Life is such that we cross paths with people just about every day whom we’ll never see again. Imagine how many missed friendships, missed relationships, and missed connections occur on a daily basis. If you subscribe to the belief that everything happens for a reason, then perhaps missed connections don’t matter. The second smallest child …
The most influential and rewarding educational experience of my childhood followed an extremely tumultuous time in my life. When I was in the fourth grade, my parents decided to make the painful decision to separate. While I didn’t know it at the time, as I look back, I believe that my less than stellar performance …
While some believe that Mr. Universe is the top honor in the sport of bodybuilding, the winner of Mr. Olympia is generally recognized as the world’s top male professional bodybuilder. Schwarzenegger retired with seven Mr. Olympia titles. During my freshman at Branham High School, the film that would become Schwarzenegger’s first box office hit, Conan …
If you were a kid in the ‘70s like I was, and you had a bike, you did what every kid on the block did — you made a ramp, and you jumped — just like Evel Knievel.Of course, not all bikes are built for jumping. A good motorcross bike was about $200 in the …
The beauty of going to Independence High School back in the ‘80s was that it was the finest school in the area, period. In fact, I would argue that we were the finest public school in Northern California. At the time, our facilities were unmatched. We had three libraries — including a public library, an …
One for the bucket list. When I was about 17 years old, my dad pressured me to get a job. While I learned later that he regretted it, it sure stressed me out at the time. What made matters worse, was seeing all of the vinyl banners hanging outside of fast food restaurants near my …
No matter how often I replace old books with new books, two never get stored away: Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird and my original copy of James Baldwin’s Go Tell It On The Mountain. I keep TKAM for an obvious reason: it’s my favorite book. I keep GTIOTM because James Baldwin’s masterpiece guided my …
On my fourth birthday my mom took me and my brother to have breakfast at my favorite place: Sambo’s. There were more locations, but we always frequented the one on McKee Road in our hometown of San Jose. Back to that in a minute. With its beginnings in 1957, the Sambo’s chain expanded to 1,117 restaurants in 47 states. …
Earlier tonight, before visiting my mom, I stopped at this 7-Eleven at the intersection of White Road and Quimby Road in East San Jose to buy a cup of coffee. As some of you know, there’s nothing extraordinary about my visit to a 7-Eleven. In fact, eleven months out of the year, it’s my first stop …
I’d be lying if I said that I jumped at the opportunity to take a role in my first ever elementary school play. The truth is, I didn’t want a role. But my fourth grade teacher at Cedar Grove Elementary School in San Jose, California, Mr. Paratore, insisted that I play a Russian dancer in …