Cover Story
Volunteers 2022: The SLO Botanical Garden, Shower the People, and the Los Padres Forest Association
Each January, we put out a volunteers issue, but with another year of COVID-19 in the rearview mirror, it seems especially important this time around to pay homage to those who continued to give their time to help others. Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal speaks with SLO Botanical Garden volunteers about native plants and outdoor education;…
Los Osos entrepreneurs are passionate about pickles and philanthropy
Pick a peck Order home pickling kits, spice packets, and more at quickpicklekit.com. Follow the company on Facebook and Instagram @quickpicklekit. In a social media review of the top resolutions for the new year, many posters hoped to improve their diets, focus on a passion, and partake in charitable endeavors. Quick Pickle Kit of Los…
Peek into the life of Julia Morgan—collaborator, pioneer, and Hearst Castle architect—at Cal Poly
Get schooled Catch Julia Morgan, Architect: Challenging Convention at the University Art Gallery in the Dexter Building Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. View the exhibit online at artspaces.kunstmatrix.com/en/exhibition/6796640/julia-morgan-architect through April 30. Architect Julia Morgan was the queen of firsts. She was the only woman to graduate from UC Berkeley with a…
Real conservatism
With the departure of New Times columnist Lt. Col. Al Fonzi (U.S. Army, Ret.) and the paper’s invitation to other conservative editorialists, I thought it timely to offer a larger perspective on conservatism’s legacy from my 50 years of engaging with its philosophy. I’ll start by saying Col. Fonzi and his colleague, the attorney John…
Studios on the Park presents first exhibit of the year, Sweet and Sour
Sweet and Sour, a new group show at Studios on the Park in Paso Robles, premiered at the beginning of January and is scheduled to remain on display through the end of February. Participating artists in this exhibit were asked to submit artworks of various media, including painting, photography, and mixed media, that interpret the…
Stacy Korsgaden was at the insurrection
I just watched chilling new LA Times footage of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and am reminded that we have a candidate running for SLO County District 3 supervisor who participated in it. Maybe Stacy Korsgaden didn’t wield a spear or a Confederate flag to violently break into the U.S. Capitol but she did answer…
Cambria Film Festival goes virtual for fifth annual event
Passes are now available for the 2022 Cambria Film Festival, which will stream virtual screenings of its featured films online between Wednesday, Feb. 3, and Friday, Feb. 11. This year’s event marks the festival’s fifth annual iteration and showcases a collection of films from around the world that share a focus on romance and the…
Humor and the left
Why did the chicken cross the road? To express its solidarity with the courageous struggle of indigenous worker fowl against exploitation by the corporate farmer class, to demand an inclusive barnyard, and to fight growing chickenfeed inequality. When woke folk make a joke, the results are seldom funny. Many of you may have read of…
A little chaos
Is doubling down on statements that lead to bad publicity some sort of secret Cal Poly motto that I don’t know about? Or does university President Jeffrey Armstrong just keep practicing “learn by doing” because he can’t quite grasp the “learn” part of his school’s motto. He and the university are in hot water—again—for their…
Los Padres Forest Association volunteers follow passion for outdoors to help maintain local backcountry
In the tranquility of the Los Padres National Forest at sunrise, the camp cook wakes up, rolls out of a tent, and starts prepping coffee, breakfast, and bagged lunches. After fuel and caffeine, a small army of about 20 volunteers is ready to start their day in the vast and wild Los Padres backcountry—a forest…
SLO evacuates homeless encampments from Bob Jones Trail ahead of construction
Among the bustle of trash collection, folding tents, and foot traffic from patrolling law enforcement, a man and a woman held each other and softly wept. Homeless, they now had a few hours to gather everything they owned and leave. San Luis Obispo police officers and park rangers, and a 2Mexicans Junk Removal truck were…
Cayucos parents demand more transparency from district board
Cayucos parents are upset that their kids’ district superintendent may soon see a hefty raise to his pay schedule, the latest in a series of scuffles revolving around district transparency. The tension started when the Cayucos Elementary School District board voted to pass a Let Them Breathe resolution in August 2021, only to rescind it…
Cal Poly continues with in-person classes despite omicron, criticism
Despite nearly 800 students testing positive for COVID-19 in the first week of the winter quarter, Cal Poly has no plans to move its classes online, according to university President Jeffrey Armstrong. At a Jan. 11 meeting of the Cal Poly faculty senate, Armstrong defended his administration’s decision to start the winter quarter in-person—telling faculty…
Grover Beach plans to open SLO County’s first cannabis lounges
With Grover Beach set to introduce lounges to its commercial cannabis stores, San Luis Obispo County residents can partake in public closer to home. At its Jan. 10 meeting, the City Council approved its four permitted retailers to add indoor and outdoor cannabis lounges to their store properties. “Pending council adoption of an ordinance in…
New investor will propel Hydrostor’s plans for energy storage
Canadian-based energy company Hydrostor has big plans to build a facility in Morro Bay that could store 20 percent of the energy the grid will lose when Diablo Canyon closes—and now, the company is backed by a Fortune 500 company. Hydrostor announced Jan. 10 that Goldman Sachs Asset Management has invested $250 million in the…
SLO County UndocuSupport hires program manager, continues helping immigrant families
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a group of local residents started SLO County UndocuSupport, a organization that sent direct aid to local undocumented and mixed-status immigrant families, knowing that they would be among the hardest hit on the Central Coast. Nearly two years later, UndocuSupport has delivered more than $300,000 to more than 2,500 local…
The Tender Bar delivers a poignant adaptation of J.R. Moeringer’s stirring 2005 coming-of-age memoir
THE TENDER BAR What’s it rated? R What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Palm Theatre, Amazon Prime George Clooney directs this adaptation of J. R. Moehringer’s 2005 memoir—a coming-of-age story about a young boy (played by Daniel Ranieri) growing up in Long Beach who seeks out…
The SLO Botanical Garden’s wide net of volunteers shows community members’ green thumbs
AmeriCorps member Peter Sarracino knows his volunteering days at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden are limited, but it’s an experience he plans to draw from for the rest of his life. “If I’m in this area as a teacher, I’ll definitely use it as a resource and a component in the classroom. But also,…
The Murders at Starved Rock
What’s it rated? TV-14 When? 2021 Where’s it showing? HBO Max True crime aficionados are likely familiar with the story at Starved Rock, where in 1961 three women were brutally murdered while out on a nature walk during a vacation. Subsequently, Chester Weger, then 22 and a dishwasher at the lodge where the women were…
Thanks to volunteers, Shower the People gives its guests a chance to put their best foot forward
More than six decades separate Shower the People’s youngest and oldest volunteers. Ranging from 19 to 82 years old, people from all walks of life help keep the 100 percent volunteer-run operation afloat. Every week, rain or shine, the organization provides showers to homeless and low-income individuals at its mobile stations, which are set up…
Don’t Look Up
What’s it rated? R When? 2021 Where’s it showing? The Palm Theater, Netflix Writer-director Adam McKay (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy) helms this biting satire about the nonchalant global response to an impending planet-killing meteor strike. Mild-mannered astronomy professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his doctoral candidate student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) discover…
The Supersuckers bring the ‘evil powers of rock ‘n’ roll’ to The Siren on Jan. 18
Do you believe in Satan? Neither do The Supersuckers, but that doesn’t stop the hard rocking trio from invoking the name of the hooved one in service to their bone crushing rock, punk, and country music. This Tuesday, Jan. 18, they’ll play a Numbskull and Good Medicine Presents concert at The Siren (7 p.m.; 21-and-older;…
