Articles Posted in the Human Interest Category
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Run on the Banks: No More Foreclosures,
Evictions for ProfitThis Saturday the 14th, evicted tenants and foreclosed homeowners will tell their stories of the impact that bank’s greedy actions have had on them. Banks will be put on notice: You Will Be Held Accountable! Actions will culminate in a January 20th shutdown of San Francisco’s Financial District.
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Trust But Verify
Shortly before she died, the results came back. To no one’s surprise, they showed that her tumor was resistant to the chemo she was given, and was resistant to the next round of chemo her doctor recommended but my sister refused. To make matters unspeakably worse, there were some chemo combinations that would have proven effective, but with days left to live, the results were moot.
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A Fitting Tribute to Warren Hellman,
“The Prince of Humanity”Guests in attendance included Rep. Nancy Pelosi; Mayor Ed Lee; Supervisors Sean Elsbernd, Mark Farrell, Malia Cohen and Carmen Chu; labor leader Tim Paulson; Chamber of Commerce director, Jim Lazarus; Police Chief Greg Suhr; United Way CEO Anne Wilson; conductor Michael Tilson Thomas; City Attorney Dennis Herrera; District Attorney George Gascon; Giants president, Larry Baer; and a huge contingent of musicians from all over the country. Filmmaker George Lucas was spotted in the upper side balcony.
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Tenderloin Tessie Holiday Dinners Needs Our Help
This amazing act of charity started with one person 37 years ago. Perry Spink was a bartender and drag queen performer in the Tenderloin. In 1974, someone gave Perry a bunch of turkeys and he decided to share them with his neediest neighbors. He donned his “Tessie” costume and played hostess along with several of his not-so-sober bar buddies and made Thanksgiving memorable for many down-and-out elderly in the Tenderloin. Tessie also started giving gift bags along with the meals, a tradition that lives on today. These bags contain donated items such as toiletries, socks, gloves and an assortment of non-perishable food.
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Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela
Since his retirement in 1999, one of Mandela’s primary commitments has been the fight against AIDS. His son, Makgatho Mandela, died of AIDS on January 6, 2005. AIDS continues to be a major problem in South Africa and indeed, in all of Africa. An estimated 5.6 million people were living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa in 2009, more than in any other country. It is believed that in 2009, an estimated 310,000 South Africans died of AIDS.
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Retirement – It’s Not for Sissies Anymore
What gives? We baby boomers remember all too well what retirement meant to our elders. It meant taking up knitting and updating wills. We saw a slightly bent, slower version of the vibrant people who used to inhabit those bodies.
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The Burka: A Taliban Imposed Canvas Prison
Why do Iran and other Muslim countries require a woman to hide her hair or her entire body?
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Next Stop Wonderland
By Adrian L. Jenkins April 28, 2010 Dante Alighieri famously wrote of the three principal stations at which a soul that had been cleanly shorn of this mortal coil might find itself – Inferno, Purgatorio…
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New Orleans Five Years After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
By Ralph E. Stone April 24, 2010 My wife and I just returned from a visit to New Orleans. While there, we toured some of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005,…
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Dr. King’s Economic Dream Deferred
By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship April 4, 2010 Forty-two years ago, on April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, gunned down in Memphis, Tennessee. To those of us who were alive…
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Discovering Simón Bolivar
Venezuela President Hugo Chávez pictured with a painting of Simón Bolivar in the background. Photo: AP By Ralph E. Stone March 28, 2010 In 2007 and 2008, my wife and I traveled to the Bolivarian…
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Are you a Needer or a Haver?
On my chest I have a red sticker that reads, “William, $800, No Control Freaks.” (Yes, there is a story behind this, but I won’t go into that now.) Red because I am a Needer (this is all very well organized by Trish, who found a place two years ago but still organizes these meetups because she enjoys them). Gradually, a few more people turn up with blue stickers (Havers) that say things like “Jed, $850, Bernal Heights, no cats” and, “Julie, $1000, West Portal”. At last there is a more equal ratio, but there still aren’t many people in my price range.
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A Toast to Saint Patrick
San Francisco’s 159th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival will be held on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at Civic Center Plaza, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Festival takes place at Civic Center Plaza and on Grove Street, from Polk to Larkin Streets. The Parade will be held on Saturday, March 13th at 11:30 a.m. The Parade begins at the corner of Second & Market Streets, and continues on to City Hall.
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Six San Francisco Women Honored
on International Women’s DayIn celebration of International Women’s Day, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown presented Farah Makras (left) and Michelle Lacourciere (right) of the Sirona Cares Foundation with an ‘Unsung Heroine’ award in recognition of their work…
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Caron Mural A Symbol of Tenderloin Transformation
and RenewalSwiss-born artiste Mona Caron was honored Saturday during an official unveiling of her mural entitled “Windows into the Tenderloin.” Photos by Luke Thomas By Luke Thomas March 8, 2010 A recently completed mural in the…
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Court Jester Reflects on Joe Lynn Memorial
We were headed to a memorial for the man whose very name epitomized integrity in the snake pit of double-crossing con artists, thieves and liars who dominate the SF political scene. Some of my best friends, that lot.
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Tiger Woods’ Mea Culpa
Tiger Woods By Ralph E. Stone February 20, 2010 I am not a golfer. I have never watched a golf tournament live, or on television. Yet, Tiger Woods became a worldwide phenomenon that transcended any…
The Hunger Site
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