A beautiful poetic quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow graces an ocean overlook at Fletcher Cove Park in Solana Beach.
Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves
that break upon the idle seashore of the mind
Matchbox books created by author Alice Lowe are now on display at San Diego’s downtown Central Library. Have you seen anything like this before?
Alice Lowe is a local San Diego writer whose work has appeared in more than 100 literary journals. Her tiny matchbox books include her own words plus various quotes and excerpts from different books and authors.
To read these diminutive works of art, you might have to press your nose right up to the glass display cases on the library’s second floor!
If you’d rather not squint or use a magnifying glass, a nearby monitor allows you to read the author’s work in digital form.
The annual Local Author Showcase of the San Diego Library is now on display on the first floor of downtown’s Central Library!
It’s exciting to see dozens of newly published books every year by diverse authors. Our city has so many creative and talented people! The Central Library is an ideal place to showcase their achievements.
Today I moseyed past the glass display cases and peered at different titles and covers.
A few examples…
At one end of the exhibit, I found a colorful work of art by Judith Parenio! It’s titled Words.
Books are portals to open minds…
If you love San Diego Comic-Con, you’ll love Black Comix Day!
All this Valentine’s Day weekend, artists, writers and publishers of African descent will be showcasing their work at the WorldBeat Cultural Center in Balboa Park. The annual event is free, and it will blow your mind!
The last two years at Black Comix Day I met dozens of friendly creators. This year I saw quite a few new participants.
Together they have produced fantastic comics, graphic novels, books, animation, films, figurines, posters and more. Much of the work is informed by their unique experiences as artists of African descent.
Many of the participants come from outside San Diego. Most are self-publishing entrepreneurs with big dreams. Some of the artists have worked professionally or won prestigious awards.
Everywhere you turn, both outside and inside the WorldBeat Cultural Center, there’s something new and very cool. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, Afro-futurism, superheroes, just about anything the human mind can imagine. It’s pop culture heaven!
Read the photo captions and click links to learn about some stuff I saw…
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A rare opportunity for history and book lovers is coming soon!
On the last weekend of November, the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park will be hosting their special Holiday Photo and Book Sale!
Several local authors will be present for book signings, including:
Elsa Sevilla
(Saturday and Sunday)
Emmy-nominated journalist, filmmaker, and host of San Diego’s Historic Places on KPBS; author of Camera Ready: From Hardship to the Spotlight.
Dr. Sandra Bonura (Saturday only)
Historian and award-winning author of The Sugar King of California: The Life of Claus Spreckels and Empire Builder: John D. Spreckels and the Making of San Diego.
Maria Garcia (Saturday only)
Educator and author of We Made San Diego, highlighting Latino contributions to the region’s growth and identity.
Richard L. Carrico (Saturday, possibly Sunday)
Archaeologist, historian, and author of El Presidio de San Diego: Alta California’s Lost City.
There will also be the opportunity to purchase frameable prints of fascinating historical photographs, and past volumes of The Journal of San Diego History!
In addition, the San Diego History Center’s big annual Christmas tree made of live poinsettias should be ready to view, too!
The Holiday Photo and Book Sale will take place inside the San Diego History Center at 1649 El Prado (the Casa de Balboa) on November 29 and 30, from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm. Admission is free!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
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The House of England in Balboa Park celebrated the 250th birthday of Jane Austen today!
Dressed in Regency attire, members of the Jane Austen Society of North America San Diego Region assembled outside the House of England cottage and listened to beautiful music performed by Amanda Fagan. Many of the ladies were wearing bonnets!
Jane Austen was a major literary figure who wrote such famous novels as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma. Songwriter and prolific creator Amanda Fagan (@amandafaganofficial) entertained everyone with original compositions inspired by Jane Austen novels!
I learned that Amanda Fagan is writing a screenplay for a musical based on Austen’s satirical novel Northanger Abbey. I suspect it will include a good deal of humor! See her YouTube page here.
