I Just Flew In From California ...

... and boy are my arms tired! Groan ... Sorry, couldn't help myself on that one, I've always wanted to do bad stand-up comedy and trust me - it would be really, really bad stand-up comedy!

Truth be told, it's the day after I flew in from California and then proceeded to drive another 230 miles from New Jersey back to Connecticut so ... yeah ... I'm a little tired but not too bad all things considered. I got to bed around 2:30 a.m. Right Coast time after getting up at 5:15 a.m. Left Coast time so that's kind of weird but it's all good and now I'm back home safe, sound, and shocked that it all seemed to happen so fast.

I have to be at work in about an hour so this post is just to let everyone know that I arrived home uneventfully and I will return to making all of my blog rounds and posting a few more California pictures hopefully tomorrow after work.

Oh, and lest you all think that Amanda missed me or was bored to tears while I was gone, there's also going to be a post about her adventures at Bamboozle where she got to meet up and hobnob with the members of her favorite band - Mindless Self Indulgence. Just as a preview of that post, here's a picture of her talking to LynZ, bassist of the band, that was taken by a guy that Amanda knows who goes by the name of Fith on the Mindless Self Indulgence Underground board.

Amanda, some bodyguard guy, and LynZ

It took Amanda from the time we left Darcy's house down near Philadelphia all the way to New York City to fill me in on how great the concert was and everything she talked to LynZ about (none of which was about natural acne treatment - go figure!) so there's plenty of stuff for a post there as soon as I can fully recover from my jet lag and get caught up!

In the meantime, thank you to everyone for putting up with my non-blog-visiting during the past week while I was out indulging in a Mexican food, friendship, and sunshine!

Now to get back to work ... sigh ...

And Just Like That, It's Time to Go!

Monday was my last full day on the Left Coast and it was another beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the San Joaquin Valley in the mid 80's. I can't believe that it's time to go already but tomorrow is my return to my real life and today was the last day to enjoy my vacation. Cyndi and I set out mid-morning in search of a few things for me to bring back with me and ended up out in the middle of Lodi grape country tasting a little more olive oil and even some mustard.

From there we went back to Stockton and, because it was Cinco de Mayo and you can't not have Mexican food on that day!, we stopped off at another favorite Mexican restaurant - Miguel's. This restaurant was actually the very first Mexican restaurant I ever dined at in Stockton way back in 1980 when I made my very first visit out here with my first husband.

This time I ordered a chicken taco and enchilada and a chili relleno - things I hadn't had yet while I was here and, of course, some guacamole to go along with it. I know it looks like a big brown mess on the plate but it sure was good (though not as good as the food at Cancun in my own humble opinion!).

After gorging ourselves, Cyndi and I then went to spend some time visiting with Grandma Edith before we did a little more exploring around Stockton. As Cyndi put it, she saw more of her own city while I was here than she has in ages but I think that's a good thing as Stockton has made a lot of positive changes and I don't view it with the same cynical view that she does. Of course, I'm not a native Stocktonian so that probably accounts for a lot of it!

I need to quit procrastinating and get things packed for an early departure tomorrow morning but when I get back to the Right Coast, I've got plenty more pictures to share from my much-needed and much-enjoyed vacation. I'd promise to post one of myself and Cyndi but, idiots that we are, we neglected to take one so I'm hoping Zane has one from our night out at Cancun that Sandee can forward to me! Well, it's either that or I'm going to have to come back again soon to get a picture!

California Cruising on a Sunday Afternoon

With no particular agenda and nowhere special we wanted to go, Cyndi and I set out Sunday morning I pointed the car in a westerly direction to see where the road might take us ...

We crossed the first span of the Bay Bridge in Oakland

Then crossed the second half of the Bay Bridge into San Francisco.

This was our view of San Francisco from the Bay Bridge and the clouds were looking a little ominous!

Buildings in San Francisco can certainly make a person feel small!

We drove past Pier 29 near Fisherman's Wharf

Before stopping to take a picture of Alcatraz, aka "The Rock", in the middle of San Francisco Bay

And then taking in the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the marina.

This was my very first time ever driving over the Golden Gate Bridge.

After crossing through Marin County into Sonoma County, we stopped in to do some olive oil tasting.

The Olive Press had some very tasty olive oils!

Continuing on we drove past vineyards in the Napa Valley

And of course I stopped to take a closer picture of the grapevines!

