My Life
A Thanksgiving Tale
Free Avocados and a Turkey Heist
Last Thanksgiving, I didn’t have anyone to hang out with. There I was, all alone, with a borrowed car and a bottle of Popov Read story.
Baja Tales
Lobsters, Tollbooths, and a 50-Foot Jesus
Every weekend, thousands of fun-seeking Americans flood across the Mexican border into Baja, California. Some are underage college students wanting to go to bars and clubs. Others are surfers intent on exploring the many surfable nooks and crannies the Baja coast has to offer. Read story.
How the Health Insurance Crisis is Ruining Antiques Roadshow
Heirloom Deflation
I went through a phase where I just loved to watch Antiques Roadshow. I find it peppy and soothing, predictable and amazing, a wonderful amalgamation of historic America and middle America, naiveté and expertise, innocence and greed. Read story.
Coming Out and Going Straight
Gay, Proud, and Partying
While coming out of the closet is never a particularly fun activity, doing so when one is the only child of conservative, fundamentalist Christians from Orange County is, well, less fun. After enduring a few weeks of less-than-supportive comments from my dad and watching my mom struggle to make sense of her feelings, I made a mixed CD of songs that would keep me cheerful and convinced that coming out was the right thing to do and that loving my girlfriend, Jackie, was a-okay in the grand scheme of things. Read story.
Surviving the Suicide of a Daughter and a Niece
Life Forever Changed
My name is Sally. I’m a suicide survivor — two times. I lost both my daughter Linda and my niece Stephanie to suicide. Linda killed herself by jumping from the seventh-floor balcony of her apartment. She was 45. Stephanie ingested a lethal combination of alcohol and prescription drugs. She was 32. Read story.
The Awful Truth
Confessions of a Former Liar
I’m good at lying. Not perfect, but I’ve had a lot of practice so I’m awfully good. I’m most sincere when I lie and if anyone suspects, I always ask, “Would I lie to you?” Read story.
Rhapsody in Yellow
My Life with The Simpsons
I remember watching the first-ever episode of The Simpsons. Titled “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” this Christmas-themed pilot aired December 17, 1989 — at a time when I doubt my seven-year-old brain understood most of the jokes or could have expected how this bug-eyed, surreally yellow family would figure so largely into my life. I know, I know — it’s The Simpsons, for god’s sake, but here I am making a case for the value of this TV show. Read story.
Confessions of an Insomniac
Midnight at the Oasis
It used to be that I would simply lean back at bedtime and fall sweetly into sleep, watching bright cinematic dreams unfurl until daylight touched my face. Not anymore. “A good night’s sleep” has become an elusive sort of fantasy. Read story.
The Power of Music
The National Youth Orchestra of El Salvador
On a hot, lazy afternoon, teenagers sit smoking cigarettes in a fancy café, nibbling cakes and chatting about fashion. A few blocks away, children throw jacks and ride bicycles along a filthy cobblestone alley infested with cockroaches and raw sewage. This is daily life in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, and home to these disparate worlds of luxury and desperation. With a recent civil war and increasing gang violence, the country seems to have little hope for a sustained peace. Read story.
Prom, Senior Prom
Inside Santa Barbara High’s James Bond-Themed Senior Prom
Indy intern — and Santa Barbara High junior — Amy Chong goes to the senior prom and lives to tell about it. Read story.
24 Hours in Tijuana
Leading a S.B. Youth Group Across the Border and Back
At 5 a.m. the next morning I was standing in my kitchen, a towel on my head, wondering vaguely how a teenage girl had materialized in my house before sunrise, and trying to remember whether teenagers drank coffee, or whether I should offer her tea instead. By the time Angie and I got behind the wheel of my car, the caffeine had begun to kick in, and we headed over to the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara to meet up with the rest of the team: the five other 8th-grade members of the Coming of Age program, and my co-leader, Kir. Read story.
To Wash or Not to Wash
Observations of Tidy and Slobby Cohabitating
There are those who believe an automobile should be groomed and cleaned and those who view dirty as its normal state of being. A tiny but unceasing tension exists when these two opposing types are married. My husband is of the washing persuasion. Crumbs on a seat depress him, objects not battened down are both hazards and annoyances, and a windshield should be utterly unblemished. Read story.
Weeknight Racing with the Santa Barbara Yacht Club
Wet Wednesdays
It’s moments before the first starting gun, and waves are rushing over the bow of our J-105, Rock’n & Groov’n. There are six of us onboard for the race, and we all have our duties in order to get the yacht to the start line on time; everyone must work hard to get the boat in proper trim. Even though I have done this many times before, thoughts still rush through my mind — “Do we know where we are going? How much more time do we have?” Read story.
Auditioning for MTV’s The Real World
Surreal Life
This is the story of several dozen strangers, who stood in line outside Q’s on a Tuesday morning, all of them desperate to live in a house and have their lives taped — except for one reporter, who was freaked out by the experience. Read story.
A Farewell to Spot the Cat
The Dead of Night
The dull thud Spot made as he failed to make it through the open window and bounced off the wall was a sound I had not heard before. Yet its source and significance struck me in a sickening instant as I awoke and sprang for the lamp. I had not seen the younger of my two cats for 36 hours. A look outside confirmed my relief that he was home and alive, as well as my fear that something was stupendously wrong. Read story.
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