Palo Alto Weekly 12.21.2012 - Section 1

Vol. XXXIV, Number 13 N December 21, 2012

Palo Alto’s financial forecast looking up Page 3

Donate to the HOLIDAY FUND page 20

Transitions 13

Holidays 15

Eating 24 Movies 26

Puzzles 42

N Arts Visions of the world in weighty media

Page 22

N Sports Rose Bowl ticket demand is crazy

Page 28

N Home Eco-friendly furniture made locally

Page 33

Find the perfect gift at your local Microsoft retail store.

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Upfront

Goal $350,000 As of Dec. 21 264 donors $173,178

See who’s already contributed to the Holiday Fund on page 20 Donate online at PaloAltoOnline.com

with matching funds

Local news, information and analysis

Palo Alto sees good news on financial horizon High tax revenues, low unemployment numbers point to city’s strong rebound from recession

by Gennady Sheyner trong local sales, a sizzling budget watchers cause for optimism, housing market and recent with significant increases in tax revlabor concessions from City enues and gradual concessions from Hall employees have given Palo labor groups. And while spiking penAlto’s elected leaders plenty of rea- sion and health care costs continue to sons to cheer as they head into the put a cloud of uncertainty on the city’s holiday season. financial horizon, the city’s economic The city’s newly released long- health appears to be robust after sevrange financial forecast offers local eral years in a post-recession funk.

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The forecast, which the City Council’s Finance Committee discussed Tuesday evening, indicates that salestax revenues have exceeded what the council had projected for the year by $2.4 million and are now higher than they were before the Great Recession. After dipping to a low of $18 million in fiscal year 2010, they rose to $20.7 million in 2011 and to $22.1 in 2012. According to the forecast, the number is expected to jump to $23.4 million in the current fiscal

year, which ends on June 30.

The past few months have been particularly promising. In the first quarter of fiscal year 2013, revenues have been 6.7 percent above the prior year’s first quarter.

“Tax revenues in Palo Alto have improved markedly since the beginning of the Great Recession and are expected to continue their upward trend in the near future,” the forecast states, projecting an annual growth of up to 4 percent for the next 10 years.

The tax numbers are just one of many positive signs that the city is seeing on the economic front.

The city’s unemployment rate has dropped from 5.1 percent in September 2011 to 4.2 percent in September 2012, well below the Santa Clara County rate of 7.9 percent and the statewide rate of 7.6 percent.

The predictions in the new report are far from certain, resting as they (continued on page 6)

EDUCATION

Officials propose Addison school boundary change After recent ‘overflows,’ district wants to redraw map for future families

by Chris Kenrick

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to vote on the change in January.

“We’ve discussed this with both principals as well as the school Traffic Safety Committee,” Skelly said Tuesday, Dec. 18. “There are certainly concerns, but any change is going to generate concerns. This is the best change we could identify.”

Addison parents were told last spring of the pending change, and there has been more recent discussion with Walter Hays parents, he said.

Additional meetings with the school communities are being planned, said Ann Dunkin, chief technology officer for the school district.

Current boundaries have created massive uncertainty for pre-kindergarten families in the Addison area, where more than 30 students were “overflowed” and sent to other schools two years ago, Skelly told (continued on page 6)

Veronica Weber

alo Alto school officials are recommending changing the boundary between the attendance areas of Addison and Walter Hays elementary schools, due to persistent “overflow” problems at Addison in recent years.

Superintendent Kevin Skelly suggests that about 20 blocks, both north and south of Embarcadero Road — roughly bounded by Alma Street, Kingsley Avenue, Channing Avenue, Melville Avenue and the backyards between Churchill Avenue and Coleridge Avenue — be moved from the Addison to the Walter Hays attendance area.

Current Addison students and any younger, preschool siblings would be able to stay at Addison.

The new boundaries would apply to all other entering students beginning next fall.

The Board of Education is likely

Oh, deer!

At Foothills Park on Thursday morning, one deer who won’t be joining Santa Claus for his Christmas flight around the world enjoys the sunshine and grass.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Palo Alto finds willing partners in Shanghai City to pursue student exchanges, strategic conferences with the Yangpu District

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alo Alto’s newest partner lies 9,000 miles away, boasts 1.3 million residents and is best known for garment production.

But it was the similarities between Palo Alto and Yangpu that the City Council focused on Monday night, Dec. 17, when it voted to strengthen its ties to the increasingly entrepreneurial district in Shanghai: namely, Palo Alto’s rapidly growing Asian population and Yangpu’s transition from manufacturing to high-tech innovation.

Two weeks after a delegation

by Gennady Sheyner including Mayor Yiaway Yeh and City Manager James Keene made a pilgrimage to Yangpu, the council voted 8-0 (Gail Price was absent) to pursue a series of joint efforts with Palo Alto’s new Chinese partner. These include student exchange programs with internships; collaborations between high-tech companies in the respective cities; and “Smart City” conferences in which city leaders exchange the latest and greatest strategies for efficiency and sustainability.

The quickly evolving partnership

between Palo Alto and Yangpu was coordinated by the Bay Area Council, a nonprofit group that focuses on economic development. The group also steered the Palo Alto delegation through a three-day blitz of ceremonies and symposiums in Yangpu earlier this month. A slideshow of the trip, which the council saw Monday evening, showed Yeh, Keene, Councilwoman Nancy Shepherd, Councilman-elect Marc Berman and Economic Development Manager Thomas Fehrenbach attending symposiums, visiting universities,

riding a high-speed train and participating in a signing ceremony for the “Intention Agreement” between the two cities.

The initial agreement, which the Palo Alto council approved in September, isn’t the city’s first foray across the Pacific. In 2009, the city entered into a “sister city” agreement with Tsuchiura, Japan (Palo Alto’s other sisters are Palo, Leyte, Philippines; Oaxaca, Mexico; Enschede, The Netherlands; Linkoping, Sweden; and Albi, France). But while the Tsuchiura relationship is based on cultural exchanges and student trips abroad, Palo Alto has higher ambitions when it comes to Yangpu, which is not a sister so much as an economic partner.

The recent trip to China was a way for Palo Alto’s leaders to test the waters and contemplate opportunities.

The council supported all three staff proposals for next steps. City officials will engage members of the Palo Alto Unified School District in conversations about a possible exchange program, with the understanding that the program would not be paid for by the city. Yeh pointed to the popularity of Mandarin classes at Palo Alto schools; the fact that Chinese residents now make up 15 percent of Palo Alto’s population; and local youths’ hunger for internships as good reasons to pursue the program.

Keene, meanwhile, had more strategic reasons for advocating the partnership. Any Pacific Rim city concerned about being economically competitive should understand China, he said.

To that end, the council supported having Palo Alto participate in the (continued on page 7)

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CITY OF PALO ALTO NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE TO DESTROY WEEDS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on December 10, 2012, pursuant to the provisions of Section 8.08.020 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code, the City Council passed a resolution declaring that all weeds growing upon any private property or in any public street or alley, as deďŹ ned in Section 8.08.010 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code, constitute a public nuisance, which nuisance must be abated by the destruction or removal thereof.

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that property owners shall without delay remove all such weeds from their property, and the abutting half of the street in front and alleys, if any, behind such property, and between the lot lines thereof as extended, or such weeds will be destroyed or moved and such nuisance abated by the county authorities, in which case the cost of such destruction or removal will be assessed upon the lots and lands from which, or from the front or rear of which, such weeds shall have been destroyed or removed; and such cost will constitute a lien upon such lots or lands until paid, and will be collected upon the next tax roll upon which general municipal taxes are collected. All property owners having any objections to the proposed destruction or removal of such weeds are hereby notiďŹ ed to attend a meeting of the Council of said city, to be held in the Council Chamber of the City Hall in said city on January 14, 2013, at seven p.m., or as soon thereafter as the matter can be heard, when and where their objections will be heard and given due consideration.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

‘‘

‘‘

BUY 1 ENTREE AND GET THE 2ND ONE

You’re the least selfish group of people I could possibly name.

— Barb Mitchell, Palo Alto school board vice president, on why she supports giving teachers a 1 percent bonus. See story on page 7.

Around Town WAR OF THE ROSES ... As Stanford University prepares for its Rose Bowl showdown with University of Wisconsin, the mayors of Palo Alto and Madison are raising the stakes with a little municipal trash talking.

Earlier this week, the city received a message from the office of Madison Mayor Paul Soglin offering a friendly bet on the big football game, which will take place on Jan. 1 in Pasadena. Soglin’s criteria: something that “would benefit that winning community� and that “would not use City funds.� At the end of Monday night’s council meeting, Palo Alto Mayor Yiaway Yeh unveiled the city’s response: a friendly wager with the following terms: The mayor of the city whose team had lost will have to wear the opposing team’s hat for an entire City Council meeting in January. The losing city will also have to raise the flag of the winning city and winning team for the entire week in January. Lastly, in a truly Palo Alto touch, the city requested that the losing city hold a tree planting in honor of the winning city and involve a local service organization. “We are waiting to see if they accept our terms.� (As of Thursday morning, there had not been a response, possibly because of a blizzard preoccupying Wisconsinites.) The council had no objections to the bet, though Councilman Pat Burt had a concern and a proposal. “There’s no cheese bet?� Burt asked. “Maybe they’ll supply us cheese and we give them Rick’s ice cream, but we don’t supply the dry ice?�

ELECTIONEERING ... Palo Alto’s “Year of Infrastructure of Renewal and Investment� — as Mayor Yiaway Yeh dubbed it upon taking office in January — ended on a fitting note on Monday night. That’s when City Council, in its final meeting of the year, tacitly endorsed the staff strategy for funding the long list of needed repairs and approved a $90,000 contract with a polling firm to gauge residents’ appetite for passing a revenue measure in 2014. In approving its contract with the firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz and Associates (commonly known as FM3), the council hopes to replicate its victory in 2008, when voters overwhelmingly approved a $76 million bond to renovate city libraries. FM3 conducted the polling for that project as well.

The firm will focus on the big-ticket infrastructure items that have long

dominated council discussions and that have been the focus of a recent report from the specially appointed Infrastructure Blue Ribbon Task Force. These include a new police headquarters, two fire stations to replace those that have become obsolete, various bike improvements and renovation of the Animal Services Center. The council has until August 2014 to decide whether to proceed with the finance measure.

LOSING ILLUSIONS ... Ready or not, some major changes are on their way to California Avenue. The prominent commercial strip is slated to undergo a major makeover next fall, when the city begins its longplanned and highly controversial streetscape project, which includes reducing lanes from two to one in each direction and which aims to give the long-neglected area east of El Camino Real the pedestrianthoroughfare feel of Mountain View’s Castro Street. That’s not all, however. On Thursday morning, the Architectural Review Board voted to recommend approval of a new three-story building that, once built, would be the tallest building on the north side of its block. The building will replace “Club Illusions�, a nightclub whose previous names included “Icon Supper Club,� “The Edge,� “The Vortex,� “Keystone� and “Zinzinnati Oom Pah Pah.�

Before becoming a music and entertainment venue, the building at 260 California Ave. housed “The New Age Natural Foods and Deli� and, before that, “G and A Super Market.� This time, the changes will be much more than cosmetic. The new building will include retail on the ground floor and offices on the top two. At prior meetings, a handful of area merchants had criticized the building for being too tall and out of context with the area’s small-business character. Since June, the applicant, Tarob M&C Investors, LLC., has agreed to reduce the building from 40 to 37 feet and to have the third story recessed back, lessening its visual impact. The board gave the new design its thumbs up, with member Lee Lippert saying he’s not concerned about the building’s size.

He cited the city’s effort to encourage larger, denser developments near transit stations and predicted that the city will see many buildings in the area that are “taller, bigger and bulkier than this.� N

Upfront HOLIDAY FUND

Sound Lounge strikes a chord with students ith an apocalypse on the horizon, Gunn High School senior Timmy Linetsky seemed extraordinarily relaxed, even eager.

“It’s the end of the world, so you’ve got to go out with a bang,” Linetsky joked.

Linetsky wasn’t preparing for a fire-and-brimstone apocalypse you might read about in scripture; rather, he was readying for the “Hip Hop Apocalypse,” a musicand dance-infused event held at the Midpeninsula Community Media Center Dec. 8. The show — which included Linetsky as deejay and a host of musicians and break dancers from Gunn, Palo Alto High School and Middle College at Foothill — was part of the Media Center’s Sound Lounge Program.

The program received $5,000 this year from the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund. It hosts four performances throughout the year and offers opportunities for musically inclined teens to showcase their talents, support their peers and learn about behindthe-scenes production.

“While (the Sound Lounge Program) has gone through many changes since its original inception, the purpose has always remained clear: a night of music and entertainment for local high school students to come together in a fun, laid back setting and support their peers and the music they create,” according to a description of the program posted

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by Tyler Hanley on the Media Center website.

The shows are often streamed live online through UStream and run approximately two hours. Organizers said each show focuses on a different genre, from heavy metal and rock ‘n’ roll to electronic and hip hop. Linetsky helps organize and promote the events and is himself a performer.

“I think it’s just a great outlet (for teens) to express themselves and share their art with the community,” he said.

While Linetsky serves as the program’s conduit on the high school side of things, Layla Moheimani oversees the program for the Media Center at 900 San Antonio Road in Palo Alto.

Moheimani attends Foothill College and said she has been volunteering at the Media Center for four years, starting in the youth program and working her way up to freelance-filmmaking projects. She said the Sound Lounge Program represents a unique opportunity for student performers to bond and encourage one another.

“There isn’t really anything else like it around here, where high school musicians can get together and perform and invite their friends,” she said.

She compared the program to the popular “Open Mic” nights organized by the Teen Arts Council and held at

the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre.

“We’re kind of trying to further spread that and just give teenage musicians an outlet and a place to perform and for their friends to see them perform,” she said.

This is Moheimani’s first year heading up the Sound Lounge, which she said has “gone through a lot of growth” over the past few years.

Former Youth Services Coordinator Brad Sanzenbacher was previously in charge of the program, which was bolstered by his musical background, Moheimani said. Katherine Saviskas took over for Sanzenbacher as youthservices coordinator, but she didn’t have as much musical experience, so Moheimani was brought on to captain the Sound Lounge, she said.

“I’m also a musician, and I worked as an intern in the (youth) programs when I was in high school ... so they asked me to kind of take charge of it this year,” she said.

A passion for music is something Linetsky and Moheimani have in common. Both have studied and practiced for most of their lives, they said. Linetsky has been playing classical piano since the age of 7 and has been creating his own electronic music for the past three years. He hosts a radio show on KZSU and has been working on a project dubbed “Nightly Beats,” in which he creates

Courtesy of Layla Moheimani

Media Center program gives local students a place to perform, produce

Keshav Sutrave, left, Sean Goldie and Timmy Linetsky perform at the Midpeninsula Community Media Center in June as part of the Media Center’s Sound Lounge Program. a new electronic “beat” each night and posts it to the Web. He is influenced by the likes of Flying Lotus, J Dilla and “American Beauty” composer Thomas Newman, he said.

Linetsky sees the Sound Lounge as an opportunity for students to enjoy music away from the traditional high school venues.

“I know it’s a great way for kids to go out outside of the high school dances — which, as we all know, are lame — so this is a good alternative to that. A hip-hop alternative,” he said.

Moheimani, who was born in Fremont but moved with her family to Palo Alto when she was a child, played piano for six years and then switched to guitar the summer after her senior year in high school, at which point she started playing, writing and listening to music “non-stop,” she said. She has also been singing since before she could remember and picked up the bass guitar two years ago. Now music is the “number one thing” in her life, she said.

“But I also love sharing music

with other people because it only has value when you really get to experience it with other people, so kind of hosting these (Sound Lounge) events and giving high school students the opportunities I never had or didn’t take advantage of is important to me,” Moheimani said.

Linetsky and Moheimani are both planning careers in music, and if the energy they have put into making the Sound Lounge a success is an indicator of things to come, they will have bright futures indeed. But on this particular Monday, the two are preparing for their “Hip Hop Apocalypse,” and Linetsky’s goal is simple.

“I just want kids to come in and have a good time,” he said. N The Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund is in the midst of its 2012 fundraising campaign. A donation form and more information are available on page 20.

Online Editor Tyler Hanley can be emailed at thanley@paweekly. com.

UTILITIES

Palo Alto’s electric-wire program hangs in the balance City considers new advisory committee to measure community’s appetite for burying electric wires

by Gennady Sheyner

P

alo Alto’s longest-running infrastructure project currently spans half of the city, costs tens of million of dollars and lies largely invisible to city residents.

The project — the conversion of electric lines from overhead to underground — has been in the works for nearly half a century now, and the end remains far beyond the horizon.

Palo Alto embarked on the effort in 1965, when the city buried lines running above Oregon Expressway.

Since that time, officials have converted about 46 percent of the city, including University Avenue, Middlefield Road, most of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, and large segments of Embarcadero and Page Mill roads.

But the future of the program is very much in doubt. The Utilities Department devotes about 2 percent of its electricity revenues for the undergrounding project. At the current pace, it will take about 70 years to underground all of the city’s electric lines, Senior Resource Planner Nico Procos said during the City Council’s Finance Committee’s discussion of this effort Tuesday, Dec. 18.

Now, city officials are trying to

TALK ABOUT IT

www.PaloAltoOnline.com Do you think the city should continue to underground its electrical lines? Share your opinion on Town Square, the community discussion forum on Palo Alto Online.

figure out whether the massive undergrounding project is worth the cost and the effort. The answer, they hope, will come from the ground up. On Tuesday the committee voted 2-1, with Councilman Pat Burt dissenting and Councilwoman Gail Price absent, to create a new advisory body that would gauge community sentiments about undergrounding electric wires. The most basic question that the officials hope to answer is: Do people care?

“Our thought on this is that we really need to get the community involved in this,” Procos said. “We need to know whether there’s a desire to look at this — a desire to accelerate the program — and is there a tolerance to pay for it?”

The staff recommendation to create a new advisory body already won the support of the Utilities Ad-

visory Commission, which voted on Sept. 5. The council committee was more ambivalent, with Burt arguing that the conversation would distract the community from the city’s more pressing infrastructure needs.

