Columns
Burb's Eye View: Parents find way to help school
Theseus without his Minotaur is like Superman without his Lex Luthor. Otherwise, the hero just gets the girl and lives happily ever after.
Small Wonders: Dreaming Father's Day dreams
It's an age-old question with as many answers as there are muffin-topped men afraid to talk about their feelings wandering the barbecue aisle at Home Depot on Saturday:
Ron Kaye: Water provides a lesson in government
Many government meetings are broadcast live and archived with a vast array of official records posted online. Mainstream media may be on financial life support, but more than half the adult population still reads a newspaper daily, in print or digital form, as part of their news overload from...
Burb's Eye View: Nature center paints over graffiti with nature-matching colors.
The graffiti was applied with some talent, but talent alone could not save the artist's work from erasure.
Ron Kaye: Working for the union or fighting it
In Glendale, utility workers found their paychecks a little smaller last week — the price of the inability of their union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18, to negotiate an initial contract two years after winning the right to represent them.
Burb's Eye View: Merging love of theater and video games
Next month, Comic-Con International takes over the city of San Diego to bring together the geek world in a potent smashup of adrenaline, dreams, TNT and marketing hype, then lights the fuse over three days for what has become Hollywood's Woodstock.
Ron Kaye: Valley COG is a missed opportunity
The meeting started late and it started badly, with a 10-minute argument about approving the minutes of the last meeting. Then it headed downhill.
A Word, Please: When to use commas, when not to use them
The handsome, articulate, intelligent man wore a bright green midriff peasant blouse.
Small Wonders: From chrysalis to butterfly
A letter to my daughter upon her promotion from elementary school:
Burb's Eye View: Finding sweet sparks of humanity
There¿s a wonderful line about the pride of misery, and it comes from the fictional mayor of New York in the movie, ¿Ghostbusters 2.¿ ¿Being miserable and treating other people like dirt is every New Yorker's God-given right.¿
Ron Kaye: It's time for divisions to cease
In the dismal Los Angeles election cycle that mercifully concluded on May 21, much was made about the lack of women in high places if Wendy Greuel didn't win the mayor's race.
Burb's Eye View: Adventures with the old and reckless
The white '91 Mustang was wasted. Dead. A heap of scrap worth barely more than the gas Bob Thomas spent to go and see it.
A Word, Please: Of adjectives and noun phrases
It's a billboard custom-tailored to grammar buffs. "Every day we help people get back to their everyday," proclaims the ad for Keck Medical Center of USC. In that single sentence, the copy writer does more to help people with grammar than I probably will in this whole column. But I'll give it a...
Ron Kaye: It's time for Burbank to think twice
Here we go again — at the first sign of recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression, government officials are gearing up to line their pockets with taxpayer money.
Small Wonders: Where more than wild things are
Don't venture under the bed lightly. More than wild things await you there.
Burb's Eye View: 'I'll write a book. How hard could it be?'
She's been called a mother, a lawyer and the "Queen of Erotic Romance."
A Word, Please: Going to the theatre, or the theater?
If it were possible to tally up all the moments of my life so far, the top activities would probably be watching "Simpsons" reruns, talking to computers over the telephone, and asking fellow diners, "Are you gonna eat that?"
Burb's Eye View: Laps in a life worth living
Sometimes the brightest paths only reveal themselves in the dark.
Ron Kaye: Standing up to the town bully
The sparse front page of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18 website expresses exactly the message Brian D'Arcy wants his members to get: Rotating photos of protesting workers waving "A DEAL IS A DEAL" signs.
Start the Presses: Burbank mechanic's amazing 'Shift It' commercial
Our reporters are hard at work nailing down the details of the deliciously ridiculous "Shift It" music video-slash-auto commercial-slash-Internet meme, but I couldn't let another second go by without embedding the video on our sites.
Intersections: Waiting for the ethnic identifier
Please don't let them be Muslim. Please don't let them be Hispanic. Please don't let them be Armenian.
Burb's Eye View: Checking in with Zonta's good works
Below the din and electric stress of last week's Burbank Literacy Spelling Bee, a little blue card floated my way.
On Education: The price of a fun, safe prom night
If you are the parent of a current high school student, you will spend about $250,000 to raise that child to the age of 18, give or take a few thousand depending on family resources, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Start the Presses: Transparency in print and in life
On Tuesday evening, I had the chance to speak to a class at Glendale Community College run by the school's police chief, Gary Montecuollo. I have spoken to this class before, which focuses on law enforcement's interactions with the larger community, and enjoyed it each time.
A Word, Please: Better grammar means better jobs?
Creators of a software program called Grammarly recently conducted a study of the grammar used in LinkedIn member profiles. They found that people with fewer grammar errors in their profiles ascended to higher positions, got more promotions and changed jobs more often.