Inside the House of England cottage they were serving Victoria sponge cupcakes and scones with proper British jam and cream, and, of course, a cup of tea. I noticed that a few displays in the cottage pay tribute to Jane Austen and her importance to world literature.
Heading into the cottage…
Back outside. (Did they have smartphones at the turn of the 19th century?)
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Feel free to share!
In San Diego’s Civic Center Plaza, near the Civic Theatre Ticket Office, you’ll find these words:
Blooming is the wild body unmarred by the limits of this world
Its petals temporary but you’d never know it
The two lines were written by Paola Capó-García, San Diego Poet Laureate 2025-2027. A special City of San Diego webpage provides her biography.
Paola Capó-García lives in North Park. Her accomplishments and accolades as educator, author and journalist are numerous.
The thought-provoking words in Civic Center Plaza are actually the conclusion of her poem Wild, which you can read here. Her poem explains the difference between blooming and blossoming.
Are you blooming?
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Feel free to share!
Individual free expression took center stage today at the Compressed Zine & Music Fair. The event, organized by Particle FM and Burn All Books, was held at Bread and Salt in Logan Heights.
Writers and artists (and dreamers who are doers) gathered from around the San Diego region to showcase hundreds of their uniquely created zines. (And other printed works of art!)
What is a zine? According to Wikipedia: A zine is a magazine that is a… noncommercial often homemade… publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter.
As you might imagine, individuals printing their own zines can be boundlessly creative. They aren’t limited by the “demands” of societal acceptance or mainstream publication. Anyone with access to a copy machine or modest printer (and perhaps a stapler) can create a zine. It’s a cool way to easily get ideas out there and create something tangible that others can share.
You know those revolutionary pamphlets created by our nation’s Founding Fathers? In essence, they were zines.
Today’s zines can range from philosophically serious or politically satirical, to just plain silly or art for the sake of art. Some zines are love letters to people, places or things by devoted fans. Some are critiques. Many titles include wry humor.
Titles I spied while walking around the Compressed Zine & Music Fair include Copy Machine Manifesto, Shotgun Seamstress, Respawn Archive, Typical Natural Disaster, We Miss Jerry Garcia, This is a Critique of the X-Files, and My Feelings Are Not Wrong.
It appeared to me that the best part about making a zine is the simple joy of creativity.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Feel free to share!
Poetry lovers! All sorts of activities await you in San Diego’s wonderful Balboa Park!
Free to the public and open to anyone at least 18 years old, these Balboa Park Poetic Programs celebrate creativity and the power of the written and spoken word. The three ongoing programs are: Poetry Party, Otherwise Improvise, and Poetic Legacy.
Poetry Party is a fun event held on the first Friday of every month from 3 to 5 pm in Balboa Park’s Santa Fe Room, at 2150 Pan American Road West (across from the International Cottages). The description on one flyer: Read your favorite poetry, listen, or make the scene. Be bold, adventurous, and experience the power of the spoken word.
Otherwise Improvise is held on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month from 2:30 to 5 pm in the Balboa Park Senior Lounge (located in the Casa Del Prado). Be creative! Have even more fun!
Poetic Legacy is a workshop that involves readings and discussions of contemporary and historic poets. Taking prompts from featured poets, participants are then encouraged to write their own poems. This program takes place on the last Friday of every month, from 3 to 5 pm in the Balboa Park Senior Lounge.
The next Poetic Legacy workshop will be held August 29th and will feature poet Naomi Shibab Ney, recipient of numerous honors and awards for her work. In 2019 the Poetry Foundation designated her the Young People’s Poet Laureate for 2019–21.
Want more information concerning the Balboa Park Poetic Programs? Email SLemire@sandiego.gov.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Feel free to share!
Comic-Con is magic.
Dreams gather, take shape, become tangible. Fantasies launch into the world as seeds in the wind.
Comic-Con is also a hotbed of self-promotion. So please excuse me. Here I go…
Do you love to read works of fiction that contain unexpected twists?
Here are nine very short stories I’ve written over the years. You can find them on my website Short Stories by Richard.
These seeds in the wind await your click:
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Feel free to share!