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Matt Lickona, another great books hire, becomes Reader writer, editor and then – Reader owner
Writes series on being first-time dad, invites himself into people's homes
Matt Lickona with grandfather and father
Matthew Lickona has been at the Reader since 1995; he was hired by editor Judith Moore, along with fellow Thomas Aquinas College (a great books school) grad and eventual longtime Reader editor Ernie Grimm.
Over the course of 30 years at the paper, Lickona has written cover stories, short features, news stories, profiles, interviews, personal essays, music reviews, church reviews, wine reviews, restaurant reviews, movie reviews, theater reviews, film reviews, and a bunch of other stuff.
On January 1, 2025, Lickona, by then the editor of the Reader, purchased the paper from owner Jim Holman for $1. Lickona continues as editor and as the paper's theater reviewer, and hopes to one day bring back the Reader's print edition.
Editor's picks of longer stories Lickona has written for the Reader:
"All you have to go on is, do you like it or not?”Taste, taste, taste, taste, and then taste a hundred times more
- Eddie Osterland, one of 29 master sommeliers in the U.S., left New York because he wanted to raise his daughter in less aggressive surroundings, and he chose San Diego because “this is a beautiful city, obviously, as far as weather is concerned. And there are a lot of people who don’t know that much about wine. So here’s a guy who teaches it, in a place that’s got six million people that I wouldn’t consider a super-sophisticated market. So I moved here because I thought I could make a difference.” (Feb. 6, 1997)
John Rickard: “The majority of people down there are middle-aged guys with pretty conservative lifestyles. But a lot of these conservative guys didn’t start out conservative."Corvette owners are into them for show, so are Ferrari owners. But Porsche owners are purposeful people.
- “There is no feeling better, other than maybe sex, than to take a curve at that speed, fast, and feel like you’re hanging onto the road. Not many cars give you that feeling of control. Not many cars give you the feeling that when you turn the steering wheel, the car moves instantaneously. I don’t know how to communicate it other than that, because the only way you get it communicated is through your butt, being in the car and having the sensation of being solidly planted, and Porsche gives you the feeling of being solidly planted, no matter what speed you’re at." ( Feb. 12, 1998)
New Yorker's Janet Flanner, my mother, and me
- Pictures, maps, photographs, and paintings crowd William Murray’s Del Mar walls. Three images catch my attention. They interest me as much for divergence of style as for dissimilar content: a pencil sketch of famed New Yorker writer Janet Flanner, her features retreating into the creamy yellow paper; a moody depiction of a stern bishop waving a thurible; and a lighthearted drawing of a topless woman sunbathing on the Riviera, her lissome figure stretched across the paper. (Feb. 10, 2000)
Campus Crusade for Christ's Jon Braun, now Father Jon Braun, Orthodox priest: “I knew that the Roman Catholic Church was evil because that’s what I was taught.”San Diego's Antiochian Orthodox church surprises.
- He looks like a regular young guy — maybe late 20s or early 30s. Head shaved to mask a receding hairline, a black goatee to offset the baldness, the gold rim of his glasses glinting beneath his dark brows. A regular guy, except maybe for his robe. Though it has the sheen of satin, it does not drape or hang; it holds its shape, stiffly framing the man beneath. Though mostly creamy white, the robe beams with patterns of yellow gold. (If we were not in church, the fabric would seem ostentatious, guilty of Louis XVI excess.) And over the robe, a stole, equally stiff and resplendent, making an X across his belly. (April 8, 2009)
A San Diego Charger football game is one thing, fandom is something else - December 2, 2007: During his radio broadcast of the San Diego Chargers’ victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, announcer Hank Bauer gave a shout-out to Charger fan Alfred Silva, who was battling cancer. (Silva’s brother-in-law Jim Muse Jr. golfed with Bauer and had put in the request.) By March of 2008, Silva had succumbed. But when he was laid to rest at Singing Hills, it was in a powder blue coffin trimmed with gold — Charger colors. His body was dressed in a jersey honoring his favorite player, Lance Alworth. ( Dec. 2, 2009)
Reader writer concludes he is his father's son
- Here and elsewhere, I find myself wondering how my own sons’ sports memories will compare, in terms of both passion and detail. I wonder how mine compare. I wonder if it has to do with reading and writing. But I don’t really wonder; I know what makes a lasting impression. I asked Pop to dig up some of his favorite pieces from high school. He couldn’t find the one about “the most exciting game I ever covered,” but it didn’t matter. (June 12, 2019)
Lickona wrote first-time dad columns from February 1997 to July 1999
Matt Lickona purchases a grey cardigan sweater
"Talk to him," my wife commands, and I obey. I bend down, place my mouth against her belly, and say hello to my son, whose ears are fully developed by now. I tell him that I love him, but after that, I don't know what to say. What to say to someone I do not know?
