There’s no place so identified with car culture as California.  Once the fourth-largest crude oil producer in the U.S., my home state’s abundant fossil fuels and balmy weather helped birth a culture of iconic cars, highways, drive-in theaters and restaurants. Whether it was Model-T’s at the beach, Mustangs on the track or lowriders in the ‘hood, Cali folks have worshipped our … [Read more...]

Martha Graham’s provocative dance, Errand into the Maze In the mid-1940s, legendary dance choreographer Martha Graham was on a flight to Iran that got caught in a brutal snowstorm. As the plane was tossed about, everyone onboard went into a panic – terrified that they were going to die. Everyone, that is, except for Graham. “For me,” she said later, “the escape has always … [Read more...]

“Relax” is my word for 2024. At first I was annoyed when I drew this rune from a bag. What do you mean, relax? That’s all I’ve been doing in 2023! But then I thought for a moment. It’s true I’ve been resting a lot to regenerate my health, but relaxing? Not so much. So when I made my annual collage for the New Year, I put that word front and center – and resolved to relax in … [Read more...]

When Time Magazine asked Taylor Swift to pose for the cover as their Person of the Year, her response was, “Can I bring my cat?” That’s how Swift and Benjamin Button (one of her three cats), ended up on the Dec. 25 cover of Time. It was a unique way for the multiple Grammy-winning singer to celebrate her 34th birthday (on Dec. 13). But this pop megastar is famous for doing … [Read more...]

When legendary photographer Sebastião Salgado took over family land in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, instead of the tropical paradise that he remembered as a child, he found a barren landscape devoid of wildlife. It was 1994 and he had just returned from a horrific assignment reporting on the genocide in Rwanda, he told The Guardian in 2015. “The land was as sick as I … [Read more...]