The council is in the midst of planning for a 2014 ballot measure that would raise money for some of the top items on the city’s long list of infrastructure needs, which include a new police headquarters, upgrades to two obsolete fire stations and improvements to Byxbee Park.

The council has not considered including conversion of electric lines in its package of infrastructure projects that could go to the voters.

“I’m worried about taking our eye off the ball here and, at this point in time, diluting our resources,” Burt said. “Why not take this up after we’ve come up with some more definitive direction in our major infrastructure issues?”

Vice Mayor Greg Scharff and Councilwoman Nancy Shepherd took the opposite stance and said now is the perfect time to discuss the topic with the community. Scharff said many in the community are concerned about

why their neighborhoods are not targeted for the conversion. Others believe, erroneously, that the city has a plan to get to their neighborhood eventually, Scharff said. It’s time for the city to explain the city’s undergrounding conundrum and solicit public opinion on the topic.

“I think this is an issue in Palo Alto that has really festered a little bit,” Scharff said. “And it’s time we brought the community in to have a conversation.”

“It’s a big issue, and it’s not clear what the right solution is,” he later added. “It’s not a solution that I as a council member would want to foist on the community. I want this to be from the ground up.”

If the full council adopts the committee’s recommendation, it would appoint the members of the new committee, which would solicit community feedback, consider the program’s costs and funding options and make program recommendations for the council to ultimately adopt.

Utilities officials have noted that the issue of whether to underground electric lines is “primarily based on aesthetic values and is not a criti-

cal component of providing electric service to the residents and businesses in Palo Alto.”

“As such, the decision to make substantial changes to the existing program to accelerate undergrounding will be based on individual considerations and value judgment,” Procos wrote in the report. “Due to the very high cost of the conversions, it is preferable to engage the community early in the discussions on policy formulation.” N Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner can be emailed at gsheyner@ paweekly.com.

Corrections A Dec. 14 article about Buena Vista Mobile Home Park incorrectly stated that all 17 school district PTAs voted to support Buena Vista residents.

It was the PTA Council Executive Board that voted to form a committee to explore whether there is a role for PTA in the issue. PTA Council represents all 17 of the Palo Alto PTAs, but each PTA is its own entity and has not voted on the issue. To request a correction, contact Editor Jocelyn Dong at 650-223-6514, jdong@paweekly.com or P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302.

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are on a number of unpredictable factors, including the demands from CalPERS (the colossal state fund that administers the city’s pension system), employee retirements and the general health of the economy. But the report represents the best available guess from the Administrative Services Department about what the city’s financial future holds if the department’s current assumptions hold.

The forecast model in the report assumes a 10 percent annual increase in medical costs, an increase of 3 percent in pension costs and a 2 percent salary increase for the two largest labor groups, the Service Employees International Union and the non-unionized group of management and professionals, starting in 2014. The other labor groups would get a similar raise in 2015.

In discussing the forecast, council members suggested the news in the document might be a little too good to be true, particularly the staff projection that revenues will grow by 3.1 percent every year between 2013 and 2023. Vice Mayor Greg Scharff suggested that staff isn’t taking a long-enough view in making its predictions. Its projection that revenues will grow by 3.1 percent every year is based on three successful years, he said, and fails to account for possible down years over the next decade.

The past decade has been a strong one for Palo Alto, even with the 2008 recession, but Scharff nonetheless voiced reservations about staff’s prediction. “My concern is I think we’re being much more aggressive in sales revenues,� Scharff said. “I don’t think it’s sustainable.�

The council directed staff by a 3-0 vote to revise the forecast and consider the revenue trends for the past 20 years.

Even with the long-term uncertainty, the numbers offer good news on the immediate financial front, in-

Walter Hays Elementary School

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Incoming students who live in about 20 blocks north and south of Embarcadero Road would be moved from the Addison attendance area to Walter Hays’ under a new plan. the board. In October, board members asked staff to come up with a “conceptual comparison� of opening a 13th elementary school at the

Finance

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Melville Ave.

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the school board Tuesday. “We’d really like to fix that,� he said. “Hays has seen declining enrollment trends as kids age up, so we’re looking at shifting some of these kids from Addison to Hays.�

Also Tuesday, officials said that despite rising enrollment, Palo Alto’s three middle schools — augmented by portable classrooms — should be able to meet demand at least through 2021.

Board members and Skelly have said they would like to open a fourth middle school before that time.

Dunkin, who has been analyzing projections, said, “There is probably some middle ground.�

Board members said they would like to see options that include opening a new middle school before 2021, and Skelly promised to come back after the holidays with proposals.

As for a new elementary school, a committee of parents and school officials will convene after the holidays to advise on options, guided by a list of “values� approved by

Channing Ave.

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Other classes at more advanced levels are also offered.

A full brochure is available at Gryphon.

Direct proposal: Students would attend Hays, rather than Addison

(continued from page 3)

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Upfront

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Learn the Guitar this Winter

old Garland Elementary School campus at 870 N. California Ave. versus the Greendell campus at 4120 Middlefield Road. N

Sales tax revenues are heading back up $25,000 $23,364 $22,623

$23,000

$22,132

$22,194 $21,000 $20,089

$20,746

$19,000 $17,991

$17,000

$15,000 2007

2008

2009

2010

Fiscal Year

2011

2012

2013 Graph by Lili Cao

City of Palo Alto sales-tax revenues have rebounded from the 2008 dip of the “Great Recession� and are on an upward trajectory. dicating that Palo Alto has emerged from the 2008 economic slump much faster than much of California and the nation at large. Councilwoman Nancy Shepherd suggested that the national foreclosure crisis, which has troubled local economies elsewhere but which has not made a dent in Palo Alto, is a major reason for the city’s bounce back. In fact, the city’s property-tax revenues have gone up from $25.7 million to $26.5 million between 2011 and 2012.

But the council hedged its enthusiasm, noting that the local economy may face its own hurdles down the line. Councilman Pat Burt said that Palo Alto’s “microeconomy� could suffer downturns that the rest of the nation may not see. “We’re tied to the tech economy, which is more volatile,� Burt said. “We were hit harder by the dotcom bust than the rest of the country.�

The city also continues to struggle with the high cost of employee benefits, which have been taking up a greater share of the General Fund budget every year. Between 2003 and 2013, the city’s expenditures on salaries and benefits have gone up by 24 percent, despite a major reduction

in staffing levels. Pensions alone have increased nearly tenfold, from about $2.4 million in 2003 to more than $24 million this year. Medical costs are also rising fast, going from $6.8 million in 2011 to a projected level of $9.1 million in fiscal year 2014.

Meanwhile, the city has been slashing the number of positions supported by the General Fund, which pays for most basic city services (not including utilities). Between 2003 and 2013, the number of positions has been reduced from 758 to 578, said Christine Paras, principal analyst at the Administrative Services Department.

Overall, the new numbers represent a stunning turnaround from last year’s forecast, which predicted an $88 million budget gap over 10 years. The new document, meanwhile, projects a $4.2 million surplus over the next decade if the assumptions in its forecast model hold. Paras called the difference between the two forecasts a “180 degree shift.�

Even so, the council is looking to continue its effort to curb the steeply growing costs of employee benefits.

The council plans to hold a meeting next month to discuss potential health care and pension reforms. N

Upfront EDUCATION

Palo Alto teachers to get 1 percent bonus Unions will vote after Jan. 7, and Board of Education indicates support

by Chris Kenrick ith three dozen Palo Alto educators sitting in the room, all five members of the Board of Education Tuesday said they would support a onetime, 1 percent bonus for teachers and staff.

Their comments followed testimony by five teachers who said they love their jobs but need a raise, particularly after shouldering a growing portion of their health care costs in recent years.

Gunn High School English teacher Mark Igler held up two monthly pay stubs — one from June 2011 and another from last month. The November 2012 stub

W

was for $427 less than the one from 18 months earlier.

“I’ve made $5,200 less over the last 18 months,” Igler said. “That’s a lot of money — a big hit.

“I love my job and I’m not going anywhere, but $5,200 is $5,200 — and this is for inferior health care coverage than I had two-and-a-half years ago.”

Other teachers told similar stories.

Several referred to last Friday’s school shootings in Connecticut and noted it felt particularly awkward to be asking for a raise at such a time but said it is a “desperate situation” for many teachers.

“I greeted my students at the door Monday morning ... grateful that they’re all safe, healthy and well-protected from news of recent events,” Hoover Elementary School kindergarten teacher Corey Potter said.

“It seems selfish or inappropriate to talk about a raise right now ... but we’ve planned this for a long time, and many teachers desperately need it.”

Potter, whose rent recently went up by $100, told of colleagues who drive long distances to get to school by 6 a.m.

“We love our jobs and feel fortunate to work for a district in which

we have all the supplies we need, ample professional-development opportunities and paraprofessionals in our classrooms each day,” Potter said.

“This is as it should be: students first. But many of us have had to take on extra jobs.”

Palo Alto’s two school employees’ unions, the Palo Alto Educators Association for teachers and the California School Employees Association, representing nonteaching staff, will vote on the tentative 2011-12 agreement after the first of the year.

If the unions ratify it, the Board of Education will officially vote on it Jan. 15.

Negotiations on a 2012-13 contract are continuing, said Palo Alto Educators Association President Teri Baldwin, a kindergarten teacher at Addison Elementary School.

All five school board members said they intend to vote for the 1 percent bonus.

“I want to acknowledge the can-

dor and the grace of your comments, and I hope nobody felt uncomfortable,” board member Barb Mitchell said.

“You’re the least selfish group of people I could possibly name, and I also appreciate your recognition of the families in Connecticut.

“We have a common sense that we may be seeing some light at the end of the (financial) tunnel. We want to be cautious but do recognize the importance of employee compensation, and of listening to all the people who made it possible these past few years to have the fiscal health that many districts don’t enjoy,” Mitchell said.

In other business Tuesday, the board elected Dana Tom as its president and Mitchell as its vicepresident for 2013, and presented a gift from the Palo Alto High School glass-blowing program to outgoing president Camille Townsend. N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly.com.

Yangpu

(continued from page 3)

“Smart Cities” conference, which is set to take place in Shanghai in summer 2013 before possibly coming to Palo Alto in 2014. According to a staff report, the conference would likely focus on partnerships in “innovation-driven economic development, green initiatives and community engagement.”

Lastly, the council directed staff to engage management at companies in Stanford Research Park to consider collaborations with the Bay Area-Yangpu Digitization Park.

Del Christensen, the Bay Area Council’s chief of global business development, stressed the similarities between the two cities, including a wealth of universities and large companies.

The council’s conversation about Yangpu also prompted a broader discussion about Palo Alto’s international relations. Councilman Larry Klein noted the disparity between Palo Alto’s proposed new partnerships (in addition to Yangpu, the council is scheduled to consider next month a formal relationship with Heidelberg, Germany) and its existing ones, which vary in nature and include less affluent cities such as Oaxaca and Palo, Leyte. Klein and his colleagues agreed to hold a full discussion in the first half of next year about the city’s international partners and to create criteria for entering into new agreements.

“The point I’m getting at is, do we want to be a peer only, which is what we’re talking about with Yangpu and Heidelberg? Or is there a place for us to be a donor as well?” Klein asked.

The council agreed that the city’s newest partnership could present ample opportunities for collaboration. At this point, Keene said, the partnership is a test drive.

“If nothing else, I think we will learn a lot of what it takes to build and sustain a relationship of this sort,” Keene said. N

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Upfront

Neighborhoods

A roundup of neighborhood news edited by Sue Dremann

AROUND THE BLOCK

GUILTY PARTIES TAKE NOTICE ...

Much has recently been written in this paper about the community effort to save Palo Alto’s Buena Vista Mobile Home Park from demolition.

But one Barron Park neighbor wrote to highlight objectionable behavior.

Buena Vista residents have used the private streets at The Villas de las Plazas townhome complex opposite the trailer park as a thoroughfare from El Camino Real, often speeding. Requests to slow down are often answered with a dirty look or “the finger,” he said. Loud music blares from the park during Saturday-night parties, and residents drop litter as they walk through the complex, he said. “I have no objection to the people who live in the Buena Vista trailer park — they are for the most part friendly and add some color to the neighborhood. ... My simple request to the Buena Vista residents is: ‘Be a good neighbor.’”

O, CITRUS TREE, O, CITRUS TREE ... ‘Tis the season when citrus trees beareth a sweet harvest, and residents in some neighborhoods report that strangers are helping themselves to the bounty. Last spring the Weekly reported that thieves destroyed dogwoods by lopping off huge branches for their flowers, which are sold to florists.

Now the crop has shifted to winter fruit, and again people are entering private properties to illegally gather bags of lemons and oranges. Suggestions for thwarting the poachers among Barron Park residents have ranged from installing remotesensor deer sprinklers that spray trespassers to adding high-voltage signs and cameras. N

Send announcements of neighborhood events, meetings and news to Sue Dremann, Neighborhoods editor, at sdremann@paweekly.com. Or talk about your neighborhood news on Town Square at www.

PaloAltoOnline.com.

Veronica Weber

NEWELL BRIDGE REFINED ...

The City of Palo Alto will host a community meeting regarding the Newell Road/San Francisquito Creek Bridge Replacement Project on Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Community Room of the Lucie Stern Community Center, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. The bridge connects East Palo Alto at Woodland Avenue with Palo Alto at Newell Road and must be rebuilt to prevent future flooding, city officials say. Considerations include a wider span, realignment with the East Palo Alto portion of Newell, and pedestrian and bicycle lanes.

Refined project alternatives based on prior public input can be viewed at www.cityofpaloalto.org/newell.

Buena Vista Mobile Home Park neighbors re-enacted the Biblical journey of Joseph and Mary (played by Saul Bracamontes and Cory Gaytan) at the annual “Pedir Posada” on Dec. 16.

BARRON PARK

Mobile-home park residents host holiday posada Following tradition, Buena Vista neighbors re-enact journey of Biblical Mary and Joseph

by Sue Dremann

I

n long robes and accompanied by an angel, modern-day versions of Mary and Joseph, parents of the yet-unborn Jesus, beseeched residents of Palo Alto’s Buena Vista Mobile Home Park for a place to stay on Sunday evening, Dec. 16.

Saul Bracamontes (Joseph) and Cory Gaytan (Mary) were following a centuries-old tradition as they wandered among the prefabricated homes, twinkling with holiday lights, looking for a place to rest their weary heads.

The Pedir Posada, or “asking for shelter,” was started by Spanish missionaries in the U.S. during the 16th century. Designed to help native peoples convert to the Christian faith, it is practiced throughout Latin America today on the first day of Advent, according to the Knights of Columbus organization.

A combination of prayer, pageantry and celebration, the posada celebrates

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food, faith and joy. But Sunday’s event — the mobile-home park’s first — could also have been its last.

Residents face losing their homes at the 86-year-old trailer park.

Buena Vista is an enclave of 115 mobile homes and 12 studio apartments behind a strip mall at 3980 El Camino Real and Los Robles Avenue. In September, the property owner announced that the land might be sold. Five days before the posada, residents met with Joe Jisser, whose family owns Buena Vista, and San Mateo development firm Prometheus, who outlined a process for closing down the park and developing a relocation plan for the nearly 400 residents.

Buena Vista could close by early 2014, Jisser said. Prometheus is proposing to build 180 high-end apartments.

A crowd of nearly 100 people, ranging from city firefighters to residents of surrounding neighbor-

hoods, joined the holy couple, following them through the mobilehome park’s streets with lit candles.

The procession was both holiday event and political statement, as several residents donned “Save Our Homes” T-shirts.

Colorful paper flags, tinsel and holiday decorations strung across the alleyways fluttered in the gentle wind that proceeded an incoming storm. Greeters welcomed nearly 80 visitors from other neighborhoods, including Ventura, Greenmeadow and College Terrace. Palo Alto Mayor Yiaway Yeh and Councilwoman Karen Holman also attended.

Resident and greeter Melody Cheney said the posada was Buena Vista residents’ way of thanking people for their support over the years.

The event offered a chance for outsiders to explore the fenced-off community, which many neighboring residents have passed by but in which few have entered, they said.

Barron Park Association board member Gwen Luce said she had never visited Buena Vista, even though her son lived there for a short time.

“I didn’t realize there was such a strong community,” she said, adding that she found the park was clean and orderly.

On Sunday, Luce and others followed the Joseph and Mary as they stopped at mobile home number 32.

While one group of singers stood outside and asked for shelter, others inside responded by turning the couple away to the rattle of a tambourine: “In the name of Heaven Please give us some shelter, for she cannot walk my beloved wife ...”

“You are not at an inn So keep on your way For I cannot open you might be a rogue.

“You can keep on walking And do stop knocking For if I get angry I will beat you badly ...”

The crowd raised their candles and prayed for the Virgin of Guadalupe to protect the children. The

Upfront procession flowed past inflated snowmen and blinking lights. They stopped at trailer space 24 — the second “inn.� The song was accompanied by a strumming guitar: “Please show us some mercy; Do grant us this favor, For the God of heaven will be sure to repay you. “We are very tired Came from Nazareth Joseph is my name Carpenter by trade ...�

Veronica Weber

“I don’t care for the name,� came the reply. “Let me go to sleep, because as I told you I won’t open to thee ... “ The group eventually arrived at the end of a row of trailers, where a plastic tent decorated as a cattle stall had been painted with images of the holy family and scenes from the birth of Christ. A baby Jesus lay in a manger surrounded by straw.

Finally, Mary and Joseph found

The posada included prayer, lit candles and the procession, followed by piles of tamales, posole stew, tostadas and pan dulce. shelter and a home for the night.

The posada continued with hundreds of tamales, deep pots of red and green posole stew, tostadas, punch, hot coffee and pan dulce.

Children laughed and ran amid cas-

cading treats that dropped from a burst piĂąata.

Lynnie Melena, Barron Park Association president, said she had always stayed away from Buena Vista, largely because it was walled off by

a wooden fence. It did not seem an accessible place to drive through as one might on other neighborhood streets, she said. “It’s always just been here. It hasn’t been positive or negative; it’s just been ‘this place,’� she said.

