Smiley's People
In her new novel, Private Life, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author uses family history as fictional fodder.
Jane Smiley’s novels take you on a complicated journey as you experience the pleasures and pitfalls of her characters’ inner lives. So it’s probably fitting that getting to the author’s home, located on a remote ...
Issues / 2010 / May 13
Monterey-bound Celebrity Cruises gets poor environmental grade.
Celebrity Cruises, the only cruise line that plans to call in Monterey this year, will deliver boatloads full of tourists to spend the day in town when it sails from Vancouver to San Diego twice ...
Special Edible
A great way to maximize taste for $20 and big news in the local world of beer.
Splashes from a wonderful range (Santa Lucia Highlands) of wines for one 20 dollar bill. Rumors of a surprising and blockbuster would-be beer buy. Both elixir updates are up now at Special Edible, the Weekly's ...
P.G. council to consider November ballot measures, farmers market relocation.
Two measures already look likely for Pacific Grove's November ballot, and the City Council is about to consider three more. On May 5, the council directed city staff to prepare a measure updating zoning rules ...
Warm Reception
Al Gore talks climate with students at CSUMB.
Vice President Al Gore spoke to local high school and college students on the afternoon of May 17, as part of The Panetta Institute’s 2010 Lecture Series at CSU-Monterey Bay. He also appeared at Monterey’s ...
Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital workers oust SEIU, vote for breakaway union, NUHW.
The votes were tallied in Salinas Monday, May 17 in a statewide union vs. union battle over which labor organization will eventually represent the majority of the state's health care workers. Salinas Valley employees, including ...
The American Civil Liberties Union, along with other civil rights groups file a challenge to Arizona's toughest-in-the-nation immigration law.
The new law, SB 1070, which is set to take effect July 29, allows Arizona law enforcement authorities to demand immigration papers of anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally. Civil rights groups ...
Yes They Can
Obama Way Committee is halfway to fundraising goal.
The proponents of adding the name Obama Way to Seaside's Broadway Avenue have raised half the money they need to pay for the signs, according to a May 15 press release. In mid-March, the City ...
Salinas council takes up Blue Ribbon Committee's budget plan.
The Salinas City Council Tuesday will grapple with whether to move forward with the Blue Ribbon Committee's budget recommendations. City staff is working on renegotiating the city's garbage hauling contract, using grant money to avoid ...
South Salinas Showdown
Panzer, Gunter join crowded South Salinas council race.
Joel Panzer and "Papa" Joe Gunter have both announced bids for the South Salinas City Council seat, which is drawing several candidates because incumbent Janet Barnes is vying for the state Assembly. Panzer, a land-use ...
Special Edible
A report and a recipe from the new and improved Castroville Artichoke Festival.
There were fish made from artichokes and cactus. There was native dance and sleek hot rods. There were artichoke tamales, burritos and tacos. And there were also gifted skateboarders and expert chef demos. In short, ...
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announces big cuts to cover a $19 billion budget shortfall.
Gov. Schwarzenegger's May budget revision proposes total elimination of CalWorks—the state's welfare program that provides minimal cash payments and job training to poor people with children, as well as the state's child care programs. The ...
Oil and Gore
Al Gore and Frank Sesno come to Monterey Bay.
He was vice president under Bill Clinton, the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary on global warming and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. And on Monday, May 17, Al Gore is coming to The Panetta Institute ...
Runoff's Ripple Effects
Farmers and enviros battle over how to regulate Salinas Valley's polluted waterways.
A simmering debate over regulating agricultural runoff that is polluting Salinas Valley waterways boiled over this week, as environmental activists urged the Central Coast Water Quality Control Board to act on a proposed order and ...
Bar None
Treasurer candidate Ron Holly admits he's not a real lawyer.
After Ron Holly's political opponent called him out for misleading voters by saying he is a lawyer in his official campaign statement, the county treasurer/tax collector candidate apologized for the mistake. "My statement refers correctly ...
Squid Fry for May 13, 2010
Squid Fry for May 13, 2010
COP SWAGGER… “Yes, I will win. I just can’t tell you by how much,” proclaimed Sheriff Mike Kanalakis when asked about his chances for re-election at a Weekly editorial board interview. Squid thinks confidence is ...
Le Normandie
Christine and François Richard take their French cuisine to Pacific Grove.
French country cooking can produce the most satisfying repast, especially on a cold and windy night. And it was just such inclemency we escaped to enjoy a marvelous evening at Le Normandie, a new restaurant ...
The best of our web exclusives.
Moving Education…A Monterey Peninsula Unified School District board meeting got tense May 10, when parents, teachers and students voiced concerns about staffing changes during redistricting efforts. The issue prompted Monterey High School students and teachers ...
Robin Hood
Cate Blanchett, Max von Sydow shine in Russell Crowe vehicle, but saga lacks dramatic bite.
For as muddled as its medieval politics are, thanks to Brian Helgeland’s scattershot screenplay, director Ridley Scott’s cloud-covered history of Robin Longstride’s path to outlaw legend soars whenever Cate Blanchett takes the screen as Maid ...
Clawing at the Competition
P.G.’s family-owned pet shops protest the approval of a new chain store.
With a name like Pet Extreme, Pacific Grove’s newest pet shop may have a hard time presenting itself as just another mom-and-pop. Six small, locally owned P.G. pet businesses – Stone’s Pet Shop, Best Pets ...
How do you solve your most heated arguments?
Asked at Paris Bakery in Monterey.
