Once again, we’ve got a wide variety of topics in this issue of the LNF Weekly online magazine.

NEW VOICES

Let me start by introducing two new contributors — voices that we hope we’ll hear more from in the months to come.

Heather Holdridge is an architect who lives in Lavaca and works at one of the top architectural firms in Texas, Lake Flato, where she’s the Sustainability Director. We connected with Heather because we were fascinated by a new building going up on Broadway, and we wanted someone to explain it to us. Heather has done a great job — it turns out that the building is a neat fit into her specialty: sustainability.

Allen Itz is a poet and artist, and we’ve included one of his poems in this issue. I know Allen from my days working on a laptop in coffee bars — in particular in the now-gone Espuma coffee bar on South Alamo and its also-gone successor, Chiapas. Those places were very literary hangouts. San Antonio novelist David Liss used to work alongside me at Espuma, and then Allen began hanging out alongside me at Chiapas. I read Allen’s work, and I liked the simple, vivid snapshots of life that he captured in his poems. This one is a good example.

NEIGHBORHOOD FOCUS

We’ve got a couple of articles with a strong neighborhood focus this month.

If you’ve been reading our magazine for a while, you’ll know we’ve been paying attention to the work of the city’s Noise Ordinance Task Force. That task force has been stumbling along for a while, but, with the backing of our District 1 Councilman, Mario Bravo, it got back on track a few months ago when it hired an expert consultant. That consultant has delivered its recommendations, and they make sense.

If you’ve lived in the neighborhood for a while, you’ve seen a lot of changes. Many of the changes have been very positive. But you may also have felt some loss. Take heart. We’ve still got an island of old-style neighborhood funkiness, and it’s just a block off South Alamo.

ART, ART, ART

Our cover artist this month is Sylvia Benitez. That’s a big deal, because she’s just been named Artist of the Year by the San Antonio Art League and Museum (SAALM). We love Sylvia’s art. Jane spoke to both Sylvia and SAALM president, Claudia Langford, to put together this story about Sylvia.

Al Rendon is working to assemble photos for a retrospective, and he’s therefore been mining his archives. When he comes across a photo with an interesting story, he puts the photo and the story together for us. This month, Al looked back at Queen Elizabeth’s visit to San Antonio thirty years ago.

Citywide, it’s FOTOSEPTIEMBRE, with photo exhibits running everywhere. We have some good exhibits right here in the neighborhood, and Jane lets you know where you can find them.

OUR REGULAR VOICES

Each month, there are two contributors who always show up with something interesting.

Jen Beckmann of Re:Rooted has written this month about the right temperatures for serving different kinds of wine. Jen acknowledges that everyone has different perceptions about ‘best temperature’, but when it comes to wine varieties, there’s a real reason for the suggested serving temperature. Let Jen explain.

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: I always look forward to Tommy Newman’s monthly piece on music. And, as I’ve also said before, it doesn’t matter if the ostensible musical topic of Tommy’s article is of interest to me, I just love reading his thoughts. This month’s piece is no exception.

PETS

This is a neighborhood that loves its pets, and we have a couple of contributors that are writing about pets this month.

Can you imagine being reunited with your lost pup a year after he went missing? Or the pain you would have felt during that year? Jen Galletti reminds us that there are some important things you can do to make that reunion more likely.

Joanne Gallagher has written a great piece about bringing a cat into your home. It’s chock full of excellent advice, including things I had never considered — for example, did you know that there’s a cat food that reduces the allergens in their dander? Joanne makes a good case for cats as a pet to consider.

FOOD

I continue to get the benefit of neighbor Jane Gennarelli’s cooking experiments. She particularly enjoys coming over to my place, along with her pup, Micky, and spending Sunday afternoon cooking a real Sunday dinner. She’s always looking for things that add variety to what we eat. This month, she’s got a recipe for a nicely spicy Jambalaya.