Feb. 13, 1997
Men Will Rise to the Level Women Demand of Them
I decided I couldn't stand my coach and I quit playing baseball. And that was it. As intensely as dad had supported me, as hard as he had worked with me, he did not try to keep me where I did not need to be. It was a lesson to me. I am not for hands-off parenting. But here was a place where letting go, while it would not affect my quality of soul, might still be difficult.
March 20, 1997
Lickona wrote about getting invited into people's homes in 2003 and 2004:
Lizzie, Chris, Junior, and Laura. "If God were to bless us with another one, then of course I would love the child."You Have to Know Yourself
“One of the things I love to do is the yardwork — not that I enjoy the yardwork, but I like the feeling I get when the lawn is properly manicured and I’ve got the flag fixed right and the car’s washed — pop a lawn chair in front of my house, nice and peaceful, and look at the trees with a beer in my hand right underneath the American flag. I say, ‘Now, this is living.’”
Feb. 27, 2003 | Read full article
From left to right: Patty, Paul, Jack. “I’ve been called Patty by my kids forever. I was hipper than all the latest jargon on how to bring up kids."The Idea Is to Make Something Beautiful
Del Mar was an attractive community to the former Ojaians. “There’s this intellectual, offbeat group of people that Del Mar represents,” begins Paul. “All the UCSD professors moved out here at a certain time. La Jolla is much more money-oriented, whereas Del Mar has more of a heady environment.” “Well, we have the racetrack,” offers Patty. “People have come here from all over the world because of the racetrack and the fair.”
Sept. 30, 2004 | Read full article
Crush – a wine column
From 2004 through 2010 Lickona wrote a wine column for the Reader under the standing headline "Crush." Here is an excerpt from one of his las wine columns:
I have no idea if it’s any kind of leading economic indicator, but according to Amanda Keston, director of client services for the newly formed Spectrum Wine Auctions, “The wine-auction market has turned the corner. I think it hit bottom last spring, and it’s been going up from there. It’s not where it was four or five years ago, but it’s starting to recover.” (Before 2009, Spectrum had limited its auction work to coins, stamps, and military collectibles. “What happened was, we got our hands on a really great consignment,” says Keston, referring to the wine collection of Aubrey McClendon, CEO of natural-gas giant Chesapeake Energy Corporation. “Greg Roberts, our CEO, brought it in....”)
Jan. 20, 2010
Here's something you might be interested in.
Matt Lickona, another great books hire, becomes Reader writer, editor and then – Reader owner
Writes series on being first-time dad, invites himself into people's homes
Matt Lickona, another great books hire, becomes Reader writer, editor and then – Reader owner
Writes series on being first-time dad, invites himself into people's homes
Matt Lickona with grandfather and father
Matthew Lickona has been at the Reader since 1995; he was hired by editor Judith Moore, along with fellow Thomas Aquinas College (a great books school) grad and eventual longtime Reader editor Ernie Grimm.
Over the course of 30 years at the paper, Lickona has written cover stories, short features, news stories, profiles, interviews, personal essays, music reviews, church reviews, wine reviews, restaurant reviews, movie reviews, theater reviews, film reviews, and a bunch of other stuff.
On January 1, 2025, Lickona, by then the editor of the Reader, purchased the paper from owner Jim Holman for $1. Lickona continues as editor and as the paper's theater reviewer, and hopes to one day bring back the Reader's print edition.
Editor's picks of longer stories Lickona has written for the Reader:
"All you have to go on is, do you like it or not?”Taste, taste, taste, taste, and then taste a hundred times more
- Eddie Osterland, one of 29 master sommeliers in the U.S., left New York because he wanted to raise his daughter in less aggressive surroundings, and he chose San Diego because “this is a beautiful city, obviously, as far as weather is concerned. And there are a lot of people who don’t know that much about wine. So here’s a guy who teaches it, in a place that’s got six million people that I wouldn’t consider a super-sophisticated market. So I moved here because I thought I could make a difference.” (Feb. 6, 1997)
John Rickard: “The majority of people down there are middle-aged guys with pretty conservative lifestyles. But a lot of these conservative guys didn’t start out conservative."Corvette owners are into them for show, so are Ferrari owners. But Porsche owners are purposeful people.
- “There is no feeling better, other than maybe sex, than to take a curve at that speed, fast, and feel like you’re hanging onto the road. Not many cars give you that feeling of control. Not many cars give you the feeling that when you turn the steering wheel, the car moves instantaneously. I don’t know how to communicate it other than that, because the only way you get it communicated is through your butt, being in the car and having the sensation of being solidly planted, and Porsche gives you the feeling of being solidly planted, no matter what speed you’re at." ( Feb. 12, 1998)
New Yorker's Janet Flanner, my mother, and me
- Pictures, maps, photographs, and paintings crowd William Murray’s Del Mar walls. Three images catch my attention. They interest me as much for divergence of style as for dissimilar content: a pencil sketch of famed New Yorker writer Janet Flanner, her features retreating into the creamy yellow paper; a moody depiction of a stern bishop waving a thurible; and a lighthearted drawing of a topless woman sunbathing on the Riviera, her lissome figure stretched across the paper. (Feb. 10, 2000)
Campus Crusade for Christ's Jon Braun, now Father Jon Braun, Orthodox priest: “I knew that the Roman Catholic Church was evil because that’s what I was taught.”San Diego's Antiochian Orthodox church surprises.
