Columnists

UnderCurrents:Better Way Needed to Meet a Crowd of Good Candidates

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday April 18, 2008
Running for elected office—especially for local elected office—can be an extraordinarily stressful time, as candidates struggle to get their messages heard and understood amidst the general cacophony. -more-

East Bay, Then and Now: Marshall-Lindblom House Was the ‘Prettiest Home in Berkeley’

By Daniella Thompson
Friday April 18, 2008
Mr. and Mrs. Linblom posing in front of their house in a 1901 model Locomobile steam car.
John Albert Marshall (1868-1924), commonly known as J.A., was a small and hot-tempered man. In 1906 he had two brushes with the law—one as a recalcitrant witness for the defense, threatening to thrash a much larger prosecuting attorney, the other when he was convicted of battery after pummeling John Koch, owner of a delicatessen at 2520 Bancroft Way. -more-

Garden Variety: Sating an Ancient Hunger

By Ron Sullivan
Friday April 18, 2008
So I was licking nectar off the base of an orchid blossom the other night ... See?That’s why people keep pets, in which category I place houseplants. Most of us don’t live the wildlands any more, which of course is why they’re still “wildlands,” and there’s all this unpredictable, unrepeatable, unmediated experience we don’t get to have every minute of every day. -more-

About the House: When Flue Gases Condense Inside Your Furnace

By Matt Cantor
Friday April 18, 2008
Fuzzy Flue Fortells of Furnace Failures?
As you go for that morning jog ( You are jogging every morning, right? Immediately after that low-fat, lemon, poppy-seed, caramel muffin and the soy latte) you probably note amidst the quiet and still of the neighborhood that there are little puffs of smoke that come from the tops of every house and business. -more-

Wild Neighbors: Strawberry Canyon and UC’s Edifice Complex

by Joe Eaton
Tuesday April 15, 2008
Strawberry Canyon 1n 1870
Who was it who said that anyone who isn’t outraged just hasn’t been paying attention? -more-