Page Text: By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist
Updated
Mar 13, 2022
“OMG, what was that?” Ferociously howling winds, and the various crashes and shudders they inflicted upon our Altadena home, started on Jan. 21, in the late evening. My husband and I were hearing the havoc outside, when I saw a flash through my office window and heard a loud explosion.
Mea culpa. No, really.
Dec 8, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Subject line: Please correct yourself: We have a woman Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court “Ellen, I am a fan and enjoy your writing. But I think you have lost track of current reality regarding the chief justice of the California State Supreme Court. I was shocked when […]
This is why we can’t have nice things
Dec 1, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist “You do realize your nostrils are for inhaling and exhaling?” I snort. Argh! I itch to say that when I see people walking around with masks on, but nostrils exposed. A facial moon, if you will. “For goodness sakes, pull up your mask!” At one point, I thought this […]
Thanksgiving for some, heartbreak for others
Nov 23, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Rose Elizabeth Bird, the late, great 25th chief justice of the California Supreme Court — and the only female ever to hold that office — famously said, “We have probed the earth, excavated it, burned it, ripped things from it, buried things in it. … That does not fit […]
For these 16 days, orange is a verb
Nov 18, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist “I wear orange for 16 days in a row to stand in solidarity with other activists committed to ending violence against women,” I said, between mouthfuls of ceviche. I was in the tropical paradise of Puerto Vallarta. My friend Anne Peterson had been grappling with how to ask me […]
The Invisible Woman
Nov 4, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Eyes closed, I’m enjoying Manhattan’s March sunshine on a building’s concrete stairs across from the United Nations Secretariat building. I feel a presence next to me. Around 42nd and First, the street hums and honks with taxis and big black limos sporting diplomatic license plates. “Can I sit here […]
By-Right housing development disenfranchising West Altadena
Nov 3, 2021
By Alonzo Edwards Altadena Resident Over 35 years ago, in the mid-1980s, L.A. County designated West Altadena predominately Black and brown community for redevelopment. Lincoln Crossing was completed in 2007 with a fitness center, supermarket and retail stores. Fourteen years have passed, and development efforts have been nonexistent. Community’s town hall meetings were conducted in […]
Witch is scarier? Got a light?
Oct 28, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Boo! Halloween has come once again, with its assortment of ghouls, goblins and witches. My question is: Why are witches considered scary Halloween characters? Wouldn’t the creepier ones be the Inquisition boys, especially the ones with matchbooks? Maybe Spanish Inquisition costumes are just too darn hard to come by. […]
We are so over Columbus
Oct 21, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist “I just read that the first baby born in North America was named Snorri. I wonder if we’re related?” my late sister Alane once said to me. I can picture her in her professional-level kitchen in her restored 18th-century brownstone in Troy, New York. Her gleaming stainless steel island […]
Scholarship winner wants to work in tech
Oct 7, 2021
By Doyoon Kim Pasadena Weekly Contributing Writer Adam Elkobaitry, a Pasadena native and recent graduate of Polytechnic High School, wants to work in the booming tech industry by designing artificial intelligence. “AI is such a rapidly expanding field, and it’s taking over all parts of our world,” Elkobaitry said. “I want to bring AI together […]
It’s time for new standards
Sep 30, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Can we move on, please? Over the years, I’ve written thousands of words about reproductive rights in this barely modern country of ours. Ireland and Mexico are now more progressive than we are when it comes to abortion. This week, I’m not devoting another column to the most basic […]
Laying down the law(s)
Sep 23, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Murphy’s law — you’ve heard of it, yes? If not, here’s a refresher. Although no one is sure who Murphy was, her laws are well known. They are: • Nothing is as easy as it looks. • Everything will take longer than you think. • If anything can go […]
Updated
Mar 14, 2022
Editor: If Amy Coney Barrett means what she said, she should resign from the Supreme Court. Justice Barrett said justices should be “hyper-vigilant to make sure they’re not letting personal biases creep into their decisions.” The Supreme Court’s five Republican justices, in the dark of night, decided to uphold a flagrantly unconstitutional assault on women’s […]
The sound of one shoe dropping
Sep 16, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, I have been writing about it and the continuing backlash. Therefore, it’s impossible for me to stay silent about the recent Texas tyranny over early term abortions. In case you’ve been on vacation or hiding under a rock, the Texas Legislature […]
Conspiracies are spreading
Sep 9, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Did you know there is an existing slave colony on Mars run by NASA and populated by kidnapped children? Every time I’ve gone to the Home Depot to pick up a few child slaves for toxic jobs, there are none. Now I know why — they are on Mars. […]
Victim blaming is not just for women
Sep 2, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” The Wizard of Oz maintained his ruse for far too long. Eventually, he is revealed to be the fraud that he is by Toto, a scrappy little cairn terrier and Dorothy’s best friend. A whole lot of us have been […]
Happy Women’s Equality Day!