Follow-up: What do you disagree about the most? THERESA CRIVELLO | Homemaker | Monterey A: I like to talk it out. My partner likes to sweep it under the rug. So many are left unresolved. ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): What happens when someone “sells out”? Typically, it refers to a person who overrides her highest artistic standards or her soul’s mandates in order to make a bundle of money. But ...
Living for Today
A great day of grazing in Monterey County. And then some.
Today, the day this paper publishes, is a beautiful day. That’s because it may have begun with $4.99 all-you-can-eat pancakes at Woody’s Bayview Grill (649-6800), as that deal runs Thursday through Sunday. An ocean view, ...
Art Listing for May 13, 2010
Art Listing for May 13, 2010
HAPPENING THIS WEEK ALTERNATIVE CAFÉ The Dark Between Double Rainbow: Named after Greek philosopher Alexander of Aphrodisias, who “denied the existence of an eternal soul,” this show studies the darker regions of art, with a ...
Letters to the Editor for May 13, 2010
FOOD FAN The piece on Coastal Luxury Management by Mark Anderson (“Window to the Future,” May 6-12) , is certainly more than fair – it’s excellent. I’ve read it through twice and have book-marked it ...
¡Ask A Mexican! for May 13, 2010
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
SPECIAL ANTI-MEXICAN SLUR EDITION Dear Readers: I was supposed to deliver this column for Cinco de Drinko, but Arizona’s reprehensible S.B. 1070 bill had to rear its ugly head. Big shout-outs, though, to the Phoenix ...
Tough love, smart solutions to street and gang violence.
It was a quiet Sunday night. My wife and I were having dinner at Pho King, the Vietnamese place on Fremont Boulevard, when four teenage kids started getting into it on the corner. I don’t ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$690,000 Recent Sale 25410 Via Mariquita, Carmel Valley Built: 1981 Size: 2,165 square feet Features: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2-car garage, 1 acre Amenities: Pool, large decks, fireplace, landscaped yard, hardwood floors Seller: Anthony Keene ...
Profuse Muses
Collaborating artists present a powerful collection of evocative abstracts at the Pacific Grove Art Center.
While the Pacific Grove Art Center’s Elmarie H. Dyke Gallery is decked out in quaint still lifes of flowers for a typically Monterey Peninsula – that is, typically traditionalist – spring show, a glance into ...
A ‘Barbarian Librarian’
Monterey bookkeeper joins the rollicking (and growing) local roller derby circuit.
Like all librarians, Kim Smith hits the books. Unlike other bookworms, she hits other things too. Like other women. While flying around on roller skates. “The power of being able to knock someone over appealed ...
On Key
Eight young and talented pianists vie for Carmel Music Society cash and prizes.
Carmel Music Society’s 34th annual competition for young pianists is kind of like an American Idol for classical pianists without Simon’s acidic remarks. This Saturday at the Sunset Center, eight finalists between 18 and 30 ...
Beyond Organic
New agricultural initiative aims to move past greenwashing into measured sustainability.
E veryone’s for sustainability, the buzz word of our times. But when Salinas Valley agricultural giants plant, grow, pack, and ship berries and broccoli nationally, what does it really mean? Central Coast ag leaders are ...
Letters to Juliet
The latest remake of a classic romance, wastes talents of greats like Vanessa Redgrave in a pedestrian tale.
Letters to Juliet imagines, in its own way, what would have happened if star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet didn’t die, but merely went their separate ways. A cynic might say they saved one another years ...
Large Medium
Belle Yang’s debut graphic novel, Forget Sorrow, is a big breakthrough.
Author and artist Belle Yang’s storybooks are drawn in a Chinese folk art style that’s expressionistic and deceptively childlike. Her latest work uses that foundation as a springboard to reach higher and plumb deeper than ...
Sur Enough
Eric Taylor and Jonathan Richman lead a strong weekend of music down the coast.
Eric Taylor’s life reads like a script for a biopic about an aging musician whose stories are written in his weathered face. He came up in the Houston music circuit with the likes of Steve ...
True Grits
The Sledge sisters continue to deliver great music at an early age.
The Sledge Grits Band is Monterey County’s answer to Hanson, only with better hair and more talent. The blues-rocking quartet of sisters – ranging from 8-year-old drummer Bopah to 15-year-old guitarist Keiko – are fired ...
Graywater Gardens
New rules make it easier to tap household wastewater for yard irrigation.
I’ll admit to some nervousness when they drilled into my stucco wall. But once the seven-hour installation was complete, my home had a brand-new “laundry-to-landscape” graywater system, delivering the washer’s wastewater to our fruit trees ...
Sun Flowering
Tassajara’s new solar heating system will save money, and the planet.
Tassajara will soon not only be a Buddhist retreat from society’s stresses, but also a place to get completely off the grid. The Zen monastery is turning to the sun for all its power by ...
Get Involved
Public Citizen
THURSDAY 5|13 BIKE TO WORK/SCHOOL DAY | MONTEREY COUNTY—Saddle up for the county’s annual Bike to Work/School Day and get free breakfast and other swag at several local businesses from 7-9am. www.tamcmonterey.org/bikeweek. PRIMARY AND PROPOSITIONS ...
Swimming Tribute
In wake of white shark's death, Aquarium launches "Must Love Sharks" campaign.
She was the Aquarium's foster shark - known simply as Number 5, the Monterey Bay Aquarium's fifth juvenile white shark to visit the Outer Bay's 1-million-gallon tank. Aquarium staff took the shark in last August, ...
Special Edible
Biking for free food and suprising crab adventures.
Ride a bike to work tomorrow and breakfast is free. Ride it to dinner and score a discount. Word on pedaling for vittles—plus Dangerous Catch's captain visits Fisherman's Wharf and crab, tacos in Moss Landing ...
