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Journalism school coincided with a difficult time in my life – but I went to my 40th reunion anyway

July 3, 2023 All Posts 3 Comments

A SENIOR BEAT COLUMN Here is an odd but true distinction: I graduated from Columbia University Journalism School in 1983 – in the last class to use typewriters.  The sweet cacophony of the newsroom:  Clickety Clickety Clack Clack Clack. Sticky keys, coffee spills, paper stacks. Mimeographs! The most sophisticated among us had Correct-O-Ball Electric typewriters. ...

Jerry Barrish had a knack for rustling: supplies in the Army, bail for ’60s demonstrators, and scrap plastics for his quirky art sculptures

March 17, 2023 All Posts 9 Comments

On a glistening Sunday between January’s storms, Jerry Ross Barrish welcomed a throng of visitors to the opening of his sculpture exhibit at the M. Stark Gallery in Half Moon Bay. The lanky, 83-year-old San Francisco native and retired bail bondsman smiled broadly and said to a guest:  “Usually, I know about 40 to 50 ...

Vibrant B&B owner transcended constricted, somber childhood as partygoer and planner, vintage costume designer and decorator

January 7, 2023 All Posts 14 Comments

Growing up in a strict Orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, Sheila Ash almost never had a birthday party. Celebrations were reserved for the High Holy Days observed in the fall. So, when this youngest daughter grew up, she became a partygoer, a party thrower, an event and wedding planner, hostess, costume designer and ...

Deciding ‘that’s not who I am,’ heavy drinker quits then uses his experience – of trauma, homelessness, addiction – to help others

November 28, 2022 All Posts

It’s not quite six o’clock on a June morning in 2021, and the fire alarm was going off yet again in the building Paul Hickman had called home since 1996. “Stay or go?” he asked himself, remembering the many times he wandered downstairs, responding dutifully to the frequent false alarms. Then came a pounding on ...

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