Richard Rodriguez on state of newspapers

In an article entitled "Final Edition: Twilight of the American Newspaper" (Harper's Magazine, November 2009), Richard Rodriguez writes about the diminishing presence of newspapers in our society. Rodriguez describes the relationship of newspaper and city, how they have created and defined one another, and what this might mean when newspapers die.

One point of Rodriguez' focus becomes the newspapers of his native city, San Francisco. He details the history of two - the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner - showing how they each were products of their time and proprietors. The cast of characters include the Chronicle's founders the de Young brothers, the Examiner's William Randolph Hearst, and the City's most famous columnist (and our department's namesake), Herb Caen.

If you are interested in the City and its journalistic milieu, this is an article to seek out.

Richard Rodriguez is the author of such books as Hunger of Memory, Days of Obligation and Brown: the last discovery of America and a frequent essayist on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

RAMPARTS Magazine

RAMPARTS was one of the most influential voices of the radical underground juxtaposed against an all-pervasive overground of mass market and establishment publications on the newstands of America from 1962-1975. From its beginnings in Menlo Park as a soul-searching Catholic literary quarterly as envisioned by publisher Edward Keating, this compelling title evolved into a forum for legendary muckraking and take-no-prisoners investigatory journalism and sweeping social commentary in the hands of San Francisco editors Warren Hinckle, Robert Scheer, David Horowitz, art director Dugald Stermer and the prolific contributions of many others.

Ramparts helped bridge a growing credibility gap between mollifying democratic rhetoric and polarizing social issues, Cold War certitudes, and geopolitical realities. Pro-civil rights, anti-war, and champion promoters of good, old-fashioned American dissent, Ramparts stood alone against the journalistic mainstream with deep political analysis, subversive commentary, alternative opinions, and divergent viewpoints. Armed with both the courage of moral conscience and an unswerving social commitment to the exercise of free speech, Ramparts found

"purpose as a magazine . . . to shatter that predisposition to treat the secret covenants of government and power as sacrosanct . . . ."-- Warren Hinckle, June 15, 1968

Recording the tumultuous cultural and political changes of its era while at the same time helping to instigate much of that same ferment, Ramparts went behind the scenes to expose U. S. government perfidy and genocide in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia; blew the whistle on CIA links to American universities, illegal domestic surveillance, and a lucrative overseas opium trade; revealed conspiracy and cover-up in the murder of President Kennedy; documented the blood vendetta of the FBI versus the Black Panthers; reported local and national environmental issues in depth; published first the Bolivian diary of Che Guevara, the recanting of ex-Green Beret Donald Duncan, the prison writings of Eldridge Cleaver, and much more.

The complete collection of Ramparts magazine is available to readers and researchers at the Magazines and Newspapers Center on the fifth floor of the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library. For a special presentation on the life and times of this landmark San Francisco journal, you are invited to attend a live event with author Peter Richardson, A BOMB IN EVERY ISSUE: HOW RAMPARTS MAGAZINE CHANGED AMERICA. This library program will take place on Saturday, January 23rd at 11AM at the Main Library.

Refundle Bundle

Once again, that “Jolly, Holly Season” is here upon us and we mortals will be celebrating with excitement, joy, and much merrymaking around the world. It’s a time for soul searching, gift giving, religious renewals, generosity, and let’s not forget, such “Good Samaritanship.” Many of us will be searching for bargain hunting deals, using coupon vouchers for purchases, budgeting suggestions, and ideas on how to purchase the best-for-less. Here at the San Francisco Public Library, the Magazines and Newspapers Center houses a “savvy” little magazine called Refundle Bundle. Edited by Susan J. Samtur (who hails as the original coupon queen), this resourceful guide is all about saving consumers a bundle of cash, yet allowing them to buy a bundle of goods.

Published bi-monthly, Refundle Bundle offers tips & tidbits, freebies, company information, coupon swapping how-tos, supermarket money savers, getting cash back from manufacturers, Internet Web site savings, and much more . . . So if you want to get into the spirit of holiday gift giving, buy and save a bundle at the same time, check out the latest issue of Refundle Bundle’s tips on happy holiday savings!” Also, for more gift-giving ideas, take a look at these money saving magazines: Lucky and ShopSmart.

