Two young boys, Ken and Ray Whiting, play on the banks of the lake in Fairmount Park in the early 1920s. (Melnee Benfield)
Wednesday Gazette: September 4, 2024
Hello Riverside, and Happy Wednesday!
As this edition of the newsletter sends, I am boarding a flight to Chicago for the Independent News Sustainability Summit that you readers chipped in to send me to! I am excited to attend workshops on measuring our impact, funding the growth of our newsroom, and meeting our community's news needs. Thank you again to each of the 73 readers who contributed to sending me to this conference!
September Artswalk Features a New Exhibit Upstairs at The Cheech
Yolanda López: Portrait of the Artist features important works from the 1970s and 1980s by the influential artist and activist.
View down Mission Inn from Riverside Art Museum (Ken Crawford)
September is here, precariously perched between Summer and the holiday season. It may not offer a coalescent theme, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get out and enjoy an evening in the galleries and on the mall. Look for our own Sebraé Harris while you are out, and pick up a print or a book at his booth.
Yolanda López at The Cheech
Yolanda López: Portrait of the Artist will be on display upstairs at the Cheech. López was a true pioneer in Chicana art, and her activism and artistic output during her 50-year career are credited with helping break gender barriers in the Chicano movement of the 60’s and 70’s. Her art is bold in style, and her subject matter ranges from personal empowerment to unambiguous didactics. López draws upon religious imagery and the backdrop of working-class California. Her art can be seen in galleries all over the world, including The Smithsonian.
Discover the lively world of Riverside's most frequent wildlife visitors—eastern fox squirrels and California ground squirrels. Learn about their habitats, behaviors, and the unique challenges they pose in our neighborhoods, all while appreciating their role in the city’s diverse ecosystem.
(Courtesy of Adam McIntyre)
One of Riverside's most frequent wildlife encounters is with our squirrels. The two large squirrels are the eastern fox squirrel (Sciurus niger = "The black squirrel," even if it is all black in a tiny part of its range) and the California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi = "Beechey's eared seed-lover"). The fox squirrel is the one that occurs in the well-treed parts of town (e.g. the Wood Streets, Fairmont Park). The ground squirrel is abundant in natural areas and adjacent neighborhoods (Sycamore Canyon Park, Tequesquite Arroyo, Hidden Valley, etc.). A friend lives a few blocks from the Box Springs Mountains and reports fox squirrels in her backyard and ground squirrels in her front yard!
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