Big, Bad & Ugly Surf Contest 2009 by Kevin Cole

Morro Rock by Dennis Young

USCG Surf Boats by Malcolm Riordan

Tell Laurie the Journal Sent You

Receive a reminder to visit the Journal when the next issue or update is available. Send email to Update with "Update" in the subject line and be automatically joined.

Join Us On Facebook

Peregrine Falcon Image on Banner by Cleve Nash

Frustrated Local Writer by Rose Marie Zurkan (New Writer!)

No one was renting the room next to mine, so I had gotten into the habit of leaving open the door to the connecting bathroom. Reading in bed one night, I heard a knock. A woman's voice asked, "Is it all right if I close the door?"
I jumped out of bed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know anyone was there."
"I just moved in." Read More

Genie's Pocket by Jeanie Greensfelder

Traditional and Modern Art

My neighbor's mailbox,
a miniature of their home
with beige shingles and white shutters,
lacks the rocking chairs on the porch,
the red geranium window boxes,
and the grandparents who stepped out
of a Norman Rockwell painting.  Read More

Great Shots by Jerry Kirkhart & Steve Corey

Our photo editors bring you some of their favorite coastal images for the month. This month's featured local photographers are Elizabeth Haslam, Patrick James, Ashala Tylor, Ronnie Goyette, Glenn Formes, Marlin Harms, Bob Canepa, Linda Tanner, Pam Link, Howard Ignatius, Jerry Kirkhart, Bill Bouton, Donald Quintana, Pat Brown, Alice Cahill, Don Henderson, Dave Lawrence, Steve Corey, Mimi Ditchie, Nan Calora, Dagmar Collins, Lace Anderson, Sylvia Sanchez, Anita Ritenour, Beedie Savage, Rob Degraff, James Crawford, Mike Baird, and Beth Sargent. See More

One Poet's Perspective by Jane Elsdon

We are told that thirty thousand years ago tribal poets entrusted local history and experience to memory.  Memory soon translated into the oral word and was shared  with other tribes. Perhaps through long evolution this is how the healing affects of poetry became apparent.  What we do know is that such a keeper of oral history eventually became known as shaman.  Was it sham? Was it magic? I'll leave that to you to determine. What I share with you this month is my own personal experience. Read More

Opera SLO by Kathryn Bumpass

Dr. Brian Asher Alhadeff, Artistic Director of Opera San Luis Obispo, now also wears the hat of General Director of the company. I had a chance to speak with him while he was taking a short break in rehearsing with the dancers for this year's production of the Nutcracker Ballet. Read More

Practicing Poetic Justice by Deborah Tobola

I'm reading the novel Creole Belle, by one of my favorite mystery writers, James Lee Burke. Ninety-three pages in, a few sentences stopped me cold: "People wonder how justice is so often denied to those who need and deserve it most. It's not a mystery. The reason we watch contrived television dramas about law enforcement is that often the real story is so depressing, nobody would believe it."Read More

Shutterbugs, Featuring Beth Sargent

One of the nicest things about being a photographer here on the central coast is that there is such comradery among fellow photographers. The friendships I have developed with other photographers here are an unexpected and wonderful surprise. In my opinion central coast photographers are the best.   Read More

Slo Coast Cooking by Elise Griffith

One of my favorite holiday gifts from a few years ago was a batch of dried apple slices from a dear friend. You see, she'd acquired the apples from a neighbor with trees, had washed, cored and sliced the fruit very thin, drying them in her own oven. Her total cost? Not one penny, other than the cost of shipping her gifts. Yet the value (to me) was priceless! Why? Because I felt as if I were sharing a precious part of her life from a geographical distance of 3000 miles. Every time I used those dried apples in a recipe, she was present in my kitchen. Read More

 

Valencia Peak Panorama by Howard Ignatius