“School is about so much more than data transfer from teacher to student,” says Dahmer High School English teacher Pamela Ratched. “It’s about the crucial socialization that takes part in the classroom, the lunchroom, and …
May 29, 2020
Latest News & Stories
San Diego Schools welcome end of so-called “distance learning”
Newly reopened restaurants prepare to enforce social distancing with surplus sex dolls.
Matt McMullen had a problem. The founder of San Marcos-based luxury sex doll company RealDoll had, as he puts it, “a factory full of way too many bodies in close proximity. I mean, literally stacked …
May 29, 2020
Myths, legends and genealogies of the Kojiki
The Kojiki Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto [i.e. “the divine primal pair”] consulted together, saying: “We have now produced the Great-eight-island country, with the mountains, rivers, herbs, and trees. Why should we not …
May 29, 2020
Is your favorite brewery open yet? Check Magie's spreadsheet.
The past ten weeks have been a roller coaster ride for the San Diego beer industry, as abrupt public policy shifts due to coronavirus have kept breweries and fans on their toes. Every individual beer …
May 29, 2020
Derek Walcott: poem and prayer
Pentecost Better a jungle in the head than rootless concrete. Better to stand bewildered by the fireflies’ crooked street; winter lamps do not show where the sidewalk is lost, nor can these tongues of snow …
May 28, 2020
Bolt Brewery: predictably delish since 1987
Word got out this morning. “Today’s the day!” This was last Thursday. Everybody was talking about the reopening of restaurants for sit-down. So hey, I decided just to hop on the Orange Line, ride it …
May 28, 2020
Jon Hyatt’s Screened Out warns of “brain hackers”
“What’s with all the movies?” was one of my father’s pet questions. “Don’t you ever read a book?” (This coming from a man who never cracked a spine in his life.) Years later, Dad’s counsel …
May 28, 2020
Record + coloring book
After stealing her father’s guitar so she could learn to play at the age of 11, Gayle Skidmore moved to England to study at Oxford University. While overseas, she performed on a local TV channel, …
May 28, 2020
Z-Boi, Kiyoshi, Heartbreaka, and other rappers on COVID-19
What’s going on with our rap artists during lockdown? Rosarito based record producer Z-Boi is self-quarantining and producing reggaeton music and rap-beats from his Shock Da World Recordz studio, located 18 miles south of the …
May 28, 2020
Christopher Maddox: Dr. Demento got me started
Carlsbad’s Christopher Maddox aka the “Crisis Crooner” — Telematics Executive (whatever that means), husband, father, Elvis impersonator, civic booster, sculptor of online parody songs — watched the coronavirus creep through his Chinese business contacts; then …
May 28, 2020
Mother's Saloon in OB is closing its doors
"We are saying goodbye to an incredible chapter in our live," posted Mother's Saloon operator Colin Wickersheim online today. "It is with much reservation and sadness that we are forced to shut our doors permanently. …
May 27, 2020
Classical music livestreams are boring
I wish I could find the wherewithal to be a fan of classical music in the age of streaming. For a while I watched out of obligation. Obligation turned to watching out of guilt and …
May 27, 2020
San Diegans head to Phoenix
It’s almost Zonie season, that time of year when the arrival of triple-digit heat prompts Arizonans to head west in search of cool ocean breezes. But over the last year, I’ve been driving east to …
May 27, 2020
Lorena Gonzalez still feeding from Disneyland trough
Lorena’s fantasy Disneyland has been closed since March 14, sending ripples of angst through the ranks of investors and tourists alike. But before the park locked its gates against the COVID-19 pandemic, a crew of …
May 27, 2020
The quarantine games
Dear Hipster: If I were to spend my quarantine trying to master an incredibly complicated game (you know, the kind of thing everybody always says it takes a lifetime to master), would it be cooler …
May 27, 2020