My Latest Northside Column: Where to Go, What to Do and Eat Near the Bay Area

For my latest Common Knowledge column in Northside San Francisco, I talked to Bay Gourmet leader Cathy Curtis about cool places to go, the best foods to eat, neat things to do in the Bay Area hinterlands.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE
The Bay Area Fun Belt
By John Zipperer 

After the fall of the Soviet Union, a new Russian term came into vogue: “the near afar.” It referred to those newly independent countries bordering the Russian Federation, at once close by and yet more distant than before because they were no longer part of the same empire. 

In the Bay Area, our “near afar” is a stunning belt of hills, wine country, farms, and small towns that girdles our metropolis, and getting there is quite easy. Knowing how to make the most of your time there can be a challenge, so I turned to an expert. When Cathy Curtis is not busy with her duties as the owner of Curtis Financial Planning, she volunteers at The Commonwealth Club as chair of our Bay Gourmet Forum, and she also leads groups of travelers on day trips and slightly longer visits to exciting destinations in the near afar. I asked Curtis to share with Northside San Francisco readers some tips for finding great local getaways.

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When she's not busy giving financial planning advice, Cathy Curtis enjoys showing people how to enjoy the finer features of the world. Photo by Beth Byrne.

Northside San Francisco: Oh, Give Me a Home

My latest column from Northside San Francisco magazine:

COMMON KNOWLEDGE COLUMN
Oh, Give Me a Home
By John Zipperer 

In the midst of a tough fight for the GOP nomination, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney recently decided to tear down and replace his 3,009-square-foot beachside home in La Jolla, Calif., with an 11,062-square-foot property. It might be less of an attempt to tell the American people “I’m one of you” and more to let them know “I might hire you to paint my garage.” This led Vanity Fair to run a list of things that would fit inside Romney’s new house, including “the Diane Von Furstenburg flagship store in New York’s meatpacking district” or “the world’s largest whale.”
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Bank of America Home Loans president Barbara Desoer says the recovery is slow but real. Photo by Ed Ritger.

My Latest Column in Northside San Francisco – No Lying

The July 2011 Northside San Francisco has my latest column:

Common Knowledge
Living on lies 

By John Zipperer 

Former congressman Anthony Weiner made a revealing (forgive the word) statement when he belatedly explained his recent unraveling sex scandal. At a press conference, Weiner admitted that even when he first lied about the situation, he ultimately knew he wouldn’t get away with it.

Weiner lied, of course, in the horror of being caught doing things that were inappropriate for a sitting U.S. Representative – or anyone else, probably. But his lies were direct attempts to avoid or delay a reckoning that might ruin his career and marriage. 

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San Francisco City Hall Hits the Snooze Button: My Latest Northside Column

 My latest column in Northside San Francisco is out in print and online.

Common Knowledge
No gadfly in City Hall
By John Zipperer
Published March 2011 

San Francisco faces a tragedy that no amount of budget scrimping or constitutional tinkering seems likely to change. Simply put, our fair city might lose its place in the national pantheon of political train wrecks.

The new Board of Supervisors that took office in January is, well, boring, if you agree with a recent Bay Citizen report. After years of public sniping and snubbing and wild accusations among certain supervisors and Mayor Gavin Newsom, things have calmed down so much that Dr. Phil would be proud.

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My Latest Northside San Francisco Column: Food Fights, From Tang to Tacos

Common Knowledge
Food fights: From Tang to tacos
By John Zipperer

Let’s blame Tang, that instant orangish drink given to schoolchildren in the mistaken belief that all good liquids begin life as colored powder. It symbolizes for many people one step too far away from actual food that was grown in or raised on good old-fashioned soil.

Why Tang? Why not some other faddish food or drink from the plastic seventies?

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New Column in Northside San Francisco: Is Pirate Radio Passe?

The August issue of Northside San Francisco includes my Common Knowledge column. This month, in my fifth column since I started contributing to that publication, I look at – and somewhat tease – pirate radio in the Bay Area.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

Talk like a pirate

By John Zipperer

Every time I walk downstairs to Caroline’s office, it’s like heading down to the laboratory to see experiments in progress. I feel like James Bond visiting Q to see what’s in the pipeline, only Caroline has fewer exploding gadgets. 

“Pirates!” she exclaimed when I asked her what she was working on. 

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The Amateur Sport of Politics: The Newest Common Knowledge Column in Northside SF

My latest column in Northside San Francisco is out.

The Amateur Sport of Politics

Weeks before our two recent open-carry debates, we were seeing activists (mostly pro-gun, but not exclusively) bringing attention to the event and the topic online, calling for fellow believers to make themselves heard and to attend the program. When that happens, we’re never quite sure how it will turn out. Will the auditorium be packed with people more interested in hearing themselves shout than in hearing people from all sides of a topic? Will people understand what we’re trying to do by presenting viewpoints with which they disagree?

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My Latest Northside SF Column Is Online: Nancy Pelosi

You can read my latest column in Northside SF magazine column:

Common Knowledge
The Joys of Being Underestimated

What will Nancy Pelosi do now that she’s no longer being underestimated? Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was famously thought to be lacking in the gravitas and brains necessary to lead Europe’s largest economy. Yet once he maneuvered himself into power in 1982, he remained there for 16 years and orchestrated the reunification of his country.

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