Poly is in the process of acquiring liquor licenses to both serve wine and beer at its on-campus restaurant and to sell Cal Poly-branded wine at its off-campus store on San Luis Obispo’s…
New Times is a finalist
New Times is a finalist for awards in two categories of the 2008 AltWeekly awards, the contest for members of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. The Shredder is a finalist for column writing for a series of three columns on items ranging from medical marijuana to the eavesdropping allegations about Sheriff Pat Hedges to the…
Lenthall campaign tells KSBY to cease Hill ad
A Sacramento attorney representing the election campaign of incumbent SLO County Supervisor Jerry Lenthall (3rd District) says television station KSBY could face legal action if it continues to broadcast an advertisement from candidate Adam Hill, which the lawyer claims contains false and inflammatory statements deliberately intended to mislead viewers. “The ad claims … that Supervisor…
File this one under ‘perspective’
Well aren’t we just soooo Californian. We’re all marrying our gay lovers now and solving the budget mess by betting on the lottery. How utterly Left Coast. We’re all eating organic sushi with our pedicured toes as we lounge on tofu-skin rugs in the feng shuied great rooms of our foreclosed homes. You’ll never see…
Fast Facts
Mia Boutique is now hosting a free Mommy and Me baby sign language class with music and story time every Wednesday at 9:20 a.m. Don’t worry about signing up, just show up at the boutique on 570 Higuera St., suite 190, in the Creamery. For more information, call 593-0226. Red Tree Gallery will have its…
Jenny Brantlee
New Times: What type of people showed up for the speed dating? Brantlee: Really fabulous people. Both the guys and the girls were smart, good-looking, well-dressed, and adventurous. New Times: Are people that come to speed dating shy? Brantlee: Not really. It’s people that for whatever reasons hadn’t been in the dating scene. … They…
