There’s Still Time for Pre-Snow Fun in Big Bear
By J.C. Thomas Many SoCal residents are eagerly awaiting the arrival of snow in Big Bear, whether it’s by nature or machine. But with temperatures across California still on the warmer side, we’ll all just have to be patient. Real winter will soon hit the mountains, but there’s plenty of outdoor action to experience in […]
Hotel Irvine – An Ideal Venue in Orange County’s Urban Hub
By J.C. Thomas Irvine is commonly characterized by the hundreds of corporate headquarters whose high-rise office buildings tower over the city’s neat and sunshiny master-planned landscape. This makes it easy to overlook Irvine as a vacation destination, but look beyond its businesslike veneer and you’ll uncover the vibrant urban epicenter of Orange County. Unlike the […]
Charles Aznavour: A Century of Performance
One year after his death, the “last of the giants,” is still on stage By Rachel Melikian He was short, plain and not conventionally attractive, yet against the odds, he climbed to the global heights and was named “France’s Frank Sinatra” and global “Entertainer of the Century,” surpassing Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan in popularity. […]
Broken Worlds in a Photographic Gallery
By Rachel Melikian Photographs preserve history and teach us about the past without any language involved, but as the saying goes a picture is worth a thousand words. Now most of us are amateur photographers using smartphones to capture selfies and personal photographs, gather images when we travel, and chronicle our personal histories. Professionally skilled […]
Visiting Oakland? There’s No Better Place to Stay Than the Waterfront Hotel
By J.C. Thomas If you have never considered Oakland as a travel destination, may I suggest you think again? National Geographic Traveler recently named Oakland one of the “28 Best Places to Visit in the World for 2019.” The world. It is only one of four locations in the United States and the only one […]
The Week in Politics
A weekly round-up of the biggest news in California politics…. Feinstein and Barnes developing legislation to protect California and Montana communities from wildfires: Senator Feinstein, with Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) are developing bipartisan legislation to protect communities from wildfires. The legislation seeks to protect public safety by expediting and expanding the removal of dead, dying […]
California Dreaming to Conquer Cancer
By Ariel Johns We all know someone who has been impacted by it – no matter their race, age, sex or income bracket. It’s a topic that no one wants to discuss. It tests families and destroys relationships. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world, but there is hope. With […]
Reflections on Cambodia
By Roger Allnutt It has been 10 years since I visited Cambodia, the “Kingdom’ of Wonder” and although there have been improvements since that time the majority of inhabitants of the country are still desperately poor. In the capital Phnom Penh and other larger cities like Siem Reap and Battambang there have been major improvements […]
Behind the Muddied Glass: A Doctor’s Look at Untreated Mental Illness
By Susan Partovi I met “Carrie” while making rounds at the Los Angeles County women’s jail with a group of mental health professionals. A woman in her mid-50s, she had no clue what day it was. Naked and thin, Carrie ambled over, peering through the muddied glass of her jail cell. But it was not […]
The Week in Politics
A weekly round-up of the biggest news in California politics…. Massive Chevron oil spill near Bakersfield is revealed to the public: A massive spill at a Chevron oil field in Kern County has dumped close to 800,000 gallons of oil and water into the landscape, various news outlets revealed last week. (The incident was first […]
The Week in Entertainment
Oakland: The Bay Area Instagram crowd is going nuts over the 90s, as the “90’s Experience” nostalgia-heavy pop-up opened on Jack London Square last week. Experience the greatest hits of the 1990s across all media in this 6,000-square-foot ode to the decade that defined the childhoods of older millennials and the teen years of Gen […]
A Family Guide to St. George, Utah
By J.C. Thomas A first-time family visit to St. George, Utah feels like you’ve been let in on a not-so-well-kept secret. Entertaining kids away from home without sacrificing enjoyment for yourself tends to be a challenge – but not in St. George. This city at the very southwest corner of the state is as close […]