Aug 26, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist For many years now, my female friends have received an unusual invitation from me regarding Aug. 26, Women’s Equality Day (W.E.D.). About 16 years ago, at a mutual friend’s home, I met national treasure, women’s historian hero and advocate Molly Murphy MacGregor. After that auspicious meeting, I vowed to […]
Back up, you’ll be burned
Aug 19, 2021
By Ellen Snortland “Back up,” I say. “I don’t want to burn you.” Crowded by an unwanted dinner guest who is now in my kitchen, I lean over to pull out a large roasting pan of six game hens from the super-hot oven in my 1920s-era cream and green gas stove. My huge kitchen is […]
Updated
Mar 14, 2022
Editor: Unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions of all greenhouse gases, limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees will be impossible. Are we capable of acting? Probably not. Are we stuck with our traditional “reactive mode”? Change is difficult; however; stupid, irrational thinking will be our doom. This should not be a divisive, partisan […]
The letter I hope no one has to write
Aug 12, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Dear great, great-niece or nephew, I’m writing you knowing that by the time you read this I’ll have died. I’m writing this two weeks before my 100th birthday. I can’t imagine I’ll last much longer. I’ve given this letter to my lawyer, Rachel, with instructions to share it after […]
Osaka and Biles: The ‘No’s’ heard around the world
Aug 5, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist “The only people who get upset when you set boundaries are the ones who benefitted from you not having any.” — Anonymous. To that quote I add: “For most of history, ‘Anonymous’ was a woman.” — Virginia Woolf. Women setting boundaries is a vital conversation we all must have […]
New ways of learning, a plus for students
Jul 29, 2021
By Dr. Edward C. Ortell Citrus College Governing Board Member Society’s slow but steady emergence from the darkest days of COVID-19 feels a bit like the first vestiges of spring after a long, cold winter. Many of us wonder if life will ever fully return to the way it was pre-pandemic. My guess is […]
Getting their just rewards
Jul 29, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Gestapo and Brown Shirts, the KGB, STASI, anyone? Just when I think I’ve heard it All, (capital “A” my emphasis), the Texas Legislature comes up with yet another dangerous attack on women’s rights. I’m talking about the idea of having regular Texas citizens collect a $10,000 reward for […]
Updated
Mar 14, 2022
Editor: This letter is a reaction to Ellen Snortland’s column in Pasadena Weekly. My feeling about these flights is that they are simply ego trips. These men have the money, and they choose to spend it on a meaningless glory trip. The U.S. and Soviet Union space programs starting in the 1950s were creating and […]
Use money moguls for good
Jul 22, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist “I am a space geek,” reads my T-shirt. True enough. As an Altadenan, I am proud of and love visiting JPL whenever I can. I’ll never forget the day we parked near the Arroyo and gasped in wonder as the space shuttle Endeavour made a surprise, low altitude fly-by […]
Patriotism takes many forms
Jul 15, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist “If you remember the ’60s, you weren’t really there,” observed comic Charlie Fleischer. Right on! I remember some of it, so where does that put me? I remember planting my butt during a sit-in at Old Main, Augustana Academy’s granite four-story class and administration building near Canton, South Dakota. […]
Clueless by design
Jul 8, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist I advocate for inclusivity in realms many people often ignore, especially women being included in design choices. I’m also cranky at how often men are clueless about how their designs impact women. In the late ’90s, I bought an abandoned 2.5-acre “ranchette” in Shadow Hills, an equestrian pocket of […]
Time to blow up more than fireworks
Jul 1, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Celebrated author Erma Bombeck wrote, “You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the […]