Turning down Route 12 towards Rio Vista, we saw windmills outside of Fairfield

While the clouds and blue sky were lovely on our way back to Stockton.

One picture I don't have is of the California Highway Patrol Officer who pulled me over in San Francisco for making an illegal left turn even though she was very nice and didn't give me a ticket. She said that it was marked for "no left turn" but neither Cyndi or I saw that posted and after the unexpected traffic stop, we backtracked to the intersection and still didn't see a sign anywhere! Oh well, guess it's all part of the California experience though I have to say that's most definitely a first for me!

Chasing the Echoes of My Past

Palm Trees near the Stockton Channel

The past few days in Stockton have been a time of meeting new friends and reconnecting with parts of my past that, to be perfectly honest, I never thought I'd see again. It's been an opportunity to see how much has changed in this city I used to call home and how much has also stayed the same over the years. As I told Cyndi when we were driving around on Friday, she probably can't see the changes as much as I can as she's lived here all of her life and sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees, as the saying goes.

In the past few days I've seen a Stockton that has grown way beyond the northern boundaries that I used to dispatch to and a downtown that has been attempting a revitalization that is quite impressive compared to what it used to be. It boggles my mind a bit to know that I used to know pretty much every street in this city as I'm sure I'd be totally lost behind a dispatch console here now. Still - as I drove around both Friday and Saturday, I saw so much that was still so familiar to me and I found myself actually missing being a part of this community whether Forbes has ranked it as the second most miserable city in the country or not.

My former home on Lincoln Street

One of the places I made a point of going by was the house I used to rent from April of 1984 to late 1985. As I sat across the street in my rental car and looked at it, I was flooded with so many memories of my time there but I have to say that they were almost all entirely good. My parents came out from Connecticut to visit me when I lived in that house, I had the best roommate ever named Scott when I lived in that house, I had many a conversation over a cup of coffee with Cyndi in that house, my son Michael started kindergarten at the school across the street from that house ... It was a good house in a good neighborhood and Michael and I had been happy there. Too bad my landlord sold it and I had to move elsewhere!

After reminiscing on Lincoln Street for a little while I then drove over to visit Grandma Edith, who had no idea that I was in California. I wanted to surprise her and I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I did! At 85 years old the poor dear has pretty lousy eyesight so she had no clue it was me at the front door that her little dog Precious was barking so furiously at. When she asked if she could help me I said, "Well I certainly didn't come 3,000 miles to be barked at!" "Linda??" she asked incredulously before she opened the door and gave me a big grandmotherly hug. We spent a lovely afternoon together and she made sure to take me around to all of her neighbors and introduce me as her granddaughter even though technically I hadn't been that for a very long time ever since her grandson and I had ended our marriage while he went out to chase single women. Grandma Edith is as good as they get, though, and I will always consider her to be my grandmother no matter what. When I left I promised her that I'd be back on Monday and would bring Cyndi with me as she's met Cyndi before and really likes her.

Grandma Edith and Precious

Before coming back to my hotel, I decided to drive around Stockton a little more and take some pictures. It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the high 70's - low 80's and the sun was shining brightly in the sky. Considering that it was raining and in the 50's back home in Connecticut I was planning on taking full advantage of the beautiful weather! I've put together a slideshow and placed it at the end of this post if you'd like to see a little bit of Stockton.

Once I finished traipsing around town it was time to head back to the Courtyard Marriott and consider doing some laundry. Yep, I'm in California on a Saturday night and I'm in my hotel doing laundry - what is wrong with me?!? Prior to that, though, I needed to consider what to get for dinner as I'd rather neglected to eat all day. Hmm, what to get that I couldn't get back home that wasn't Mexican? Carl's Jr? In n' Out Burger? Manny's California Fresh? No ... wait ... I knew just the place - Jack in the Box for an ultimate cheeseburger and seasoned curly fries!

A burger you can't get in Connecticut!

I brought my cousin Amy's favorite California cuisine back to the hotel with me and as I took it out and - of course - took a picture for you, my readers, I decided that I wasn't even going to think about the calorie and fat count of such a delicacy as that would certainly suck all of the treat out of eating it. After all, they don't call it an ultimate cheeseburger for nothing and the fries aren't half bad either!

