When I lived near Mission San Juan Capistrano, the tolling of its bells always made me stop whatever I was doing to listen. They don’t ring that often. Dignitaries, special celebrations, deaths in prominent families—that about covers it. But I was always left to wonder. Read More

At a birthday campfire on the beach last July, I gazed into the orange flames and beyond, into a whorled orange sunset that melted sky into sea. I was starting to dissolve into the warm flow, to become one with all that oranginess, when the wind suddenly shifted, and I inhaled a cloud of smoke. The South Coast Air Quality Management District calls it PM 2.5s, or wood-smoke particulates, and it has drawn a lot of attention because of health concerns. My perfect moment was clouded with a somber thought: Is the campfire endangered?   Read More

It surprises me how noisy an outdoor shopping center can get as mall-goers slow to a parade pace in the service of that primal ritual: checking each other out. Read More