Imago: Couples therapy at its best
Jun 24, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist I stride 2 1/2 miles from my home to where I will be taking Imago training for therapists and mental health professionals. It’s 2004, and I am a journalist on a mission. I’m excited. Will this be the basis for the next book I write? It’s in the home […]
My boss is a tyrant: I’d quit, except I work for myself
Jun 17, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist Self-employed for most of my adult life, I gave many of my friends and family conniptions by not having the security of a “regular” job. They had unvarying hours, paid vacation days and benefits. On the other hand, they often envied my independence. While I love my freedom, I […]
Remembering my father
Jun 10, 2021
By Christopher Nyerges Pasadena Weekly Contributing Writer When my father’s 80th birthday coincided with Father’s Day some years ago, I wrote and illustrated a pictorial booklet for my father that outlined key aspects of our life together. It was my way of thanking my father. My wife, Dolores, and I went to his home after […]
Here’s the scoop on dog poop
Jun 10, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Pasadena Weekly Columnist I am throwing down a gauntlet: Someone, please invent a way to recycle and repurpose doggie doo-doo! I’m a bit pooped lately — forgive the expression — and I’ve had way too much time to mull this over, which is perhaps a “waste” of my intellect. That said, consider […]
I go off when the heat is on
Jun 3, 2021
By Ellen Snortland I am blessed with long-standing friendships from my school days and was overjoyed when one of my besties from high school visited this past week. Genice Winter Rodne lives in South Dakota, where we both hail from, so I wanted to give her a vacation as far removed from the prairies as […]
A trip and fall down memory lane
May 27, 2021
By Ellen Snortland It has been 13 months since I wrote my first column about COVID-19, and I thought it would be interesting to revisit it in light of where we are now. Looking back, I am somewhat stunned at what I couldn’t foresee: that simply wearing a mask would become a political issue for […]
Please don’t ask me to ‘smile’
May 20, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Now that we vaccinated people can once again be outside and “maskless” — at least in certain circumstances — I now realize that there was a definite perk to wearing a mask. Why? Because no one could see my facial expressions, (note to self: don’t wear a clear face shield to the […]
Grandmas are the key to survival
May 13, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Grandma Edna, my mom’s mom, was introverted. A shy and quiet farm wife, she was a champion at food growing, gathering, preserving and serving. In contrast, Grandma Aline, dad’s mom, was talkative and bold. Why am I talking about grandmas? Because there are now ample studies showing the evolutionary advantage of mothers […]
Mom, so much has happened
May 6, 2021
By Ellen Snortland Dear mom, It’s hard to believe you’ve been dead since 2003; that’s 18 years now. I think you would have loved your memorial. We held it at the Stave Kirke in Rapid City, South Dakota. Honoring your love of needlework, we hung the Norwegian bunad you meticulously made by hand. Like the […]
PUSD statement on budget outlook
May 6, 2021
By Board of Education President Scott Phelps and Superintendent Brian McDonald, Ed.D. In what has been one of the most challenging years for our country, the teachers, staff and administrators of Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) demonstrated their unflagging commitment to our students and their families. As the COVID-19 pandemic diminishes, we are planning and […]
The Chauvin verdict offers new possibilities
Apr 29, 2021
By Ellen Snortland When I visited Norway, my “mother country,” as far as ancestry goes, I had many memorable experiences — and a wake-up call. The city streets in Oslo and Bergen are extraordinary because of what they don’t have: homeless people, litter and, obviously, armed cops. This is the land of the Vikings, who […]
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