I'm not quite positive yet where our adventures will take us today (I'm pretty sure it won't be to the poker tables in Tahoe or Jackson!) but Cyndi and I will be back on the road and exploring somewhere in California. No matter where it is, though, rest assured that there will be a post with plenty of pictures! In the meantime, I hope enjoy these -

My Journey West

After a lot of anticipation and more nerves than were probably necessary, Amanda and I finally started out for New Jersey Wednesday afternoon around 3:45 when we began our trek down the Connecticut Turnpike from Norwich to Marlton and the home of her friend Darcy. Traffic was typical for I95 in Connecticut (way too much of it!) but it flowed along quite nicely until just about the New York border when the word "delay" first came into play for the trip. As we crawled along in traffic outside of Stamford, Amanda decided to take a couple of cell phone pictures - one of which is this one. And no, I wasn't driving sideways!

We finally arrived at Darcy's house almost 230 miles later and with only one wrong turn along the way. Not bad I'd say! I got to meet Darcy's family who had graciously offered to let me stay there and drive me to the airport in Philadelphia the next morning rather than having to pay parking fees. Darcy lives with her mother, father, grandmother, and her 9-year old brother Dylan who is a special needs child who is confined to a wheelchair and has his father's beautiful curly hair. After a late dinner of pizza, salad, and strawberry shortcake I crawled into bed with the alarm set for the un-Godly hour of 5:30 in order to get to the airport on time.

Darcy's mom got me to the Philadelphia airport in plenty of time and despite what I had heard, going through security really wasn't too bad. I chatted with another lady in line who was going to Los Angeles for 11 days and it turned out that she sat across the aisle from me on the very same flight I was going on! Unfortunately I got seated on the aisle for the first leg of my flight and not only that but it was the row in front of the emergency exits so the seats didn't recline. Argh! On the good side, though, there was no one in the middle seat so the guy by the window and I lucked out there as the plane was pretty packed.

We pushed back from the gate at exactly 8:00 when our flight was due to leave and then sat in line for almost 45 minutes while 14 other planes took off ahead of us. This would be the second time the word "delay" came into use. As I sat there listening to my iPod and trying not to think about windsheer and the risk of too many planes taking off one right after the other I wasn't too nervous as I figured from here on in it was up to the skills of the flight crew and God to get us to Denver safely. As a matter of fact, I nodded off I was so relaxed!

Take-off, which is the part of flying I hate the most, turned out to be so smooth I barely knew that we were in the air (especially not being in the window seat) and the remainder of the flight was quite smooth with the exception of some bumpy air over what I think might have been Kansas. As we approached Denver with almost all of our time spent waiting to take off made up, the Captain announced that it was snowing there. Huh? Snow? In May? (I guess people in Denver have no use for pool toys yet!) I hadn't listened to any weather reports so that was quite the surprise to me. We landed with no problems at all and I unboarded the plane into the airport only to find out that the plane for the rest of my trip was the one I had just gotten off of! I had enough time to stretch my legs, send a couple of text messages, and take a few pictures before getting back on board.

Again, we pushed back from the gate right on time and that's when the word "delay" came into play for the third time when we had to wait to be de-iced before take-off. The Captain explained the whole procedure and told us that it was going to be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour before we would even get to the de-icing pads. This time I was lucky enough to be in a window seat in row #1 right behind the bulkhead and again there was no one seated between myself and the guy on the aisle (who was a little strange, I might add). My camera was in the bag in the overhead compartments so I couldn't get to it but I used my cell phone to take the picture of the planes next to us being de-iced. It isn't the best quality but I still thought it was definitely a "blogging moment". After an hour and 15 minutes we finally taxied out to the runway for our turn to take off but I really didn't mind the delay as I figured better safe than sorry, especially when it comes to being in an airplane!

Once we climbed to our cruising altitude of 36,000 feet the clouds were merely fluffy puffs of cotton below us and even though I was bit disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to see the Rocky Mountains, I still loved the view from my window as I surveyed the clouds below us and the blue sky above us. Even though I'm not real keen on the take-off part of flying, once we're in the sky I absolutely love it as there is nothing like looking at your world from a high altitude and marveling at the beauty of it.

Having criss-crossed the country numerous times over the course of my life I've got a pretty decent grasp on the geography and had a pretty good idea of what we were flying over based on what I could see below me such as the Great Salt Lake and Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. I was delighted when we flew past Lake Tahoe, one of my most favorite places in the country. It might be kind of hard to tell from that altitude but it really is gorgeous!