The Barron Park Association hasn’t taken a position on Buena Vista’s survival; Melena said the association is made up of many people who do not share similar views.

But the association might decide to make the park a topic for discussion at a community meeting, she said.

As the crowd thinned, residents danced to the pulses of folkloric music. Some grabbed the hands of reluctant outsiders and drew them into the crowd. Soon, they were caught up in the dance.

Buena Vista resident Blanca Fonseca reflected on the importance of the neighborhood-within-a-neighborhood sticking together. She pointed to a small trailer across the way from the manger. A man with schizophrenia lives there, and residents are helping him with his sickness, she said.

Fonseca and others bring the man

food, water and other supplies.

She pointed to another small trailer several doors down. Its windows were among the few that were dark. “The man is in bed. He doesn’t stand up anymore, but we help him; we help to dress him,� she said. N Staff Writer Sue Dremann can be emailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.

WATCH IT ONLINE

www.PaloAltoOnline.com A video of the Buena Vista posada by Staff Photographer Veronica Weber has been posted on Palo Alto Online.

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Upfront

News Digest Newtown tragedy prompts safety discussions Palo Alto School Superintendent Kevin Skelly said he’s had several conversations with Police Chief Dennis Burns, and with campus facilities managers, on the subject of last Friday’s school shooting in Connecticut.

“This is clearly something they’re interested in,” Skelly reported to the Board of Education Tuesday, Dec. 18. “It’s a conversation that’s happening in earnest in this country.”

Skelly and the principals sent messages to their respective school communities.

“I know it’s on the minds of teachers, and safety is always something we’re thinking about and will continue to work on,” Skelly told the board.

At the start of Tuesday’s meeting, board members observed a moment of silence in memory of the Connecticut victims. N — Chris Kenrick

CEO of Jewish Community Center to leave Palo Alto Alan Sataloff, the CEO of the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center since 2004, is quitting to take a position in Chicago, according to an announcement by the Jewish Community Center Chicago.

Sataloff, who will become the CEO and general director, will be the 11th director of the 109-year-old JCC Chicago and is expected to take his post in March 2013. He will replace retiring executive director Marty Levine, who led the organization in Chicago for 38 years, according to a December statement by the Chicago nonprofit organization.

Sataloff led a $140 million campaign to build the new Oshman Center in Palo Alto to serve the growing Silicon Valley Jewish and Israeli communities. The center is one of the 10 largest JCCs in the nation, according to the Chicago JCC. Sataloff previously led JCCs around the country for 22 years prior to his Palo Alto tenure, including in Richmond, Va.; Seattle, Wash.; West Orange, N.J.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Houston, Texas. He was ranked as the 18th highest paid executive of a nonprofit organization in the country by the San Francisco Business Times in 2010, earning $463,551.

“We are grateful for Alan’s leadership and passion during these pivotal years of building the Oshman Family JCC from a vision into a thriving center for Jewish and community life,” Oshman’s board President Daryl Messinger said in a statement. The board is in the process of searching for a new CEO to lead the organization’s more than 9,000 members, she added. N — Sue Dremann

Zuckerberg donates $500 million to local foundation Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday, Dec. 18, that he is giving nearly $500 million in Facebook stock to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation — its largest donation ever.

The multi-billionaire made the announcement on his Facebook page Tuesday afternoon, saying that he and his wife Priscilla have “made a contribution of 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation” as part of a pledge to donate most of their wealth to charity.

The Mountain View-based foundation funds a wide range of nonprofits and charities and declined to say how the money might be spent.

With Facebook’s stock price at $27.71 on Dec. 18, the contribution is valued at $499 million. That is slightly more than the $470 million in total donations the SCVF received in all of 2011.

“This is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s largest single gift,” said Rebecca Salner, vice president of marketing and communications for the foundation.

It is reportedly also Zuckerberg’s largest donation yet.

In his announcement on Facebook, Zuckerberg says that he and his wife signed “the Giving Pledge” two years ago, an effort started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that now has 81 billionaires pledging to donate most of their wealth to charities.

“Our first major project has been around education reform with Startup: Education in Newark, NJ,” Zuckerberg wrote in his announcement.

“I’m really proud of the work we’ve done there, helping leaders like Governor Chris Christie and Mayor Cory Booker sign the most progressive teachers contract in our country, opening four new district high schools, 11 new charter schools and more.”

“Today, in order to lay the foundation for new projects, we’ve made a contribution of 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation,” Zuckerberg wrote. “Together, we will look for areas in education and health to focus on next. I’m hopeful we’ll be able to have as positive an impact in our next set of projects.”

Zuckerbeg, who draws a $1 a year salary from Facebook, had an estimated net worth of $9.5 billion earlier this year, according to Forbes magazine. N — Daniel DeBolt, Mountain View Voice staff LET’S DISCUSS: Read the latest local news headlines and talk about the issues at Town Square at PaloAltoOnline.com

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Upfront

Public Agenda A preview of Palo Alto government meetings next week CITY COUNCIL ... The council has no meetings scheduled this week.

Online This Week

These and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com/news or click on “News� in the left, green column.

Man faces more felonies after highway shooting An East Palo Alto man who is charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting at a vehicle on U.S. Highway 101 faces 11 more felonies after a court in San Mateo County granted a prosecution motion for the additional charges Wednesday, Dec. 19. (Posted Dec. 20 at 9:54 a.m.)

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Palo Alto approves expansion of Seton School A new preschool will soon open in Crescent Park after Palo Alto officials voted on Monday, Dec. 17, to approve an expansion of the St. Elizabeth Seton School. (Posted Dec. 20 at 9:43 a.m.)

Community rallies to find bone-marrow match The local South Asian community, technology companies and universities around the country are rallying to save the life of a local woman in need of a bone-marrow transplant. (Posted Dec. 19 at 9:43 a.m.)

iCrime epidemic video released by DA’s office A new video addressing an electronic-devices crime wave was released Tuesday, Dec. 18, by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. The video, called “The Epidemic of iCrime,� seeks to educate the public about a serious and growing trend, the DA’s office said.

(Posted Dec. 19 at 8:55 a.m.)

How to express support for Newtown families The Postal Service in Newtown, Conn., has set up a post office box for cards and letters of support for shooting-victim families, the American Red Cross has announced. (Posted Dec. 18 at 4:46 p.m.)

60 arrests in county’s holiday DUI campaign Sixty people were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs last weekend during an ongoing, holiday anti-drunken-driving program by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and other county law enforcement agencies, deputies reported Monday, Dec. 17. (Posted Dec. 18 at 9:10 a.m.)

DUI driver strikes hydrant on Sand Hill Road A portion of Sand Hill Road near Stanford University in Palo Alto was temporarily closed Tuesday morning, Dec. 18, after a DUI driver struck a fire hydrant that flooded the roadway, according to police.

(Posted Dec. 18 at 7:39 a.m.)

East Palo Alto police investigate Sunday homicide A man was shot and killed in East Palo Alto Sunday night, Dec. 16.

The city’s ShotSpotter system alerted police to a shooting in the 1500 block of Bay Road at 9:55 p.m., police stated in a press release. (Posted Dec. 17 at 1:13 p.m.)

Attempted robbery reported near hospital In one of the stranger crimes to hit Palo Alto in recent months, a man approached a woman near Stanford Hospital and told her he was trying to decide whether to rob her, Palo Alto police said. (Posted Dec. 17 at 9:28 a.m.)

Three people killed in crash on I-280 identified The California Highway Patrol has identified the victims of a crash involving a stopped car on interstate Highway 280 near Redwood City Friday afternoon, Dec. 14, that left three people dead and two seriously injured. (Posted Dec. 17 at 9:23 a.m.)

Stanford offers early admission to 725 Stanford has sent acceptance letters to 725 high school students who sought admission to the Class of 2017 under the university’s early-admission program, the Office of Undergraduate Admission announced Friday, Dec. 14. (Posted Dec. 14 at 4:37 p.m.)

Firefighters duck gunfire in East Palo Alto Firefighters returning to their East Palo Alto station ran for cover after two rival gangs engaged in a gun battle in front of their quarters about two weeks ago, Menlo Park Fire Protection District officials confirmed Friday, Dec. 14. (Posted Dec. 14 at 4:25 p.m.)

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Upfront

Letters Kindness of strangers Editor, With all the madness surrounding us it’s nice to be reminded of the kindness that does exist in our own neighborhood.

Today I was in downtown Palo Alto and took a bad fall. Immediately there were two young men to help me up, a gentleman who insisted he walk me to my car, and then finally Pam whose last name I’ve forgotten, who insisted on first taking me home, but finally through my insistence agreed to follow me home instead.

I thank you all for being there in my need.

Pat Davis Edgewood Drive Palo Alto

Keep Buena Vista Editor, My husband and I were honored to be included in the wonderful Christmas Posada that the residents of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park hosted last Sunday. We were struck by the community and the friendliness that met us that night.

As a homeowner in the Ventura neighborhood, I have been acquainted with Buena Vista since 1994. One of my babysitters grew up there. She was someone I respected highly and trusted with the care of my only child.

The park has offered a housing option for a valuable part of our community.

Since the park has been in existence for 86 years, residents have felt secure there. It will be a sad day if yet another block of homogenous apartments is built there, for people who have no vested interest in Palo Alto and come for four years to send their kids to Gunn, then move elsewhere in the Bay Area. I would rather have neighbors who work in Palo Alto and want to live there, so therefore have an interest in their town.

Moving is expensive. It will be a heavy blow for people who work hard but may just make enough money to pay their bills. If we displace them, we have an obligation to assist them. And this is just the financial cost, not even mentioning the cost of losing one’s community and ties. I personally hope this sad day will never arrive.

I want them to stay in Palo Alto.

Michele Hollar Adobe Place Palo Alto

City should help Editor, In this season of brotherly love, more than 400 people living in the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park are facing eviction. The developer has offered to provide assistance in find-

ANNOUNCING T H E 2 7 TH A N N U A L PA L O A L T O W E E K L Y

ing comparable housing elsewhere and even “reasonable relocation assistance” to the tenants.

The offer is farcical. “Comparable housing elsewhere,” whether in Palo Alto or its surrounding areas, at an affordable price, is virtually nonexistent. Nor could the developer, whatever the legalities, provide sufficient units of affordable housing on a 5-acre property to make a dent in the need.

Of greater importance is the talk of a “relocation specialist” to assist residents. Such assistance could never compensate for the loss of a neighborhood. The park boasts a spiderweb of contacts, including purchases of gas and groceries. More important, many of the children attend local schools. To force them out would strike at the cultural diversity supposedly prized by Palo Alto.

Sewage and electrical-system repairs are needed. Neither the city nor the developer has come up with a price. In a technologically sophisticated area, it should be possible to effect the repairs at a price, however subsidized, that would allow our neighbors to live with dignity in their homes.

The city must adhere to its own Comprehensive Plan and keep Buena Vista in Barron Park.

Cassandra Moore La Donna Avenue Palo Alto

CityView A round-up of

City Council (Dec. 17)

Yangpu: The council voted to direct staff to pursue partnership opportunities with Yangpu District in Shanghai, including student exchange programs with internships and collaboration between high-tech companies in the two municipalities. The council also agreed to hold a broader discussion about sister-city partnerships next year.

Yes: Burt, Espinosa, Holman, Klein, Scharff, Schmid, Shepherd, Yeh No: Price 2012: The council heard a “Year in Review” presentation from City Manager James Keene. Action: None

Board of Education (Dec. 18)

Employee compensation: The board discussed a recommendation for awarding a bonus to teachers and staff equivalent to 1 percent of 2011-12 salary. The measure will be taken up again in January, pending union ratification. Action: None Budget: The board approved an interim report on the school district’s finances. Yes: Unanimous Construction: The board discussed various construction projects under the “Strong Schools” bond measure, and approved some change orders. Yes: Unanimous

Council Finance Committee (Dec. 18)

Budget: The committee discussed the city’s long-term financial forecast for 2013-23 and recommended that staff revise the report and consider the revenue trends for the past 20 years in its new projections. Yes: Burt, Scharff, Shepherd Absent: Price Electric: The committee recommended creating an advisory body to engage the community in a conversation about conversion of electric lines from overhead to underground. Yes: Scharff, Shepherd No: Burt Absent: Price

Historic Resources Board (Dec. 19)

345 Forest Ave.: The board voted to approve a request by Cody Anderson Wasney Architects on behalf of Stephen Reller for a historical rehabilitation of Laning Chateau, a Category 2 building on the City’s Historic Inventory. Yes: Bernstein, Bower, Bunnenberg, DiCicco, Makinen No: Smithwick Absent: Kohler

Architectural Review Board (Dec. 20)

Golf course: The board discussed proposed changes to the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course, which is part of a regional effort to improve flood control near the San Francisquito Creek. Action: None 260 California Ave.: The board recommended approval of a new three-story building at 260 California Ave. Yes: Lew, Lippert, Malone Prichard Absent: Alizadeh, Popp

JUDGES: ADULT/YOUNG ADULT Tom Parker, Award winning novelist and short story writer, UC Extension and Foothill College Instructor and former Stanford Instructor Meg Waite Clayton, is the nationally best selling author of The Four Ms. Bradwells, The Wednesday Sisters, and The Bellwether Prize finalist The Language of Light.

Ellen Sussman Author of New York Times best selling novel French Lessons and San Francisco Chronicle best seller On A Night Like This

CHILDREN/TEEN Katy Obringer, Former supervisor of Palo Alto Children’s Library Caryn Huberman Yacowitz, Playwright and Children’s book author Nancy Etchemendy, Children’s book author

New online submission

ENTRY DEADLINE:

All Writers: January 11, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

Palo Alto government action this week

PRIZES

FOR ADULTS: $500 Cash - FIRST PLACE $300 Cash - SECOND PLACE $200 Cash - THIRD PLACE FOR YOUNG ADULT/CHILDREN/TEEN: $100 Gift Certificate - FIRST PLACE $75 Gift Certificate - SECOND PLACE $50 Gift Certificate - THIRD PLACE Certificates are from co-sponsoring area bookstores.

Bell’s Books (*ages 15-17) Kepler’s (*ages 12-14) Linden Tree (*ages 9-11) *age as of entry deadline

All adult winners and first place young winners in each category will be announced in the Palo Alto Weekly in February 2013.

All winning stories will be published online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com

CONTEST RULES

1. The contest is open to anyone who lives, works or attends school full-time in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Stanford, Portola Valley, Woodside, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and East Palo Alto.

2. Limit of one entry per person.

3. Stories must be typed, double-spaced. Maximum 2,500 words. Longer stories will be disqualified.

4. $15 entry fee, along with 2 hard copies, for all ADULT stories; $5 entry fee for YOUNG WRITERS under 18. Make checks payable to “Palo Alto Weekly.”

5. Entries may not have been previously published.

6. Signed entry form must accompany story. Author’s name should NOT appear anywhere on pages of story.

7. All winners are required to email their story to the Palo Alto Weekly in a Microsoft Word Document as an attachment.

Mail manuscripts to: Palo Alto Weekly Short Story Contest, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302 or deliver to 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto Questions: shortstory@paweekly.com Page 12ÊUÊ iVi LiÀÊÓ£]ÊÓä£ÓÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V

Transitions

IN LOVING MEMORY

Emma Bakes, MD, PhD

Births, marriages and deaths

George Martin George Martin died Dec. 15. He was 80 years old.

He had been a resident of Mountain View for more than 35 years.

He completed his education at UC Berkeley and at Stanford University.

Among the places he worked were Stanford’s Center for Materials Research, Lockheed Research in Palo Alto and Read-Rite Corporation in Milpitas. In the early 1980s, he founded Vitamin Research Products in Mountain View, which he later sold. He enjoyed his memberships in the local Humanist Community, the Peninsula Gem and Mineral Society, the Ethical Society and the Unitarian Universal Church in Palo Alto.

He is survived by his wife; brother; four children and their spouses; and two grandsons.

Eleanor van Campen Eleanor van Campen (Elle) died at Stanford Hospital Dec. 13 at the age of 81.

She was born and raised in Massachusetts, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and an MAT from Brown University. In Massachusetts, she worked as an elementary school teacher and also as a secretary at the MIT Department of Architecture.

In 1966 she moved to Stanford with her husband and two children.

In the 1970s her husband encouraged her to learn computer programming, and she worked as a programmer for NASA Ames Research Center and the Envirotech Corporation (a long forgotten Fortune 500 company).

At the latter, she transitioned into a paralegal, where she assisted the general counsel. She earned her

MBA at the age of 50 and worked for a number of Silicon Valley startups during the 1980s and early 1990s, generally as the first employee, including Intelligenetics (later renamed Intellicorp) and Centric Engineering. She was invited to begin as an early employee of Mosaic (later to become Netscape), but she chose to retire instead.

She was very active in retirement, teaching computer classes at the Palo Alto Senior Center (Avenidas) and Volunteering at the American Cancer Society Thrift (Discover) Shop in Los Altos.

In 2007 she and her husband of 24 years, Colin Hacking, moved from Los Altos to the Channing House retirement community. She is survived by her husband, Colin; children, James van Campen and Elise McCandless; and three grandchildren.

A memorial service to celebrate her life will be held Dec. 22 at 11 a.m. at Channing House on the 11th floor. Further information can be obtained by calling 650-324-7577.

Walter Niemasik Jr. Walter Niemasik, Jr. (“Wally”), of Atherton died from pancreatic cancer Dec. 7 at the age of 64. He was surrounded by his family at the time of his death.

He was born in New York and was raised in Storrs, Conn. He met his wife of 37 years, Julie Ann Kaufman, while teaching water-skiing at a girls’ summer camp in Maine.

After graduating from Wesleyan University and Georgetown University Law Center, he practiced antitrust law. But finding his clients’ businesses more interesting than their legal problems, he decided to retrain. In 1980, he and Julie moved

Gifts and Caroling at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto 3801 Miranda Ave, 94304

Meet in building 101 Auditorium

8:45 am to noon on December 25th, Christmas Day

Your time can mean so much!

