October 9, 2025

Harmony Grove, my foot: When San Diego County officials call it ‘progress,’ keep a fire extinguisher handy

Fire doesn’t care about zoning. A bridge won’t save you when the hills already are burning. Harmony Grove? Try irony grove. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors did it again. Five officials in a bright, air-conditioned room downtown on Oct. 1, 2025 voted yes—unanimously, naturally—to build a brand-new suburban fairy tale called Harmony Grove Village South. You’d think, from the name, they were approving…


CSUSM prof’s ‘Commune’ doc gets a 20-year redux tour

When Jonathan Berman came to Cal State San Marcos as a film professor in 2004, he was close to finishing a documentary about a Northern California commune during the counterculture era. The documentary was released the following year. Now, 20 years later, Berman is marking the anniversary of the film with a new digital restoration and a national tour of screenings and interviews. “Commune” is…