We finally landed at Sacramento Airport a good hour plus behind schedule but the sun was shining, the temperatures were in the 70's, and it was beautiful. After waiting for my bag to appear (apparently it was the first on in Philly and the last off in Sacramento!), I made my way over to the Hertz counter where I found a pretty metallic blue Mazda 3 5-door waiting for me. Considering I drive a Mazda at home - though a sportier version - I should have no trouble driving this car at all.

My hour drive from Sacramento to Stockton was uneventful, which was good as it was now a full 12-hours after I had started out in the morning and I was starting to feel just a little bit tired around the edges. Upon arriving at my hotel the guy at the front desk was extremely friendly and curious as to what on earth would bring me to Stockton for a vacation? Good question I suppose as I'm guessing a lot of people don't vacation in Stockton! I told him that I was here for friends and Mexican food and he said that sounded like reason enough and wished me a great stay after giving me a cookie and the key to an absolutely fantastic room.

The Courtyard Marriott is just as nice as I remember it from my March 2002 stay and I couldn't be happier with my room which, with a posted rate of $199 a night on the door, is a real steal at only $50 a night! It's roomy, comfortable, has a glorious king-size bed with six pillows, free internet access, and the shower alone was more than worth the 3,000 mile journey! Ah, now this is a vacation!!

Cyndi is on her way over shortly and once she gets here we plan on going by the Stockton Cemetery to pay our respects at our friend Timmy's grave (Timmy is one of the police officers I used to work with who was killed in the Line of Duty in February of 1990) and I always try to get by his grave when I am out here. After that, it's lunch somewhere with food I can't get in Connecticut and then tonight I'm going to be meeting up with Sandee of Comedy Plus and her hubby Zane and Katherine of Wading Through My Stream of Consciousness and her significant other at my beloved Cancun Mexican Restaurant. The place may never be the same! I'll keep you posted and I promise pictures! Now - on to the fun!

Eureka! I've Arrived!

Quick post tonight because I am what one might call totally worn out after my jaunt across the country with Stretch over there to the left that started with the drive from Connecticut to New Jersey after work yesterday afternoon and ended with my landing in Sacramento this afternoon. I at least wanted to post tonight and say that I am safely in California and ensconced in a really great hotel room with a bed that has a mattress that I'm sure I'm going to absolutely love in just about ten minutes or so just as soon as I hit the publish key on this and call it a night!

I've got lots of pictures and stories to tell already so am going to try to get a post put up tomorrow morning while waiting for Cyndi to take care of a few things before we get together to get caught up on the last six years (or as much of it as we haven't kept ourselves informed of via telephone that is!).

One of the highlights of tomorrow is also going to be dinner with Sandee and Katherine and I'm really looking forward to that and meeting two more bloggers in person! I get the feeling Cyndi is in for a quite a shock ... as is Sandee's husband and Katherine's Teamster! I'll let you know but for now, that bed is calling and it's been a long couple of days!

A Truly Miserable Post ... Depending on Where You Live!

Way back at the end of January, Forbes.com posted their annual list of the Ten Most Miserable Cities in America. I would have posted about it sooner but I prefer to offer non-breaking news here at AWTY?? in an effort to be a non-trendsetter! Well, that and my darling daughter never got around to doing the artwork I had asked her to do so I had to attempt some creativity on my own. Trust me, the child did not get her artistic talent from her mother!

Anyhow, back to the list which I have to take some exception to as I've been to six of the ten cities on the list, passed through another three in the course of my travels, and have to admit to having no knowledge whatsoever of the tenth but that still doesn't stop me from having an opinion! As a matter of fact, I spent a good many years residing in the city that landed at the #2 spot on the list and I am somewhat surprised that it not only made the list but achieved #2 in the ranking as that just seems a bit unfair. Perhaps true in some ways but unfair nonetheless because it's being compared to cities that are much, much larger.

In order to rate the most miserable cities in the country, Forbes needed some sort of guidelines to go by in an effort to be fair and not just pick ten random cities out of a hat. One of the indicators most often used to measure misery, which is defined as "a state of great unhappiness and emotional distress", is the Misery Index which was created by economist Arthur Okun and adds the unemployment rate to the inflation rate. In addition to that there is the Misery Score which is the sum of corporate, personal, employer and sales taxes in different countries. Forbes decided to expand on the Misery Index and the Misery Score to create their very own Forbes Misery Measure. They kept the unemployment and personal tax rates and then added four more factors that can make Americans quite miserable: commute times, weather, crime, and toxic waste dumps.

