Depending on the direction you are heading and time of year, I consider Blackwells Corner to be a portal to weather conditions you could expect in heaven or the entrance to earth’s extremely hot and desolate ancient Triassic Period.
I have no way to validate, confirm or authenticate to you the details of this Buck Owens story. It seems incredible, even to me, every time I share it. All I can say, as best as I can, every word is as true as I remember it to be.
My brothers, Willie, Andy, Ralph and Bobbie and I could have been swamp cooler installers, repairmen and technical advisers in the 1960s. Including my four brothers, there were 10 of us living in our small 900-square-foot Watts Drive home. Those included my three sisters, Rachel, Espie, Nanc…
Sitting in our hallway closet for more than 12 years was a large clear storage case full of Susie’s sewing fabric. That’s how long it’s been since we lost Susie, my bride of 40 years, to cancer.
Danay Gonzalez and I sat alone in the conference room of the prestigious Rodriguez & Associates law offices where she is an attorney. During our 15-minute conversation she was very professional and lawyerly. She was cordial, always friendly and to the point.
“I was just trying to be me. Wherever ‘me’ took me to, that’s where I wanted to be,” stated Lloyd McCoy. That was his response when I asked him about being the first black quarterback for the ʦapp High School Drillers football team. McCoy attended BHS from 1954 to 1958.
My daughter Brenna and I recently attended Magda Menendez’s retirement party. After 43 years, Menendez retired as the administrator of the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation. According to its website, “MAOF provides social services for infants through seniors and is one of the largest n…
I believe we inherited it from my dad’s side of the family. It’s the need for all our family to be together.
It started as a normal non-football Sunday morning at my home. I had just returned from church. My daughter Nikki, her husband, Carlos, and Brenna were in the living room relaxing and playing movie roulette on the television. Movie roulette is where you spend as much time looking for and dec…
I don’t remember which lame excuse I used to get my adult daughter Nikki to ride with me last Sunday morning. I think the pretense was to grab her favorite extra hot sugar-free Annihilator coffee from Dutch Bros.
It wasn’t anyone’s birthday, or someone’s anniversary, or, thank goodness, a funeral. It wasn’t a Super Bowl party, or even a World Series game.
The usual grammar, composition and literature would not be taught in English class that April day in 1968. When Mr. Miller, our South High School English teacher, walked into his classroom full of soon-to-be graduating seniors, his usual jovial approach was replaced with a somber and palpabl…
I always thought the red Santa Express mailbox in our entryway was only one of many Christmas decorations that filled our home. To my joy this mailbox would serve to be like a family time capsule that would offer a unique peek into the growing personalities of my children and grandchildren.
I have one. I know my memory isn’t accurate, but this is how my heart remembers it.
“I don’t know very many good men. But Nino was one of them,” said a friend at Nino Macias’ graveside services last week.
It’s an immediate mood changer.
In 1963, when I was in the eighth grade at Golden State Junior High School, I was 13 years old and in the early phase of learning about girls.
May I please be in the room when you try to explain to your children how we used to take film from our cameras to a store to have it developed?
Please tell me I am not the only one with the following reoccurring dream while in high school:
The question I am asked most often by the few readers I am blessed to have is: Did the Wavehogs go camping again this year?
For one night at the Hollywood Bowl, they were the self-proclaimed “Fabulous Four” who were the backup singers and dancers for Janet Jackson. At least that’s how Janet made them, and all 1,200 fans, feel at her June 10 sold-out concert. According to my daughters Brenna and Nikki, my daughter…
I know my neighbors have been curious.
To some, today is the official start of summer, with pool parties, barbecue and neighborhood celebrations. Memorial Day sales are everywhere. To others it stirs up a complex range of emotions from sorrow to pride and reverence to grace.
Sometimes life has a strange but welcomed serendipity to it. Life will give you a chance you never even knew you needed until it happens. Such is the case when I first met Blair Pruett.
“Like sand through the hourglass…so are the 'Days of Our Lives.'”
It’s happened three times since Susie, my bride of 40 years, passed away more than nine years ago.
Please let me introduce you to Naomi Roby Duenas.
To those who knew Vernon Espinoza, it is easy to explain and believe this story of eternal love for Aurelia, his bride of 62 years. Vernon and Aurelia have five children, 14 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandchild.
Smoke detectors blaring, popping confetti-filled balloons, barbecuing outdoors in torrential rain and the noise level of a Chuck E. Cheese would minimally describe this last three-day weekend celebration with my family.
I saw a great post for the start of our new year. It read: “I’m opening a new gym called ‘Resolutions.’ It will have exercise equipment for the first two weeks in January and then I will turn the gym into a wine and beer bar for the rest of the year.”
Loyalty, honor, fidelity, commitment and tolerance.
With a touch to his mother’s headstone at Historic Union Cemetery, my Tio Willie said an emotional goodbye to his mom.
My total and complete unawareness that the “Hocus Pocus” franchise had become a pop culture phenomenon reminded me of the imbecile I can be and classmate Molly Flannigan.
Spending time alone with each of my children and grandchildren is always a gift.
For most young adults, turning 16 is a very important milestone. Schoolwork, stress, body image and getting your driver's license are common sources of worry for young adults. For 16-year-old Samantha Parrilla who attends Cesar Chavez High School in Delano add "mediastinal b-cell non-Hodgkin…
Many came via the GET bus. Some were dropped off by family or a friend. Chaperons and caretakers brought others. And there were a few who drove themselves. And even fewer walked. For many in attendance, barring any health issue, nothing was going to stop them from coming. That’s how importan…
I can’t remember my mother’s voice.
His long face and sad eyes told me my 10-year-old grandson, Ry Ry, was having a difficult day. I sat next to him on the picnic bench to find out what was wrong. He was feeling jinxed because of his multiple mishaps on our recent camping trip to Morro Strand Beach.
No matter their age, everyone I asked has one … a favorite 4th of July celebration memory.
“No matter how much love we give him, we can’t make him better,” lamented Pamela Aguirre, mother of critically ill 3-year-old Nathan.
My birthday was Wednesday, June 1. At my age, and even though he comes knocking every morning, I won’t let the old man in. And as my friends remind me, I am now playing the back nine of an 18-hole golf course.
How do you combine the love of your favorite National Football League team with the love of helping your community? Ask founder of the local Raider Crusaders, Lorenzo Lerma.
It was my daughter Nikki and son-in-law Carlos’ first trip to Washington, D.C.
My favorite daughter-in-law, Yvonne, recounted a recent dinner conversation between herself, her 15-year-old daughter, Ms. Haley, and 9-year-old son Ry Ry.
People were cleaning up from the reception, moving tables and chairs and preparing for the dance soon to follow. It was late afternoon, and the Salon Juarez Hall in ʦapp was full of wedding party guests.
My cousin Vicky invited my brothers and sisters to her home in Visalia. She recently lost her parents and had a few items she knew her Mom and Dad, our Tia Rusty and Uncle Joe, would want us to have.
I knew the exact moment when I had made the right decision.
You may not be familiar with the term “Tejano music,” but I’m willing to bet you have heard and perhaps even enjoyed a version of this unique style of music.
“Do you want to build a snow man? Come on, let’s go and play.”