Experience Group Song Leaders Need!

Bring your own Musical instruments.

For additional information or to receive a location map, call

Tom McCarthy (650) 493-5000x64353 or cell (650) 388-8898 This space donated as community service by the Palo Alto Weekly

to California and together attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business as the “class couple.” He pursued a career in investment management, founding a small firm at exactly the wrong time for his investment strategy. In 1986, he joined Concord Capital, and in 1989 joined Snyder Capital Management, where he rose to the position of chairman/ CEO. He was also a dedicated volunteer. He served the Stanford GSB as class agent, mentor to students, and admissions interviewer, and he and Julie received the Governors’ Award from Stanford Associates in 2012 in recognition of their longtime volunteering. In October 2012, TheatreWorks honored him and Julie for their many years of volunteer efforts. He was also active at St. Raymond’s Church in Menlo Park, where he served on the Parish Council from 2001 to 2007.

After his cancer diagnosis in February 2011, he was asked to join the Patient Advisory Council at Stanford Medical Center. In addition, he derived great satisfaction from advising pancreatic cancer patients, locally and around the country.

He was especially loved for his humility, his self-deprecating humor, his fondness for playing tennis and shopping at Costco, and his unusually strong attachment to the ‘88 Camry he drove for more than 20 years. He surprised himself by his love of travel to all parts of the world, after having spent his entire childhood within 30 miles of home.

He is survived by his wife, Julie; sons, Jamie (Erin Ebbel Niemasik) and Thomas; and brothers, William and Joseph.

Emma Bakes, MD, PhD, died of metastatic breast cancer during her senior year at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Bakes was an accomplished astrophysicist who worked at NASA for 10 years prior to entering medical school. In addition to her academic and professional accomplishments, Dr. Bakes’ dedicated much of her time to various community and volunteer services. Her selfless example inspired the altruistic efforts of countless others, and because of her, some of them have entered into the fields of science and medicine. In recognition of her contributions and accomplishments Stanford University and the School of Medicine conferred her Medical Doctorate posthumously with compassion and kindness during Commencement 2011.

Dr. Bakes represented the best of what we can be and to keep her inspirational flame ever lit, especially for those in the medical profession, her partner, Dr. Donald Mendoza and I – one of her former teachers at Stanford -- are asking those interested in the service of others to honor and follow her example by contributing to the Campaign for Stanford Medical Center in her memory.

Simply designate Dr. Bakes’ name on your check or add an explanatory note to your donation.

Fifty percent of the funds contributed in Dr. Bakes’ memory will be targeted for breast cancer research; the other 50% will go towards the medicaleducation fund of the School of Medicine.

Thank you.

Elliott Wolfe, MD, FACP

Arrowsmith Foundation

Marilyn J. (“Bobbie”) Woods Marilyn Jeanné Woods of Granite Bay, CA passed away on December 3, 2012, following a year of declining health. She had lived in Menlo Park and Palo Alto from 1947-1992.

“Bobbie” Woods was born on August 24, 1928 in Red Wing, MN to Walter F. Woods and Laura C. Scott. She was the youngest of 4 daughters, predeceased by eldest sister Julia Laub, then by Marguerite Bingham. One sister survives, Nell Woods, 90, of Granite Bay. She also leaves behind her niece, Patrice Bingham Offenhauser, also of Granite Bay, and her beloved great-nephew Joseph Offenhauser, of Eugene, OR. Ms. Woods and her mother and sisters moved from Minnesota to California in 1945. They lived for two in Sacramento, where she attended McClatchy High School, then moved on to their longtime home in Menlo Park, CA. She graduated from Palo Alto High and attended San Jose State before starting work in the medical

profession at Stanford. There she managed a small office of surgeons foover 30 years, then moved in 1992 to Reno NV to join other family members. In 2003 they all moved back to California, this time settling in Granite Bay. Never married, Bobbie lavished her love and attention on her close friends and on her mother, sisters and her niece’s family. She had a soft spot for animals of all types, but especially adored her own dogs and cats, and those of her family. They were all her “children.”

Bobbie was an accomplished artist, and approached all creative projects with beauty and perfection.

She had a sense of sweetness and spiritual optimism that made her a joy to know. Her love of God imbued everything she did.

No services will be held. Donations in Bobbie’s memory may be made to the Placer SPCA in Roseville, Ca. She will be put to rest at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, joining many other relatives already at peace there.

PA I D

OBITUARY

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Pulse

Miscellaneous Coroner case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Disturbing/annoying phone calls. . . . . . .1 Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Info case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Juvenile problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Property for destruction . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Warrant arrest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

POLICE CALLS

Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Possession of paraphernalia. . . . . . . . . .1 Miscellaneous Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Juvenile problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Lost property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Misc. penal code violation . . . . . . . . . . .1 Missing person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Psychiatric hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Suspicious circumstances . . . . . . . . . . .2 Vandalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Warrant/other agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Menlo Park

Atherton

Palo Alto

Dec. 12-18

A weekly compendium of vital statistics

Why Home Care Assistance Is The Leading Provider of 24/7 Live-In Care:

Dec. 12-18 Violence related Attempted robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft related Commercial burglaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Embezzlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle related Abandoned auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . .3 Driving without license . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft from auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .4 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .3 Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Alcohol or drug related Drunk in public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

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Violence related Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Domestic violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft related Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Identity theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Residential burglary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle related Abandoned auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Auto theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Bicycle recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Bicycle theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . .5 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Suspicious vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle accident/minor injury . . . . . . . . .4 Vehicle accident/no injury. . . . . . . . . . . .3 Vehicle accident/property damage. . . . .2 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Alcohol or drug related Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Possession of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Possession of paraphernalia. . . . . . . . . .1

Your donations keep Hope alive

Anything you can do to help makes a difference!

Dec. 12-18 Violence related Assault and battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Theft related Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Grand theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Petty theft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle related Auto recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Driving w/suspended license . . . . . . . . .2 Driving without license . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Hit and run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Misc. traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Parking/driving violation . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Suspicious vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Vehicle accident/no injury. . . . . . . . . . . .5 Vehicle code violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Vehicle impound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Vehicle tow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Alcohol or drug related Drunken driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Under influence of drugs . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Miscellaneous Construction complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Fire call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Found property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Medical aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Outside assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Matched CareGivers

Nine Lives Foundation is a non-profit, no kill cat shelter and we need your HELP in this holiday season! 100% of Nine Lives’ donations goes to funding our shelter, low-cost spay/neuter, and other veterinary services, directly benefitting our animals! Nine Lives Foundation does NOT receive ANY funding from any government agencies so your donations are essential to our success.

Ways to help • Send a check • Donate online via our Nine Lives Foundation website or Facebook page • Purchase items for the cats at the NineLivesFoundation Amazon.com Wish List

Nine Lives Foundation is a 501 c (3) nonprofit organization For questions about donating, contact Carol

cscola@comcast.net

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“There’s no place like home.”

Learn more at Palo Alto Online

❉

❉❉

H A P P Y H O L I D AY S

Dreaming of a green Christmas?

Story and photos

by Carol Blitzer

A touch of glue can turn everyday materials into colorful, creative gift wrapping

C

offee filters? Check.

Old calendars? Check.

Last year’s phone book?

Check.

With just a little glue and ingenuity at the holidays, anyone can turn ordinary household scraps into beautiful gift wrap — and keep more trash from going to the landfill.

Recycled calendars can become bows that resemble roses; coffee filters can become big, puffy chrysanthemums; and thin paper bags can be transformed into frilly bows.

At a recent workshop on “EcoBoxes, Tags, & Wrap,” Monica Lee, a teacher at San Francisco’s SCRAP (Scrounger’s Center for Reusable Art Parts) and artist-inresidence at Ruth’s Table, and Dorothy Yuki, a design and production consultant, shared their ideas for using everyday items to add sparkle to one’s gifts.

A toilet-paper roll, for example, can be folded at each end and decorated with a wallpaper scrap. Voila!

A gift box is born.

The workshop was hosted by FabMo, a Mountain View nonprofit devoted to the creative reuse of de-

signer materials.

Here are some of their ideas.

Chrysanthemum bow Start with six or seven large white coffee filters; fold each circle in half, then again and again. Grasping the point, cut the edges into either rounded shapes or points (think snowflake). Open. Repeat with the other filters.

Place one filter on the table and

dab some glue from a glue stick in the center. Press the second cut filter on top, rotating the cut edges.

Repeat until all layers are glued together. When dry, pouf the bow by lightly crushing the fronds. You can then glue a bead or button in the center.

A book bow A simple bow can be easily created from a 1-inch strip cut from an old book (these can be cut at Office Depot for $1/ cut, Yuki said). Break off a 1/2 inch-deep portion of the book strip at the spine. Then fold each sheet into the spine.

You can alternate and double fold every two or three. When finished, the bow can be fanned out and attached to a package.

To make a rose bow, begin with about an 8-inch square of colorful paper, perhaps taken from last year’s wall calendar. Round out the four edges. Then cut a continuous spiral of about 3/4 inch, starting from the edge (“It doesn’t have to be straight,” Yuki said; in fact it’s better to cut a wavy line.)

Beginning with the outside edge, with the side you want to see on the inside, start rolling tightly, all the while keeping the bottom edge together. When you get to the end, twist the end flat underneath, add a dollop of glue (from the glue gun) and press down.

“A rose petal is never ever, never exact,” Yuki said. And no two “roses” are ever the same. One can cluster a trio in different sizes at the corner of a package and glue in place.

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Gift tags

Paint-strip bow

Rose bow

Gift tags can be made from mat board (or old cereal boxes), with glued-on designs made from torn newspaper or magazines or junk mail. They can be enhanced with bottle caps, stickers or colorful twine.

Paint-strip bow Wondering what to do with all those paint strips you’ve brought home over the years, only to discard? You can create a fan of color

Scrap-paper tree by folding along the white strips between the colors (a “mountain” fold), then folding halfway along each color square in the opposite direction (a “valley” fold). Repeat for a second strip. Then fan each out and glue the ends of the strips together, making a circle (see picture (continued on page 17)

Caminar for Mental Health Mental illness doesn’t discriminate. Stigma does.

Together we can fight the stigma by helping people with mental illness live independently and with dignity.

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Bananas (Ecuador) Portobello Mushrooms (Calif. Grown)

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Shop Miki’s Farm Fresh Market For All Your Grocery Needs Page 16ÊUÊ iVi LiÀÊÓ£]ÊÓä£ÓÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V

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H A P P Y H O L I D AY S

Green Christmas (continued from page 15)

kids. It’ll keep them busy for days,� noted Jonathan Cranch, president of FabMo, who participated in the workshop.

at left). Add a button to the center with hot glue.

Wallpaper ornament

Scrap-paper tree You can create a little Christmas tree, starting by putting a skewer into an old cork. Cut squares of scrap paper in different sizes. Pierce one scrap at a time, pushing each down the skewer, using larger pieces at the bottom and smaller ones as you near the top. Every few pieces, add a folded piece as spacer. “This is a great project for grand-

A quick tree ornament can be made from 3/4-inch strips of wallpaper. Begin by cutting strips in varying lengths: 8 inches, 7.5 inches, 7 inches and 6.5 inches. Make a loop from red string and knot it at one end. Gently fold the shortest strip, capturing the knotted string in the ends. You should have a tear-drop shape. Now fold the other three strips in ascending lengths around the first one, forming four teardrops in one.

Staple the ends together. Now, with

the stapled ends at the top, use your index finger to push down from the inside center of the shortest loop, toward the bottom, lining up all the strips’ loops. From the outside, use your thumb and middle finger to pinch all the loops together into a point (just like at the top of the teardrop) and staple that. Using the red string, hang the ornament from your tree or use it to decorate a gift. N Associate Editor Carol Blitzer can be emailed at cblitzer@ paweekly.com.

On the cover: Brooke Carson and daughter Claire admire the Christmas tree at Lytton Plaza in downtown Palo Alto. Photograph by Veronica Weber.

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H A P P Y H O L I D AY S

The holidays on film Movies that appeal to all sorts of family members

T

he holidays are here, and that can only mean one thing: hours upon hours spent with relatives you barely know. Hopefully you’ll get to hear Uncle Clifford’s hilarious reminiscences about the old days (again) or share some quality bonding time with the cousins.

But what if the family get-together feels less “together” and more, well, awkward? Simple: Let Hollywood save your holiday. Gather everyone in the living room, pop in a DVD, and in two short hours, you’ll all be holding hands ‘round the Christmas tree and singing “Fah who foraze” like Whos down in Whoville.

To help you find just the right movie to help your unique family recall the spirit of the holiday season, Palo Alto Weekly film critics Peter Canavese and Tyler Hanley have selected some of their favorites, from the classics to the not-so-classic.

viewings, so familiar that it practically qualifies as family. — PC

Home Alone (1990) Then-adorable Macaulay Culkin delivers one of Hollywood’s most memorable child performances in the heartwarming and often hilarious “Home Alone.” Actress Emmy Rossum (“The Phantom of the Opera”) recently Tweeted: “At 7, I was in love w/ Macaulay. I’d watch Home Alone over & over. I used to pause the video and go and kiss his virtual face.” Plenty share Rossum’s affinity for the film — for many viewers in their 20s, “Home Alone” is considered the ultimate Christmas flick.

Rambunctious youngster Kevin McCallister (Culkin) is inadvertently left unaccompanied in a large house when his massive, frenzied family rushes out the door while running late for a Christmas vacation to Paris.

Although Kevin initially celebrates his newfound freedom, his enthusiasm is quickly tempered by the introduction of two dim-bulb burglars (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) and their repeated attempts to break in to the house. Meanwhile, Kevin’s distraught mother (Catherine O’Hara) desperately tries to get back to her son, turning to help from a gregarious polka musician (John Candy).

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) No movie says Christmas to me, or David Packard, or most adult Americans like “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Director Frank Capra’s endlessly influential, constantly reinterpreted film became a Christmas classic largely with the advent of television, which made it an annual holiday tradition (so too has the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto, which screens it Christmas Eve on actual celluloid and in glorious black and white).

A funny-sweet-sad emotional roller coaster, “It’s a Wonderful Life” follows the development of George Bailey (James Stewart) from adolescent to family man, his love story with a girl named Mary (Donna Reed), and the misfortune that befalls the Bailey Building and Loan Association and pushes George to the brink of suicide (only to be rescued by an angel named Clarence).

Yes, it’s a movie for the 99 percent, but there are other reasons to occupy Bedford Falls: vibrant characters, great performances (Stewarts’s is one of the great movie-star turns of all time), and that “what if you were never born?” story — adapted from Philip Van Doren Stern’s “The Greatest Gift” — which makes a virtue of unabashed sentiment.

Some call it “Capra-corn,” but most want to return to it again and again. Certainly for me it’s one of those movies indelibly stamped on my psyche from endless childhood

A Christmas Story (1983) Another more recent Christmas classic that’s become a TV tradition is Bob Clark’s comedy “A Christmas Story,” the subject of an annual 24hour broadcast marathon. Though 12 consecutive viewings would be overkill, at least one is mandatory.

Clark’s hilarious, irreverent reclamation of Rockwellian America derives from the comic tales of Jean Shepherd. Set around the turn of the 1940s, “A Christmas Story” could be the ultimate nostalgia movie, charmingly making viewers long for an innocent time most of them didn’t even live through, if it even existed to begin with. Nine-year-old Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) suffers the indignities of youth while being embarrassed by parents (Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon) and longing for the ultimate gift.

Though perhaps most memorable for Dad’s leg lamp, a tongue stuck to an icy pole, and a dangerous BB gun (“You’ll shoot your eye out!”), the secret weapon is Shepherd’s deliciously wry narration, a precursor to TV’s similarly rueful-wistful “The Wonder Years.” (And, having first seen this movie when I was Ralphie’s age, I get nostalgic just thinking about it.) — PC

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

(1966) Somewhat ironically, family is the binding theme in “Home Alone.”

The familial undertone is not a surprise considering the subject is a common one for both screenwriter John Hughes (“The Breakfast Club”) and director Chris Columbus (“Mrs. Doubtfire”). The slapstick that ensues in the picture’s final act — when Kevin cleverly fends off the bumbling crooks — is downright riotous (Stern’s high-pitched screams are inspired). A cornucopia of Christmas tunes (such as Kevin lip-syncing Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”) also helps bring home the holiday spirit. — TH

This animated gem narrated by the incomparable Boris Karloff and directed by legendary cartoon auteur Chuck Jones is a Christmastime “can’t miss.” Dr. Seuss’ unique and imaginative imagery sparkles throughout the 26-minute short that has become a holiday staple for families around the globe.

Based on Seuss’ 1957 children’s book, “Grinch” weaves the tale of a grumpy loner who dwells on a mountain peak above the jubilant town of Whoville. The Grinch bemoans the Whos’ festive Christmas celebrations, making scowling complaints to his pet pooch, Max. One Christmas, the Grinch sneakily snatches all of the Whos’ decorations and gifts, thus putting the

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H A P P Y H O L I D AY S

kibosh on their seasonal bliss (or so he thinks). But the olive-hued curmudgeon has a change of heart (literally) when the Whos prove unfazed by the dearth of presents, instead reveling in the simple joys of song and fellowship.

My wonderful mother does Christmas better than anyone I’ve ever met, for which I am ever grateful. And one of her regular rituals is watching this colorful short with my

brother and me. I still get choked up when the Grinch, desperately clinging to a sleigh full of the Whos’ pilfered goodies, hears the Whos singing down below and finally grasps the true meaning of Christmas.

Messages about fellowship, generosity, sharing and empathy toward others are wrapped nicely in the picture’s narrative. Just what the doctor ordered. — TH

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) I love the Muppets, so the shocking 1990 death of Muppet creator Jim Henson, at age 53, struck a terrible blow. 1992’s “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” then, had more riding on it than the average Christmas movie. Dickens’ heartwarming journey from bitterness to love is emotional enough as it is, but as reinterpreted by the Muppets, it became an unavoidable tearjerker for fans still mourning the loss of Henson and fellow Muppeteer Richard Hunt.