Forbes then looked at only the 150 largest metropolitan areas which supposedly meant a population of 370,000 or more and this is one of the areas where I take exception to this list as there are several cities on it that don't meet the population requirement. Whether I agree or not, though, Forbes added together the six factors in their Misery Measure and then ranked the cities accordingly. When all was said and done, the list ended up reading, from miserable to really miserable, like this:

10. Providence, Rhode Island - population 170,435
9. Charlotte, North Carolina - population 610,949
8. Modesto, California - population 204,242
7. Los Angeles, California - population 3,844,829
6. Chicago, Illinois - population 2,842,518
5. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - population 1,463,281
4. New York City, New York - population 8,143,197
3. Flint, Michigan - population 122,524
2. Stockton, California - population 284,418
1. Detroit, Michigan - population 886,671

I checked the population totals using the FactFinder on the website for the U.S. Census Bureau and these are the current numbers based on the 2006 U.S. Census. Granted math was never my strong subject in school but it looks to me like there are four cities on that list that do not have populations over 370,000. If that's the case, then I don't see how those four cities could possibly be on this list. Somehow it just doesn't seem fair to me. But then again that's just me and not Forbes and it's their list - not mine.

Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that I have ties to Stockton, California - good ole' #2 on this list - so when I first saw this list my initial reaction was to pick up the phone and call my good friend MizCyn who currently resides in Stockton and has, I believe, lived there all of her life. She didn't seem at all surprised at the results and immediately began chanting "We're number two! We're number two!" After that she pointed out to me that "the study was done by an Oregonian and it's a well known fact that people from Oregon hate Californians." I guess that must be a well-known West Coast fact as I had never heard of it but she adamantly assured me that it was true. I've learned through the years not to argue with Cyndi as I very rarely win so I decided to accept the statement as fact, well known or not!

Still, no matter who did the survey and their feelings towards Californians, Stockton definitely has its problems and, even though they don't meet the population requirements that Forbes set for themselves, there's a lot to be miserable about. Foreclosures are at an all-time high, the unemployment rate in San Joaquin County (of which Stockton is the County Seat) just hit 10% in January, and their crime rate puts them at number two in the nation - probably with a bullet. No pun intended as crime has always been horrible in Stockton and in spite of the best efforts of the police department, it just seems to keep getting worse.

Having lived in Stockton for close to eight years myself and still having friends and former family living there, I like to see what's going on in my former city of residence and often read the local newspaper, The Stockton Record, online (we're allowed to read news sites at work so it's something to do when 911 isn't ringing off the hook). It seems like every day there's another shooting or robbery or burglary and, because The Record is nice enough to provide the stats every day, it's easy to see that the San Joaquin County Jail which is just outside of Stockton is filled to capacity and then some. For example, today they posted that "There were 91 bookings at the San Joaquin County Jail in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Friday. At that time, there were 1,517 people held at the jail, which has an official capacity of 1,411." Yep - crime is most definitely a problem in Stockton. It was when I lived there and worked at the police department and it still is now when I no longer live there or work at the police department!

Being number two in the nation for crime has got to be a tough title to carry, though, so it's no wonder that Stockton has gone through four police chiefs in five years. Ed Chavez, who retired as chief and became mayor of Stockton in 2003 was replaced by Police Chief Mark Herder who retired at the end of 2005 after only being in the position for two years. Herder was replaced by Chief Wayne Hose in 2006 who just retired on February 29th, again after only two years of service. His successor, Tom Morris, was sworn in as Stockton's newest Chief of Police in a ceremony at the department on Friday. Chief Morris has said that he'll stay at the helm of the department for three to five years "unless a personal issue arises that would cause him to change his mind" but who knows? I suspect it's a pretty tough job and there are going to be lots of obstacles in front of him.

One of the major obstacles that the new chief is going to face is scrutiny from the community itself. Apparently there was a bit of disgruntlement when the city choose to appoint from within its own ranks rather than conduct a nationwide search for a new chief. People complained of "cronyism" and the "good ole' boy" system but sometimes it just makes more sense to promote someone who is not only familiar with the department he's taking over but also with the city he is now in charge of. Just because you bring a new person in for the job doesn't guarantee that the crime rate is going to go down.

City Manager Gordon Palmer defended his choice to appoint the #2 man to the position by stating that Morris has "been trained and groomed for taking this job. He's probably the most qualified individual we've ever had to come in line for police chief." At the Police Department, Morris is considered a cop's cop and that means a lot to the men and women who are out on the streets fighting crime. "They picked the right guy," said Officer Gordon Gray, president of the Stockton Police Officers Association.