Burb's Eye View: Hypnotic response to bad habits
The academic rigors of second-grade math were proving too difficult for a young Ronald Bonk.
The Crosby Chronicles: Equal time for Little League players
Those of you with kids in little league right now are familiar with the usual to-do list: buying the gear, bringing the snacks, rushing to all the practices and games, and dealing with coaches who favor their own children over yours.
Start the Presses: Remembering the Armenian Genocide
Each year Armenians worldwide commemorate the murder of 1.5 million of their ancestors by what was then the Ottoman Empire in the time around World War I. Each year, the United States government – fearing the backlash of Turkish rulers – fails to officially recognize this atrocity as a...
A Word, Please: A would-be worry that isn't
An island nation you can't find on a map can threaten your retirement savings. Your health insurer could refuse to pay your medical bills by arguing you're covered only if someone drops a baby grand piano on your head, not an upright. On any given day, a celebrity might say mean things to a singer...
Small Wonders: It's the time and place for a Cracker Barrel
We Californians like to point out that we lack for nothing in our great state.
Intersections: Increased demand for Armenian language skills
On a Saturday morning in a brightly lit classroom at the Burbank Adult School, a group of students are practicing their language skills.
Burb's Eye View: Reading, writing and the literary spirit
Helen Lopez could get the words out. However, when it came time to deliver a speech, the president of Burbank Kiwanis’ Aktion Club had trouble lifting them off the page.
Ron Kaye: Civic engagement and high expectations
It was the changing of the guard — Parcher Plaza at Glendale City Hall filled with people celebrating Mayor Frank Quintero with taquitos and cupcakes, a gathering of well-wishers that included Burbank Mayor Dave Golonski, who offered a framed memento in tribute.
A Word, Please: Who gets to make the language laws?
The Mid Devon District Council in southwestern England made headlines recently when it proposed to do away with apostrophes on street signs, changing King's Crescent into Kings Crescent and St. Paul's Square into St. Pauls Square.
Burb's Eye View: Learning how to live green
The white, discarded barrels at the food-processing plant may have looked like junk. To Justin Okin, they were a means to harvest the sky.
Steve Greenberg: Ballad of "The Tonight Show"
Cartoonist Steve Greenberg gives his take on the departure of "The Tonight Show" from Burbank, its home since 1972. Jimmy Fallon will be taking the show to New York when he takes over hosting duties from Jay Leno in the spring of 2014.
A Word, Please: Copy editing clues to excellence
These days, everyone's a writer. And a reporter. And an editor. Thanks to the Internet, you can report any "fact" you want, be it a UFO sighting in your rumpus room or incontrovertible evidence that Donald Trump has a full head of hair.
Small Wonders: Paying taxes on the American Dream
I'm pretty diligent when it comes to my taxes. And by diligent, I mean that in November, I make an appointment for February with my tax guy, which is unlike those co-workers in your office asking around in April if anyone knows a good accountant. That's like trying to get face-value Super Bowl...
The Crosby Chronicles: Baseball and birthdays
Due to my son’s school being closed on Monday, I had to take a day off of work to be home with him. That day happened to be my birthday, so the stars were aligned when I found out that April 1 was also the Dodgers’ Opening Day. And it was an...
Burb's Eye View: Steampunk and cutthroat card games
On Saturday, I was asked to check out a time-traveling phone booth that landed in Burbank. It was one of those invitations you don’t refuse.
A Word, Please: Open yourself up to grammar
A reader named Roy sent me an e-mail recently. He had a question – not for himself but for a friend. And, heaven help me, I really believe it was for a friend. Here's what Roy wrote:
The Crosby Chronicles: Restaurant experiences sometimes lack
Going out to eat is supposed to be one of life's pleasures. You don't have to cook or clean up afterwards. Plus, servers take your order and bring your food. For just a little bit of money you can feel a lot of specialness - even if it's only for an hour or two.
Burb's Eye View: Burbank on Parade rolls on
If an alien – I don’t mean the acid-drooling, cockroachey, slobbering kind, but instead, the soft, furry kind that would hold a borderline obsessive interest in our housecats – if this alien were to drop from the sky on April 6 and land in the middle of Olive Avenue, how would we...
Ron Kaye: Throwing rocks at the windows of power
What would your town be like if its harshest critic had a seat at the table of power?
Burb's Eye View: Dimensions of Rose Parade float design
There's a tense time after one submits a design idea for Burbank's Rose Parade float, when the minutes and days tick by as the city's parade committee makes its decision.
Ron Kaye: Respect for the Council of Governments
One of my first impressions when I called the San Fernando Valley my home nearly 30 years ago was that this vast middle-class enclave suffered from a bad inferiority complex, like it was populated by a lot of Rodney Dangerfields who just couldn’t get respect.
A Word, Please: Grammar rules can't be taken on faith
Most of what you think you know about grammar is wrong.
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