Category: Columns

by Ernie McCray

As the torrential winds
of Making America Great Again
die down
I hear music in my mind,
songs of change
that we’ve cried out for
during these times,
love songs
composed
by Harris and Walz

by Ernie McCray

I like the image I saw of
Tim Walz,
Kamala Harris’s
vice-presidential candidate,
walking comfortably
at her side
into a political rally,
to thunderous applause
which he accepted without pause,
his hands held high,
wearing a smile|
as bright as the audience’s festive energy,
like a man ready, as we used to say,
to take care of the b-i-z,
something the country truly needs.

by Ernie McCray

It wasn’t much more
than a week ago
when a presidential race
was burdening me with woe,
but ever since Biden,
who goes by Joe,
let Kamala Harris
step into the spotlight’s
bright glow,
I’ve gone loco
with giddiness,

by Ernie McCray

Joe Biden,
like the decent human being
he happens to be,
gave his race for the presidency
to his vice-president
and she, like an anchor sprinter
in a relay race,
has taken the baton
like a runner fully into
winning the race,
saying, without slowing her pace:

by Ernie McCray

I can’t help but wonder why
we’re making it possible
for Donald J. Trump
to become our president again
when he once failed at the job miserably,
nodding off in the oval office,
waiting for a ride, from time to time,
so, he wouldn’t miss his tee time.

by Ernie McCray

After the assassination attempt
a Trump disciple was heard to say
“I’m going to vote for him
more than ever now”
and to the question “Why?”
he replied
“You can’t stop us,”
spreading a little taste
of that divisive attitude
we’ve come to expect
from Trump’s MAGA tools
and, as he steps into
his new role as a fist-pumping martyr,

by Ernie McCray

So many voters
want Biden to drop out of the race
due to
how he imploded
in the first presidential debate,
showing his age,
they say,
and that’s easy to understand.

But the contest between him and Trump
still stands,

by Ernie McCray

Although I’m 86 years of age
I never
thought much about
what growing old
would actually be like,
that I would someday be in an
age group
that’s laughed at,
made fun of
in comedy routines|
and on late night TV shows
and on a sitcom or two.

By Judi Curry

We moved to San Diego in 1966 and rented the second floor of a duplex at 1474 Pescadero Drive (I think that was the address.)  Pescadero Drive is the alley-like street that parallels the ocean for a block or so — not Pescadero Avenue that travels east/west.  The owner of the duplex, Maria, lived on the bottom floor and had a patio and clothesline outside her living room.

The view was spectacular because there was nothing that blocked the view for 180 degrees.  We watched the seals forage for food; the fishermen standing on the rocks fighting the seals for the very same food.  We ran down the steps often to grab the boxes of butter and other things the Navy ships threw out before they returned to port.  We sometimes took our surf boards and went out to sea just footsteps from our home.  Our three daughters had a fantastic life living and learning about the ocean in the first person.

by Ernie McCray

Jerry West’s passing
is very much on my mind.
The reason being he was a
true contemporary of mine
as we were born a month apart in 1938,
and our names, a couple of times,
were mentioned among
the top scorers
in the 1959-60
college basketball season,
both of us
basketball legends
at our respective universities
but my being in the spotlight in hoops
came to an abrupt end
while “Zeke from Cabin Creek”
took greatness to another level,
becoming the logo
that symbolizes the NBA.

by Ernie McCray

The other night
I saw a video
of a cheap shot
laid on Caitlin Clark
that was called a foul
but it seemed more like a mugging
to me,
way-way-way
unnecessary.

By Judi Curry

Have been under the weather lately.  Losing my sight in the “good eye” and only have slight peripheral vision in that eye so have not been paying much attention to things going on around me.  Until this past weekend, when I had, excuse the pun, a real “eye opener.”

I got a message that $98.99 had been paid from my Venmo account to a woman whose name I didn’t recognize – Amiyah Parker – for Crypto currency and that amount would be paid to the very same woman every month.