Cover Story
Magic isn’t easily definable.
There are vanishing tigers and sawed-in-half women. There are levitations and card tricks and feats of mind-reading. Magic can be presented on a massive scale or in an intimate setting. It’s versatile, unpredictable, and fun. Kind of like New Times’ annual Best Of. When I first tapped local magician Rich Ferguson to help illustrate this…
Confessional poetry
More than a decade ago, when I was working on my master’s degree at Cal Poly, I had some classes with a big mouth smartypants, a know-it-all who asked too many questions and had too many answers. She quickly became a close friend. After she finished Poly, she traveled for awhile, eventually settling in Lake…
Poly students will market the Navy
Thirteen Cal Poly business students will try to recruit Cuesta students for careers in the U.S. Navy on May 14, in a campaign they created as their senior project in marketing on behalf of the military department and its campus agent, EdVenture Partners. EdVenture’s clients include Coca-Cola, General Motors, Ford, Lockheed Martin, and other industrial…
True grit
Eric Taylor’s got grit and heart and soul dripping out of every song he sings—melancholy narrative tales richly rendered by his spare guitar and rustic voice. He sounds like he’s from Nashville or Austin or some other literate singer-songwriter’s Mecca (Houston, anyone?). If you’re a fan of Bruce Cockburn, Taylor’s right up your alley. This…
A stitch runs through it
One artist calls her work “stitched drawings.” Another prefers the term “art quilts.” And if you asked the 23 other artists who contributed to the Cal Poly University Arts Gallery’s exhibit, A Tear in the Fabric: The Conceptually Driven Quilt, you’d probably hear a few more terms. It’s not that these women want to spend…
A serious passion for paper
In Christmas of 2006, Joyce Romero, president of Passionflower Paper, decided to stop buying gift wrap in an effort to help protect the environment. Instead, she used the comics portion of used newspapers to wrap presents she gave out. But when she ran out of comics, she used parts of the newspaper with headlines on…
Mines or ours?
Sand mines proposed for the Salinas River near Paso Robles and San Miguel are dredging up core differences in the community’s bedrock values: private property rights versus the quality of life for nearby residents and the river ecosystem. A controversial plan to mine sand for 20 years along a 1.75-mile stretch of the riverbed near…
Fast facts
Arroyo Grande Community Hospital will be host to “Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Educational Forum” at the Clark Center at Arroyo Grande High School on May 31, from 9 a.m. to noon. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m., with the event starting promptly a half hour later. The hospital is preparing to soon open the…
Obama probably ruined Clinton’s chances
Obama has presented himself since his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech as a leader who can unite America across the political and racial divides. Obama’s long association with minister Wright contradicts this assertion. While invoking God and Black Theology in the pulpit, Wright says the federal government manufactured the AIDS virus to kill black people,…
Try Mama’s fabulous meatballs and much more
While I was shopping at Scolari’s in Pismo Beach early this week, Cindy, one of my favorite checkers, called me out to me: “Kathy, I can’t wait to tell you about a new restaurant in Oceano I discovered last night with my son—we had a great meal there.” “Was it Mama’s Meatball?” I said with…
Do you have a party trick?
Aracely Acevs student I don’t really have a party trick, but I think tongue tricks are good. Like some people can do a four-leaf clover with their tongues. … They’re probably better kissers. I can do the tongue taco. Jason Benjestorf student I can catch goldfish. … You know, people throw goldfish, and then I…
Vina Robles 2005 Red4 Paso Robles
This blend is titled “the power of four” because these four varieties from their Huerhuero estate vineyard delivered a wine that was more delicious than its parts. Winemaker Matthias Gubler said that the Syrah provides cherry and spice, Petite Sirah adds structure, Touriga adds floral and violet notes, and the Tannat provides structure and depth.…
Costly new rules for septic tanks?
Flushing waste into a household septic tank may become a more expensive act under new regulations due for consideration by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board on May 9. The proposed new requirements, included as part of the water board’s Basin Plan, impose “a large financial burden” on property owners and on SLO…
So what is a super delegate?
