Insane weather- There’s no place like home...

Last week we had a little tornado action here on the Moreno Valley/Riverside borderlands near March ARB. Riversider blogger Evil Merchant sent in these pics that he stole off the interweb (why he hasn’t uploaded them himself is unknown, I guess he has a job or something). A few trains were knocked over and a big rig on the 215 was “thrown in the air 40-50 feet”. That’s pretty cool, but we hope everyone was okay.

Apparently the open “plains” south east of Riverside (Mo Valley, Sun City, Perris) is our own “tornado alley”. Colder moist air comes through passes of the Santa Ana mountains and mixes with the warmer climate coming in off the desert. If conditions are right, we get a tornado. I know there’s a joke here- don’t tornadoes always hit trailer parks? Anyone been to Mead Valley? Schnap! Do people still say schnap?? I will shut up now...

Seen Around Riverside- Random art

These wire people were found at the YWCA on Magnolia. Don’t know who made them but they are creepy as hell. Very cool and artistic at the same time. They look like they might come alive at night when no ones around. There’s Floppy Guy on the couch, a Wire Person on a pike, and is that a Wire Person Hooker? Awesome...


Scary!

Remember the soldiers

Memorial Day is here and it brings up a lot of important current events. I’d like people to actually think about it a sec. It’s not just a free day without work, it’s not just about having a barbecue. It’s about the soldiers who risked their lives and died for a cause they believed in. That’s some deep, powerful stuff, I have a lot of respect for that.

Myself, I think for the most part this country goes to war for the wrong reasons and in the wrong ways. The soldiers however should not be blamed for our country’s wrongdoings. Blame the politicians we voted for (who voted to invade Iraq), but don’t blame the soldiers. They’re just doing a job, trying to make a living, trying to support their families. Regardless of if the war is just or not we need to give them some love and support.

I think there is a misconception about patriotism in this country. War protesters are called “unpatriotic” and if you “support the soldiers” it means you support the war and support Bush. I do not support Bush (go Obama!!), I think the Iraq situation was handled very wrongly yet I support and respect the soldiers. Am I patriotic? I think so. I love our country (besides a few major problems we have), I plan on living here the rest of my life and making it a better place. I guess I’m just a liberal patriot. But I don’t want to get too political right now. Back to topic...

Memorial Day is a good time to remember the military personnel who have lost their lives. They deserve some respect, just something to think about while you enjoy your hamburgers and hot dogs today.

And in a related story- 100 years ago today

The Riversider begins.

This is the beginning of The Riversider Blog. We’re hoping to bring readers some interesting insights into the goings on of our city and surrounding areas. Our goals are not very clear at this point, we are going to write and take pictures and report what we see, and hopefully get some response from the community and start some dialogue among Riversiders. This thing is experimental so keep that in mind.

We have found a few Riverside blogs out there, but not too many. Some have a conservative agenda (eww), and some are all about real estate (yawn). There’s a few interesting blogs we have found (see links over on the side). We’re hoping to keep The Riversider multidimensional, and address a wide range of topics including the arts (since Riverside is calling itself “City of the Arts” these days), politics, food (possible restaurant reviews?), historical tidbits, upcoming events, and whatever else we think would be fun. We also hope to keep it pretty random and artsy.

Our “staff” is small right now but we are looking for contributors- photographers, writers, people with opinions and ideas. We’re hoping to have guest bloggers on here as well.

As for ourselves, we wish to remain anonymous for now. We live in town, grew up here and -for better or worse- call Riverside home. We remember when the Galleria was called Riverside Mall, and Farrel’s was in the parking lot. We know about Twin Palms, the airplane house, and recall the Otter Pop factory on Iowa Ave. We’ve explored the bamboo caves of the Santa Ana River, climbed the many rocky peaks around UCR, and attempted to find the legendary Riverside catacombs. We have fished in Lake Evans, scaled Mt. Rubidoux (and looked for it's ghosts), dined at the Mission Inn’s sunday brunch, and played baseball in Arlanza. We’ve been around a while, and like most who live here have a love/hate relationship with our home. Yes we are Riversiders... and this is our forum.

Oh yeah that picture above- it's our favorite eel in town, the friendly eel from Rubio's near UCR. He/she is a Riversider too. I would like to rescue this eel from it's hexagonal prison, but in a way it looks pretty happy. We think it should be our mascot. How about Eelie? Eelie the Riversider eel...