Life in the Later Lane
Mutual support but separate hobbies and workshops keep crafty couple’s marriage going strong
A stained glass window by Bill and a "fishing" quilt Etta made for him adorn a hallway...
SFUSD admin behind Bay Area’s only school nurse credentialing program adds pickleball pro to her resumé
When Mary Jue, 59, handled a pickleball paddle for the first time eight years ago, it handed...
Persistence and adaptive technology help accident victim regain proud position as the family helper
Writing checks to pay the family bills doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. For most of us,...
Playwright, producer, actor, writer, you-name-it stays enmeshed in Bay area theater despite its ups and downs
When she was a child and the rain was so heavy they couldn’t play on the beach...
Former sailor and academic researcher forged unique bond as writing and editing duo
It’s a Thursday morning and the North Beach branch of the San Francisco Public Library has just...
Teacher, translator, artist, and full-time caretaker: Finding time is just one of his challenges
Hitoshi Shigeta has perfected the art of juggling. Not the act you might see in a circus,...
Support housing tenant makes the most of his microwave and contributes to the nabe with ‘pedestrian protection’
How do you eat If you are on a fixed income and live in a single-room occupancy...
Military background and delight in the job help ‘star’ Muni driver keep things running smooth
Jolt after jolt, from stop to stop, veteran San Francisco Municipal Railway driver Angel Carvajal has piloted...
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Insatiable curiosity led free spirit to bio-science career, travel, health activism and now, acting online
A cross-country train trip when she was 9 is a joyful memory for Jane Merschen, one of the few from a difficult childhood. While her mother, made sleepy by medicine prescribed for mental illness, dozed on the trip from Los Angeles to St. Louis, Merschen happily “ran around the train, getting kicked out of the ...
Painful college experience unexpectedly leads to successful career for man from Mississippi
Imagine having such a vicious toothache and no access to a dentist that you take a pair of pliers and extract your own tooth. Meet Chester Moody. It’s 1958 in the Jim Crow South: Lorman, Mississippi, to be precise. He is 17 years old, attending Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, a historic black college. At ...
Writer of science fiction for the young tries to impart their simultaneous sense of wonder and danger
The path to success for many novelists is paved with rejection slips, but not for Ellen Klages, a prolific author of science fiction and science-oriented historical fiction for young people. “I was 45 and started at the top,” she said. While that might sound boastful, Klages has the receipts to back it up. Her first ...
Wattusi Trio dancers embraced by U.S. jazz greats and European club scene of the ’50s-’70s for their fantastical, “exotic Africa” perfomances
Deloris Perlmutter was only 20 years old when two young Cuban men selected her as the third member of their Wattusi Trio, a newly formed Afro-Cuban dance act that would catapult them to fame in the exploding international club scene of the ’50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. “Every club had its own house band. Acts competed ...
Noted landlord for the down, out and addicted admits to a tough job but still worries she hasn’t done enough
The family’s money was tight, but Kathy Looper, then a teenager, headed to Union Square and a shopping trip to I. Magnin. She had three home-made dresses and was wearing the best one. “I thought I looked rich,” she said. When she got to the ritzy store, a man standing by the entrance stopped her ...
SENIORS TALK: How did you spend New Year’s Eve?
On a cool, clear winter morning, the Noe Valley Town Square is a fine place to sip coffee and chat with friends and neighbors. The former site of an abandoned gas station, the gathering spot on 24th Street is dotted with tables and chairs and is steps away from shops selling coffee and bagels. The ...