You probably stream most of your movies. But if you happen to rent a film on old-style VCR or DVD, take a moment to read the description on the back of the box. There’s a good chance the words were written by Cary Pepper, an award-winning San Francisco playwright, novelist and lecturer on the history ...
The day after Lynne Kaufman retired in 2005, she woke up in tears. “What had I done?” she remembers thinking. “I lost my purpose in life, my direction, my identity.” For decades, Kaufman had balanced two successful careers. She was a prolific playwright and author, while also serving as director of travel and study at ...
As she strolls toward the smallest park in San Francisco, Bonnie Wallsh calls back to the group of tourists behind her: “How many of you have had a park named after you?” They are standing by a tiny swath of land on Bush and Octavia Streets named the Mary Ellen Pleasant Memorial Park. It’s dedicated ...
They met harvesting bananas on a kibbutz in Israel, part of a summer tour introducing young Jews to the then-new country. These days they’re working together as the co-hosts of “Not Born Yesterday,” a half-hour podcast focusing on the challenges and joys of aging. Miriam Goodman and Lynn Winter Gross went on to become college ...
When he was young, Joe Catalano loved to “play with words,” and some of his earliest childhood memories, he said, are of writing. But college, a career, and family intervened and he “put down his pen” for decades. Now 76 and retired after a long career practicing law, Catalano can be found writing, editing, and ...
Famous people and even not-so-famous people in San Francisco have streets named after them. But Andrew Fraknoi, a well-known science educator and astronomer, goes those long-dead presidents, generals, and madams one better: He’s the only person in the city to have an asteroid named after him. The International Astronomical Union dubbed a hunk of space rock ...