Directed by Henson’s son Brian, the film casts Kermit the Frog (Steve Whitmire) and Miss Piggy (Frank Oz) as the Cratchits, Gonzo (Dave Goelz) as narrator Charles Dickens, and Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge. Paul Williams,

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who with Kenny Ascher penned the tunes for “The Muppet Movie,” contributes seven lovely new songs, and beloved Muppet screenwriter Jerry Juhl crafts a surprisingly faithful adaptation, even while striking comedy gold with the double-act of Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat (also Whitmire).

Add Caine’s powerful perfor-

mance — good enough to carry a straight, human retelling of “A Christmas Carol” — and you get a heartwarming family film with serious replay value. With “The Muppets” now in DVD, there’s no better time to dig into the Muppet catalog, and no film more seasonally appropriate than “The Muppet Chistmas Carol.” — PC

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Last Year’s Grant Recipients 10 Books A Home .......................................$5,000 Able Works..................................................$5,000 Adolescent Counseling Services ..........$10,000 Art in Action ................................................$5,000 Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula........7,500 Break Through the Static..........................$2,500 Breast Cancer Connections .....................$5,000 Canopy .........................................................$3,000 CASSY ........................................................$15,000 Children’s Center of the Stanford Community ..................................$4,000 Cleo Eulau Center.......................................$5,000 Collective Roots .........................................$7,500 Downtown Streets Team ........................$15,000 DreamCatchers ........................................$15,000 East Palo Alto Center for Community Media ................................$3,000 East Palo Alto Charter School .................$7,500 East Palo Alto Children’s Day ..................$5,000 East Palo Alto Kids Foundation ................$5,000 East Palo Alto Youth Court ........................$3,000 Environmental Volunteers ........................$3,000 Family Connections....................................$7,500 Foothill College Book Program ................$5,000 Foundation for a College Education ........$7,500 Hidden Villa .................................................$5,000 InnVision ......................................................$7,500 JLS Middle School ....................................$5,000 Jordan Middle School ..............................$5,000 Kara ............................................................$15,000 Mayview Community Health Center .....$10,000 Midpeninsula Community Media Center.........$5,000 Music in the Schools Foundation ............$5,000 My New Red Shoes ...................................$3,000 New Creation Home Ministries ...............$5,000 Nuestra Casa ..............................................$5,000 Pacific Art League .....................................$2,500 Palo Alto Art Center Foundation ..............$5,000 Palo Alto Community Child Care ..............$6,500 Palo Alto Council of PTAs .........................$2,128 Palo Alto High School Get Involved!.......$1,500 Palo Alto Housing Corporation ................$5,000 Palo Alto Library Foundation ..................$17,500 Palo Alto Youth Collaborative.................$10,000 Peninsula Bridge Program .......................$5,000 Peninsula Youth Theatre ...........................$3,000 Project Safety Net....................................$20,000 Project WeH.O.P.E. .....................................$7,500 Quest Learning Center ..............................$5,000 Ravenswood Education Foundation .......$5,000 Silicon Valley FACES..................................$7,500 South Palo Alto Food Closet .....................$1,000 St. Francis of Assisi Youth Club ...............$5,000 St. Vincent de Paul.....................................$6,000 TEDxGunnHighSchool ...............................$2,000 TheatreWorks .............................................$5,000 Youth Community Service .......................$10,000

Support our Kids with a gift to the Holiday Fund.

E

ach year the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund raises money to support programs serving families and children in the Palo Alto area. Since the Weekly and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation cover all the administrative costs, every dollar raised goes directly to support community programs through grants to non-profit organizations ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.

And with the generous support of matching grants from local foundations, including the Packard and Hewlett foundations, your tax-deductible gift will be doubled in size. A donation of $100 turns into $200 with the foundation matching gifts.

Whether as an individual, a business or in honor of someone else, help us reach our goal of $350,000 by making a generous contribution to the Holiday Fund.

With your generosity, we can give a major boost to the programs in our community helping kids and families.

Give to the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund and your donation is doubled. You give to non-profit groups that work right here in our community. It’s a great way to ensure that your charitable donations are working at home.

CLICK AN D GIVE

Donate online at siliconvalleycf.org/paw-holiday-fund

Enclosed is a donation of $_______________ Name __________________________________________________ Business Name _________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________ City/State/Zip ___________________________________________

Please Make checks payable to: Silicon Valley Community Foundation and send to: Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund c/o Silicon Valley Community Foundation 2440 W. El Camino Real, Suite 300 Mountain View, CA 94040

E-Mail __________________________________________________ Phone ______________

Q Credit Card (MC, VISA, or AMEX) ___________________________________________ Expires _______/_______ Signature _______________________________________________________ I wish to designate my contribution as follows: (select one)

Non-profits: Grant application and guidelines at www.PaloAltoOnline.com/holidayfund

Q In my name as shown above – OR –

Q In name of business above:

Q In honor of:

Q In memory of:

Q As a gift for:

________________________________________________ (Name of person) For information on making contributions of appreciated stock, contact Bill Johnson at (650) 326-8210.

The Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund is a donor advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. A contribution to this fund allows your donation to be tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

All donors and gifts amounts will be published in the Palo Alto Weekly unless the boxes below are checked.

Q I wish to contribute anonymously.

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Q Please withhold the amount of my contribution.

264 donors through Dec. 14 totalling $86,589; with match $173,178 has been raised for the Holiday Fund 21 Anonymous ...................................... 3,839

Newly Received Donations Gil and Gail Woolley ............................... 400 Michael Kieschnick .............................. 1,000 Betty Gerard ............................................. 100 Jay Crosson and Sharon Levine ............... 200 Anne and Greg Avis ................................... ** Rae Cole ................................................... 100 Frances and Ted Jenkins ............................ 50 Tom and Pat Sanders .................................. ** Zelda Jury................................................... ** David F. Labaree ...................................... 150 Claude Madden .......................................... ** Daniel and Lynne Russell ........................ 250 Carol Kersten and Markus Aschwanden .. 250 John and Lynn Wiese ............................... 100 Lori and Hal Luft ..................................... 100 Steve and Mary Chapel ............................ 200 Ludwig and Carol Tannenwald .................. **

In Memory Of Nate Rosenberg ........................................ 100 August L. King........................................... ** Paul Wythes.............................................. 500

In Honor Of Sandy Sloan ............................................. 100

Previously Published Donors The Edward Lund Family ........................ 100 John and Olive Borgsteadt ......................... ** Gerry Gilchrist ........................................... 30 Dexter and Jean Dawes .............................. ** Don and Bonnie Miller .............................. ** George Cator ............................................ 250 John Tang and Jean Hsia ............................ ** Tish Hoehl ................................................ 100 Micki and Bob Cardelli.............................. ** Art and Peggy Stauffer ............................. 500 Lani Freeman and Stephen Monismith ...... 50 Steve and Nancy Levy................................ ** Jim and Nancy Baer ................................... ** Janice Bohman and Eric Keller................ 250 Martha Shirk ............................................ 500 Robert and Betsy Gamburd ........................ ** Helene Pier ................................................. ** Susie Richardson...................................... 250 Marlene and Joe Prendergast ..................... ** John and Thelma Smith ........................... 150 Harry Press ............................................... 100 Morgan Family Fund ............................ 5,000 Powar Family Fund .................................. 500 Richard A. Baumgartner and Elizabeth M. Salzer ............................. ** Tony and Judy Kramer ............................... ** Judith and Hans Steiner ............................. ** Brigid S. Barton ....................................... 200 Sallie I. Brown ........................................... ** Rich Cabrera .............................................. ** Don and Ann Rothblatt .............................. ** Dr. Richard Mazze ................................... 200 Neta Miller ............................................... 100 Romola and Mark Georgia......................... ** Roger Lau................................................... 50 Carol Cleary-Schultz.................................. 50 Katharine Esslinger .................................. 100

Deborah Ruskin ....................................... 200 Theresa Carey .......................................... 250 Russell and Alice Evarts .......................... 300 Skyles Runser........................................... 500 Michael and Lenore Roberts .................... 100 Meri Gruber and James Taylor................... ** John and Florine Galen .............................. ** Les Morris ................................................ 250 Virginia E. Fehrenbacher ......................... 100 Bonnie Berg RN ......................................... ** David and Nancy Kalkbrenner ................... ** Matt and Donna James ............................... ** Harry and Susan Hartzell ........................... ** Margaret Fisher .......................................... 50 Mike and Cathie Foster ............................ 500 Nanette Stringer ....................................... 250 Nancy and Norman Rossen ...................... 100 Ruth and Ben Hammett............................ 200 Ellen and Tom Wyman ............................. 250 William E. Reller .................................. 1,000 John and Michele McNellis ............... 10,000 Ron and Elaine Andrews.......................... 500 Susie and Matt Glickman ......................... 250 Caroline Hicks and Bert Fingerhut .......... 100 Eric and Elaine Hahn ............................ 1,000 Jean-Yves Bouguet .................................. 100 Scott and Kathy Schroeder......................... ** Lucy Berman ......................................... 1,500 Karen and Steve Ross ................................ ** John and Mary Schaefer........................... 100 Caroline and Richard Brennan ................... ** Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bonini...................... 50 Freddy and Jan Gabus ................................ ** Ted Wassam ............................................... 50 Barbara Klein and Stan Schrier.................. ** Edward Kanazawa...................................... ** Eugene and Mabel Dong.......................... 200 Penny and Greg Gallo .............................. 500 Eve and John Melton ............................... 500 Nancy and Joe Huber ............................... 100 Larry Baer and Stephanie Klein ................. ** Bill Johnson and Terri Lobdell ................ 500 Peter S. Stern.............................................. ** Leif and Sharon Erickson......................... 250 Luca and Mary Cafiero .............................. ** Denise Savoie and Darrell Duffie .............. ** Faith Braff ................................................ 500 Tom and Neva Cotter ............................ 2,000 Patricia Levin ........................................... 100 Richard Kilner............................................ ** Bob and Corrine Aulgur............................. ** Roy and Carol Blitzer ................................ ** Linda and Steve Boxer ............................... ** Ted and Ginny Chu .................................... ** David and Virginia Pollard ...................... 300 Debbie Ford-Scriba & Jim Scriba .............. ** Diane Moore .............................................. ** Harriet and Gerry Berner ........................... ** John and Susan Thomas ............................. ** Marc and Ragni Pasturel .......................... 200 Margot Goodman ....................................... ** Beth and Peter Rosenthal ......................... 300 Don and Jacquie Rush.............................. 200 Mark and Virginia Kreutzer ....................... 75 Mary Houlihan ......................................... 100 Sally Dudley............................................. 200 Adrienne Dong ......................................... 100

Ann M. Pine ............................................. 100 Craig and Sally Nordlund ........................ 500 Drew McCalley & Marilyn Green ........... 100 Joseph and Diane Rolfe ........................... 100 Richard A. Zuanich .................................. 100 Arthur and Helena Kraemer ..................... 100 Bobbie and Jerry Wagger ........................... ** Leonard Leving .......................................... ** Robyn H. Crumly ....................................... ** Sue Kemp ................................................. 250 Andrea B. Smith....................................... 100 Katherine Bass ......................................... 100 Tatyana Berezin........................................ 100 Gwen Luce ................................................. ** Roger Warnke .......................................... 300 Alice Smith .............................................. 100 Boyce and Peggy Nute ............................... ** Richard Morris ........................................... ** Scott Wong ............................................... 200 Tom and Ellen Ehrlich ............................... ** Barbara Berry ........................................... 100 The Havern Family ............................... 4,000 Solon Finkelstein ..................................... 250 Walter and Kay Hays .............................. 100 Hal and Iris Korol ...................................... ** Ferrell and Page Sanders .......................... 100 Lynn H. Drake .......................................... 100 Owen Vannatta ...................................... 2,500 Arden King................................................. 20 Bruce F. Campbell................................. 1,000 George and Betsy Young............................ ** Doug and Barbara Spreng .......................... ** Andy and Liz Coe .................................... 100 Dena Goldberg ......................................... 100 Jim and Alma Phillips .............................. 250 John and Lee Pierce ................................... ** Andy and Joyce Nelsen .............................. ** Karen Latchfor ........................................... 50 Mary Lorey ................................................ ** Michael and Nancy Hall ....................... 1,000 Patti Yanklowitz and Mark Krasnow ....... 200 Phil Hanawalt and Graciela Spivak.......... 500 Kathy and Steve Terry ................................ ** Arna and Hersh Shefrin ............................. ** Marc and Margaret Cohen ....................... 100 Michael and Jean Couch .......................... 200 Kroymann Family .................................... 250 Mandy Lowell ............................................ ** Julie and Jon Jerome .................................. ** Jody Maxim ............................................... ** Josephine B. Spitzer ................................. 150 Rick and Eileen Brooks ............................. ** Maria Gault ................................................ 40 Debbie Mytels ............................................ 50 Marcia Katz.............................................. 200 Bob and Edith Kirkwood ........................... ** Jerry and Linda Elkind ............................. 250 Adele and Don Langendorf ...................... 200 Susan and Doug Woodman ........................ ** Larry Breed .............................................. 100 Dr. Teresa L. Roberts ............................ 1,000

John Smitham........................................... 100 Ryan ........................................................... ** William Settle .......................................... 500 Steve Fasani ............................................. 100 Florence Kan Ho ........................................ ** Ro Dinkey .................................................. 35 Our Dad Al Pellizzari................................. ** Marie and Don Snow ............................... 100 Leonard W. Ely Jr..................................... 250 Leo Breidenbach ........................................ ** Thomas W. and Louise L. Phinney ............ ** Helene Klein .............................................. ** Carolyn Reller ............................................ ** Carol Berkowitz ......................................... ** Al and Kay Nelson ..................................... ** The Kurland Family and Samuel Benjamin Kurland ....................... 300 A.L. and L.K. Brown ............................... 100 Dorothy Horton .......................................... ** Alan Herrick............................................... 50 Ernest J. Moore .......................................... ** Bert Page .................................................. 100 Isabel Mulcahy ........................................... ** Yen-Chen Yen .......................................... 250 Mae and Al Kenrick .............................. 1,000 Al Bernal and John Warren ........................ 50 Mary Floyd................................................. ** Betty Meltzer ............................................. ** William Kiely ........................................... 100 Ruth & Chet Johnson ................................. ** Robert Lobdell ........................................... ** Gary Fazzino .............................................. ** Dr. Thomas McDonald............................. 500 Bertha Kalson............................................. ** Bob Donald ................................................ ** Gary Fazzino ............................................ 100

In honor of Marilyn Sutorius ...................................... 150 Jack Sutorius ............................................ 150 Dr. Kenneth Weigel Stanford Animal Hospital ....................................... 100 Lady Vikes Waterpolo ................................ 50

Businesses & Organizations Zane MacGregor ........................................ ** deLemos Properties.................................. 200 Alta Mesa Improvement Company ....... 1,000 Crescent Capital Mortgage ........................ ** “No Limit” Drag Racing Team .................. 25 Harrell Remodeling, Inc............................. ** Thoits Bros. Insurance ........................ 10,000 Carl King, Mortgage Broker .................... 250 Attorney Susan Dondershine ................... 200

In memory of Helene F. Klein .......................................... ** David Zlotnick MD .................................... ** Jim Byrnes ............................................... 300 Audrey Bernfield ...................................... 200

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Arts & Entertainment A weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace

D

on’t call it “mixed-media.” This sculpture by Ryan Carrington is screws in plywood, plain and simple as it is intricate.

Carrington bought each screw off the shelf at Home Depot, all 6,892 of them, and installed them in a big piece of wood to create a painstaking plaid pattern.

Nothing pre-painted, nothing computer-generated. Just art by hand.

With screws and plywood, electrical wire and hard hats, and the occasional snow blower (he is from Wisconsin, after all), Carrington often uses art to pay homage to people who work with their hands. “It honors their perseverance and loyalty in taking unglamorous jobs seriously and executing them with both incredible precision and an artistic touch,” he wrote in an artist’s statement.

In “Heavy Routine,” one of Carrington’s sculptures on exhibit at the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View, a cast-iron hard hat crowns a pile of sand bags, arranged neatly with cast-iron work gloves and a sledgehammer. Nearby, he’s made more plaids on plywood, using a carpenter’s tool called a chalk snap-line. When you pull a string taut and snap it, it lays down a line of chalk.

“Those plaids essentially are tens of thousands of snaps with this tool,” Carrington said. “There’s a nice parallel to the repetitive motion of creating the drawings and the repetitive motion of manual labor.”

In a way, Carrington’s art has brought him full circle into the family trade. As he puts it, “I come from a landscaping family” near Madison, where he worked in his brother’s landscaping business. He’s also been a construction worker and a maintenance man.

“I’ve always had a background working with my hands,” he said. “I feel like there’s a relationship between sculpture and work ethic.”

His brother, Carrington said, appreciates the tribute. “He is a quiet man, but I know that he is really proud to have had such a huge influence on me and my art,” the artist Above: The two old men of Steve said. When Carrington had his MFA show at San Jose Davis’ “Time Piece” face off at Mohr State University last year, his brother surprised him by Gallery, while the eerie realistic flying out to see it.

“Bianca on Her Sister’s Birthday” The current CSMA show, “Social Observations,” is a peeks around a corner behind them. two-artist exhibition that also features fellow sculptor Left: “A Line in the Sand” by Davis.

Steve Davis. In a way, Carrington and Davis have been on Below: Ryan Carrington’s “Heavy parallel paths. They both have master’s degrees in fine art Routine.” from San Jose State, where they work at the university’s foundry. Both teach at CSMA, and earlier this year they teamed up on a sculptural public-art commission called “Children at Play” at San Jose’s Guadalupe Park.

The two artists, though, have very different voices.

While the tone of Carrington’s work is often earnest and

VISIONS IN

by Rebecca Wallace | photographs by André Zandona

ARTISTS SEE THE WORLD IN WEIGHTY MEDIA: BRONZE, SCREWS AND ALUMINUM

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Arts & Entertainment

Above: Gallery visitors get a closer look at the 6,892 screws in one of the plywood panels in Ryan Carrington’s series of plaids. Below: Artist Steve Davis covers one of his small bronze sculptures. Behind him is one of Carrington’s plaids, made in chalk snap-line.

straightforward, Davis enjoys walking on the edgy side.

