Arts

About two years ago, I took up kickboxing. Muay Thai to be exact. The national sport of Thailand, Muay Thai is like cardio kickboxing on crack. It combines traditional punch combinations with several kinds of kicks, and—if you want to get really fancy—flying elbows and knees. Practicing Muay Thai has taught me a lot of […]

There’s a cul-de-sac in downtown Lompoc that stands out for its little ornate houses all in a row. The residents are quite transient, but welcomed nonetheless—so welcome, in fact, that one man has built these homes for 20 years. They aren’t for people, though. They’re for the birds. Jim Manweiler builds intricate birdhouses and feeders. […]

Perhaps my favorite thing about PCPA (besides eavesdropping on the conversations of fellow audience members that precede each play) is the fact that once you’re somewhat familiar with the company, you begin to compare the actors’ roles in various productions—often with comedic or surprising results. Erik Stein, for example, assumes the role of Javert in […]

California is revered for many things, but the ocean and weather are probably the biggest draws. Once upon a time—before the state was buried under crowded freeways, miles of pavement, and dismal smog—its untouched stretches and unspoiled landscapes enticed people to settle here. That historic California is the one captured in the Wildling Art Museum’s […]

A few years from now, Allan Hancock College students will be able to pursue an arts education without having to take a class here, rushing to the opposite side of campus for another class there, and then jumping in a car and driving across Stowell for yet another. Like a sculptor with clay on a […]

Allan Hancock College’s welding shop boasts cold metal tables, concrete floors, intimidating equipment, and scraps of steel. Even a brief visit is enough to reveal: Welding is a dirty job. It’s not a getting-paint-on-your-fingers or getting-clay-on-your-hands kind of dirty, but a blue-collar, middle-class America dirty found in a Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen song. Hancock’s […]

During the Vietnam era, cities across America gave their sons to the war effort. Guadalupe, a small town of only 2,500 citizens in 1970, gave an extraordinary amount for a city of its size. The significance of that contribution changed the town and its residents forever. For decades, Guadalupe’s veterans kept their pain inside, suffering […]