Rick Thomas
Author Rick Thomas is the former museum curator and vice-chair of education for the South Pasadena Preservation Foundation. He served on the South Pasadena Natural Resources Commission, helping to maintain a strict policy protecting the city’s great old-growth trees. Using touchstone photographs from his own collection—one of the San Gabriel Valley’s largest accumulations of historical images and artifacts—as well as national, state, and local historical archives, Thomas provides a window to his city’s past and an understanding of why its preservation is so important.
A World Less Certain | Wheelchair Unbound
During times of darkness, the written word can burn so bright that it lights the path to a common understanding. Despite those who claim “we are all in this together” during the pandemic, we’re...
A World Less Certain | Apocalypse Now
Los Angeles and the valleys are choking in smoke. So thick, the sun is amber, and the view from my loft is sickly yellow. It’s been like this for days. The forests are burning...
A World Less Certain | What I Tell My Daughters
I have collected little nuggets of wisdom over the years. A treasure trove of fatherly advice I share with my daughters. Some of their favorites are listed below.
If you want everyone to know your...
A World Less Certain | Brookside Park
Last week, Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The incident immediately prompted a boycott by three NBA playoff teams currently “in the bubble”...
A World Less Certain | Ending History Class as You Know It
Last week I drove my ’57 Chevy to the history museum in town. I secured my mask, and then my fingers got a mind of their own, pecking furiously on my laptop. While I...
A World Less Certain | American History 101
We often learn about our history in lessons with catchy titles such as “Manifest Destiny.” "The Turbulent 60s” contains the narrative of the civil rights movements, Vietnam War, assassination of JFK, Cuban Missile Crisis,...
A World Less Certain | Helping to Heal Wounded Knee
Massacre at Wounded Knee – A Family Journey
My mother read stories to me as a child about the American Indian chiefs. My bedroom walls were covered with their images while I was growing up....
A World Less Certain | Basketball Saves Lives
The signs were there. It was only a matter of time before the Americas would be hit hard by COVID-19. It was inevitable: the bureaucratic embolism of denial from federal, state, county, and city...
A World Less Certain | Enter The Zoom Room
Finding a “happy space” is sometimes referred to as a trouble-free mindset or a physical space where you can kick back and chill out.
The Happy Room
While supervising a call center team, management converted a...
A World Less Certain | Time Warp
Everything is crazy now.
Opening up. Shutting down.
Back to work. Shelter in place.
Walking around. Covering our face.
The pandemic lifestyle is like being trapped in a revolving door. Every day feels like the day before.
In the...
