A Different Kind of Homecoming

Thirty Years Ago
We rode the number 3 district school bus, my brother and I, from our Del Mar Heights neighborhood up to Encinitas, and San Dieguito High, each morning. We were spirited and energetic, acceptable in Spanish and geometry, but considerably more interested in the extracurricular. He played defensive back for the Mustang football squad and ended up as student-body president; I ran cross-country and track and spent two years working on the yearbook. Sadie Hawkins day, Friday-night trips to away games, yearbook signing — we were enchanted with school.

So in mid-February, when I read news reports of how 10 or 12 Latinos had carried out a commando-style raid at San Dieguito, attacking students with tire irons, broken bottles, and makeshift clubs, I could not believe it.
— “A DIFFERENT KIND OF HOMECOMING,” Coleman Warner, June 14, 1979

Twenty-Five Years Ago
Cynics may chortle at the thought of a 42-year-old est graduate getting our city’s mayor to endorse a cartoon character named “Sparky” as the “Ambassador of Excellence and Positive Spirit for America’s Finest City.” But Helice Bridges is convinced in her heart that if she can get enough people to recognize “Sparky,” that if she can pin enough people with blue ribbons that read “Who I Am Makes a Difference,” San Diego could become a model.
— CITY LIGHTS: “WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?” Abe Opincar, June 14, 1984

Twenty Years Ago
Two weeks of courtroom testimony have yielded details about Karen Wilkening and her alleged prostitution ring. A few of Wilkening’s clients, including car dealer Tony McCune and super salesman Eddie Aladray, took the witness stand to acknowledge that they’d had $150-an-hour trysts with Wilkening’s girls.
— CITY LIGHTS: “KAREN AND JOHNS,” Paul Krueger, June 15, 1989

Fifteen Years Ago
If you live here, who you are and the vehicular language you speak can be reduced to a number: 5, 805, 94, 52, 78, 163, 8, each conjure up a dreamscape.

My number is 15, its particularities are mine. Interstate 15 is the fastest ride to the obviousness of house-farming suburbia. We vie for a place in the mini-cities that make up this polyglot town. Tierrasanta, Scripps Ranch, Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Escondido, Fallbrook, Temecula, the 15 goes north planting San Diegan seeds until the seeds are planted by some farmer in the north, Riverside, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, etc., etc. Those et ceteras go all the way to Canada. “I” is for interstate, and 15 hits a lot of states on its journey north.
— “WHERE ONRAMP AND ASPHALT, PASSING LANE AND HAWK, CONVERGE IN QUICK COLLUSION AGAINST THOSE WHO RACE AND NEVER WALK,” Allan Peterson, June 9, 1994

Ten Years Ago
Duncan, I’ll try to keep this reply as nonhostile and nonpersonal as possible, in contrast to your review (June 3) of Star Wars: Episode I, which seemed to be laden with derogatory comments and aggressive toward anyone who might have enjoyed this movie or any of the original trilogy.

You complain about the sacrifice of story, depth, feeling, etc., to technology and glitzy production values, and yet your review sacrifices exactly those things.
— LETTERS: “YES, THE MOVIE’S FLAWED,” Mike Clements, June 10, 1999

Five Years Ago
Brian Dear is an Internet entrepreneur who runs a web log, or blog, called brianstorms, at brianstorms.com. He writes about San Diego, gadgets, dogs, startup businesses, movies, and a little bit of everything else. In the following recent entries from brianstorms, a few web addresses are included in place of the hyperlinks.

Yesterday I had a great 90-min chat with a VC who’s fascinated with what I’m doing, and he agreed with my assessment of the business from a “no way is this fundable” perspective, by adding:

“You need to add another item to your rule-breaking list: No clear revenue model.”
— “BRIAN BLOGS SAN DIEGO,” Brian Dear, June 10, 2004