Fungi can cure or kill, nourish life, and also decompose it back into soil. Fossil evidence for fungi is limited, but the ability to analyze molecular data has led to revelations about the evolution of this extraordinary family of...
“And still of a winter’s night, they say, when the wind is in the trees, When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, A...
Autumn doesn’t officially begin until the equinox on September 22, but all across North America birds are already on the wing—billions of them. Migration times and destinations vary based on the species and variables like weather and food sources—some...
Back to school. A hundred years ago in Topanga, it would have been on foot—and often barefoot—to the little, red, one-room schoolhouse by the creek in the bend of the dirt road. Public education in California was still relatively...
Long-time local Topangan and local realtor Karen Dannenbaum was awarded the Hero of the Quarter award by the Malibu Association of Realtors this month. According to the HERO Committee, the award is given to the member who most demonstrates...
Claire Fordham reviews the 19th Topanga Film Festival If the Topanga Film Festival teaches us one thing, it’s that we don’t need blockbusters, car crashes, explosions or big budgets. Screening 70 excellent films from around the world, this festival...
With the Fall season upon us, the stores are jam packed with pumpkin flavors galore. I thought it would be appropriate to bring to you a deliciously moist, yet healthier version of pumpkin bread. This pumpkin spice bread can...
The origins of aerial silks, or tissu, are mysterious. The oldest known photograph of the art is of a woman named Amy LaVan, dating back to the early 1900’s. Since then many people have been credited with pioneering silks....
Victory gardens are gaining popularity again, this time in response to the war against COVID-19. Industrialist millionaire Charles Lathrop Pack is credited with creating the American war garden movement in 1917, when the US entered the first World War....
Warm weather and the end of the rainy season bring increased fire risk to Topanga, but fire season is already underway across the state. While Topanga has been spared from recent major fires, the last fire seasons have had...
Information technology has a way of disrupting and transforming society. The invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century posed a threat to the Church’s monopoly on knowledge and therefore power. An ignorant population is much easier to...
In this age of misinformation, it has often occurred to me that even the most outrageous lie is often glossed over with the thinnest patina of truth. While rational people have the wherewithal and enough concern to crack through...
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” These are the very first words of the US Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Despite this, there have been those throughout our nation’s history—including...