Stockton police Lt. John Mize, who has been with the department for 23 years, told The Record that Hose and Morris share similar virtues as leaders. "I've worked for both of these men for a good number of years, and I find they both have a strong community ethic, and they are very interested in maintaining good morale in the department." Mize said. "Those two things make our department effective at combating crime."

As Chief Hose's replacement, Morris plans on running things very much the same as his predecessor which might not be a bad thing considering that during Hose's time as badge #1 the city's violent crime rate actually dropped slightly and Stockton had its fewest criminal homicides since 1997. Granted, there were still 29 of them but if the number was down from previous years, that's a good thing, right? Who knows, maybe having a "new-old" man at the helm who holds onto some old values but has the foresight to try new things might just turn around Stockton's crime rate and help get them off of Forbe's list of the ten most miserable cities.

As for the other measures of misery that put Stockton on the list ... well, I'm not as well read in those and can't really say much. Stockton has its redeeming factors just as I'm sure every other city on that list does. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what good it does to post a list of the Ten Most Miserable Cities in America to begin with as I'm sure it doesn't give the people who live in those places the warm fuzzies (though I'm pretty sure that people who live in New York, Philly, or Providence don't give a flying fig what anyone thinks!) and certainly doesn't encourage any sort of positive growth from potential industries. Perhaps Forbes would be better off adhering to the lyrics of a song made popular by both Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters -

"You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative ..."

Of course, that probably wouldn't sell as many magazines, would it?

History Meets New Age

I happened across a news story on Yahoo! yesterday that involved Alcatraz Island in San Francisco and how some guy named Da Vid, who is the director of the Global Peace Foundation, wants to have the former prison torn down and a Global Peace Center built in its place. Huh?

Having had the opportunity to visit Alcatraz in 1986 during my parents' visit to California when I still lived there, I was rather intrigued by this story just as I was by the former federal prison. I was rather dismayed to see that someone wants to tear down the history of Alcatraz along with the old buildings for it's certainly an interesting, and I feel important, part of our American history whether you think it "exudes negative energy" or not.

Alcatraz's colorful history began shortly after gold was discovered in 1848 along the American River in central California. As word of vast riches spread quickly, hundreds of ships filled with gold-seekers from around the globe arrived in San Francisco Bay and the land formerly belonging to Spain and then to Mexico was claimed as United States territory.

San Francisco's population exploded from 300 to 30,000 in just a few years while it became the center of world attention for thousands of people in search of gold and riches. In 1850, California became a state and President Fillmore issued an Executive Order reserving certain lands around San Francisco Bay for military use as the United States government felt they needed to protect the land and its mineral resources from seizure by other countries.

In 1853 construction began on Fort Alcatraz atop the sandstone island in San Francisco Bay and upon completion became the most powerful of all Pacific Coast defenses. Steep walls were created around the island and cannon were posted at the north, south, and west sides of the island so that they faced all ships coming into the bay. Eventually there were 111 guns that almost totally encircled the island along with smaller Howitzers that were posted midway along the island in gun batteries.

Alcatraz Island, often referred to as "The Rock", was originally planned as an army defense site but was also an ideal location for a prison and, as such, in 1861 Alcatraz was officially designated the military prison for the Department of the Pacific. Initially prisoners were held in the Howitzer rooms of the guardhouse but when they became too full, a temporary wooden prison was built in 1863 just north of the guardhouse. It was replaced with several adjoining structures called Lower Prison which housed an average of 100 men throughout the late 1800s.

During the Spanish-American War thousands of troops passed through San Francisco and between 1899 and 1900 the prison population grew from 25 to 441. This increase necessitated the building of the Upper Prison which consisted of three wooden cell houses with two tiers each which were surrounded by a stockade fence. In 1907 Fort Alcatraz was re-designated the "Pacific Branch, U.S. Military Prison, Alcatraz Island" when the army finally acknowledged that the future of Alcatraz was as a prison and not a defense site. After an ambitious building project, the cell house complex included four cell blocks with a total of 600 cells, a kitchen, dining hall, hospital, recreation yard, and administrative offices. It was the largest reinforced concrete building in the world when completed in 1912 and also included a power plant which produced electricity and steam heat for the island.

