In 1963, Mr. Buck Offut, my English teacher at DeMatha Catholic High School, foisted yet another book on us to read. Mr. Offut was strict, scary strict. God help you if you hadn’t done your assigned reading.
South Shore Center opened Alameda’s first “Tesla supercharger station,” with a formal unveiling ceremony Dec. 19. Mayor-elect Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft and Public Utilities Board President Ann McCormick cut the ribbon.
Alameda firefighters, all featured in the 2019 Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter (FAAS) calendar, signed their individual pages at the FAAS Pup-Up store at South Shore Center.
Left to right: Firefighter Patrick Corder, Captain Brandon Baleym, Fire Inspector Steve Floyd and firefighter David Wills. Standing with Makalya in his arms is FAAS Executive Director John Lipp.
Each month of the calendar features a different first responder from the Alameda fire and police departments; each responder is photographed with animals rescued by FAAS.
Early celebrations of the New Year did not revolve aound the calender, but the vernal equinox on March 22. Vernal means green and this day heralded the appearance of spring.
An equinox marks a day with equal amount of sunlight and darkness. This phenomenon occurs twice annually, in March and again in September.
Some 4,000 years ago, the Babylonians delayed celebrating the New Year until first new moon following the vernal equinox. They marked the occasion with a massive religious festival called Akitu.
