If you’re anywhere near my age, you may remember the days when people had traditional snail mail Pen Pal relationships. Nowadays, with the expansion of the Internet, Pen Pals are pretty much a thing of the past. (There are some online clubs, and prisoners still develop Pen Pal-type relationships.) When I was in fifth grade, …
If there’s one parenting ritual I’ve inherited from my dad, it’s the propensity to lecture. My kids undoubtedly do not enjoy them, but it beats getting hit with a chancla. My dad viewed lecturing as an art form, and he made sure I heard every single word. Here are some examples. When I was about …
Two public parks, Boggini Park and Brigadoon Park, will not resonate with the friends whom I’ve met in college or during adulthood. Of course, to the people whom I’ve known since elementary-, middle- and high school, these two public places hold a special — or not so special — place in our hearts and minds. …
About 42 years ago, I met the person you see pictured here in Room 9 — a third grade classroom on the campus of Cedar Grove Elementary School in East San Jose. Today, August 15, 2017, he hit the half-century mark: 50! While we met at a pretty young age, we didn’t develop a brotherly …
If you were a ‘70’s kid like I was, chances are that you had at least one poster in your room. I had several — from the classic Farrah Fawcett bikini poster, to Magic Johnson, to the “He’s the DJ, I’m the rapper” poster of the Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff. One of the reasons …
When I was a kid, orchards, ranches, and barren land were within walking distance from our house. Nowadays, it’s hard to find any of these things in my hometown of San Jose. In those days, signs like the one you see here were all over the place, and the message was pretty clear: Stay off …
It was often horrifying to visit my grandma’s house. Not in the sense that I didn’t want to be there. I enjoyed visiting very much. It’s where I got to see and play outside with my cousins, eat tasty food — including homemade tortillas, and learn a little Spanish. My parents, and the other adults …
About a day ago, I ran into an old friend. He’s pictured on the right. He, and the other person pictured here, don’t have much in common. The person on the left is short. My friend on the right is tall. The person on the left is a former actor. My friend on the right …
When someone says, “They don’t make shows like that anymore,” believe them. If I had to choose one show — in my entire life — that was unlike any other, Creature Features was it. A few weeks before my fourth birthday, Creature Features debuted with the 1964 horror film, The Horror of Party Beach, on …
Young people today often repeat what prior generations have said: “It was different back then. Times have changed.” I’m certainly guilty of saying this to my parents, and I’ve often been on the receiving end of this statement — especially over the course of this year. (I guess that’s what happens when we begin to …