Notes of a Native Daughter
Join author Susan Straight and photographer Douglas McCulloh on their journeys in Southern California's Inland Empire.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
The intensity required to open your own business in 2013, when large corporations are still sitting on millions and billions of dollars, hesitant to give out loans, forces you to think creatively.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
They came here because of war, though no one might think of it that way when sitting down to get a massage or their nails painted.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
This year I spent time with four men who changed education here, back in 1965 when de facto segregation was the norm in California, when violently-enforced segregation was the law of the South.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
There are a few other tamale festivals in California, but this one has a unique purpose.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
Susan Straight recalls the history of Riverside's Our Lady of Guadalupe and introduces the people who have kept the parish alive all these years.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
The Nova, primer-gray like raincloud, was an icon that everyone wanted to see, to honor the owner who would never finish restoring it. Officer Crain was sitting in the passenger seat of his patrol car 32 days ago when he was shot and killed by former LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner. Hundreds of people showed up Sunday for a memorial car show.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
"I've come to believe that there are two kinds of us here on earth -- people who stay and people who leave..."
Notes of a Native Daughter:
There is a wedding day and then there is the rest of your married life. Richer or poorer.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
This is what it means to have been a teacher for 30 years, as of this new January quarter.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
You might think that we've all heard this speech, these words, before. All of us in America, by now. We have. But I stood, transfixed, unable to move, looking out the window while he said words not as often quoted.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
There are six sisters in this story, and one brother, all educated in a one-room schoolhouse, ninety children and one teacher, and all of them went to college, and their kids went to college. This story, and the sweet potato pie, come from slavery, which Americans don't like to talk about any more.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
It may be one of the most quintessential Southern California landmarks, beloved by thousands, and now it's made national news.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
Jose Medina walked into the banquet room at Zacateca's Restaurant on Riverside's Eastside to loud cheers and clapping of hundreds of supporters.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
When my oldest daughter moved to Texas, she made us watch the popular TV series "Friday Night Lights" because, as she told her father and me, "I realized you guys are exactly the same in Riverside... It's crazy."
Notes of a Native Daughter:
Take a look today while you drive around, wherever you live, at the not-lost art of housepainting.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
"In Riverside County, there are two million Latinos, one million Latina women. I'm a bracero's daughter. To be a judge here, in the Inland Empire, means everything."
Notes of a Native Daughter:
Where does story begin? My new book was released yesterday. It's my eighth novel, and each time, I spend days walking around thinking of where that book began.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
The old Route 66 and surrounding environs are home to fast food history. The empire of places founded here such as Foster Freeze, Taco Tia, Taco Bell, Del Taco, McDonald's, and yes, Juan Pollo.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
San Bernardino's making national headlines because elected officials have filed for bankruptcy, but a lot of people said what really outraged them: The city council said it couldn't host the Route 66 Rendezvous downtown.
Notes of a Native Daughter:
Think locavore -- eating food produce within a few miles of where you live. Now think locabuild -- it worked for decades.
SoCal Focus is a blog about the people, places, and issues in and around Southern California.
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