san marcos

Simply San Marcos: Clown, for world peace

(Editor’s Note: Originally published Sept. 22, 2001 in the North County Times…) Clown came to town. He was talking peace by the freeway as others spoke of war. “I’m mainly out here for world peace,” said the thin, wispy-bearded 22-year-old who blew in from a Sonoma organic farm to visit his “girl,” and child in Ramona. In case you missed Clown — his nom d’pax…


An Appreciation: Jim Eubank’s Woodpile at San Marcos Creek

“So out walking in the frozen swamp one gray day/I paused and said,/I will turn back from here./No, I will go on farther/and we shall see.” — Robert Frost, “The Wood Pile” That’s how I feel this day walking past the bowling alley in the 2002 way back machine. Seeing what I can see on a hot day by a certain San Marcos landmark. The…


San Marcos city officials lay litigious siege to valued and historic community resource

They say you can’t fight city hall, but what happens when city hall fights you? And for dubious reasons to say the least. “I don’t understand why the city of San Marcos is doing this to me,” said longtime Twin Oaks animal rescue and ranch center owner Shera Sandwell, walking among her horses and community-friendly 10-acre open space this week. “I have been providing, and…


George Burgers — Not George’s Burgers

Welcome (back) to mmm-yoso!!!the blog about food.  Kirk is busy with work today. ed(from Yuma) is busy with vacation today. Cathy is blogging today. Hi.   Since I seem to travel all over this vast — 4,200-square-mile — county, it seems normal that at some point San Marcos would be a stop. I have met at George Burger with friends who attend(ed) Palomar College, friends who attend(ed) CSUSanMarcos and,…


San Diego’s most endangered historic sites

Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO), San Diego’s only countywide historic preservation advocacy group wraps up this year with its 22nd annual Most Endangered List of 12 historic buildings, sites, and landscapes. The pandemic’s stressors of uncertainty, inequity, and loss underscore the unifying power of our shared multicultural heritage and venerated historic places. The pandemic also threatens historic buildings and places that are not now regularly…


HQ Wigs TOO provides comfort, and hair, to chemotherapy patients

Cathy Ketchum is flying down Grand Avenue on a wig and a dream. “I just love the work I do with chemo patients,” Ketchum said. “I want to go over and above making them feel good about themselves.” Ketchum has a lot of experience helping cancer patients although she isn’t a medical professional or health care worker. In some ways, though, her work sometimes can…


Climate Action Plans: A Tale of Two Cities

A funeral was held last month at the site of Iceland’s Okjökull glacier. A century ago it covered nearly six square miles, measuring 164 ft. deep. Today, it’s less than one square mile, 49 feet thick. The shrinking sheet of ice can no longer be called a glacier. A tombstone plaque was placed at the site. A Letter to the Future  This monument is to…


Cougar spirit runs all in the family

Cal State San Marcos had a different feel when Rylee Leavitt’s grandmother attended in the early 1990s. Back then, Jane DeRoche was a single mother returning to school for her bachelor’s knowing it would help her earn a better living. “I gathered all my transcripts and kind of dumped them on the counter and said, ‘I want to go to school here. What do I…


San Marcos Youth Strings fills musical gaps

San Marcos Youth Strings is making merry for the holiday season with two performances in December. A good thing, too, considering the state of the San Marcos Youth Orchestra from whose ashes this new string effort sprung like a phoenix. The 20-member community service group has a public concert scheduled for 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2 at the California Center for the Arts,…


Stone Glassblowing back from the ashes

WHO: Stone & Glass WHAT: GRAND RE-OPENING WHERE: 629 W. Grand Ave., Escondido 92029 WHEN:  1 P.M. TO 7 P.M. SATURDAY, NOV. 11 WHY: Long story, see below… Welcome to the world of unintended consequences, and just plain bad luck. Or maybe making lemonade out of messed-up lemons department. Internationally recognized hot glass and mixed media artist, James Stone, had a great studio in a…