Pigeons are much more than those birds that hang around urban centers hoping for a handout. Do we do an injustice to them, those of us who denigrate them, who insist on signs prohibiting feeding them, who grimace and try to avoid them? I was one of those people. Until I learned the truth about these devoted messengers, these...

Takiyah Smith, San Franciscan native and author of the about to be released book Single Mom and the City, talks about what it takes to be a single mother while maintaining not only your own strength but flourishing as well. How easy it can be to fall into the doldrums of single motherhood with all the physical,...

Sunni Malek, always ebullient and eager to take whatever next step presented itself for her, as outgoing and welcoming a woman as you could imagine, had every reason to think her life would proceed uncomplicated by crisis of any particular kind. When she was struck by breast cancer and finished with her treatment, she had reason to look to the...

Jeanne Gnuse is a fan of personal change, and her history of accepting challenge is a model for us all. Decade after decade, no such thing as status quo for her. Her husband was an introspective man with an engineering degree, quiet, steady. She has the sparkle of a Broadway musical performer. At age 55 she and her husband...

In a world too often plagued by fear, mistrust, and a general sense of disgust for American politics, there is a bright light of hope shining through a rather bright light herself. When Pamela Ward suggested to me not long ago that I write a love letter to U.S. Representative for New York’s 14thcongressional district Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, I realized that...

Good news! Marshall Mend is back. You remember Marshall Mend who, in the late 50s, dropped out of high school because of a philosophical difference with the principal and then went to work with his father in the butcher store. Marshall who soon went out on his own, and, thanks to his ability to listen carefully to his...

From fleeing the Soviet Union to a successful life Israel and then to San Francisco with equal success as a mortgage broker and founder of Pacific Bay Financial Company, Manny Kagan has not missed a beat of his own life. Rather, he has directed it step by step and had the courage to follow his instincts all the while...

Ever wondered who dresses those men who look so perfect in their suits and ties? I never did until I met the woman whose career (and mission) is to do just that. She is Andrea Valo-Espina, a designer, and, although she can sew a man’s suit herself, she relies on her talented cadre of  35 workers to do the tailoring of the finest European...

We’ve all heard that plea, “Don’t Kill Me, I’m Just the Messenger.” Messengers, always the bringer of critical news, life saving news. Good news, life goes on. Bad news, you can correct the problem. So, gratitude to the spies, scouts, pigeons and couriers who saved lives, assured us that we can continue without fear of obliteration and put their own lives on...

Mike Lambert’s recently written letters to his father are remarkable for their candor, insight, affection, and most of all for the fact that Mike, born in 1934 in Chicago, grew up fatherless. He was 18 months old when his father was killed in a truck/train accident. He talks about growing up with his mother and grandmother and seeing it all...