He’s the type of artist who might sculpt a clown shooting a mime with a “BANG!” prop gun. Oh, wait. He actually did.

“Turf War” is the name of that small bronze. In the CSMA show it keeps company with another painted bronze clown, this one laying his head on a desk. The latter piece is called “Pressures of a Useless Career.”

The mix of darkness and humor might echo Davis’ early efforts to find his artistic voice. “I was trying to make work that was really heavy-hearted, and trying to change the world,” he said. “Then one day I just came to my own conclusions: This isn’t fun. It’s kind of depressing me.”

Interestingly, “Turf War” is fairly literal in its inspiration. It illustrates a quirky story that one of Davis’ instructors once told him. “He said, ‘I used to live in New Orleans and our neighbor was a clown and he was drunk all the time. One day, as I was coming down, he and a mime were in a fistfight on a corner over whose corner it was.’”

As Davis was working on the sculpture, he was just finishing graduate school. He also started thinking about how academics are always in a “turf war” for funding, space, approval. “Somehow the two ideas converged.”

Davis often tries out his metallic ideas first in smaller sculptures because the materials are so expensive; a lifesize casting can be $1,000. Large sculptures are also heavy and take up a lot of space. “I have a small studio apartment, and every one of these I make I have a new roommate,” he said.

One work in the CSMA show that is full-sized is

“Bianca On Her Sister’s Birthday,” a creepily compelling sculpture of what’s obviously a very unhappy little girl.

She peers around a gallery corner, her gold party hat askew, clutching a length of chain. Made of aluminum and found objects, “Bianca” is an adaptation of a sweet figurative sculpture that Davis and Carrington put in their Guadalupe Park piece.

“My work is a little more dark and twisted than anything that would go in the public,” Davis said. “I think she’s upset that it’s her sister’s birthday and it’s not about her today. Maybe she’s going to chain her parents’ car to the refrigerator, and when they pull out it’ll pull the house down.”

Besides enjoying the dark side, Davis good-naturedly admits to a love for fire. Working at the foundry is a joy for him. “I get to be a big kid. I get to make controlled fires and explosions, and do things that are way too dangerous to do.”

As young artists, Carrington and Davis are both coming to terms with the varied responses that viewers can offer. Both have gotten a lot of positive feedback on their art. Not everyone gets Davis’ dark humor, though. “I get a lot of puzzled looks,” he said, adding, “That means somebody’s at least thinking about it.”

In Carrington’s case, some people have responded to his sculptures by defending how hard white-collar people also work. He agreed that they had a point, and began a series with a necktie motif. At CSMA, “White-Collar Pop” mixes various working worlds, with a necktie made from styrofoam and Department of Transportation reflective tape.

“I decided that it wasn’t necessarily by intention to be exclusive,” he said. “It became important to me to also respect the hard work that can happen behind a computer screen.”

In January, Carrington plans to show another piece at Palo Alto’s New Coast Studios (formerly Fibre Arts Design Studio) that will take the necktie theme into edgier new territory. Called “Middle Management,” the work is composed of a pitchfork stabbed into a mound of 300 ties. Blue collar meets white collar in a changing world where labor is being sent overseas and fewer people are working on farms.

The piece will be part of the January group exhibit called “Transformation.” Carrington thinks the theme is apropos for his installation. “It’s not hay; it’s been transformed into neckties. At the same time, this is the transformation of America’s attitudes.” N What: “Social Observations,” an exhibit of works by Ryan Carrington and Steve Davis Where: Mohr Gallery, Community School of Music and Arts, 230 San Antonio Circle, Mountain View When: Through Jan. 27. The gallery is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 to 3.

Cost: Admission is free.

Info: Go to arts4all.org or call 650-917-6800, extension 305.

Inspirations a guide to the spiritual community FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC £ nxÊ Õ ÃÊ, >`]Ê*> Ê Ì ÊUÊ­Èxä®ÊnxÈ ÈÈÈÓÊUÊÜÜÜ°vVV«>° À}Ê

Sunday Worship and Church School at 10 a.m.

Advent Vespers at 5:00 p.m.

This Sunday: Christmas Festival Service Led by our Chancel Choir, Children’s Choir and the Oxford Street Brass Christmas Eve, December 24th: Family Services at 3:30 & 5:00 p.m.

Candlelight Service at 10:00 p.m.

Inspirations is a resource for ongoing religious services and special events. To inquire about or to reserve space in Inspirations, please contact Blanca Yoc at 223-6596 or email byoc@paweekly.com

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Eating Out RESTAURANT REVIEW

Third time’s a charm

by Dale F. Bentson ood things come in threes.

There are now three Scott’s Seafood restaurants in the area, in Palo Alto, San Jose and Mountain View. Three brothers, German, Alex and Raymon Nava, are the head chefs at each of the restaurants. This is my third time reviewing a Scott’s restaurant and each time the experience has been better.

Formerly the Cantankerous Fish, the Castro Street restaurant segued to Scott’s after a facelift earlier this year. The open floor plan is bright and contemporary with a dark tile floor, comfortable tables and chairs, and a banquette that separates the bar area from the dining room.

There is patio dining, weather permitting, and service, on each of

G

my visits, was top-notch. Marc Buhagiar is general manager.

For starters, the Dungeness crab cakes ($15) tasted of fresh crab and not fillers. Crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, two thick cakes had been artfully arranged on a square plate astride a portion of house-made coleslaw topped with squiggles of remoulade sauce.

The crab cakes served as my litmus test. Crab is in season and if the restaurant wasn’t using fresh, local crab, I would have likely dismissed Scott’s as nothing more than another growing chain. It passed with flying colors.

The mound of fried calamari ($9) was also fresh, tender and perfectly deep-fried. This dish was accompanied by a perky lemon-butter sauce and a cocktail sauce that was fine

but would have been livelier with a spoonful of horseradish.

The requisite clam chowder (cup $4, bowl $6), New England style, was thick with cream and loaded with clams. It was what I expected and I wasn’t disappointed.

Main courses equaled starters.

The barely seared sesame-crusted ahi tuna ($25) was delicious. Three large wedges of sashimi-grade ahi were firm and odorless, a luxury in the mouth. Scallions, ginger rice and baby bok choy completed the dish, which was dappled with a barely sweet soy glaze.

The ample portion of chive-crusted rainbow trout ($21) came with spinach, mashed potatoes, mushrooms and Dungeness crab under a sheer caper-butter sauce. Again, the fish was fresh-tasting and clean

DINNER BY THE MOVIES AT SHORELINE’S

Cucina Venti

ations

reserv epting

able l i a v a ng cateri c Now ac

Michelle Le

Now a three-restaurant local chain, the expanding Scott’s Seafood keeps getting better and better

The Scott’s Seafood chive-crusted rainbow trout with spinach, mashed potatoes, mushrooms and crab, covered in caper-butter sauce. in the mouth, and didn’t linger on the palate.

My only nitpick was with the prawns over wild mushroom ravioli ($21). The ravioli were perfectly cooked with a hint of earthiness, and the tomato concasse (peeled, seeded and chopped tomato) was a great addition. The lobster sauce and thyme added richness and color

to the dish. The prawns, however, were slightly overcooked, which made them too chewy. It’s difficult to get them just right, and these were a scoch off. Also, the out-of-season asparagus added some crunch but little more.

Desserts, excepting ice cream, were all house-made and worth (continued on next page)

Scaloppine divitello al Marsala The town of Marsala is a seaport city located in the Province of Trapani on the island of Sicily in Italy. The low coast on which it is situated is the westernmost point of the island. It is best known as the source of Marsala wine. Chicken Marsala is an ancient dish made with this wonderful wine. So great was thought the power of this wine, a Greek warlord even believed his men fought with more fl air by drinking a little before battle. But it was the English who settled in Sicily in the early 1800’s who are credited with “upgrading” the dish with the use of veal.

It is our distinct pleasure to offer Scaloppine di vitello al Marsala as this week’s special dish.

Bon appetito! Chef Marco Salvi SCALOPPINE DIVITELLO AL MARSALA s POUND VEAL MEDALLIONS s TABLESPOONS OLIVE OIL s !LL PURPOSE m OUR s 3ALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE s LARGE SHALLOT MINCED

s POUND FRESH BUTTON MUSHROOMS

sliced s CUP DRY -ARSALA WINE s CLOVE GARLIC CHOPPED s TABLESPOON BUTTER

Preparation: Add 2 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly season the veal with salt and pepper coat each medallion in fl our, shaking to remove excess fl our. Place in the heated skillet until golden brown on each side, about 5 minutes. Remove medallions from the skillet, place in a baking dish covered with foil, and keep warm in the preheated oven until ready to serve.

1390 Pear Ave., Mountain View (650) 254-1120 www.cucinaventi.com

Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday

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Heat the remaining olive oil in the skillet over medium low heat, and sauté the shallot, garlic and mushrooms, scraping up any browned bits, until shallots are tender. Increase heat to medium high, and stir in the Marsala.

Cook and stir until thickened. Remove from heat, and whisk in the butter until melted. Pour sauce over the veal and serve with a wedge of lemon.

Serves 4

Eating Out

Home Sweet Home.

Michelle Le

Michelle Le

Who says you have to leave your home just because you’ve gotten older? Avenidas Village can help you stay in the home you love.

Left: The Scott’s sorbet sampler (tangerine, coconut, blood orange). Right: Lunchtime customers at the restaurant. (continued from previous page)

saving room for. The Classic Scott’s Raspberry Jack ($8) was triple secinfused raspberry sauce with ice cream and whipped cream served in an oversized cocktail glass.

The rich New York-style pumpkin cheesecake ($8) had an Oreoand-graham cracker crust. Generous portion. Happily, the chocolate sauce was dribbled beneath and on one side of the cheesecake and not drowning it. The dollop of whipped cream was also on the side. Perfect presentation. The key lime pie ($8) was creamy and slightly puckery.

Came with a spoonful of delicious poached berries that might have been even better than the pie.

The wine list paired well with the menu. Prices were okay, I suppose, given that wine-by-the-glass

prices are out of control everywhere. Better bet is buying a full bottle and taking what you don’t drink home. A bar-bites menu is available during daily happy hour, Scott’s Seafood, 420 Castro St., Mountain View; 650-966-8124; scottsseafoodmv.com Hours: Weekdays 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 4:30-10 p.m.

Reservations

Outdoor dining

Private parties

Credit cards Lot Parking

Alcohol Children Catering Takeout

featuring lamb, pork and salmon sliders and other options.

Scott’s has upped the ante on Castro Street with well-prepared food, good libations, adept service and an appealing decor. If Scott’s is planning additional locations, well, that might depend on the availability of more Nava brothers to run the kitchens. N

Join us for an Open House on Dec. 27, 10 am or Jan. 24, 2 pm.

RSVP 289-5400 (650)(650) 289-5405 www.avenidasvillage.org

Your life, your way, in your home

PENINSULA

Noise level: Low Bathroom cleanliness: Excellent

MENLO PARK MONGOLIAN BBQ Sister of Su’s Mongolian BBQ

Discover the best places to eat this week!

AMERICAN

CHINESE

Armadillo Willy’s

Chef Chu’s

941-2922 1031 N. San Antonio Road, Los Altos www.armadillowillys.com

948-2696 1067 N. San Antonio Road www.chefchu.com

The Old Pro

Ming’s

326-1446 541 Ramona Street, Palo Alto www.oldpropa.com

856-7700 1700 Embarcadero East, Palo Alto www.mings.com

STEAKHOUSE

New Tung Kee Noodle House

Sundance the Steakhouse

947-8888 520 Showers Drive, Mountain View www.shopmountainview.com/luunoodlemv

321-6798 1921 El Camino Real, Palo Alto www.sundancethesteakhouse.com

INDIAN

Janta Indian Restaurant

MP Mongolian BBQ serves up an all-you-can-eat buffet style meal.

FOR LUNCH s FOR DINNER (Includes noodles, meats, shrimp, vegetables, and sauces.)

Also Available: Wonton chips, veggie spring rolls, chicken katsu, sweet and sour pork, fried rice, and sesame biscuits.

Monday - Saturday AM PM s PM PM 700 El Camino Real, Suite 170 (next to BevMo) -ENLO 0ARK #!

Read and post reviews, explore restaurant menus, get hours and directions and more at ShopPaloAlto, ShopMenloPark and ShopMountainView

462-5903 369 Lytton Ave. www.jantaindianrestaurant.com

Thaiphoon 323-7700 543 Emerson Ave, Palo Alto www.ThaiphoonRestaurant.com

powered by

(650) 853-1118 facebook.com/mp.mongolian ĂœĂœĂœÂ°*>Â?Âœ Â?ĂŒÂœ"˜Â?ˆ˜i°VÂœÂ“ĂŠUĂŠ*>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?ÞÊUĂŠ iVi“LiÀÊÓ£]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 25

Movies OPENINGS

Jack Reacher --1/2

(Century 16, Century 20) Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, movies like “Jack Reacher� were Paramount Pictures’ dime-a-dozen stock-intrade. One couldn’t throw a rock without hitting an airport-novel adaptation like “Kiss the Girls� or “The General’s Daughter,� with a moody detective investigating a salacious crime.

Paramount puts itself back in the game by doubling down on resurgent star Tom Cruise, who plays Jack Reacher, firmly established as the stoical tough-guy hero of 17 novels by British writer Lee Child.

Child’s fans complained loudly that the compact actor was the wrong type to embody their hulking hero,

but never bet against Cruise. With the fancy new credit “A Tom Cruise Production� on his side, Cruise again proves to be the hardestworking man in showbiz.

As such, “Jack Reacher� is a savvy franchise bid, with Oscar-winning writer Christopher McQuarrie doing double duty as screenwriter and director. He lends an unearned veneer of intelligence to otherwise dopey material (a feat McQuarrie has signed to repeat for Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible 5�), layering in some snappy dialogue, sleek suspense sequences and punchy action to distract from a plot one character aptly describes as “grassy-knoll ludicrous.�

That reference and talk of a “patsy� mark the movie as catnip

for conspiracy fans. As adapted from the ninth Reacher novel, “One Shot,� the picture begins with a gripping sniper set piece running into a wordless montage that ends with a fishy suspect in Pittsburgh P.D. custody.

The suspect’s only communication: “Get Jack Reacher.� Before you can say, well, Jack Reacher, the preternaturally confident former “Army cop� makes the scene and, on reflection, reluctantly agrees to serve as the investigator for public defender Helen Rodin (drippy Rosamund Pike of “Die Another Day�).

Don’t worry: Reacher’s no joiner. As played by Cruise in a not-unskilled but largely generic action-hero performance, Reacher is a hard-bitten man with no patience for fools or, as he puts it, “I’m not a hero.

I’m a drifter with nothing to lose.� And golly, all the women love him. There’s not a gal who meets him — Rodin included — who doesn’t swoon at his manliness. Though that dog don’t exactly hunt, the plot does lead to a gun range, where Reacher befriends its elderly manly-man proprietor, played by in-demand

Peninsula Christmas Services CHRISTMAS at FIRST LUTHERAN 600 Homer Avenue, Palo Alto | 650-322-4669 www.flcpa.org Pastor P. Kempton Segerhammar

December 24, 5:00 p.m. | Family Service

First Lutheran children dramatize the Christmas story Carols and Holy Communion

December 24, 10:00 p.m. | Pre-service Music The Christmas Story by Heinrich SchĂźtz

10:30 p.m. | Candlelight Service

Katherine McKee, Choir Director | Jin Kyung Lim, Organist December 25, 10:30 a.m. | Worship | Holy Communion Lessons and Carols for Christmas | Jin Kyung Lim, Organist All services include congregational singing of traditional carols

chucklin’ ol’ toughie Robert Duvall.

Since Helen is also the D.A.’s daughter (may I remind you? airport novel), suggestions of highreaching political conspiracy hit home. Could her father (Richard Jenkins), or perhaps top-cop Emerson (David Oyelowo), be involved with the sinister Russian puttering around in the shadows? And could we be more excited that the sinister Russian is played by ever-insinuating Euro-weirdo Werner Herzog?

Look, “Jack Reacher� is by no means a good film. It’s not even a particularly good movie. But the thing does have two fistfights, a car chase and a shootout. So if you’re on the run from three-hour awardsseason dramas, “Jack Reacher� may fill the bill.

Rated PG-13 for violence, language and drug material. Two hours, 10 minutes. — Peter Canavese

This is 40 --1/2

(Century 16, Century 20) There’s hubris in the title of writer-director Judd Apatow’s latest dramedy: “This is 40.� No movie is liable to live up to such a pronouncement, much less this one, which presumes 40 is an upper-middle-class dysfunctional marriage with kids.

Okay, so the title’s perhaps not such a great idea. But the movie itself mostly succeeds on its own merits, if you can get on Apatow’s idiosyncratic neurotic wavelength. Billed as a “sort-of sequel to ‘Knocked Up,’� the film checks back in with married couple Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann), their 13-year-old Sadie (Maude Apatow) and their 8-yearold Charlotte (Iris Apatow). The promotion of these supporting characters allows Hollywood’s reigning king of comedy to focus on middle-age disappointment and its strain on the nuclear family.

The loose plot involves a personal financial crisis that Pete’s trying to keep from Debbie. A small-label record executive, he is making a last-ditch effort to rescue his business and his family’s house by promoting and releasing a new album by rocker Graham Parker (play-

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ing himself). By shouldering the stress alone, a frazzled Pete drives a wedge between himself and Debbie, who has her own worries at her high-end boutique.

What’s worse, Pete’s father (Albert Brooks) has been tightening the screws by squeezing his son for money, and Debbie has chosen this moment (around a 40th birthday she’s loath to admit) to attempt to reconcile with her own estranged father (John Lithgow).

