Opinion
It is time to get your annual flu shot. But what else? What about these other vaccines? Is the “triple threat” really coming this fall? Yes, it is. To what degree it will affect us is yet to be seen, but public health experts warn that we should be prepared.
“It’d been several years since I’d seen Jen when I ran into her at a Jon Spencer Blues Explosion show at the El Rey Theatre in LA in March 1997. We spoke only briefly, but it was sure nice to see my old friend. Months later I got the shocking news that she had been diagnosed with brain cancer. She was 33. What followed that diagnosis dramatically reshaped the rest of her life. Though she’s never pursued legal action, a local surgeon botched her first brain surgery, removing some malignant mass but leaving behind more, which necessitated a second procedure at UCLA. The accompanying radiation treatments from both surgeries was severe and left her deeply fatigued. The combined trauma is with her to this day.”
A group was making its way through the crowd seated on the lawn in the darkening, warm summer evening. The guys had glow sticks around their necks, and the young woman had one crowning her head, like a string of daisies. Others walked past with hamburgers, ice cream and other treats from the concession stand as the band played into the night.
Though smog remains and LA still consistently tops the list for worst air quality in the nation, the region has seendramatic improvements since California began leading the way in the 1970s, to the point where being “smogged out” is a thing of the past in my old neighborhood. The pathway to cleaner air began when politicians of all stripes looked out their windows, saw the evidence, and followed the science. In 1970 this was just common sense. In 2023, not so much.
By Mark von Wodtke | Special to the Courier Tree legacy Homes, campuses, and Claremont’s public streets and parks should all have the benefit of heritage trees, which provide a living infrastructure for cleaner air and many other ecological amenities. Claremont has California Botanic Garden, the Claremont Wilderness Park, the Claremont Colleges campuses, the Village, […]
The signs are up, though they are low to the ground so you will have to bend down to read them. But make a point of doing so the next time you stroll along the north side of Marston Quad on the Pomona College campus, coffee in hand, dog on leash.
It was difficult to comprehend what I was seeing in that Lake Tahoe hotel room back in 1993. We’d had a few beers and shared a joint, and things were a little fuzzy. “This is a hold-up,” read the note, handwritten on neatly folded yellow legal paper. “You will not be harmed … Put the money in the envelop … Keep smiling – be quick … There is two of us.” He would hand that note to a bank teller and stand there calmly while she — it was always a woman, he said — crammed stacks of bills into a manila envelope. That kind of risk — and cruelty — was as foreign to me as I could imagine. I’d never been so close to a criminal before, and this one was my father.
Ayn Rand’s philosophy, known as objectivism, has gained a significant following over the years, advocating for individualism, rational self-interest, and laissez faire capitalism. While some praise her ideas as a means to personal freedom and achievement, it is essential to recognize their negative impact on a healthy, sustainable society, and why they fall short in promoting the common good, social cohesion, and environmental sustainability.
Last Friday John and I decided to make a quick trip up to Lake Arrowhead as a last hurrah before tropical storm Hilary battered the southland and our precarious perch here in town. Two of my favorite shops are up in Cedar Glen, hugging the southeastern edge of Lake Arrowhead.
I’ve considered myself quite fortunate to live in Claremont, with two loving parents who supported me. Growing up as the only son of Martin and Janis Weinberger exposed me to life as a member of the press at a very young age. I was able to see firsthand the impact of the printed word, a compelling photograph, and the power and responsibility of publishing local news. This experience defined who I am today. Here are some of those stories.
Do you remember when the newspaper was delivered to your doorstep each morning? Maybe you felt lucky if you still smelled the newsprint and picked it up before it was yellowed by the sun. Maybe you had time to read it before you started your day, or at least tucked it under your arm to read before work or on a break.
My earliest memories of Claremont are from the mid-1970s, when my mother and I would make the trek from Glendora to eat at Griswold’s Smorgasbord and I would devour every Swedish meatball in the 91711.
I see parents in films and on television basking in the loving warmth of a close-knit but quirky family, experiencing lovable hijinks, facing obstacles, overcoming them through some sort of life- and love-affirming process, and in the third act laughing and dancing in slow motion at a beachside barbeque while wearing matching white clothes. When is my third act coming? Is the ugly truth that it’s all just heartbreaking, all the time, then you die? I’m beginning to wonder.
With the morning 5k race pushed to another day and the parade held earlier at 10 a.m., the synergy from one event to the other was gone. Fourth of July Committee volunteerism was down about 75%, which impacts not only the parade, but the contribution volunteers make to other events.
The US was created in part as a refuge for the free exercise of various religious beliefs, or none at all. The First Amendment gets to it straightaway: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The founders were clear: religion has no place in our government. Yet here we are in 2023 seeing more and more school boards (and water boards, and city councils) infiltrated by those who would restrict students’ freedom — often, ironically, in the name of “religious freedom” — to learn about slavery, racism, and LGBTQ+ Americans. And these restrictions aren’t just happening in conservative bastions like Texas or Florida. Increasingly, they’re creeping into California and even nipping at the city limits of Claremont.
Aging seems to happen slowly, then in big lurches; your hair starts losing its color, revealing the gray, and your belly starts to protrude. This goes on for some time until one day you wake up, your hair is white, and you’re shaped like a pear. There’s no warming up to it. It’s just here: your new body.