When South Bay resident Peggy Callahan read the book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, she was shocked. A television reporter who covered social justice issues such as poverty, racism and the death penalty for two decades, she was outraged to learn slavery still exists around the globe today. In fact, more than 40 million people are currently enslaved—the greatest number in human history.
A petite blond with skin sun-kissed from living for three decades in Manhattan Beach, Jan Lesser sits with her husband Rick in the weathered beachfront home they share with a dog, three cats, and a small platoon of parakeets and turtles. Her carefree demeanor shows no trace of the ordeal she experienced nine years ago.
In 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson was president of the United States, a gallon of gas cost 30 cents, the Beatles made their American debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, Bob Gibson pitched the St. Louis Cardinals to victory over the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series and the UCLA School of Medicine had graduated its first class of doctors just nine years earlier.
Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani is sparring with his friend Kelly McNamee prior to competing in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation’s Pan American Games the following day. As the pair parry, Kelly lands a blow to Jean-Paul’s face.
Down a hill behind Paul Giuliano’s house in Rolling Hills Estates, more than an acre of land teems with life. Bright green stalks of corn stretch toward the sky. Plump orange and red heirloom tomatoes grow in raised beds next to pale green peppers and shiny, deep-purple eggplants. Chickens strut around a generous-sized chicken coop, and fresh eggs sit waiting to be collected.
“I’m reading a great book about the middle-aged brain,” I recently told a friend, “but I can’t remember the title.”
Welcome to the boomer brain. Grasping for names. Walking into a room only to wonder what you went there for. Getting halfway through a book before realizing you’ve read it before.
Venture to Torrance’s Wilson Park on farmers market day, and you’ll find more than vendors selling seasonal produce, baked goods and prepared foods. You’ll also encounter joggers and skateboarders, and you’ll likely see a slim, blond woman hula-hooping. As the hoop gyrates, she spins, slows and quickens the rotations, and twirls the hoop over her head.
It was Winston Churchill who famously said, “Never give in—never, never never.” He could have been describing Rudolf Metzger and his Providence Saint John’s Health Center physician Santosh Kesari, MD, PhD.