Congresswoman Lois Capps is a super delegate. Basically, that means she’s part of an elite group that could decide the Democratic presidential nominee for 2008—but what does it really mean? Honestly, what is a super delegate? The term popped up seemingly overnight, when it became apparent that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama was likely…
All aboard! A SLO-SF train is on the way
A new passenger train route connecting San Luis Obispo County with downtown San Francisco—known as the Coast Daylight—is on track for service within a few years, thanks in part to constant lobbying by local transportation officials. Some $25 million has been allocated from Proposition 1B transit funds to cover the costs of the new route’s…
Mitchell Park will get a new lot
The San Luis Obispo City Council voted 3-2 on May 6 to pave a section of Mitchell Park, intending to ease parking at the senior center. The vote came after two-and-a-half hours of grueling public testimony, and against the judgment of three advisory bodies. The council began the marathon meeting rather unconventionally, by offering five…
Save our schools
Every year, there seems to be a budget battle—with our schools and children as the political football. School district budgets must be adopted by June 30. That means if the legislators and governor can’t agree, districts often don’t know for sure their actual money situation. Then the state budget battle can drag on for months.…
We need real eminent domain reform, not hidden agendas
Proposition 98 on the June 3 ballot would only deepen the water crisis that threatens California’s economy now and in the future. Either intentionally or through negligence, Prop. 98 includes flawed language that could prohibit the acquisition of land or water needed to develop public water projects we desperately need to provide safe, quality drinking…
Lots of liberals attack this country
I wonder if people who write such hate letters (“Start the impeachment proceedings,” May 1) cry when our flag passes by in a parade? I wonder if they salute or pledge allegiance? I do all of these and more because I love this country of my birth. Also, I’m very proud of my country. I…
Adolescent thinkers will rely on adolescent sources
Letter writer Morgan Edwards implies Third District supervisor candidate Adam Hill has been “bad-mouthing” incumbent Jerry Lenthall for not “believ[ing] in [Mr. Hill’s] views” (“Do your homework before voting,” May 1). On the contrary, Mr. Hill has run a clean campaign; rather than stooping to attack credentials or character, Mr. Hill has, quite respectfully, refuted…
Break the pro-development majority
Four years ago, I moderated a forum at which Jerry Lenthall debated his opponent for District 3 Supervisor. Since, I’ve watched his votes and compared them to his earlier campaign promises and noted his loyal service to the developers who supported his political campaigns, even when it meant going against both public opposition and the…
Carrizo heritage site debate is a trip-wire
Why is the year-old failed attempt to designate Carrizo as a U.N. World Heritage Site now a hot topic in the supervisor races? Far from being the benign “Nobel Prize for special places” ascribed by Sierra Club-elected Supervisor Jim Patterson, World Heritage Site status would have brought U.N. scrutiny and international enviro-leftist pressures upon SLO…
Not everyone will benefit from the solar rush
Former county supervisor Jerry Diefenderfer does not speak for me when he said, regarding the Topaz Solar Farm, “People see this as a less objectionable alternative.” The farm land that these solar companies want to convert into an industrial zone is right next to an area of small acreage parcels where people live. And I…
An open letter to the George W. Bush Presidential Library Committee
In view of Southern Methodist University’s rejection to host your Presidential Library, we, the Friends of George, World Association for Recognition committee (FOG-WAR), would like to offer our support to establish a fitting monument recognizing President Bush and his Administration’s efforts toward spreading freedom and the light of democracy in the world. We have researched…
John Goodell – math tutor, 801-5874
NEW TIMES: What made you decide to tutor math? GOODELL: I’m retired from teaching and I was kind of missing the interaction with students and also needed the extra income. NEW TIMES: What grades do you tutor? GOODELL: Up through second-year calculus. NEW TIMES: What tactics do you use to make math understandable to students? …
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound?
I want to be a super delegate. Mainly so I can wear a cape and tights. I do look good in tights. Actually, I don’t really know what a super delegate is. I’m not even sure if I should be spelling it super delegate or super-delegate or superdelegate or even sooperdellagit. It’s just that everybody’s…
