Stories | Cover Story
Way Too Many People Live Out Here
By Geoff Bouvier, Published July 23, 2008
A lawsuit was filed in March of this year by five environmental groups — including the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club — stating that overarching land-management plans prepared by the U.S. Forest Service ...
It’s three minutes to post before the 9th race at Del Mar, and my wallet is empty.
By Moss Gropen, Published July 16, 2008
I just handed my last 90 bucks to a scowling man behind the counter, and if number five doesn’t finish in the top three in this $25,000 maiden claimer, I’ll go home broke, with only ...
She told me my arm was gone. We argued about that for five minutes. I mean, I could feel it.
By Stephen Dobyns, Published July 9, 2008
Most stories begin with a person or an event. This one begins with a book. Last summer I read The Brain That Changes Itself by research psychiatrist and psychologist Norman Doidge, M.D., which discusses developments ...
Intimate Murder Published July 2, 2008
In each of the last three years, there were roughly 17,000 murders in the United States. Of these, about 11 percent were committed by women. ... More Comments (3)
Dumpster Diving for Dinner Published June 25, 2008
Half of a “nutrition bar” sat before me on the wobbly café table. I couldn’t eat the rest because it was oily yet granular but ... More Comments (17)
No Shushing in This Library Published June 18, 2008
Grace Carroll is the kind of girl you’d trust for a scoop on the San Diego scene. She’s pretty, blonde, smart. She tends bar in ... More Comments (6)
You Wanna Pull? Published June 11, 2008
On a Saturday spring morning, in a small fenced-in backyard in San Marcos, 40 or so rather dangerous-looking men (and a few women and children) ... More Comment (1)
There's Been an Accident. Jadean Didn't Make It. Published June 4, 2008
March 6 started out pretty much like any other day. Work was busy. I got off a little late, went home, got in the shower, ... More Comments (74)
Will These Keep the Lights On? Published May 28, 2008
The Sunrise Powerlink gleamed for the first time in Sempra Energy’s eye on November 1, 2002. At the company’s San Diego headquarters, an energy-management expert ... More Comments (9)
Scott Is a Good Friend, but Not in the Traditional Sense of Good Published May 21, 2008
We don’t see each other much, and we’ve maintained the loosest of contacts over the 30-plus years we’ve known each other. I hadn’t heard from ... More Comments (3)
If I Did That Over There, They'd Cut My Hands Off Published May 14, 2008
What’s it like, being Muslim in San Diego? The question arose for me earlier this year when I decided to hit Ocean Beach on maybe ... More Comments (10)
Confessions of a Phony Navy Wife Published May 7, 2008
Being in the Navy seems like the perfect time to be single. Sailors are young, many just out of high school. They’re always traveling the ... More Comments (45)
How UCSD Spent Over $500,000 on a Home Remodel That Never Happened Published April 30, 2008
Perhaps the most prized piece of real estate throughout the University of California, San Diego, is the seven-acre site of University House, home to the ... More Post a comment
No One’s Ever Told Me That I Look Like a Fish Published April 23, 2008
“First of all,” says Dave Huie, “it should really be called the exotic fish hobby, not the tropical fish hobby.” Beneath his glasses, Huie’s face ... More Post a comment
We Could End Up Looking Like Phoenix Published April 16, 2008
The two small Victorian homes on 20th Street in Sherman Heights that Louise Torio and her husband Steve Veach have restored are examples of how ... More Comments (15)
If There Are Families Here in San Diego, I'd Like to Find One Published April 9, 2008
People Buy You Booze D. is dressed as if he is off to the ComicCon or a Clockwork Orange theme party: boots laced up to ... More Comments (2)
San Diego’s Secret Missile-Testing Sites Published April 2, 2008
I never wanted to move to Scripps Ranch — not with its swarming real-estate agents and white-bread, attend-the-church-of-your-choice ethos, its compliant shrubs, its matrons in ... More Comments (16)
Chivalry Is Not Dead Published March 26, 2008
Seemingly everything has been called a “lost art.” Spelling, conversation, keeping a secret, note taking, listening, and even (why not?) hollering. One string of online ... More Post a comment
The Rocket Pop Street Artist Published March 19, 2008
I have not yet vandalized. I made wheat-paste posters. They’re not wheat-pasted anywhere, yet, but I made them. The pieces of paper sit in my ... More Comments (4)
Tie This Guy Up, Make Sure He Stays at SDSU Published March 12, 2008
Odessa: it doesn’t sound like a particularly Russian word. Maybe Spanish, or Italian. Actually, it was named after Odysseus, the hero of Homer’s (if Homer ... More Comment (1)
So Long, Pals Published March 5, 2008
Maybe it’s my age — the dark side of my sixties, an elder proto-baby boomer, those 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964. Maybe ... More Comments (3)
The Rise and Fall of the Copley Press Published Feb. 27, 2008
When Ira Clifton Copley of Aurora, Illinois, first saw San Diego on a trip with his ailing brother to the Hotel del Coronado in 1891, ... More Comments (8)
To Live and Die in Oceanside Published Feb. 20, 2008
The Back Gate The area around the Oceanside pier and boardwalk glistens, picture perfect: palm trees, silver sand, blue water, and crowds of people. It’s ... More Comments (15)
Wingwomen Published Feb. 13, 2008
There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the man sitting across from me. I had yet to detect a single flaw in his appearance, ... More Comments (4)
Ollie's Big Bike Ride Published Feb. 6, 2008
There’s no outfit so fantastically ridiculous as the too-tight, brazenly colored, and obnoxiously patterned ensemble for riding a long distance on a bicycle. It’s too ... More Comments (14)