ABCs of Digital Scanning Photographs - Hands-on Training

Join us for a hands-on demonstration session designed to introduce patrons to a valuable San Francisco Public Library resource - the cost-free digital scanning of photographs, negatives, slides and film! Together, we will scan, capture and edit images in the microfilm room on the fifth floor Magazines and Newspapers Center.

- Address: 100 Larkin St. (at Grove)
- Location: Main Library, Fifth Floor, Magazines & Newspapers Center, Microfilm Room
- Event Date and Time: Monday, December 14, 2009 (Noon - 1 p.m.)

ALTA CALIFORNIA Battles Crime in the City

PART II - ALTA CALIFORNIA: CRIME IN THE CITY

Few of the historical publications in the Magazine and Newspapers Center microfilm collection have as storied a San Francisco past as the ALTA CALIFORNIA. Initially a reclamation project of publisher Edward C. Kemble and some fellow investors, the ALTA was forged from the remains of what had once been THE CALIFORNIAN and the CALIFORNIA STAR newspapers - victims, as much as anything else, of the Gold Rush itself (and the subsequent manpower shortage resulting from the mass exodus to the hills). The first city daily paper, the ALTA CALIFORNIA (1849-1891) itself shared - and made - much of the vibrant early history and events of San Francisco. It was a time of foundation building (and rebuilding), moralizing, retribution, and not a little sanctification - generated from scratch . . .

The ALTA's Edward Gilbert and associates took some strong editorial stands in their day. Commenting on imports in March 1851, the paper voiced a complaint that San Francisco merchants (amidst growing pains) would only repeat in succeeding years:

"Before, we could not get adequate

supplies from all sources; now we find

our markets broken down with merchandise

from the eastern states . . . ."

Thus addressing the problems of over-supply in imported merchant goods, the ALTA would subsequently foresee a peaking gold production and a diminished growth in mining, and would point (early on) to the need for a more diversified and sustainable economy for Californians.

Dramatic historical events link the DAILY ALTA CALIFORNIA most closely to the phenomenon of crime and vigilantism in frontier San Francisco, for the paper took a strong, outspoken, and active participatory role in the local struggle for the establishment of law and order. The ALTA came down early on crime, beginning on January 1, 1851:

"There are some three hundred thieves in this city, who live by their profession, and prefer to live so rather than work . . . ."

and continuing in this vein in late February 1851:

"No place seems safe from outrage, no person secure, even in his own dwelling . . . the floodgates of crime, which seem opened by the devil's hand and flowing from his infernal abode through our very midst . . . ."

Crime in Gold Rush San Francisco plagued the populace to alarming degrees, in the predominant forms of assault, battery, larceny, criminal arson and murder. The ALTA, as did other local newspapers, blamed Australian (and later Chinese) immigrants at large for much of early San Francisco's rampant vice and lawlessness in the February 25, 1851 issue:

"The state of California has been made the grand rendezvous for the transported felons of Great Britain, who have either managed to escape or have been assisted in their embarkation from the penal colonies."

TO BE CONTINUED

Collaborative Recipes

When you run a search on Google nowadays, you may discover results from Wikipedia, an online universal encyclopedia where anyone can add, delete, revise, or edit content. Transfer this concept to the world of cooking, and you might find yourself inundated with a whirlwind of ideas in the culinary arts.

With the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays approaching, you might want to revisit, sharpen, or even expand your culinary skills. Foodista, a wiki where food afficionados can "find, share and learn about food and cooking," can help you along this path. Enter a term or phrase like "eggs" into the search box. On the right-hand side, you will see your results categorized into related foods, techniques, and tools.

Want to add some spice to your dish? Refer to our blog posting on chile peppers. Have a knack for baking? Then maybe you'd like to review our Cook's Illustrated posting. And of course, don't forget our leftovers posting.

Foodista is an online cooking encyclopedia where anyone edit and add to its evolving content. Discover new ways of combining ingredients, swap and enhance recipes with other online participants, and share cooking techniques with all food lovers and culinary enthusiasts. Read the reviews on this Web site to hear what people are saying about this Foodista.