Life in the Later Lane
Childhood bond with an older neighbor steered law officer’s choice of career and community work
A tarnished silver coin from 1964, likely worth only $10 to any dealer, reminds Richard Lyons Corriea...
August 2, 2026
As a teacher, playwright & screenwriter, Cary Pepper has lots of inside Hollywood info to share
You probably stream most of your movies. But if you happen to rent a film on old-style...
July 15, 2026
All-women punk band still on stage thanks to leader’s career, which started in a mortuary
Invite Klara Lux somewhere, and she’ll always show up early – except on the rare occasion when...
July 6, 2026
Playwright Lynne Kaufman, the author of two dozen plays and five novels, is still going strong, despite some hiccups
The day after Lynne Kaufman retired in 2005, she woke up in tears. “What had I done?”...
June 29, 2026
A win for people power: Supervisors and mayor restore millions of dollars in cut to services for city’s most vulnerable
A months-long campaign by advocates for seniors, the disabled and other vulnerable populations has convinced San Francisco's...
Following in the footsteps of heroes: My visit to the cradles of Civil Rights
SF SENIORBEAT COLUMN – March 17, 1886. A date you probably never considered. Carroll County, Mississippi. A...
June 4, 2026
Couple’s script for their own movie? Shared creative passions and a bent for banter
“I'm Chiquita Banana, and I'm here to say, bananas have to ripen in a certain way,” Margot...
May 28, 2026
Social justice lawyer and activist infusing others with her love of SF’s Great Blue Herons and dedication to conservation
One day in 1993, on her daily walk from her Richmond District home to Golden Gate Park’s...
April 29, 2026
Nonprofit director is happy to bug you, whether you’re 2 or 92, about saving the wild
If you grow up in Los Angeles, where do you find the wild? Norm Gershenz is not...
April 14, 2026
Bass playing lawyer takes on the landlords when seniors call for help
During the day, you’ll find Thomas Drohan in court or at his law office on Mission Street....
April 5, 2026
Former SFSU teacher shifts to helping union workers build leadership abilities
Like some people need coffee, Joan Wong needs to walk – and talk. Mornings, she puts in...
March 25, 2026
Joe Edley, a three-time national champion, has been racking up great Scrabble scores for decades
Joe Edley tucks his co-authored book, “Everything Scrabble,” under his arm and surveys the room. Around him,...
March 16, 2026
As the city’s older population swells, seniors who can no longer live at home face high costs, limited choices
EDITOR'S NOTE: See full profiles of the seniors interviewed by clicking links within the story. A panoply...
All Posts
In her 89th year, devout and disciplined Bayview super-volunteer keeps on serving her community
Beverly Ann Johnson Taylor, or Miss Taylor as she’s known to the many organizations for whom she volunteers, celebrates her 89th birthday this August. For 40 years, she has taught in the public schools, deriving both personal satisfaction and numerous accolades for her service. Retirement only opened new opportunities to serve her church and community. ...
She grew up enjoying symphonies at Stern Grove, then devoted herself as a volunteer after retiring
Native San Franciscan Susan Leurey grew up in an Italian household where the stirring music of Puccini, Verdi and Rossini operas undulated throughout. When her mother took her and her sister to the summer Stern Grove Festivals, Leurey also developed a love of symphonies. “It took about 10 seconds after I retired to decide to ...
Puerto Rican native who revived Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts ‘keeping the house in order’ since Covid-19
Bringing the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts back to life was a natural fit for Jennie Rodriguez, who became its director 34 years ago. She had experience in many of the issues facing the community: Asylum, tenants’ rights and childcare. But she also had been involved in the arts, business and publishing. She had ...
She had to choose between two loves, but one came back and now showing off at the de Young Museum
Corey Weiner was shocked when her portrait of an elderly woman was selected for exhibit at The de Young Open, an online celebration of the museum’s 125th anniversary. For one, odds were against her; 11,500 individual artworks were submitted by 6,190 artists from the nine Bay Area counties. The work of only 763 artists made ...
Educator wrings inspiration from chaotic childhood and a classroom failure to show the power of storytelling in teaching and in life
Kate Farrell stood behind a lectern – “her refuge” – at a San Francisco junior high school in 1967 and peered out at the ninth-graders in her stuffy, overcrowded classroom. It was a hot spring day, right after lunch. She had taken to reading to them from the assigned texts: The Arabian Nights, Old Yeller, ...
Pitching in to serve community needs a way of life for this Dragon lady
Cynthia Dragon’s mural on the front of Kwik & Convenient, the neighborhood market on Monterey Boulevard near Foerster, shouts “Welcome to the Sunnyside,” in large vivid yellow letters over a bright orange sun, with a colorful flower and bee off to one side. The mural is a labor of love, and it’s a vivid example ...
