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A farmer's life in Valley Center

Editor's picks of stories Leslie Ryland wrote for the Reader

"We've seen how it's getting built up, especially along Cole Grade Road." - Image by Salvatore Filippone
"We've seen how it's getting built up, especially along Cole Grade Road."
  • The Valley Center far away from Harrah’s casino

  • At the end of a winding asphalt road, past boulders and gated ranches, past riotous tumbles of magenta bougainvillea, past dirt roads that disappear into orange groves dappled with midday sun, you'll find Peter Schaner. On the back porch of a rambling farmhouse, Schaner sits in a wooden chair and shoos the five dogs milling about. He tends to Joseph, the youngest of his eight children. (December 30, 2004)
San Marcos
  • San Marcos – seen through characters at the gym

  • Looking for a representative cross-section of San Marcos residents? Try the 24 Hour Fitness in the Vons center at San Marcos Boulevard and Rancho Santa Fe Road any weekday morning around 6:30. As you walk through the automatic doors, you’ll see the early-20-something Front Desk Girl hauling out the racks of spandex workout gear (20% Off!), her long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. (December 24, 2003)
1970 Laguna fire - shot taken from Country Crest Drive, El Cajon. “We had trained for a fire coming down Kitchen Creek as much as you could train. But as far as training on anything like the Laguna Fire — no way."
  • Pine Valley girl recalls the 1970 Laguna fire

  • The phone rang a lot that morning. My mom spoke in the urgent yet businesslike tone she got when important things happened. My dad left the house before breakfast to drive the short mile and a half up to Sunrise Highway and to look at the fire. When he got back, my mom called the firemen and told them to stand by in case the fire came into the valley. (February 12, 1998)
  • What San Diego lawyers wear to court

  • “My favorite suit is a black Mani. It’s done by Armani,” Davee said. “Armani clothes tend to be loosely structured and more casual. The Mani line is their secondary cut that has a little bit more of a squared, business style. (Jan. 29, 1998)
Frank Sexton: “Chief Justice Rose Bird said that I hadn’t proven intent to kill. He only cut her head off. I suppose she could have throbbed around for a while.”
  • 31 San Diegans on California's death row

  • A Linda Vista man murdered the pretty young mother of two tiny boys, cut off her head and hands, and dumped her body near Pine Valley in 1979. A Chula Vista couple, the only husband and wife currently on death row, tortured their four-year-old niece in 1995, then burned her to death in a bathtub full of scalding water. (February 20, 2003)
Jay Borden: “I can’t imagine what it would be like to give birth to a child."
  • If I'd been born a woman

  • Ask any man you know if he’d like to be a woman, you get an automatic “No.” Too messy. Too emotional. Too hard. Most men can’t imagine going through their lives as anything but male. One San Diego man, born Lebanese, recoiled when asked to consider what his life would have been like had he been born a woman. “You might as well ask me to imagine how my life would have been different had I been born a Martian.” (May 16, 2002) .

Ryland, a mother of five and an attorney, wrote for the Reader from 1996 through 2004.

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"We've seen how it's getting built up, especially along Cole Grade Road." - Image by Salvatore Filippone
"We've seen how it's getting built up, especially along Cole Grade Road."
  • The Valley Center far away from Harrah’s casino

  • At the end of a winding asphalt road, past boulders and gated ranches, past riotous tumbles of magenta bougainvillea, past dirt roads that disappear into orange groves dappled with midday sun, you'll find Peter Schaner. On the back porch of a rambling farmhouse, Schaner sits in a wooden chair and shoos the five dogs milling about. He tends to Joseph, the youngest of his eight children. (December 30, 2004)
San Marcos
  • San Marcos – seen through characters at the gym

  • Looking for a representative cross-section of San Marcos residents? Try the 24 Hour Fitness in the Vons center at San Marcos Boulevard and Rancho Santa Fe Road any weekday morning around 6:30. As you walk through the automatic doors, you’ll see the early-20-something Front Desk Girl hauling out the racks of spandex workout gear (20% Off!), her long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. (December 24, 2003)
1970 Laguna fire - shot taken from Country Crest Drive, El Cajon. “We had trained for a fire coming down Kitchen Creek as much as you could train. But as far as training on anything like the Laguna Fire — no way."
  • Pine Valley girl recalls the 1970 Laguna fire

  • The phone rang a lot that morning. My mom spoke in the urgent yet businesslike tone she got when important things happened. My dad left the house before breakfast to drive the short mile and a half up to Sunrise Highway and to look at the fire. When he got back, my mom called the firemen and told them to stand by in case the fire came into the valley. (February 12, 1998)
  • What San Diego lawyers wear to court

  • “My favorite suit is a black Mani. It’s done by Armani,” Davee said. “Armani clothes tend to be loosely structured and more casual. The Mani line is their secondary cut that has a little bit more of a squared, business style. (Jan. 29, 1998)
Frank Sexton: “Chief Justice Rose Bird said that I hadn’t proven intent to kill. He only cut her head off. I suppose she could have throbbed around for a while.”
  • 31 San Diegans on California's death row

  • A Linda Vista man murdered the pretty young mother of two tiny boys, cut off her head and hands, and dumped her body near Pine Valley in 1979. A Chula Vista couple, the only husband and wife currently on death row, tortured their four-year-old niece in 1995, then burned her to death in a bathtub full of scalding water. (February 20, 2003)
Jay Borden: “I can’t imagine what it would be like to give birth to a child."
  • If I'd been born a woman

  • Ask any man you know if he’d like to be a woman, you get an automatic “No.” Too messy. Too emotional. Too hard. Most men can’t imagine going through their lives as anything but male. One San Diego man, born Lebanese, recoiled when asked to consider what his life would have been like had he been born a woman. “You might as well ask me to imagine how my life would have been different had I been born a Martian.” (May 16, 2002) .

Ryland, a mother of five and an attorney, wrote for the Reader from 1996 through 2004.

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And he got the crowd shaking at InZane Brewery
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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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