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Thirty Years Ago The porn movies today are so anti-erotic, vacuous, and monotonous that they can serve better as wide-open playgrounds for radical film theorists and discussions of Art Brut pictorialism, anti-narrative structure, the spontaneous conventions on an incipient film genre. Anyone in search of a bit of below-the-belt stimulation could hardly do worse if he stuck to his own daydreams. — "THICK SKIN," Duncan Shepherd, December 4, 1975

Twenty-Five Years Ago "It was necessary that I did what I did." Art Gurlly continues to apply a coat of mahogany polish to my boots, resting on the steel braces in front of my raised chair. "Very necessary." He rubs his dwindling brown daubing brush in small semicircles. "I was working in the post office one day back in '67...." he pinches closed the red-and-black tin of Angelus shoe polish "...and I was sorting through the mail and I thought, 'If I worked this hard for myself, I could really make it.' I believed that." -- "LAST STANDS," Neal Matthews, December 4, 1980

Twenty Years Ago Where I live, the surf of our Eastern Pacific swings out of a deep submarine canyon and traces the shorelines of La Jolla. This canyon influences local sea life in ways beyond any angler's understanding. All around are guideposts to fish: the pier, kelp beds, a marine reserve; the reefs and tight coves at the south end of town; to the north, the cliff-lined beaches and isolated waters of one of the last wild stretches of Southern California coast. I fish here for the diversity of game fish, which, when you get one in the surf, pinpoints the season in a way no calendar can. -- "A CAST OF ONE," Scott Sadil, December 5, 1985

Fifteen Years Ago Lynne Carrier, an editorial writer for the San Diego Tribune, says she is suing her editors mostly for their vindictiveness. "I want people to know that this is not about a few sexist jokes," says Carrier. "Taken in isolation, none of these incidents mean anything. But it became a pattern, and when I complained, they started an in-house campaign to destroy my career." Carrier's lawsuit, filed on November 21 in San Diego Superior Court, opens the door to a small, windowless room of prize-winning journalists, a Pulitzer among them. According to Carrier, the five male editorial writers discussed global politics, local elections, dildos, social issues, and naked, trembling women. -- CITY LIGHTS: "THE EDITORIAL THEY," Brae Canlen, December 6, 1990

Ten Years Ago Everywhere we go, Rebecca uses the facilities. When we went to SeaWorld, Rebecca went to the bathroom. When we went to the zoo, Rebecca went to the bathroom. When we had dinner at Rubio's, Rebecca went to the bathroom. When we bought a wedding gift at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Rebecca went to the bathroom. Every time we go to the grocery store, Rebecca insists on going to the bathroom. -- KID STUFF: "WHERE'S THE BATHROOM, MOMMY?" Anne Albright, November 30, 1995

Five Years Ago We met through friends at a time when both our lives were at loose ends. He was a strong Chicago boy who knew how to tell a joke and he loved to listen to jazz. He worked at a record store. He dated lanky, long-haired girls who hadn't finished graduate degrees in linguistics or art. I never met a man who loved as hard as Jacob. When these women left him, and they always did, hope left with them. Jacob would sit on his couch with his big head in his hands and moan. He wouldn't eat or bathe for days. When he was at his saddest, I'd go to his house and cook. Perhaps he was the brother I'd always wished I'd had. -- TIP OF MY TONGUE: "TOFU," Max Nash, November 30, 2000