Nothing is ever quite what it seems. The nice young couple at the nature retreat. The old man who knows a little too much on the ship. The gruff veteran neighbor down that country road. There’s always more to the story. Valuables go missing. A boy finds himself on a raft from the past. A […]
RYAH COOLEY
Posted inNews
Getting by: Local volunteers help the Central Coast’s working poor survive
Between the holiday good will and cold weather, winter is a time when the plight of the homeless population is on our collective consciousness—even in sunny Santa Maria. As the rainfall increases, warming shelters spring up across Santa Barbara County for the season. But inside apartments and houses across the Central Coast, a different kind […]
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Electing to create: Central Coast artists make a statement on everything from The Donald to the local housing crisis
I want to touch it, but that sort of thing is frowned upon. Layers and layers of thick black, red, and white paint ebb and flow to create the likeness of none other than Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. At the top of the painting are the words “Can’t Even” and below is a direct […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
A light shines through: Santa Maria artist Joseph Griffin-Janey joins SLO GALA Center’s celebration of LGBT community amid tragedy
Husbands Joseph and Jack Griffin-Janey said, “I do” three times, and each time it was to each other. While three marriage ceremonies for one couple may seem extravagant, only one of the three ceremonies was a sentimental affair with friends and family present. The other two times—one at City Hall in San Francisco in 2004, […]
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Central Coast artist Pat Roberts captures beauty of horses through sculpture
The white walls were overwhelming. At age 30, Pat Roberts, along with her husband and three children, moved into what would be her forever home on a sprawling horse ranch property off Highway 246 in between Lompoc and Solvang, and was confronted with the problem of bare, white walls. “I looked at all these white […]
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Nipomo author Frank Scozzari’s ‘Wind Guardian’ imagines a terrorist attack on a Central Coast nuclear power plant
When the Twin Towers went down after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the collective refrain across the country was “never again.” Life is different in a post 9/11 world. Airport security tightened up in a major way and locations across the country were assessed for how likely they were to be chosen as […]
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The space between: SLOMA’s exhibit Eye Matters explores spatial relationships
In the mundane moments of everyday life, as a bus races by or a child jumps off a swing, art can be found if you look closely, or in between the lines as they say. Erik Olson, a 67-year-old artist in Nipomo, is fascinated with the lines, curves, and all the other shapes and how […]
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Five Cities teacher pens educational mystery books for children
When Five Cities-born physical education teacher Jerome Jones was working at a school in Utah, he went to the school library to find a book for kids that broke down health and nutrition on a level they could understand. But no such book could be found. Jones, 33, decided to solve the problem by writing […]
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Allan Hancock professor brings in tough life issues with break out novel, ‘Red Tide’
Growing up is hard. It’s even harder when you and your best friend witness a murder during your final years of high school in Southern California. Red Tide, the breakout novel of Allan Hancock College Professor and Arroyo Grande resident Mark James Miller, was published in September and takes the reader on a journey through […]
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Where art meets the ocean: Vanessa Venegas of Nipomo uses surfboards as her canvas
Surfboard in hand, Vanessa Venegas braves the foggy chill of morning as often as she can to catch the best waves of the day at Pismo Beach. But it wasn’t always this way. She didn’t even like the ocean when she started working at Pancho’s Surf Shop about three years ago. A surf lesson from […]