When you read the newspaper, do you ever wonder why that photo or that article is on that page?
Of course not! You read it for the real estate ads and the cartoons! Or whatever. Your kid’s picture on page 11.
In laying out the Canyon Chronicle this time, as I got to close to placing all the pieces (articles, photos, etc.), I realized it was looking much like my life, slapdash and scattershot.
I’m moving, you see (Yes, I found a place in Topanga!), so when someone says, “I can help,” I drop what I’m doing to load boxes, or in this case, most of my plants and some patio furniture, and find myself bouncing from one planned task to do another equally important unplanned task and feeling like Luke, Leia and Chewbacca in the trash compactor.
This edition was not well planned and things were still coming in at the last minute, like at midnight, a good time to sit back and pore over it like a 1,000-word puzzle. It wasn’t right. Eventually, it was matter of moving pages that always go here over there, out of their usual spots. In a way, it’s kind of like moving house; maybe having to change things around a bit is a good thing.
On Sunday, August 6, Greg Humphries’ family threw him a Celebration of Life at the Community House. He passed on June 19. It was standing room only. My, how that man was universally loved. The front of the program was imprinted with the photo of him with Einstein hair. His wife, Megan Rice’s tribute supported that choice in short, clipped memories of their life together that drew laughter through the tears. We knew him. (Page 13)
This edition created itself with community highlights: Rosi Dagit and the care and feeding of and worrying about our oak trees; Kat High’s Little Free Library; Aurora Behrman’s “Most Valuable Junior Lifeguard Award;” Amy Weisberg’s daughter, a writer on strike, and the softball team that keeps striking workers’ spirits high; Kathie Gibboney’s trip to the Ventura Country Fair; Sarah Spitz’s discovery of artists we would never hear about were it not for her compulsion to ferret them out and share with us; Peter Alsop is following in the Will Geer and Woody Guthrie tradition and the mission that put Theatricum where it has been for 50 years—Justice—with a fundraiser, “Sing Out!” for the LGBTQ+ community on Aug. 23, in the middle of next week. Everybody should go anyway. And Paula LaBrot, a technology treasure house, who rarely misses an issue because there is so much we don’t understand, coming at us so fast, that hers is the calm voice that embraces and explains the unknown; slows it, and us, down for a moment.
So that’s pretty much what came through this edition of The Canyon Chronicle. Take from it what you will. The ads are always good. If your eye catches something you might want to read about our tight little community… enjoy. All 16 pages.
