Nothing like a hot-button political issue to get the blood circulating. In Temecula, a controversial councilwoman pushed an anti-abortion resolution. The council pushed back. I was there Tuesday night and here I am Friday with my latest column.
In my Wednesday column, I chat with Char Miller, an environmental studies professor at Pomona College who writes often about fires, forests, drought and other matters that are of increasing concern. He’s got a new, enjoyable book of essays, some of them with a Claremont focus.
For Sunday’s column, I write about events in Riverside next weekend, both free: admission to or tours of 16 civic sites on Oct. 1, and a chance to meet writers on Inland Empire history, the Local History Book Fair, on Oct. 2. I’ll have a table at the latter. Details on both are in my column, naturally.
At Wednesday’s San Bernardino City Council meeting, a county supervisor presented a ceremonial check for $1.1 million, the council OK’d opening talks with a developer over the Arden-Guthrie property, development activity is picking up and the council postponed giving itself a pay raise. I tie it all together and eavesdrop a little in my Friday column.
In Wednesday’s column, the Fabulous Mrs. Unruh again takes the spotlight as readers share stories about the late entertainer. Also, readers kibitz about Jewish delis, and my fingers are crossed that this will tie a bow on that topic for a while. Oh, and there’s a brIEfly item too.
A UCR professor, Richard T. Rodriguez, DJs a weekly show, “Dr. Ricky on the Radio,” focused on 1980s British post-punk music. He’s also the author of a new book on the links between Latinos and this music from across the pond. I sit in as he DJs Thursday’s show, which he billed as a sort of soundtrack for his book, and write about it in my Sunday column.
Wrapping up (I hope!) what turned into a Jewish deli trilogy of columns, I’m invited to lunch at the closest nearby thing to a Jewish deli, Kara’s Korner in Glendora, by a group of old guys. It was fun, and I write about it in Friday’s column.
I happened upon a little project worth some ink: A long-lived community theater group is reviving its one-act play, “The Silver Dollar,” this weekend in Pomona. It’s about the Chicano Moratorium and the death of journalist Ruben Salazar and has been performed by the group, its originators, almost annually since 1980. That’s the subject of my Wednesday column.
A little Riverside history with a twist: The Golden State Theater was burning in 1990 while moviegoers a block away at the Fox were watching a movie with a scene in which a movie theater burns down. I tell the story of the Golden State and its unusual demise in my Sunday column.
How’s the heat wave been treating you? Probably terribly. I’m surviving, but my house and two portable a/c units are no match for 100-degree temps. I write about that, as well as present more reader stories about where they were when they heard Elvis died and bid farewell to the queen, in Friday’s column.