I'm tense no more

Out with this old column, in with a new one

Having grown up in San Diego seeing so many creative, smart people move to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Europe and other, less-deserty pastures, I always admired those who stayed, or relocated, here for their resolve to make it work in a town where picking up a newspaper is less popular than applying zinc oxide to the nasal region.

Tuesday, July 26,2011
Presently Tense

How may I help you?

Providing a different kind of tech support

By D.A. Kolodenko

Punya and Abhijeet, both in their late 20s, told me they were the only two guys from hundreds in the company’s Bangalore office who’d been sent to San Diego for training. So, these were the voices on the phone! I had come face to face with the living, breathing targets of every joke ever told in the U.S. about trying to get a modem fixed.

Tuesday, June 28,2011
Presently Tense

Cuckoo world

My admiration for a local antiques collector

By D.A. Kolodenko

Long before the Gaslamp Quarter became the gentrified playground of San Diego’s young 9-to-5ers, there was this giant antique mall down there, south of Market.

Tuesday, June 14,2011
Presently Tense

Sleepless in San Diego

Where can a night owl go for a hoot

By D.A. Kolodenko

If New York is the city that never sleeps, San Diego is the city that has a glass of warm soymilk before tucking itself into bed at 8:30.Sure, you’ve got your weekend Pacific Beach bro-fest, your

Wednesday, June 1,2011
Presently Tense

The politics of dancing

Shaking up the meaning of an American memorial

By D.A. Kolodenko

Five people were arrested on Saturday for dancing at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, May 17,2011
Presently Tense

A view of the bridge

Balboa Park’s future in the grand scheme of things

By D.A. Kolodenko

I’m sure you’ve heard about Irwin Jacobs’ plan to invest in a park renovation that would remove cars from the Plaza De Panama in the heart of the park and divert traffic coming off of the Cabrillo Bridge toward other parking areas.

Tuesday, May 3,2011
Presently Tense

Bird of sacrifice

Pelicans are large and in charge, but their future is murky

By D.A. Kolodenko

Living smack in front of the tide pools in O.B. for 11 years will make an amateur pelican expert out of you, and it occurs to me that this year, something looks different.

Monday, April 18,2011
Presently Tense

Roe v. Wade on hold

Facing the erosion of abortion rights in America

By D.A. Kolodenko

It’s already happening across the country. The New York Times reported that since Republicans made gains in the mid-term elections, 29 states now have anti-choice governors and 15 have both anti-choice governors and legislatures.

Monday, April 4,2011
Presently Tense

Nukikazes wanted

Japan’s crisis offers a glowing opportunity

By D.A. Kolodenko

One of the more interesting yet under-reported stories from the ongoing disaster in Japan is about how the Tokyo Electric Power Company has ramped up its effort to find workers willing to brave the dangerous conditions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Tuesday, March 22,2011
Presently Tense

Meltdown versus shutdown

Let’s stop sucking the nuclear boobs

By D.A. Kolodenko

Shut down San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant! If enough of us demand it, it will happen. Raise your voices! Send letters! Organize a demonstration! Walk like an Egyptian!