Features & Opinions
Latest in Features & Opinions
LB CITY GIRL: CAN I SAY I DON’T LIKE O’DONNELL’S SNOW DAY? OR IS THAT CATTY?
What's got this feline feeling so feral and so like hell that absolutely nothing sounds better than a session of taming at the hands of cat-whisperer Jackson Galaxy? It might just be 4th district city councilmember Patrick O'Donnell and his annual Snow Day.
A NEW YEAR’S EVE OF LOVE AND JOY AND SEX AND DREAMS … OH, AND A BIGOT
On New Year's Eve, men were dressed in kilts and tuxedos, women in spangles and fur, But even in jeans and t-shirt, I was complimented by strange men---and after they determined my date's level of possessiveness, they tried to kiss me on my mouth. Aw, thanks, strange men! None of them were the bigot.
LAST LOOK: THE GUY WHO TOOK MY INTRAMURAL SOCCER GAME TOO SERIOUSLY
I saw you taking practice shots, kicking the ball really hard but missing every time, even though there was no goalie. You were trying to impress the women, even though there’s never been a single recorded instance of a woman getting turned on by a man in a neon headband, tank top, blue short shorts and the orange shoes kicking a soccer ball really hard.
FIRST LOOK: RIDING THE LB MONORAIL TO ALL-PROBLEMS-SOLVED-VILLE
If 60 miles of monorail track looks to you like the solution to Long Beach's transportation and employment problems, then you are apparently looking at it the right way ... according to a group called Island of Long Beach, anyway. It claims its project would move 460,000 people an hour and create 300,000 jobs. That's enough for us! All abooooaaarrrd!!!
FIRST LOOK: BELLFLOWER TURNS A PAGE—IS IT ENOUGH TO CHANGE ITS STORY?
Bellflower's first downtown development in decades---the $7 million Belmont Court---will replace a stretch of non-descript midcentury buildings with a collection of residential condos above retail shops that the architect describes as "midcentury with a contemporary feel."
HORATIO & NEWT: HEAPING THE BLAME FOR POVERTY ON CHILDREN
Newt Gingrich took a page out of Horatio Alger's books when he called for rolling back child labor laws. Newt wants poor kids as young as nine to replace their school janitors, so they can learn the work ethic, as opposed to well-off kids, who are evidently born with a work ethic.
GAY-STRAIGHT STUDENT ALLIANCE: NOT JUST OUT AND OPEN, BUT MAINSTREAM
Through friendship and frank discussions traditionally unheard of on high school campuses, Gay-Straight Alliances like this one at Downey High are normalizing once-taboo subjects, shedding light on human complexity and helping people feel welcomed and accepted.
JOHN DIXON’S JOURNALISM: DOING YOUR BEST TO TELL THE TRUTH
The profile of John Dixon by Jim McCormack compies slices of true life that are mostly examples of Dixon's concern about the state of journalism---and Dixon's typical response: to reach into his own integrity for the right thing to do, then to reach into his own courage to put that thing into action.
REMEMBERING DOUG ZERBY: NO WORDS TO WARN HIM, BUT PLENTY TO BLAME HIM
Tonight's candlelight vigil at the Long Beach Police Department marks one year since Doug Zerby---drunk and playing with a water nozzle at his Belmont Shore apartment complex---was gunned down without warning by officers Victor Ortiz and Jeffrey Shurtleff, who say they thought the nozzle was a pistol.
MY SISTER, THE FLOWER GIRL AT MY WEDDING, IS A SAILOR GOING OFF TO WAR
What will I say to Anna on the drive down to the Naval Base in San Diego? I will be the last of her family to say goodbye. I don't want to cry. I want to give her a gift. But where she is headed, Anna has neither room nor need for anything I could give her.
LONG BEACH ROLLER DERBY: A SUCCESS STORY FIGHTS FOR $URVIVAL
Long Beach Roller Derby nights at the Queen Mary Dome already feel like local tradition, but unless the league can raise $20,000 by early January to pay off the loan for its banked-turn track, it may become another Long Beach tradition lost.
