The hawk finds rest in Canyon Crest. (Bob Sirotnik)
Sunday Gazette: November 10, 2024
Hello Riverside, and Happy Sunday!
I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to each of the 263 readers who have participated in our second annual reader survey. With just one day left before the survey closes we are just 25 more responses away from hitting last year’s total. I would love to exceed 300 responses for two reasons:
I want to know what you like about The Raincross Gazette and what we can do better. Feedback is oxygen for our work. Your input will help our team plan how to best serve you in the coming year.
Your anonymous demographic information helps potential advertisers know the kind of people reading The Gazette, which in turn helps us keep The Gazette free for everyone.
This survey can take 5–8 minutes, so each subscriber who participates will be entered in a giveaway to win a gift basket with a $100 gift card from Ampersand Gifts and Goods in the Riverside Plaza.
Thank you for your time spent on this survey, and thank you in advance for bearing with us as we continue reminding you to participate before the survey closes tomorrow at midnight.
Thank you to the Subscribers who became paid supporters this week: Jackie Benson and Teresa Wassman. Your ongoing financial support is vital to our success in serving Riverside with the news it deserves!
This week, as pomegranate season peaks and trees all over Riverside are bowed over with heavy fruit, Seth learns about a project at UCR that aims to diversify the world of pomegranates with research into varied and delightful cultivars beyond the Wonderful.
Mariano Resendiz and Ryan Traband, grad students in UCR’s department of Plant Biology in the experimental pomegranate groves. (Seth Zurer)
There are two types of people in Riverside: those who have fruit trees and can’t use up all their harvest, and those who eye that bounty with jealousy, spending the harvest season thinking of ways to wheedle their way into acquiring a share from their neighbors’ groves. The haves and the have-nots, if you will.
When I was in Chicago, I was one of the haves—my backyard boasted a sour cherry tree, raspberry canes, and a giant strawberry patch. I had a standing order with Amazon.com for more half-pint jars to store all the jam I made from the fruit I failed to unload on my neighbors. Since arriving in Riverside, however, the shoe has been on the other foot, and I’ve converted to a gleaner—from have to have-not.
Each week, we will introduce a new neighbor. This is not a who's who list. These are regular Riversiders doing exceptional things.
(Brenda Flowers)
I have lived in Riverside since 1975 when I was relocated by a large East Coast corporation. In 1994, I sold a Corona-based metal casting company, where I had been CEO, and then founded the Patrician Group here, with an emphasis on design as well as manufacturing. In that capacity, I have been privileged to be engaged in the creation of numerous public projects, including the Wall of Honor at City Hall, the sword and stone Veterans monument by the County administration building, and the Eagle & lights memorial within that building's lobby. I also designed the Congressional Medal of Honor Memorial at the Riverside National Cemetery. Through my involvement with such work, I was invited to join Riverside's annual Salute to Veterans Parade Committee in 2007 and have been Chairman for the last 5 years.
A prompt to encourage your practice of creativity this week from Riversider and local author Larry Burns.
He hears in waves. (Titus Pardee)
Welcome back, you effervescent creatives! Last week, we embraced the momentary beauty of bubbles, capturing their fleeting forms and exploring their science-y secrets. Did you compose a bubble symphony that echoed with pops and hisses, or perhaps create a meditation that transported you to a state of mindful tranquility? Maybe you even gave yourself a crash course in the physics of bubbles, discovering the balance of forces that create these shimmering spheres. Even if all you did was draw a warm bubble bath and close yourself off from the world for a bit, I hope the time you took just to feed your creative side was uplifting.
For this week’s creative nudge, we're tuning in our bodies to experience the fascinating frequencies of echoes. These reverberating sounds, bouncing off surfaces and boomeranging back into our bodies, create a sense of depth, space, and mystery. Think back to yelling and running as a kid in large open spaces where your voice could ring out. Watching someone shout into the void from a mountain peak (or even from the porch) can be a sensory-rich experience.
