Dave Silverbrand | The Eureka Reporter

Turning negative to positive

Published: Jul 4 2008, 11:37 PM

By Dave Silverbrand

I slammed down the phone. My earlobes turned crimson and my forehead quivered. I muttered words I usually saved for special occasions. Someone had messed with Dave, questioning his “professionalism.” I showed up, didn’t I? I’d have cursed him with a pox on his family, but they had already suffered enough.

Family trips make fond memories

Published: Jun 28 2008, 12:55 AM

By Dave Silverbrand

“Okay, folks. Let’s hit the road,” my father would command. With that, my family — two brothers and one loving mother — would tumble into the old Pontiac and head south to Santa Barbara. There, two hours later, we would pick our spot along a winding snow-fence and bake in the sun. Our ears would ring with the whine of automobile engines and our nostrils flair with the smell of fuel and burnt rubber. When Mom wasn’t looking, I’d take a long, hard look at the girls in tight blue jeans. Nothing but a sports car race could bring our family together — and there was nothing like our family.

Stress for less

Published: Jun 21 2008, 12:34 AM

By Dave Silverbrand

“Okay, people. Relax. Exhale. Let that poopiness go. Let it go, people!” With that, activity director Cubby Toothaker tries to pump energy into residents of a senior community. He won’t give up on them, and he hasn’t given up on theater as a life celebration and whatever it takes to put on the show. To him, there’s no place in the world for poopiness.

Journalism: The second-oldest profession

Published: Jun 14 2008, 12:10 AM

By Dave Silverbrand

“Come quick, Mum. Trevor’s getting sick on the deck.” The English Channel ferry was pitching with every wave, and the British schoolboys, dressed in shorts and beanies, were watching their pal christen the deck.

Playing with Papi

Published: Jun 6 2008, 11:09 PM

By Dave Silverbrand

The air was moist and sweet. And before us lay the Eden of the Caribbean, a baseball field. On it, great players would show us their skill, and the reason that every Dominican child dreams of life in this game. All would have been perfect on that Santo Domingo night if someone hadn’t uttered the phrase that always chilled me, “You should have been here last night. Big Papi was here.”

Dave’s uplifting experience

Published: May 23 2008, 11:33 PM

By Dave Silverbrand

They hung in pairs on metal racks, vacant eyeballs staring blankly at the world around them. Big ones, small ones, white ones, pink ones, each waiting for its clandestine assignment. My granddaughter Alyssa would prowl through the racks, carefully pondering each one. Then, glancing over her shoulder, she would see me nearby and sternly wave me away. She and I were on conflicting missions. I was watching over her. She was buying her first bra.

Paper doves and promise

Published: May 10 2008, 12:10 AM

By Dave Silverbrand

I watched the kids making paper doves, a peace symbol, and preparing to send them to Iraqi children. When I was in fifth grade, nothing mattered outside Oxnard, where I lived, and no one other than Mickey Mantle could get my attention. How times have changed. This time, South Bay Elementary School teacher Linda Sorter was teaching her class about the power of love. She’s summoned me to take TV pictures of it.

4/20 or busted: a lesson for Bill O’Reilly

Published: May 3 2008, 1:25 AM

By Dave Silverbrand

The man wanted a ride from Eureka to Arcata to see his sister and brother-in-law. His sister he liked; his in-law, he didn’t, he told me. He offered to pay for the gas, a bold move to anyone who drives an SUV. Once in the passenger seat, my rider refused to fasten his seat belt and my warning buzzer blared the whole way. He may have an issue with confinement, but the rest of us have issues with people flying through windshields.

Dick Cavett

Published: Feb 29 2008, 6:35 PM · Updated: Feb 29 2008, 6:35 PM

By Dave Silverbrand, Columnist

A roulette chip from Monte Carlo, a goat skin from Greece, a beer glass from Denmark. At the time, I had to have them, the better to remember my college graduation trip to Europe. I proudly unpacked them on the couch in my mother’s Visalia home. I wondered if life would ever again be as exciting as that summer of ‘68.

Clinton

Published: Jan 25 2008, 6:00 PM · Updated: Jan 26 2008, 4:43 AM

By Dave Silverbrand

I was sick and scared — sitting in a San Francisco hotel room, afraid to move. It happens when your heart does not work the way it should.

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