- He looks like a regular young guy — maybe late 20s or early 30s. Head shaved to mask a receding hairline, a black goatee to offset the baldness, the gold rim of his glasses glinting beneath his dark brows. A regular guy, except maybe for his robe. Though it has the sheen of satin, it does not drape or hang; it holds its shape, stiffly framing the man beneath. Though mostly creamy white, the robe beams with patterns of yellow gold. (If we were not in church, the fabric would seem ostentatious, guilty of Louis XVI excess.) And over the robe, a stole, equally stiff and resplendent, making an X across his belly. (April 8, 2009)
A San Diego Charger football game is one thing, fandom is something else - December 2, 2007: During his radio broadcast of the San Diego Chargers’ victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, announcer Hank Bauer gave a shout-out to Charger fan Alfred Silva, who was battling cancer. (Silva’s brother-in-law Jim Muse Jr. golfed with Bauer and had put in the request.) By March of 2008, Silva had succumbed. But when he was laid to rest at Singing Hills, it was in a powder blue coffin trimmed with gold — Charger colors. His body was dressed in a jersey honoring his favorite player, Lance Alworth. ( Dec. 2, 2009)
Reader writer concludes he is his father's son
- Here and elsewhere, I find myself wondering how my own sons’ sports memories will compare, in terms of both passion and detail. I wonder how mine compare. I wonder if it has to do with reading and writing. But I don’t really wonder; I know what makes a lasting impression. I asked Pop to dig up some of his favorite pieces from high school. He couldn’t find the one about “the most exciting game I ever covered,” but it didn’t matter. (June 12, 2019)
Lickona wrote first-time dad columns from February 1997 to July 1999
Matt Lickona purchases a grey cardigan sweater
"Talk to him," my wife commands, and I obey. I bend down, place my mouth against her belly, and say hello to my son, whose ears are fully developed by now. I tell him that I love him, but after that, I don't know what to say. What to say to someone I do not know?
Feb. 13, 1997
Men Will Rise to the Level Women Demand of Them
I decided I couldn't stand my coach and I quit playing baseball. And that was it. As intensely as dad had supported me, as hard as he had worked with me, he did not try to keep me where I did not need to be. It was a lesson to me. I am not for hands-off parenting. But here was a place where letting go, while it would not affect my quality of soul, might still be difficult.
March 20, 1997
Lickona wrote about getting invited into people's homes in 2003 and 2004:
Lizzie, Chris, Junior, and Laura. "If God were to bless us with another one, then of course I would love the child."You Have to Know Yourself
“One of the things I love to do is the yardwork — not that I enjoy the yardwork, but I like the feeling I get when the lawn is properly manicured and I’ve got the flag fixed right and the car’s washed — pop a lawn chair in front of my house, nice and peaceful, and look at the trees with a beer in my hand right underneath the American flag. I say, ‘Now, this is living.’”
Feb. 27, 2003 | Read full article
From left to right: Patty, Paul, Jack. “I’ve been called Patty by my kids forever. I was hipper than all the latest jargon on how to bring up kids."The Idea Is to Make Something Beautiful
Del Mar was an attractive community to the former Ojaians. “There’s this intellectual, offbeat group of people that Del Mar represents,” begins Paul. “All the UCSD professors moved out here at a certain time. La Jolla is much more money-oriented, whereas Del Mar has more of a heady environment.” “Well, we have the racetrack,” offers Patty. “People have come here from all over the world because of the racetrack and the fair.”
Sept. 30, 2004 | Read full article
Crush – a wine column
From 2004 through 2010 Lickona wrote a wine column for the Reader under the standing headline "Crush." Here is an excerpt from one of his las wine columns:
I have no idea if it’s any kind of leading economic indicator, but according to Amanda Keston, director of client services for the newly formed Spectrum Wine Auctions, “The wine-auction market has turned the corner. I think it hit bottom last spring, and it’s been going up from there. It’s not where it was four or five years ago, but it’s starting to recover.” (Before 2009, Spectrum had limited its auction work to coins, stamps, and military collectibles. “What happened was, we got our hands on a really great consignment,” says Keston, referring to the wine collection of Aubrey McClendon, CEO of natural-gas giant Chesapeake Energy Corporation. “Greg Roberts, our CEO, brought it in....”)
Jan. 20, 2010