Tag Archives: San Jose

June 6, 2016 · 12:13 pm

Celebrating Sir John Falstaff

Last weekend, our Shakespeare reading group celebrated the 90th birthday of our senior member: John Watson-Williams. We are reading Shakespeare’s “Henriad” tetralogy: Richard II, Henry IV-i, Henry IV-ii, and Henry V. John W-W and I usually compete for who is assigned the lead role. Our 90th Birthday present to John W-W was that he gets to read the role of Sir John Falstaff every time.

Our group meets every two months and watches Shakespeare films in between. We are currently watching The Hollow Crown series – and are very excited that The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses comes out in DVD next month!

The Henriad includes some of Shakespeare’s greatest roles. The four plays are excellent individually and as a set. Part of the particular charm of Henry IV, Part i is its balance of excellent roles: Falstaff has 616 lines, Prince Hal has 551 lines, and Henry Percy “Hotspur” has 562 lines. John W-W, Melita Thorpe and I had a wonderful time sparring through the play!

I have been the Mentor for this Shakespeare reading group since we started in 2012, providing background reading and film homework and assigning roles at the start of each party. Melita and I sometimes coach readers but we are blessed in having many experienced voices from whom to select. Role assignments are made easy by the line analysis prepared in advance by the Rev. Stephenie Cooper. Our primary difficulty is that we do not all use the same Shakespeare editions, so sometimes there is confusion as to line assignment. For this reading, an extra challenge was offered by the Goodyear Blimp which was circling noisily overhead while we read in Melita’s garden. In August, we take on the least popular play in the Henriad: Henry IV Part ii. My husband John and I are hosting.

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Filed under Church, Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as John, San Jose, Shakespeare, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, technical women

May 27, 2016 · 11:06 am

Hillary Clinton in San Jose

Hillary Clinton spoke in downtown San Jose, California, yesterday. My husband John Plocher was able to go but I was stuck at the Superior Court – Hall of Justice for Jury Duty (the lawyers settled after an hour – so I was not even called out of the waiting room – sigh).

Secretary Clinton took quite a while to arrive on the stage but the audience of about a thousand got to hear from San Jose Vice Mayor Rose Herrera, City Councilwoman Magdalena Carrasco, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, California State Assemblyman Evan Low, and California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom before she spoke.

John took many pictures and recorded videos so that I could hear her impressive talk. Every time I hear her, I am more certain that Hillary Clinton is our best candidate for US President. Her deep experience, insight, intelligence and excellent executive leadership skills are remarkable – especially in contrast to her political competition.

In yesterday’s crowd, a heckler stood near John and kept shouting insults so that no one else could hear. Instead of violence (as the news has increasingly reported of the Bernie Sanders campaign and also of the Donald Trump campaign), attendees at the Hillary Clinton rally started chanting “Hillary, Hillary, Hillary” every time the heckler spoke until he finally shut up.

San Jose calls itself The Capital of the Silicon Valley and is the 10th largest city in the USA – bigger than San Francisco but somehow always seeming smaller and less sophisticated. Secretary Clinton yesterday called San Jose “a city that is all about the future” of the economy and our society. San Francisco and San Jose are about fifty miles apart, connected by two of the ten worst traffic areas in the USA. I was glad that Secretary Clinton came to visit us in San Jose and am so sorry I could not see her in person. On 8 July 2011, I got to hear her presentation to the inaugural group of TechWomen in Washington DC, but that is the closest I have come so far!

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Tagged as John, San Francisco, San Jose, Silicon Valley, TechWomen

May 25, 2016 · 1:12 pm

Goodbye old pepper

Our neighborhood sadly said goodbye to what was probably its oldest tree this month. Despite regular arborist care, the California Pepper split in half on 30 March. It had lived 81 years (1935-2016), and measured at least 162 inches in circumference and 51.59 inches in diameter. When it fell, my son Paul said that the light into his room got noticeably brighter. The old pepper was wet enough inside to be home to a Aneides lugubris, the Arboreal salamander, a species of climbing salamander native to California. The cut wood pieces were pink-orange and were quickly picked up by local wood workers.

Neighbors Gary and Linda hired more arborists to try to save what was left but an ultrasound test said that the remaining trunk could not survive and might fall on their house. This month, after four honey bee hives (and their honey) were carefully relocated, the rest of the tree came down and was replaced by a hopeful new Autumn Blaze Maple tree.

September 2014 – Thanks to Google Maps!

March 2016

May 2016

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Tagged as garden, San Jose, Willow Glen

May 19, 2016 · 2:57 pm

Willow Glen Road Diet Failure

Our family has lived in Willow Glen for almost twenty years. It is a comfortable and neighborly area of San Jose, California with large gardens, good restaurants and shops, and charming architecture. Lincoln Avenue – the neighborhood’s downtown – is part of what makes Willow Glen a “San Jose Treasure”. Unfortunately, during the last year Lincoln Avenue has been inflicted with a “Road Diet” which has increased traffic and accidents while discouraging customers from shopping and dining in its otherwise-attractive small businesses.

I first wrote about the “Road Diet Controversy in Willow Glen” about a year ago and the situation has not improved. On 21 March 2016, there was a debate among seven of the candidates for the Willow Glen District 6 City Council seat at which the Road Diet was a major topic. Julia Baum of the Mercury News reported on 29 March 2016 reported:

“Candidates answered questions about eminent domain, job creation and the city’s widespread homeless population, but the discussion about the Lincoln Avenue road diet highlighted the evening. Most of the candidates supported permanently keeping Lincoln Avenue to one lane each way and not returning to the original four-lane configuration.”

