Month: September 2021

By Kathy Blavatt

Some people need to have a garden. I am one of those people. But as many gardeners know, you are only the caretaker,

It is a yard that belongs to the critters. As the adage goes, “the chickens rule the roost.”

Gardens are small pockets of habit in an urban environment.

Every garden has bugs; that’s a given. Some bugs fly through or migrate to a garden. Some are seasonal, like those pesky June Bugs. Others are permanent and multigenerational.

By Mat Wahlstrom

The past few years have seen long overdue attention drawn to issues of systemic discrimination. From the #MeToo movement to #BlackLivesMatter to even concern for personal pronouns, we as a society are facing up to the ways in which we fall short of our egalitarian ideals to provide equality of opportunity.

But in what appears to also be a recent development, we’re seeing the exact opposite happening with regard to age. Usually only referenced in connection with employment law, age discrimination as a social phenomenon is being treated as innocuous, with replies of ‘OK, Boomer’ not only allowed to go unchallenged but treated as acceptable.

OB Mobile Media Production Gig

DharmaDen’s Sessions have been staged at the Template in OB with performers such as Riston Diggs (playing with the Gravities) and a new band called the Gnarly Heads,

IB Pier Closes – Sound Familiar?

The Imperial Beach Pier is closed after part of the pier collapsed into the ocean, officials said. The Port of San Diego, which manages the wooden pier

Glorious! The True Story of Florence Foster Jenkins – The Worst Singer in the World

Glorious! The True Story of Florence Foster Jenkins – The Worst Singer in the World opens at 8 p.m. Friday at Point Loma Playhouse.

by Ernie McCray

I see the “Pro-lifers”
in the abortion conversation
with all their
“It Kills Children”
implications,
essentially
giving no
indication,
in their frustration,
that they really care about children
by any stretch of the imagination,

Notices are going out. Announcements have been typed up and emailed. Online ticket sales have been organized. By all appearances then, the Ocean Beach Town Council is moving on by organizing this year’s “OB Pier Pancake Breakfast” in early October – but it won’t be on the pier.

Yet, the larger question is – is the community of Ocean Beach ready for the Town Council to move on? Have the issues and twerks that caused the recent crisis been worked out and resolved?

The election by the membership to fill the five open seats did happen. There are now five new members of the board of directors. All – except one – brand new to community volunteerism and activism.

Two days after literally smashing the recall effort with 64% of the vote, Governor Gavin Newsom signed one of the most controversial housing bills on his desk. Newsom signed Senate Bill 9 by Senate leader Toni Atkins, formerly of San Diego, on Thursday.

Newsom said, “The housing affordability crisis is undermining the California Dream for families across the state, and threatens our long-term growth and prosperity.”

No one would argue with that statement, although SB 9 doesn’t create affordable housing. In fact, 241 cities came out against SB 9. In a letter from the League of California Cities, 241 cities asked Newsom not to sign the measure.

From LA Times:

Sustainable builder Steve Pallrand, founder and principal designer of the L.A. firm Carbon Shack Design, designed and built an 888-square-foot zero energy accessory dwelling unit, or ADU.

To make sure the systems he puts into place tread lightly on the planet, Pallrand added many eco-friendly solutions: Wood from the dilapidated barn was saved to frame the interior non-structural walls of the ADU. The barn’s redwood siding was reused on half of the house and new redwood siding was added to finish the rest of the exterior. Old roof sheeting was reused as flooring. Board-and-batten barn siding was used to make the cabinets and millwork. The concrete slab was broken up and used as pathways, and when the city forced them to remove a cedar tree for fire access, they used it to create live edge countertops and furnishings in the kitchen.

Pallrand details his strategies for creating environmentally friendly housing that will help fight climate change:

By Edwin Decker / Exclusive to the OB Rag

Hi Ed, I have a condition commonly known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The symptoms of my particular brand of ADHD are . . . excessive fidgeting, impulsiveness, disruptive arguing, interrupting others and inappropriate speech among other things. I get how this can be frustrating for my loved ones, but many of them think that it’s, “All in my head” and that with a little effort I can “get over it.” Any advice?

Sincerely,
ADHD chick

Dear Chick, I must say, in the 21st century, it’s hard to believe everyone isn’t hip to the very real symptoms of ADHD. That’s why I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t a fake question. Apologies if you’re the real deal. The last thing I want is to dismiss you in the manner which your friends and family have. Therefore, I will afford the benefit of the doubt and respond in kind.

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

Vanderbilt Professor Joanne Golann recently published Scripting the Moves. It is a book which expands on her research into no-excuses charter schools. Beginning in March of 2012, Golann spent 18-months doing an ethnographic study of a representative school employing the no-excuses approach. She discovered many unintended consequences.

In 2019, the leader of the Ascend Charters, Steven Wilson, wrote,

“And even when No Excuses was best realized at Ascend, its ceaseless structure was doing little to prepare our students to function autonomously in college and beyond.”

Thurs. Sept. 16- The Lost and Found Balboa Park Gardens of Kate Sessions

Once in a while, a news story about a change comes along that resonates, and here is one that does. I personally have been championing this specific change for some 20 years now. And it has finally happened.

The site of the 1960 Winter Olympics near Lake Tahoe is having its name changed. Its owners have decided that the old name that rhythms with “fall” is offensive to Indigenous women. The new name is Palisades Tahoe. Historically, it’s also been called Olympic Valley.

By David Helvarg / The Hill / September 14, 2021

As a journalist covering wars, disasters and the environment, I’ve come to realize the existential threats we now face are not just bad people and governments committing mass murder; it is the ongoing elimination of the natural systems that sustain life on earth. The UN defines genocide as actions intended, “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

But what if your actions are intended only to maintain the profitability of what until recently, was the largest industrial combine in human history?