Since this is an Apatow picture, plenty of other familiar faces are bopping around, including Chris O’Dowd (“Bridesmaids�), Jason Segel, Megan Fox, Charlyne Yi (reprising her “Knocked Up� role), Lena Dunham (“Girls�), Robert Smigel (aka Triumph the Insult Comic Dog), and Melissa McCarthy, who kills in a cameo.

Like Apatow’s last directorial effort, “Funny People,� “This is 40� is more sour than sweet, awkwardly alternating between sitcomedy and depressive situations. Occasionally, Apatow achieves both at the same time; a marital fight conducted with Pete on the toilet is a case in point.

The way that scene makes “toilet humor� more upscale is somewhat a metaphor for Apatow’s yearning to be taken seriously.

While he has produced wacky comedies like “Anchorman� and “Superbad,� Apatow’s directing projects have been selective (aside from the aforementioned, only “The 40-Year-Old Virgin�) and have moved gradually closer to the bittersweet territory of James L. Brooks (“As Good as It Gets�).

But in his effort to achieve honesty, Apatow risks being solipsistic. After all, this is a picture about a guy in the entertainment industry, who schmoozes with famous people and whose family is played by Apatow’s actual wife and kids.

Nepotistic casting aside, the underappreciated Mann’s funny-shrill mood-swinging shtick is entirely in keeping with the picture: If the movie works for you, so does she.

Rudd’s likeable dry-comic spin somewhat mitigates his character’s interminable mopiness, while Lithgow expertly elevates what could have been a stock character.

Comedic and musical distractions pad the 134-minute running time and stray from the implicit promise of the title. The film has little to say about middle age other than that it can be dire; family members will make it both worse and better; and sticking it (and them) out is better than the alternative.

Rated R for sexual content, crude humor, language and drug material. Two hours, 14 minutes.

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Fri & Sat of Pi 3D 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 12/21 - 12/22 Life of Pi 2D 1:00 Tues thru Thurs Life Hyde Park on Hudson 1:30, 4:30, 7:25, 9:45 12/25-12/27 Sun 12/23

Life of Pi 3D 7:00, 10:00 Life of Pi 2D 4:00 Hyde Park on Hudson 1:30, 4:30, 7:25, 9:45

Mon 12/24

Life of Pi 3D 4:00, 7:00 Life of Pi 2D 1:00 Hyde Park on Hudson 1:30, 4:30, 7:25

Tickets and Showtimes available at cinemark.com

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Movies MOVIE TIMES All showtimes are for Friday through Sunday only unless otherwise noted.

For other times, as well as reviews and trailers, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies.

Anna Karenina (R) (( Aquarius Theatre: 2:15, 5:15 & 8:15 p.m.

Argo (R) (((1/2 Century 16: 10 a.m.; 12:50, 3:40, 6:40 & 9:40 p.m. Century 20: 1:10, 3:50, 6:35 & 9:25 p.m.

Can’t Help Singing (1944) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Wed. & Thu. at 7:30 p.m.

Life of Pi (PG) (((1/2 Century 20: 10:30 a.m.; In 3D at 1:45, 4:40, 7:40 & 10:35 p.m.

Palo Alto Square: Fri. & Sat. at 1 p.m.; In 3D at 4, 7 & 10 p.m.; Sun. at 4 p.m.; In 3D at 7 & 10 p.m.

Monsters, Inc. (G) (((1/2 Century 16: 10 a.m.; In 3D at 12:30, 3:20, 6:10 & 8:50 p.m. Century 20: 10:35 a.m.; In 3D at 1, 3:25, 5:50, 8:15 & 10:40 p.m.

Christmas Holiday (1944) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Fri.-Sun. at 7:30 p.m.; Sat. & Sun. also at 4:05 p.m.

Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: In 3D at noon & 7 p.m. Century 20: In 3D at noon & 7 p.m.

Rise of the Guardians (PG) ((1/2 Century 16: 11:20 a.m.; 4:20 & 9:55 p.m.; In 3D at 1:55 & 7:10 p.m. Century 20: 11:05 a.m. & 6:45 p.m.; In 3D at 1:55, 4:20 & 9:10 p.m.

Django Unchained (R) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: Tue.-Thu. at 11 a.m.; 3, 7 & 10:40 p.m.

The Guilt Trip (PG-13) (( Century 16: 10:40 a.m.; 1:10, 4, 7 & 9:45 p.m. Century 20: 10:45 a.m.; 1:30, 4:35, 7 & 9:30 p.m.

His Butler’s Sister (1943) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Fri.-Sun. at 5:50 & 9:15 p.m.

Royal Ballet: The Nutcracker (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Century 20: Sun. at noon. Palo Alto Square: Sun. at noon.

Silver Linings Playbook (R) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: 12:20, 3:25, 6:30 & 10:15 p.m. Century 20: 11:35 a.m.; 2:15, 5, 7:50 & 10:35 p.m.

Skyfall (PG-13) (((1/2 Century 16: 11:20 a.m.; 2:30, 3:20, 6:30, 9:30 & 10:10 p.m. Century 20: 12:45, 3:55, 7:20 & 10:30 p.m.

Hitchcock (PG-13) (( Guild Theatre: 1, 3:30, 6 & 8:30 p.m.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (PG-13) ((( Century 16: 12:30, 1, 4:30, 5:20, 8:30 & 9:20 p.m.; In 3D at 10, 11 & 11:50 a.m.; 2, 3, 3:50, 6:05, 7, 7:50, 10:05 & 10:40 p.m. Century 20: 10:25 & 11:50 a.m.; 2:15, 3:40, 6, 7:30 & 9:50 p.m.; In 3D at 11:10 a.m.; 12:30, 1:05, 1:40, 3, 4:15, 4:55, 5:30, 6:40, 8:05, 8:45, 9:20 & 10:15 p.m.

Hyde Park on Hudson (R) (( Palo Alto Square: 1:30, 4:30, 7:25 & 9:45 p.m.

Rated R for brief sexuality. 1 hour, 35 minutes.

— Susan Tavernetti

Wreck-It Ralph (PG) ((( Century 16: 10:50 a.m.; 1:35 & 4:15 p.m. Century 20: 4:30, 7:10 & 9:45 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. also at 10:55 a.m. & 1:50 p.m.

Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, trailers, theater addresses and more information about films playing, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/movies

The Guilt Trip --

(Century 16, Century 20) Oh mama! Barbra Streisand plays mother to son Seth Rogen in the comedic road movie “The Guilt Trip.”

Sadly, that title’s the wittiest part of the proceedings.

By sticking Streisand’s smothering muddah Joyce Brewster in a compact car with Rogen’s Andrew for a cross-country drive, “The Guilt Trip” positions itself roughly halfway between son’s worst nightmare and mother-and-child’s wish fulfillment of flash-fire bonding.

The results are silly and nice, basically unfunny but basically innocuous — so as satisfying as your average leftovers. That fits one of the picture’s sage pronouncements: “Food is love.”

Given that Rogen’s character is an organic chemist, it should come as no surprise that “The Guilt Trip” is pure formula. Andrew Brewster has invented one heckuva cleaning product, but he doesn’t know the first thing about selling it. OK, he knows the first thing: lining up meetings with potential buyers. But every time he steps up to the second thing, hooking a vendor, he chokes.

And his performance anxiety reaches a new level of tension with mom in tow.

Naturally, Joyce has an idea or two about what Andrew’s doing wrong, and naturally, he doesn’t want to hear it. Of course, mother knows best, even if she goes about sharing it in an overbearing way. As Andrew gripes his way to a final destination where he can finally listen to his mother rather than just hear her, screenwriter Dan Fogelman (“Crazy, Stupid, Love”) ticks off destinations between New Jersey and San Francisco. Andrew means that final stop to fulfill a secret plan to reunite his mother with an old flame, and we all know that secret plans are always a good idea when it comes to making people happy.

As Joyce puts it, “I’ve been to

the dance, and now I am tired,” but Streisand gives no such sign this time around. The headline news here is that Babs gets a role that won’t have her fans looking away in embarrassment (this means you, Roz Focker). Joyce may not be a challenging role — surname aside, she’s a walking Jewish-mother stereotype. But a game Streisand gets to mix it up with Rogen in ad-libbed bits, which gives the picture occasional juice. (Rogen’s turn surprises more in a credibly dramatic angry blowout rather than anything like comic fireworks).

Still, the fact that “The Guilt

GOLDEN GLOBE

Trip” isn’t an embarrassment doesn’t nearly close the gap between a real comedy like “What’s Up, Doc” and this pablum passing for one. By my count, “The Guilt Trip” has two funny jokes (one involving Joyce’s choice of book-on-tape), so proceed at your own risk, but of course, your mileage may vary.

Rated PG-13 for language and risque material. One hour, 35 minutes.

— Peter Canavese

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Jack Reacher (PG-13) ((1/2 Century 16: 10 a.m.; 12:55, 4:05, 7:30 & 10:50 p.m. Century 20: 10:25 & 11:45 a.m.; 1:20, 2:50, 4:20, 5:55, 7:25, 9 & 10:30 p.m.

strength of his arms to drag his body and lifeless limbs to another chair on the other side of the table.

The two world leaders share the burden of physical challenges, and Britain needs American support as the ominous clouds of war gather across the pond.

But playwright-screenwriter Richard Nelson and Michell (“Notting Hill”) showcase FDR’s political smarts while staging the blue-blood visit as primarily a comedy of manners. The help staff become slapstick clowns; the monarchs wonder if they’re being mocked; Eleanor Roosevelt (Olivia Williams) invites American Indians to perform interminably at a picnic; and hot dogs become a tired running joke, offering sexual innuendo when the president asks Daisy to show the British couple how to eat a particularly large one. Although the pace picks up when the royals tour Hyde Park USA, the comic tone seems appropriate for an entirely different movie.

Murray’s performance is drolly understated, and Linney’s character is so dull that the role offers the talented actor nothing to do. On the other hand, West and his stammering provide much more than meets the ear: His acting crafts a sweetnatured, good-humored and devoted public servant who will steal your heart, if not the show.

The historical accuracy of whether FDR and Daisy were kissing cousins is questionable. More certain is the awkwardness of “Hyde Park on Hudson,” a British production wavering between the serious and the cheeky before becoming oddly disturbing.

This Is 40 (R) ((1/2 Century 16: 10 a.m.; 1:05, 4:10, 7:40 & 10:50 p.m. Century 20: 11:20 a.m.; 12:55, 2:20, 4, 5:25, 7:05, 8:30 & 10:10 p.m.

( Skip it (( Some redeeming qualities ((( A good bet (((( Outstanding

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: Mon. at 10 a.m.; 1, 4:30 & 8 p.m. Stanford Theatre: Tue. at 9 p.m.

(Palo Alto Square) “Awkward” doesn’t begin to describe the first intimate moment between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his distant cousin, Margaret “Daisy” Suckley.

Playing the polio-stricken president, a poker-faced Bill Murray gazes straight ahead, his liver-spotted paw reaching for Laura Linney’s hand as the couple sits in his convertible, parked in a field bursting with purple wildflowers. In a flash of awareness, Daisy moves their clasped hands to the 32nd president’s inner thigh. British director Roger Michell compounds the clumsiness of the exchange by cutting to an extreme long shot that captures the car — and the “great man” — bobbing up and down, as though the scene were taken directly from a teen-sex comedy. The tone is off and off-putting.

Is this a love story or a farce?

Daisy’s romance-novel narration sets the stage for a love story.

FDR’s mother (Elizabeth Wilson) summons the mousy young woman to the family estate at Hyde Park on Hudson in upstate New York to help the president forget “the weight of the world.” Awestruck by his political status and celebrity, Daisy seemingly adores him for no other reason. Neither of them is particularly charming or engaging during their time spent together. Sparks never fly.

Scenes heat up when King George VI (Samuel West) and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) arrive for the weekend — but not between FDR and Daisy, whom he doesn’t even invite to the formal dinner.

America’s president and the stuttering British royal of “The King’s Speech” do have great chemistry. In one of the few memorable moments of the movie, the endearing Bertie bemoans his constant stumbling over words. Murray’s Roosevelt rises with great effort, using the

Les Miserables (2012) (PG-13) (Not Reviewed) Century 16: Tue.-Thu. at 11 a.m.; 3, 7 & 10:35 p.m. Century 20: Tue.-Thu. at 3:15, 6:45 & 10:15 p.m.; Wed. & Thu. also at 11:45 a.m.

Lincoln (PG-13) (((1/2 Century 16: 11:10 a.m.; 2:50, 6:20, 7, 9:55 & 10:25 p.m. Century 20: 12:20, 3:35, 6:55 & 10:15 p.m.

Chasing Ice (PG-13) ((1/2 Aquarius Theatre: 3, 5, 7 & 8:45 p.m.

Hyde Park on Hudson --

Lady on a Train (1945) (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed) Stanford Theatre: Wed. & Thu. at 5:45 & 9:10 p.m.

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NOW PLAYING AT THEATRES EVERYWHERE Check Local Listings For Theatres And Showtimes ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ iVi LiÀÊÓ£]ÊÓä£ÓÊU Page 27

Sports Shorts

SOLD OUT . . . That tough ticket to the showdown between the No. 1-ranked Stanford women’s basketball team and No. 2 Connecticut on Dec. 29 in Maples Pavilion just became an impossible ticket as the game is sold out. Stanford will put the nation’s longest active home winning streak of 82 games on the line against the Huskies at 1 p.m. The contest will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU. The last time the teams met at Maples Pavilion, on Dec. 30, 2010.

ON THE COURT . . . The 2013 Bank of the West Classic has received an early holiday gift as four-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova and 2011 US Open champ Sam Stosur both have committed to playing in next year’s event. With another strong player field in the making, the Bank of the West Classic once again will be the perfect place to see the world’s best tennis, July 22-28 at Stanford’s Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

Friday Men’s basketball: Stanford at Northwestern, 6 p.m.; KNBR (1050 AM)

Saturday Women’s basketball: Stanford at Tennessee, 1 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)

READ MORE ONLINE

www.PASportsOnline.com For expanded daily coverage of college and prep sports, please see our new site at www.PASportsOnline.com

Traveling to bowl games now a big deal for the fans

by Michael Eubanks

J

ust 24 hours after the 2012 Pac12 Champion Cardinal was officially selected to play in the 99th Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO, Stanford sold through its allocation of more than 31,000 tickets in record time. Collaboration with

team, as previously announced.

Girls’ water polo coach Chris Rubin recently stepped down after eight years with M-A, and a search is on for his replacement.

“As good as our aquatics coaches were last year, we are equally as excited for the future,” said Steve Kryger, a co-athletic director along

the Tournament of Roses Association and the Pac-12 Conference has helped to meet Stanford’s historic demand for tickets, and two weeks later, Cardinal ticket sales for the Rose Bowl Game have pushed past 38,700 and counting.

When the Stanford Athletics Ticket Office on Monday sent out its first mailing of Rose Bowl Game tickets, FedEx required two trips to handle the unprecedented mountain of tickets.

“I’m extremely proud of our Stanford alumni and all members of the Stanford community for their willingness to travel and support our team,” said Stanford head coach David Shaw. “For years, the talk was that Stanford fans don’t travel to bowl games. We have blown that out of the water.”

“Our football team recognized and truly appreciated the outstand-

(continued on page 30)

(continued on next page)

Gunn senior Daniel Papp won the 126-pound division and was named the Outstanding Wrestler in the lightweight divisions while helping the Titans take second at the Lynn Dyche Classic last weekend in San Jose.

Aquatics program renovation at M-A Gunn and M-A wrestlers are pinning down some early season success

by Keith Peters pieker Pool at Menlo-Atherton High is presently empty and undergoing re-plastering and renovation. It couldn’t be more appropriate, since the Bears’ aquatics program is doing the same.

In just a matter of weeks, the Bears have hired a new boys’ water polo coach and head swim coach and are presently searching for a

S

new girls’ water polo coach.

Thus, the 2013-14 school year will begin with an entirely new group of aquatics coaches for the first time in decades.

Former Stanford All-American swimmer Lori Heisick Stenstrom is the new head coach of the Menlo-Atherton boys’ and girls’ swim teams and Giovanni Napolitano takes over the boys’ water polo

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Stanford stays perfect; tough games ahead

Stanford in need of some road wins

by Rick Eymer

by Rick Eymer

D

T

on’t look now but the Stanford women’s basketball team is in the midst of its most important stretch of games of the season. The span of eight games that began with Wednesday’s 53-49 victory over No. 21 South Carolina could very well dictate how the topranked Cardinal is perceived come NCAA tournament time.

Stanford (10-0) visits No. 10 Tennessee for a 1 p.m. nonconference meeting Saturday, and then has the privilege to host No. 2 Connecticut (Dec. 29) before opening Pac-12 play at undefeated No. 25 Colorado and Utah. Then it’s a home-andhome series with No. 8 California before a visit to No. 12 UCLA. The Cardinal should at least rack up a decent RPI rating along the way even if it stumbles once or twice, a distinct possibility. (continued on page 31)

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Michael Pimentel/stanfordphoto.com

ON THE AIR

Ticket demand is crazy

Butch Garcia

ALL-AMERICANS . . . As the setter on the Sacred Heart Prep girls’ volleyball team, senior Cammie Merten pretty much had a hand in which direction the Gators took this season.

The fact SHP won the Central Coast Section and NorCal Division IV titles and reached the state championship match says volumes about Merten’s contribution to that success. Merten, who surprisingly did not earn firstteam honors on the West Bay Athletic League (Foothill Division) honor squad, made up for that oversight by being named a first-team setter on the 2012 MaxPreps Volleyball Small Schools All-American team, released recently. Merten was one of 14 players honored on the squad and one of only two players from California (and the Bay Area) on the team. The other NorCal player was Sarah Wallace of Branson, which won the Division V state title. Merten recorded 241 digs, 867 assists and 43 aces for Sacred Heart Prep, which finished 33-6.

Sacred Heart Prep senior Ellie Shannon also was accorded All-American honors by MaxPreps as she was named to the 14-player second team.