In addition to its role as a military fort and prison, Alcatraz Island was the site of a navigational lighthouse which was erected and first lit in 1853. Alcatraz Lighthouse #1 was the first lighthouse built on the current US Pacific coast and contained a California Cottage design with a short tower protruding from the center. In 1856 a fog bell was added to the lighthouse.

In 1909, after 56 years of use, Alcatraz Lighthouse #1 was torn down to make way for the construction of the larger prison. Alcatraz Lighthouse #2 was constructed and located next to the cell house and completed on December 1st, 1909. Its 84-foot tower of concrete contained a smaller lens than its predecessor which was eventually replaced in 1963 with an automated rotating beacon thereby allowing the keepers to be discharged.

In 1933 the Army left Alcatraz due in part to the Great Depression of the early 1930s and negative publicity. Most of the military prisoners were transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and Fort Jay, New Jersey however they turned over their 32 worst prisoners to the custody of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons who took over control of Alcatraz Island and ran the federal prison there from 1934 until 1963.

The Federal Government had decided to open a maximum-security, minimum-privilege penitentiary to deal with the most incorrigible inmates in Federal prisons in order to show the law-abiding public that the Federal Government was serious about stopping the rampant crime of the 1920s and 1930s. Classified as a concentration model, where difficult-to-manage prisoners from other institutions would be concentrated under one roof, Alcatraz served as an experiment of segregation in response to the outbreak of crime and violence of post-Prohibition, post-Depression America.

Despite it's reputation as being a "Devil's Island", several inmates actually requested a transfer to The Rock. The average population was only about 260-275, never once reaching its capacity of 336, and many prisoners actually considered the living conditions to be better than other Federal prisons (for instance, there was always just one man to a cell). At Alcatraz, a prisoner had four rights: food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. Everything else was a privilege that had to be earned. Some privileges included working, corresponding with and having visits from family members, access to the prison library, and recreational activities such as painting and music.

Even though Alcatraz housed such famous prisoners as Al Capone, Robert "The Birdman of Alcatraz" Stroud, George "Machine-Gun" Kelly, Alvin Karpis (the first "Public Enemy #1"), and Arthur "Doc" Barker, most of the 1,576 prisoners incarcerated during its 29 year history as a federal prison were not well-known gangsters. They were simply prisoners who refused to conform to the rules and regulations at other Federal institutions, prisoners who were considered violent and dangerous or who were considered escape risks. If a man did not behave at another institution, he could be sent to Alcatraz where the highly structured, monotonous daily routine was designed to teach an inmate to follow rules and regulations.

On March 21, 1963, Alcatraz closed after 29 years of operation as a U.S. Penitentiary. The reason for closure was due to the fact that the prison was too expensive to continue operating primarily due to its location and isolation. The isolation of being on an island meant that everything (food, supplies, water, fuel, etc.) had to be brought to Alcatraz by boat. As an example, the island had no source of fresh water, so nearly one million gallons of water had to be barged to the island each week. The Federal Government decided that it was more cost-effective to build a new institution rather than to keep Alcatraz open.

After the prison closed, Alcatraz was basically abandoned though many ideas were proposed for the island which included a monument to the United Nations, a West Coast version of the Statue of Liberty, and a shopping center/hotel complex. The island made news in 1969 when a group of Native American Indians claimed Alcatraz as Indian land with the hope of creating a Native American cultural center and education complex on the island. During the 18 months that the "Indians of All Tribes" used their act of civil disobedience to illustrate the troubles faced by Native Americans, public support was strong and thousands of people came to the island during the time they were there. Unfortunately, the small Native American leadership group could not control the situation and much damage occurred including graffiti, vandalism, and a fire that destroyed the lighthouse keeper's home, the Warden's home, and the Officers' Club.

In June of 1971, Federal Marshals removed the remaining Native Americans from the island and it was once again abandoned until 1972 when Congress created the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Alcatraz Island was included as part of the new National Park Service unit, designated as a National Historic Landmark, and opened to the public in the fall of 1973. Since then it has become one of the most popular Park Service sites with more than one million visitors from around the world coming to tour the island each year.

Da Vid and the Global Peace Foundation, now wish to change all that and have managed to get Proposition C put onto the Febuary 5th California ballot by collecting over 20,000 signatures in favor of the plan to convert the historical prison on Alcatraz Island into a Global Peace Center. The initiative would restore the operating power of Alcatraz back to the city and county of San Francisco which would then open the door for Da Vid’s ambitious renovation plan for the island tourist attraction.