I'm as Big as a Vons Published Jan. 30, 2008
Near the lifeguard station in Ocean Beach, nine homeless people have gathered. One lies in the grass of Saratoga Park, legs crossed and hat tilted ... More Comments (4)
Tacos Are a Tiny Taste of Temptation Published Jan. 23, 2008
Fancy wimmen are okay, but there's nuttin' like the real thing: a nice warm adobada taco on a nice cold night beside a nice hot ... More Comments (7)
Rockin' Baby Boomers Published Jan. 16, 2008
By half past nine, all of the pool tables at Bar Leucadian are taken, and fortysomething couples line the bar like birds on a wire. ... More Post a comment
Soccer Moms Are the Absolute Worst Published Jan. 9, 2008
At the Mira Mesa Recreation Center, playing for my fifth-grade youth basketball team, I watched as my coach threw a chair onto the court in ... More Comment (1)
I Would Rather Be In Here Than Standing in the Fast Lane on the Freeway with Cars Coming at 80 Miles an Hour Published Jan. 2, 2008
In Kearny Mesa, on a road called Opportunity, people in the Transportation Management Center watch over us. The operations room looks like a set from ... More Post a comment
San Diego's Highest Paid Executives Published Dec. 27, 2007
San Diego is home to 35 rich executives, almost all white men, who receive millions in compensation for running our community's largest publicly traded companies. ... More Comment (1)
Does Christmas Offend You? Published Dec. 20, 2007
Matthew: The last time my father visited, I learned what seemed a remarkable thing: all three of his best friends in high school were Jewish. ... More Post a comment
Tell me What You're Wearing Published Dec. 13, 2007
I stopped folks from Chula Vista to Del Mar, at the malls and on the street, to ask them about their clothes. Questions ranged from ... More Post a comment
Night is My Day Published Dec. 6, 2007
Though flanked by Jack in the Box and, farther up the street, a Denny's, the diner stands out as being a good after-party, post-drinking weekend ... More Post a comment
He Should Have Known Better Published Nov. 29, 2007
It had been another sleepless night for Chris Squire, pedaling around San Diego delivering drugs. When the sun rolled into the sky on August 14, ... More Post a comment
The Second Lives of San Diegans Published Nov. 21, 2007
As you read this, 40,000 people in the world are "in-world." This doesn't mean that these people have left our world, the real world. It ... More Post a comment
Why Tijuana? Published Nov. 15, 2007
Deep-Fried Quesadillas Everything was just out of reach as I lay on my left side in a bed at Tijuana's newest and most modern hospital. ... More Post a comment
We've Grown Up in Paradise Published Nov. 8, 2007
I don't envy the native San Diegan. Being born and raised in paradise must be difficult. How do you avoid becoming hopelessly spoiled? How do ... More Comment (1)
A Yearlong Trip Down Crack Street Published Nov. 1, 2007
I was homeless exactly one year, from March 2001 to March 2002. I'd known it was coming, and I even sort of welcomed the impending ... More Comments (10)
All That's Left Published Oct. 25, 2007
1982. Israel and Lebanon were at war. England and Argentina were at war. In Hollywood, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were formed. Navy beat Army ... More Post a comment
Perfect Drought Published Oct. 18, 2007
"It's catastrophic!" Duncan McFetridge flings his arms out. "Look, can't you see the change?" Several years ago, when I last came here to the Cleveland ... More Post a comment
Angel in the Rubble Published Oct. 11, 2007
On October 25, 2003, I go outside to touch base with the night sky and feel the air before retiring to bed. Tonight feels different. ... More Post a comment
Best San Diego Jams Published Oct. 4, 2007
Both shows at the San Diego Arena on Eighth and Harbor Drive (aka Glacier Garden skating rink) for Presley's first full-length California concerts were sold ... More Post a comment
Being Fat Sucks Published Sept. 27, 2007
Oprah calls it an "Aha! moment," as if a single occurrence, like waking up, can impel someone to change. A sinner is usually caught in ... More Post a comment
Jesus of Carmel Mountain Ranch Published Sept. 20, 2007
A note is taped to our front door. It says something about a community-standards violation and cites section 2B from the HOA policies handbook: All ... More Post a comment
La Jolla Liberal Learns Tolerance from Clairemont Republicans Published Sept. 13, 2007
Editor's note: More than 600 San Diegans submitted stories for the Reader "My Neighborhood" writing contest. Ocean Beach led all communities with over 20 entries. ... More Post a comment
Of Course You Qualify! Published Sept. 6, 2007
Mario is a recent immigrant from Mexico, and he's typical of homeowners facing foreclosure. He doesn't want me to use his surname; he's ashamed of ... More Post a comment
Do You Feel Safe At School? Published Aug. 30, 2007
On April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, a sullen, troubled, twisted young man killed 32 people, injured 25 ... More Post a comment
Is Everybody Too Tired? Published Aug. 23, 2007
Our future began on Wednesday, February 5, 2003, when a UCLA doctor announced that for the first time since the late 1850s, Hispanic births accounted ... More Post a comment
She Hated Adverbs Published Aug. 16, 2007
My long conversation with Judith Moore about writing began in 1980. We first met at a monthly campus ministry shindig for the faculty of Central ... More Post a comment
Man Brings Lover Roses Then Shoots Her Published Aug. 9, 2007
Shocked shoppers see a woman fall to her death from a parking structure at Parkway Plaza in El Cajon. Was she pushed? In Chollas View, ... More Post a comment
The Sarcastic Killer Published Aug. 2, 2007
A boy 3 1/2 months old was the youngest homicide victim in San Diego County during the first half of 2007. The oldest was a ... More Post a comment
- « View Older Cover Story Articles
- View Newer Cover Story Articles »