The 6-foot outside hitter finished with 366 kills, 108 digs, 110 blocks and 95 percent serving (only five service errors). Shannon was the only player from California named to the second team. SHP Athletic Director Frank Rodriguez believes this is the first time the volleyball program has earned AllAmerican honors. Sarah Daschbach, who is a freshman at Princeton this season, was named to the MaxPreps Division IV all-state team in both her junior and senior years at SHP.

STANFORD FOOTBALL

Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike had 21 points and 15 rebounds in a win over South Carolina.

he Stanford men’s basketball team has its problems when playing outside the Bay Area, as evidenced by its 1-4 mark when playing out of state.

That will need to change if the Cardinal (7-4) wants to reach the NCAA tournament this season. It gets another chance Friday when Stanford visits Northwestern for a nonconference affair at 6 p.m.

It will be Stanford’s final nonconference game on the road before returning home to host Lafayette after Christmas and opening the Pac-12 conference schedule following the holidays.

The latest setback, an 88-79 decision to host North Carolina State on Tuesday, had its moments. Dwight Powell continued his exceptional season with yet another outstanding game and guard Aaron Bright produced his best game of(continued on page 31)

Postseason

STANFORD FOOTBALL

(continued from previous page)

Shaw’s new contract: ‘I’m a Stanford man’

by Rick Eymer

years to come.”

Shaw is completing his second year as Stanford’s head coach and is 22-4 since being hired Jan. 13, 2011.

He served the previous four years as the Cardinal offensive coordinator.

“David Shaw has led the football program to great success,” Hennessy said. “He embodies the goal we have for our scholar-athletes — success in the classroom and on the field. We are pleased that he will lead our football program for years to come.”

Under Shaw’s leadership, the Cardinal has enjoyed unprecedented success.

Stanford is one of just four teams in the nation from BCS conferences to compile 34 or more wins over the past three seasons along with Oregon (35), LSU (34) and Alabama (34). The Cardinal .872 winning percentage since 2010 is tied for third-best among FBS teams during that stretch.

Stanford’s three straight 11-win seasons are unprecedented in school history. Stanford had never won 11 games prior to 2010 and had reached 10 wins only three times previously (1926, 1942 and 1992).

“This is a great environment and it’s not going to be the same place in five years,” Shaw said. “This places constantly evolves. The athletic director was proactive and insistent on

Bob Drebin/stanfordphoto.com

S

tanford football coach David Shaw will not be bolting to the NFL any time soon, as long as he honors the new long-term contract extension he has agreed to and that officially was announced Wednesday.

“We’re in the process of doing something special here and we’re not done,” Shaw said. “We’re never going to stop growing or stop building.”

Shaw also reiterated that this is the job he’s wanted all along, despite his NFL coaching experience, and his father’s (Willie Shaw) NFL experience.

“I want to be the coach until my kids graduate from here and I have a 2-year-old,” Shaw said. “This is not a stop-gap job for me. I love it here at Stanford. I’m a Stanford man, My family loves it here and my wife loves it here.”

Stanford Athletic Director Bernard Muir instigated the contract extension even though Shaw had two years remaining on his last contract.

“The credit goes to President John Hennessy and others who understand his value,” Muir said. “We recognize what a leader he is in the community and across the campus.

He’s a leader in every way and we want that relationship for many

Stanford football coach David Shaw plans on staying around. getting it done. Everybody was on board.”

Shaw guided the 11-2 Cardinal this season to its first Pac-12 Championship in 13 years and a berth in the 99th Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO. This marks the third consecutive BCS bowl for Stanford, a feat claimed by just seven other schools.

This is the unprecedented fourth straight year for Stanford to play in a bowl game.

In recognition of his efforts, Shaw has been named a finalist for the Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award. This is the second straight year for Shaw to be named a finalist for the award. This week, Shaw finished third in the balloting for the Associated Press Coach of the Year. N

ing support at the Sun Bowl, the Orange Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl,” Shaw said. “Now we are looking forward to an unprecedented convergence of loud and proud Cardinal faithful at the Rose Bowl Game. I cannot wait to experience the biggest Stanford party ever in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.” This year’s epic response to the ‘Granddaddy of Them All’ by the Cardinal community is the latest data point in a rising tide of Stanford’s bowl travel.

A year ago, Stanford was selected to play in the 2012 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and sold out its 17,500-ticket allocation in 48 hours, with more than 20,000 Cardinal fans attending the game.

Stanford the previous year traveled to its most distant bowl destination in two decades yet outpaced ACC foe Virginia Tech with more than 13,000 tickets sold and more than 15,000 Stanford fans attending the 2011 Discover Orange Bowl.

This bowl travel train started with the 2009 Brut Sun Bowl, held on New Year’s Eve, where Stanford played its first bowl game in eight years in the remote destination of El Paso, Texas. The alumni and fan base responded by purchasing direct ticket sales of 4,000, with many more fans attending the game and helping to drive a new Sun Bowl attendance record.

Though the geographies have varied widely, the Cardinal travel theme at each bowl has not. The

unique alumni base of Stanford University is spread nationally and internationally. Three-quarters of Stanford alumni live outside the San Francisco Bay Area.

Nearly 60 percent of Stanford attendees at the 2011 Discover Orange Bowl hailed from outside the Bay Area. Half of the 2012 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl contingent similarly traveled from outside the Cardinal home base.

The bowl season for Stanford football has increasingly become a can’t-miss event on the calendars of Cardinal alumni and fans throughout the nation. What was once a surprise has now become an expectation and annual pilgrimage for the Cardinal faithful.

This has been borne out through the Stanford Alumni Association tailgate parties thrown before each bowl game. More than 1,200 alumni and fans attended in El Paso, followed by a rocking 4,000-plus in Miami. Last year’s Fiesta Bowl official tailgate climbed to 8,000.

The Rose Bowl Game Official Tailgate set for Jan. 1 in Pasadena already has sold more than 14,000 tickets in less than six days and is fast approaching a 15,000-strong sellout.

With an award-winning coaching staff in place and a talent pipeline that includes the country’s fifthranked 2012 recruiting class, both the immediate and long-term future for Stanford football and its bowltraveling legions looks rosy. N (Michael Eubanks is an Assistant Athletic Director and Director of Football Administration at Stanford)

Announcing the Embarcadero Media

Gap-Year Media Internship Thinking about taking a gap-year before starting college? The Palo Alto Weekly and Palo Alto Online invite graduating high school seniors to apply for a unique one-year paid internship between mid-June, 2013 and July, 2014.

Working as an assistant to the publisher, you will learn about all aspects of print and digital publishing and be assigned a wide variety of tasks and projects, ranging from routine administrative support to helping with events and promotions, creating web content, assisting with research on reporting projects and learning about sales & marketing.

For more information and an application, go to PaloAltoOnline.com/gapyear

Deadline: February 1, 2013

(We also offer limited unpaid summer internships for high school seniors.)

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Sports

Prep roundup

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Hashima Carothers

(continued from page 28)

Daniel Papp

Eastside Prep

Gunn High

The senior center produced 49 points and 35 rebounds and shot 63 percent from the field during a 2-1 basketball week that included 22 points and 11 boards in a win over 2012 NorCal D-I champ Berkeley.

The senior went 4-0 with two pins to win the 126pound division at the Lynn Dyche Classic in addition to being named the Outstanding Wrestler in the lightweights while helping the Titans finish second overall.

Honorable mention Gabi Bade

Eric Cramer

Pinewood basketball

Gunn wrestling

Charmaine Bradford

Robert Hellman

Eastside Prep basketball

Riley Hemm Sacred Heart Prep basketball

Melissa Holland Sacred Heart Prep basketball

Cadence Lee Gunn wrestling

Grace Robinson Gunn wrestling

Sacred Heart Prep soccer

Tony Maharaj Palo Alto soccer

Darius Riley Eastside Prep basketball

Bobby Roth Menlo basketball

Paul Stefanski Palo Alto soccer * previous winner

To see video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to www.PASportsOnline.com

with Paul Snow.

“Gio has played at a high level and has coached with one of the best in Dante (Dettamanti) and so many of our players and parents felt strongly that Gio should continue on as their coach,” continued Kryger. “He showed great patience and a great ability to break down the game and teach it at a high level they could all understand.”

Kryger, along with Snow, are also happy to have Heisick Stenstrom aboard.

“We are thrilled to have someone as decorated as Lori Stenstrom as our new swim coach,” Kryger said.

“We have heard so many positive things from her PASA swimmers, as well as parents of those same swimmers. She is bringing along (former Stanford swimmer) Jane Worden, who coaches with her at PASA and we are confident that she will build on all that coach Tom McRae did.”

“As to the girls’ water polo position,” said Kryger, “we have a couple of highly qualified candidates who we have spoken with and look forward to interviewing in January.

Chris Rubin has a vested interest in seeing that position filled with an outstanding coach and he will be helping us during the interview process.”

The most recent hire is Heisick Stenstrom, who comes to M-A with an extensive background in competitive swimming. She was a 17-time All American and NCAA champion at Stanford. She was also a member of the USA National Team for seven years, earning medals for the United States in the Pan Pacific, Pan American, and World University Games.

Heisick Stenstrom was an alternate on the 1992 USA Olympic Team after placing third in the 100meter breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic Trials. She also had the distinct honor of being a member of four

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American Record-setting medley relay teams.

Heisick Stenstrom met her husband, former Cardinal quarterback Steve Stenstrom, while at Stanford.

Stenstrom still holds the school record for career passing yards.

Rubin steps down after guiding the Bears to a 157-68-1 record during his tenure. He guided the M-A girls to their first-ever Central Coast Section title in 2007 and a second crown in 2010, plus three runner-up finishes.

His first team, in 2005, set the school record for more wins (26) in a season while his ‘09 squad suffered only two losses (versus 25 wins).

“Ultimately, I love the sport, the community, the girls, M-A . . . and, although it (water polo) is only a few months out of the year, there are some other activities I am looking forward to pursuing,” said Rubin. “This was not a spur-of-themoment decision. It’s something I have contemplated the last couple of years and something that I feel confident about.”

Napolitano steps up from his position as the Bears’ JV coach and assistant varsity coach to take over the boys’ varsity following the retirement of Dante Dettamanti, who guided the Bears to the PAL Bay Division title this season and a second-place finish in the CCS Division I playoffs.

McRae, meanwhile, took over the swim program in 2007 and kept the Bears at the top of the PAL dual-meet and league championship meets during his tenure. The M-A boys won the PAL championship meet last spring. In 2011, the boys finished seventh at CCS for McRae’s highest section team finish.

There was no report to McRae’s departure. Kryger did not comment, saying only that it was a personnel issue.

Wrestling Despite getting a pair of individual victories, Gunn came up short in its bid for back-to-back team titles at the Lynn Dyche Classic on Saturday

in San Jose last Saturday.

Led by champions Daniel Papp (126) and Eric Cramer (132), Gunn produced eight place-winners and earned 170.5 team points on its way to a runner-up finish in the 24-team tournament.

Gunn’s Papp was honored as the outstanding wrestler of the lightweights (103 to 145 lbs). He won four matches, two by pin. Teammate Eric Cramer captured the 132-pound title with a 4-0 record that included two pins and one tech fall.

Finishing third for Gunn were Cadence Lee (106), Ian Cramer (138), Blaze Lee (145) and Stephen Martin (170). Blaze Lee and Cramer each had four pins, with Martin getting three and Cadence Lee two.

Gunn Sean Lydster was fourth (195) and Shelby Oyung took fifth (120). Each had one pin.

The Titans missed winning the title by one place. Caruthers High (Central Section-Fresno) won the team title and Washington Union (Central Section-Fresno) placed third.

In a girls-only tournament at James Lick on Friday, Gunn sophomore Grace Robinson went 3-0 (all pins) and won the 118-pound division.

At the first Cross Division Duals featuring Peninsula Athletic League teams, host Menlo-Atherton and Half Moon Bay each went 3-0 while Mills, Sequoia and Burlingame finished 1-2 and Aragon 0-3.

The Bears defeated Aragon (4222), Burlingame (46-21) and Mills (48-20).

Among the highlights, M-A senior Hector Santana won a match by pin right as time expired in the third period of a tied match. Santana finished the day 3-0. Other M-A wrestlers who went unbeaten on the day included junior Anthony Andrighetto (2-0), junior Austin Wilson of M-A (3-0), junior James Smith (3-0), sophomore Donald LaHaye (3-0), and junior Josh Buttram (3-0).N

t Most Electronics like calculators, cameras, computers or printers can be recycled in your blue cart. If they fit in your cart they are accepted. t TVs and Computer Monitors cannot go in your blue cart, but they can be recycled with a Clean Up Day. Call GreenWaste today at (650) 493-4894 to schedule one. For more local recycling resources visit our website. t Reuse is best. If items are still in good condition, consider donating them.

For a full list of ‘What Goes Where,’ visit www.zerowastepaloalto.org zerowaste@cityofpaloalto.org | (650) 496-5910

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Sports

Women’s hoops

Men’s basketball (continued from page 28)

fensively.

The Cardinal must get steady production from everybody, though, to succeed away from home. Stanford is 5-1 in Maples Pavilion and 6-1 when playing in the Bay Area. “We grew a lot in a tough atmosphere,� Cardinal coach Johnny Dawkins said. “This was a true road game against a strong opponent and we played well. I can’t fault our kids for the outcome. We were playing hard, getting after it. That’s all you can ask for.�

Especially from Bright, who was 6 of 9 from the field and matched his season high with 16 points. He was also 4 of 7 from 3-point range, a particular sore spot for him entering game against the Wolfpack.

Bright, who sat out four games with a sprained ankle, missed his first 13 long-range attempts and was 3 for 21 overall before his effort against North Carolina State.

Chasson Randle, who was 5 of 15 from the field Tuesday, could be playing in front of a friendly crowd in Evanston. Randle hails from Rock Island, Ill. The combination of Randle and Bright gave Stanford a potent offensive threat last year that has just not shown up yet this season. Things could be changing though, thanks to Bright’s satisfying game Tuesday.

What hasn’t changed much this season is the consistency by which Powell has played this year. He

played on a bad foot last year and was never able to reach the potential he showed as a freshman.

This year, it’s been an 180-degree turnaround for the junior from Toronto, and being healthy has everything to do with it. “I’m excited about Powell’s growth,� Dawkins said. “He’s showing us that he’s capable of helping this team in a number of ways. We need him to stay out of foul trouble though.�

Powell fouled out of Tuesday night’s game and sat for nearly 18 minutes of the first half in Saturday’s 75-52 home victory over UC Davis.

Even foul trouble hasn’t slowed him down lately as he recorded his fourth 20-plus point game of the past five and fifth overall.

Powell didn’t average better than eight points in either of his first two seasons. His career high entering the season was 20 points and he didn’t score more than 18 in a game last year.

He opened the year with 27 points against San Francisco, had 29 against Denver before reaching the 20-point mark for the third straight game against the Wolfpack.

Powell is now averaging 15.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while shooting 54.6 percent from the field. “I’m just trying to do whatever I need to do to help my team,�

Powell said. “Whatever the situation I’m in, I’m just trying to help contribute to getting Ws. I’ve got to step it up, obviously, because we didn’t get the W.� N

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the bench for the first time in nearly expect when we come into games like this,� said Ogwumike, who re30 years. (continued from page 28) Coach Holly Warlick is no strang- corded yet another double-double er to the Lady Vols. This is her first with 21 points and 15 rebounds. “It’s going to be a tough trip,� year as a head coach, but she spent Stanford nearly let this one slip Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer the previous 27 as Summit’s assis- away. The Cardinal led the majority said. “We’re looking forward to it. tant. of the game before the Gamecocks We’ve already played the best team “We know the history of the grabbed a two-point edge with 2:32 in the country (Baylor) remaining to play. game,� Ogand against the best playOgwumike gave Stanwumike said. er in the country (Baylor’s ford the lead with a go“We know the Brittney Griner). I’m not ahead three-point play envi ron ment. sure if it can get much and South Carolina tied it We understand harder. We have to make when Aleighsa Welch hit the competitive sure we’re ready.� one of two foul shots. nature and we That’s when Mikaela To put it all in perknow it will be Ruef stepped in, stepped spective, South Carolina a crazy arena. up and threw up a shot was 10-0 before losing We know it’s that just did get over the to Stanford. The six upsold out. We’re rim and into the basket, coming opponents took a looking forward giving Stanford the lead combined 49-5 record into Mikaela Ruef to playing in Toni Kokenis for good. play Thursday. The Lady front of a crowd “Coach says every possession Vols, at 7-2, have the worst record like that.� of the bunch.

Stanford doesn’t get any kind of counts and they counted tonight,�

Tennessee owns the all-time se- break when the Pac-12 schedule said Ogwumike, who produced ries with Stanford, 22-7, though the comes around. Colorado has an op- her Pac-12 leading eighth doubleCardinal has won two of the past portunity to remain undefeated be- double.

The Gamecocks got within 51-49 three. Stanford is 1-11 on the Lady fore hosting the Cardinal. Utah has late, but Stanford’s Toni Kokenis, Vols’ home court, with that win won eight of its first nine games. coming in 1996.

This is the third time in program who scored 15 points, sealed it with “The No. 1 ranking gives us a history, all since VanDerveer took two final foul shots. She made six great sense of confidence but we over, that Stanford has started 10-0. straight down the stretch and was 7 also view ourselves as the hunted,� The last time came in the 1991-92 of 7 in free throws overall. “I’m proud of our team, and Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike said. season. The 1989-90 team opened “We also view ourselves as under- the season 20-0. Stanford won na- proud how Toni and Chiney really stayed with things,� VanDerveer rated. Tennessee, Connecticut, Bay- tional titles in 1990 and 1992. lor have all been ranked higher. We Stanford had to consider itself a said. “You’re in a very hostile envihave to play with confidence.� little bit lucky escaping with a vic- ronment, great crowd, great atmoParticularly in the case of Tennes- tory over the Gamecocks, who also sphere.�

Stanford is headed into another see, where the lack of success could gave the Cardinal fits in last year’s hostile environment this weekend. N work against the Cardinal, even NCAA tournament. though the Lady Vols are playing “We had a target on our back and without head coach Pat Summitt on that’s one of the things we have to (The Associated Press contributed)

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