I do not understand why the failed Road Diet is so popular with Willow Glen’s political leaders (and candidates for political leadership). During this last year, I have spoken regularly with Lincoln Avenue small business owners who are to a person upset at their loss of business due to heavy and dangerous traffic combined with too-little parking. One small business owner told me that in her own observation, Lincoln Avenue accidents have more than tripled this year (eighteen accidents since the five reported by the San Jose Department of Transportation “SJ-DOT” at the 18 June 2015 public hearing). The SJ-DOT web page has posted no more current information since “Lincoln Avenue Road Diet Trial” slides from that public hearing. I have a call into the SJ-DOT office to see if I can get better information.

The SJ-DOT reported on 18 June 2015 that the Purpose of the Lincoln Avenue Road Diet is:

Improve safety for all users
Create a calmer traffic environment
Enhance travel for people walking and biking

As you can see from the photos (taken this week), big trucks routinely park in the Lincoln Avenue middle passing lane to make deliveries, reducing what was a four-lane road in early 2015 to a two-lane road with two bike lanes now. Neighbors have told me that traffic on side streets around Lincoln Avenue (between Willow/Minnesota) is heavier and often dangerously fast – because drivers are trying to get around the traffic jams downtown. I walk down Lincoln Avenue most days and dodging bicycles on the sidewalk is a frequent hazard. I have been told that many cyclists do not want to use the bike lanes because they are too dangerous with all of the traffic.

Considering its stated Purposes, the Road Diet seems to be a complete failure.

Click here to see the entire Willow Glen Road Diet Series.

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Tagged as Road Diet, San Jose, Willow Glen

May 3, 2016 · 7:53 pm

Caucus for Hillary Clinton

Our whole family came out on Sunday as volunteers to support my daughter Jessica Dickinson Goodman who was the Convener (with Steve Preminger) for the US Congressional District 19 Democratic Caucus for Hillary Clinton. The Caucus voted for who may go to the Democratic National Convention (25-28 July 2016, in Philadelphia) to cast a vote for Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic Presidential Candidate. The number of elected Delegates who actually go to the convention will be based on the result of the 7 June Presidential Primary election in California.

I spent most of the time managing the Ballot Box (doing my part to be sure this was a free and fair election). It was a long day but fun to spend time with so many enthusiastic supporters of Secretary Clinton – especially Larissa Shapiro (my sister TechWomen Mentor) and her daughter Rose, who was our speech timer. There were many more female candidates for Delegate than male – everyone wanted to be there to vote for the first woman to be US President!

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Tagged as Jessica, Matthew, Mentoring, San Jose, TechWomen

April 4, 2016 · 5:08 pm

San Jose City Hall 1887, 1967, today

Born and raised in San Francisco, I have lived in San Jose, California, for over 15 years but am still learning its history. Last summer I found some old postcards. Since we were downtown today, I took a photo for comparison:

Above is a postcard of the San Jose City Hall built in 1887 (which was torn down in 1958).
Directly Below is a postcard dated in August 1967 of the San Jose City hall with text: “This magnificent steel and glass structure has a curved design which has won nationwide acclaim. Set amid pleasant lawns and beautiful gardens this ultra-modern building is the dominant structure in the new Governmental Civic Center.” The building still exists at Hedding/Taylor but is no longer used as City Hall.
Lowest is today’s photo of the newest City Hall of the “Capital of the Silicon Valley” (first opened in 2005).

I have not been able to find any information about the mid-century City Hall other than this postcard. Despite having “won nationwide acclaim” in its own time, it seems too recent to have a history…

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Tagged as San Francisco, San Jose

March 29, 2016 · 5:14 pm

Easter Egg Hunt 2016

Sunday morning was our annual backyard Easter Egg Hunt – a very popular event among our friends, family, and neighbors. Children ages 20 months to 20 years joined the search for hundreds of plastic eggs filled with chocolate candies. For the adults, there were two specially hidden eggs: gold and silver. Only the following unreasonably-hard poems gave clues to their locations:

Silver Egg
(Hidden in the thatch of a jasmine vine on an arbor)
A Silvery Sonnet in Iambic Quadrameter

You’d have to share Bruce Banner’s height
to see me, though Scott Lang’s would do.
I spy Prince Adam’s gift and strong
John Henry’s lifelong deadly work;
those battlefield banner icons
of Henry IV and Richard III;
Cascadian separatists’
beloved Doug rises near me.
You Ravenclaws’ll examine text,
Those Gryffindors’ll fetch ladders,
Gauche Slytherins will counterfeit,
my badgers — Hufflepuffs — prevail!
I shine like the good captain’s shield,
keep on your search and don’t you yield!

Gold Egg
(taped to the top of a tree branch ten feet above the ground)
A Golden Sonnet in Rondel Form

From my stand I see tall privets
and high above me is a tree
above which trucks flew high & free
that now shade stones & thin rivlets.

You ate breakfast warm off trivets
while I perched here meek with glee
from my stand I see tall privets
and high above me is a tree.

My neighbor’s the joy of kid-lets
and grown-ups too shade in her lee
warm on her couch you can see me
above kitty’s curling ringlets.
From my stand I see tall privets.

Thanks to the Associate Easter Bunnies: my daughter Jessica for the poems, and son Paul who stuffed 775 eggs, and to John and Matthew and all the friends and family for helping create the festivities. Such a delightful celebration of Spring and renewal!