Free verse poem by Richard Iyall Why was this country formed, this country called United States? Did notthe founders seek their freedom and their independence from a kingwho ruled its people with [...] Continue Reading
Columns
Raisin City Water-Faucet
By Stephen Barile There is a well,a submersible-pump,pressure-tank and archaicbrass-faucet on the end of a steel-pipesticking out of the groundat the south extremity of Raisin City Park,a [...] Continue Reading
Meat Packing and the Coronavirus
Meat packing plants (sometimes described as “disease-ridden flesh factories”) seem to be especially vulnerable to the coronavirus spreading among their workers. It likely has something to do with the [...] Continue Reading
Fresno’s Angry Right Very Wrong
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and [...] Continue Reading
Community Alliance Contributor George B. Kauffman Dies at 89
Courtesy of the Kauffman family (Editor’s note: With great sadness, the Community Alliance announces the passing of Dr. George Kauffman, a longtime contributor with dozens of scientific book [...] Continue Reading
Robert Mezey, a Fresno Figure in the Free Speech Movement, Dies at 85
By Community Alliance staff Robert Mezey, award-winning poet, professor and translator, died April 25 from pneumonia at a nursing home in Bowie, Md. He was at 85. Mezey, described as having a [...] Continue Reading
An Empowering Friendship
By Pat Wolk (Editor’s note: Eleanore “Ellie” Bluestein passed on April 7 in Fresno. She was 91 years old. Ellie was born in New York, where she met her husband, Gene. They moved to Minnesota for [...] Continue Reading
Aleha ha-shalom Ellie Bluestein, May You Rest in Peace!
By Jemmy Bluestein The calls, cards and messages have told so many amazing stories of devoted comrades, compadres, friends through the years, and each of their encounters with my mother, Ellie [...] Continue Reading
“Hold that door!” Political Elevators Closing Fast
By Kevin Hall Beneath the panic of the Trump pandemic, local politics continue. They must, of course, now more than ever. From dealing with the immediate coronavirus-induced health and economic [...] Continue Reading
Has the Air District Changed Its Stripes?
By Tom Frantz The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, behind the façade of a public health agency, has forever been in the back pocket of local polluting industries such as [...] Continue Reading
Book Review: On Tyranny
By Dr. Alex Vavoulis In his prologue for On Tyranny:Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, author Timothy D. Snyder says that “Americans today are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy [...] Continue Reading
Electric Car Sharing
By Tom Frantz I walk up to four compact SUVs parked in front of the Community Center building at the Sunset Villa Apartments in Wasco. I need a car to drive around the north side of town for about [...] Continue Reading