OB Rag

Someone posted it on facebook, a picture of me silhouetted in a vision of rich colors, sharing a poem. I wanted to write about the experience when I first saw the striking image but didn’t know how to go about it right away.

Then it came to me as I was reading Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Ceremony,” a masterpiece about the Native American world, a brilliant tale about Tayo, an army veteran of mixed ancestry who returns to the reservation, scarred by his experience as a prisoner of the Japanese in World War II.

—— It’s the beginning of the new semester at San Diego City College where I work, so I thought this would be a good time to evaluate some of Jerry Brown’s bold moves on the educational front. In terms of funding, the passage of Proposition 30 has stopped much of the bleeding in schools and colleges across the state, but it still does not do enough to restore all that has been cut in recent years. Therefore, despite some very good news, challenges remain ahead.

In a week-long poll of our readers, the OB Rag asked which of the five finalists did people like for the “new” OB Entryway Sign. Over half – 54% – said they wanted to keep the current design but renovate it.

The OB Town Council has weeded down all the entries for the new sign to five finalists, and we posted the images earlier – see inside.

Another 9% wanted the current design also, but to add parrots, as in Option 3. A total of 13% wanted parrots in the new design. Other options received only 1 to 4% of the vote.

There are several signs around Ocean Beach that speak to changes occurring in our little village, some of which show a level of economic rejuvenation – homes are being built from scratch and businesses are moving instead of closing down. These are positive changes for OB.

Of course, not all the changes are positive. Have you seen the fenced off parking lot next to the old Apple Tree? Have you seen the latest example of gentrification in northwest OB?

This is another in a series of random interviews with OBceans while the author has a firm belief that everyone has a story worth telling.

Meet Helga Staalhane – on loan to OB from Norway. She has lived here for six months and is in a masters program in Sociology at San Diego State University on a student visa. I met her at NewBreak the other day and she agreed to be interviewed and have her photo taken for the OB Rag (the photo is a prerequisite for the interview, as living in OB is also).

It happened again today. I “met” a man online that sounded like a nice person. He had many of the attributes I am looking for in a companion, or so he said, and I agreed to meet him for lunch in a well-known restaurant in North County. (He lives in San Marcos and it was a good halfway place for us to meet.) We were both early; another nice attribute. He obviously had been there before, not because the waitress recognized him, but because he knew his way around the restaurant and we sat at “his favorite table.”

By Women’s Energy Matters

Parties to the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) investigation of the San Onofre nuclear generating station outage are crying foul over ongoing procedural delays and a narrow Scoping Memo issued Tues. Jan. 28th.

Women’s Energy Matters, the Coalition to Decommission San Onofre, United Public Workers For Action and Michael Aguirre charge that both seem designed to force southern California customers to pay even higher rates in the next couple of years to fund Edison’s reckless plan to restart one of its severely damaged reactors —instead of getting immediate refunds for the year the nuclear plant has been offline.

In a recent interview with online media, Councilmember Kevin Faulconer – who represents Ocean Beach and the Peninsula – reconfirmed his strong support for the 30 foot height limit. The recent debate about the height restrictions in San Diego’s coastal zone must have caught his eye, and he wanted to make his positions clear.

Most everyone by now in OB has heard about the little puppy that fell 80 feet off Sunset Cliffs earlier this month. Well, the 3 month old Chihuahua mix is healing – has a new name of “Clifford” – get it? – and will be ready for a permanent adoption by humans very soon.

The Department of Animal Services is now accepting applications for his adoption – and their deadline is Saturday, Feb. 2nd.

Those of you that have been reading my articles for the past few years, probably will remember that I am a widow. My husband of 46 years died September 21, 2009, from lung cancer. Yes, he was a smoker, or was for 30 years of his life. He gave it up for 34 years but it was still the cause of death. Whether it was caused by his smoking or living in Los Angeles for the first 39 years of his life, or working in a school where he helped install the asbestos in the ceiling so it could open on time we will never know. And the reasons for his death are not germane to this article.

You’ve noticed the large mural on the north side of the old Apple Tree Market over the years, I know. You know, the one that faces Santa Monica Avenue. It’s been there for literally decades.

But now that Apple Tree has moved on and the building is up for lease, what’s to become of the mural? Ken Keegan, the main artist and facilitator of the mural has contacted the OB Rag searching for information on the fate of the mural.

By Brigitte Taylor

I love the idea of cycling all over town and the trend to encourage people (and currently women, in particular, to ride bikes.

Ideas are great, but as a result of biking in Mission Valley, Old Town, North Park, Downtown, College Area, City Heights and various parts of the city, I definitely have a new take on what it means to share the road with vehicles. I used to ride my bike frequently until I was knocked off by a driver. Thankfully, I was not injured but after that, I limited my rides to mountain biking and bike paths where road sharing is not an issue.