Da Vid has described Alcatraz as a "major power point" where "energy moves through the planet." His vision to turn it into a peace center came to him in 1978. "It was a flash," he explained, "and I wasn't on any drugs either." His grand project calls for transforming the former penitentiary into "the eighth wonder of the world", comparable to the Taj Mahal or Parthenon, which would include a statue of St. Francis, a multimedia entertainment center, a world cultures conference room, and a harmonium, employing sound techniques to impart a "deep meditative, transpersonal and transcendent experience," a medicine wheel and a labyrinth.

Even should the operation of Alcatraz Island be successfully turned back over to the City of San Franscisco from the Department of the Interior and National Park Service, dismantling the prison would be a very costly proposition and Da Vid has absolutely no funding for such an endeavor. When the San Francisco Chronicle asked him about that he assured them that "Money will come" and hopes that major corporations will wish to build some good karma for themselves by helping to fund the multi-million dollar project.

In my own humble opinion, I have to strongly disagree with Da Vid's desire to wipe out the history of Alcatraz Island. It seems that there are way too many people hoping that by removing the reminders of our history - especially the unpleasant aspects of it - it will make everything all better and that's just not the case. History, whether it be pleasant or unpleasant, is an integral part of life. We need it so that we can look back at where we were and see the proper direction that we need to go in. We learn from history. Or at least we should.

I have to agree with the San Francisco Chronicle in their editorial "A Vision for Alcatraz" where they state:

"... preserving the old prison at Alcatraz may not be the purest option from a spiritual perspective, but it's a notable part of our region's history ... Remembering our history is rarely uplifting, but it's important."

I hope the citizens of California feel the same way and defeat this Proposition at the polls next Tuesday.

If you're interested in learning more about Alacatraz Island's colorful history, then check out the very interesting www.AlcatrazHistory.com where you can learn a lot more than what I just briefly told you or, if you're on the West Coast and haven't been to Alcatraz yourself, I strongly suggest a visit. Just bear in mind that the tours sell out every day! Yeah, it's that popular, Mr. Da Vid!

The Important Stuff

********************

I was talking to my friend out in Northern California tonight about the wildfires that have been ravaging Southern California the past few days (thankfully she's up near San Francisco and is nowhere near where this is happening) and that conversation led to a discussion about what she or I would want to save if ever there were a fire near our homes that threatened to overtake and burn them to the ground.

Cyndi is a major cat person - and I do mean major! - so naturally the main thing she would want to make sure she got out of the house, other than her beloved husband, would be her cats. Hopefully she has a lot of advance notice of any sort of fire as she has lots and lots and lots of cats! I swear the woman is a 'cat magnet' as any and all strays in Stockton seem to gravitate to her. They know they're going to find a kind and compassionate woman who opens her heart and home to them regardless of how disheveled, bedraggled, or feral they may be. Cyndi has a heart as big as all of California when it comes to cats.

The other thing that she said she would have a hard time leaving behind would be her plants and she has almost as large a collection of those as she does cats. Now I'm not talking about silk trees here - I'm talking about a plant that sat in her father's office at the business he owned and is one of the few things she has left from him, a plant that her grandmother had back in 1965 that she has lovingly cared for way too many years to count, and a plethora of other plants that mean just about as much to Cyndi as her menagerie of cats does.

Beyond that - there isn't too much that she said she couldn't live without. Things can be replaced.

I agree with her completely. I can't really think of too much here in my house that I couldn't live without except maybe for some family pictures and maybe a memento or two - and my laptop, of course. Other than that it's all 'stuff' ... stuff that can be replaced if I felt that I really needed to replace it or I could learn how to live more minimalistic. Sometimes I think that minimalistic might not be a bad thing - a lot less clutter to try to clean up around here.

I'm not saying that having one's house burn down is not a tragedy because it is and it has to be more than devastating to those people in Southern California who are coming back to their homes to find them completely gone. I cannot begin to fathom the heartbreak that they must be feeling or the sense of loss that must be pervading their lives right now. In no way am I trying to minimize what they're feeling in any way, shape, or form. I'm just saying that sometimes you need to sit back and take stock of what's really important in your life and what can or can't be replaced.

Despite their losses, I'm sure that those people who have been affected by the California wildfires are still ecstatic that they and their loved ones got out alive - much like those people who lived through Hurricane Katrina and went back to live another day. Your life, your family's lives, the lives of your friends and loved ones, and the lives of your pets - those are the important things to try to save no matter what disaster might be knocking on your door.