Ken Smith, Author at Chico News & Review

Our neighbor Jonathan

If you happen to run into Jonathan Richman while grabbing a cup of coffee or walking the streets of Chico—and the odds of that happening, in certain parts of town, are pretty good—just be cool. […]

The hamsa—an open hand with an eye on the palm—is regarded as a powerful symbol in many Middle Eastern cultures, representing good fortune and positive energy. It’s also known for its protective qualities, and is […]

Book ’em, Chico!

This feature is part of the CN&R’s Live Music Guide special issue. Check out the CN&R’s Arts & Culture calendar online at chico.newsreview.com/calendar It takes a village to build a music scene. Venues, performers and […]

Cheese toast time machine

Every time I pass through Yuba City on Highway 99, I am struck by two sights that never fail to excite and bewilder me. The first is the wild chickens roaming and roosting along the […]

PB for lunch

To cope with the isolation and existential dread wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Youa Vang—like many other people—turned to baking. She was already an accomplished, self-taught baker and the go-to person for birthday cakes and […]

‘Can one desire too much of a good thing?’

William Shakespeare’s words are so deeply woven into modern culture that everyone, regardless of whether they’ve read his plays or seen them performed, is more familiar with The Bard than they may credit themselves. That […]

‘Songs of peace’

Russian icon Boris Grebenshchikov’s music, like the man himself, is enigmatic. It is sometimes playful, often poignant, and always poetic; rebellious, yet reverential; and rooted in Russian culture, but embracive of global influences. This multiplicity […]

Hot dog summer

In the not-too-distant past, downtown Chico was a wiener wonderland. It used to be possible for us hot dog fiends, at reasonable and even unreasonable hours, to find a fix within a few block radius […]

Art in the machine

At first glance, the rows of square, ceramic tiles laid out across two tables inside Idea fab Labs (IFL) look fairly similar: saturated, black-and-white designs vaguely resembling asymmetrical Rorschach images. A closer look, however, revealed […]

Getting back on track

This feature is part of the CN&R’s 2023 Bike Issue. Where other people may see nothing but a muddy tract of land past the Chico Regional Airport, Phil Wysocki and Jim Clancy—the track operator and […]

A tasty scene

The value of a windowed storefront in downtown Chico is—pardon the pun—clear, to business owners and patrons alike. This is especially true for eateries, as it offers built-in curb appeal and a natural sense of […]

Big top terror

Though commonly advertised as “wholesome fun for the whole family,” there’s an air of spookiness surrounding the circus. For one thing, clowns. On a deeper level, mystery, a touch of the supernatural and a peculiar […]

Nursing in Nigeria

As a Chico State nursing student, Kristina Chesterman dreamed of traveling to developing nations where she could use her skills to help those in desperate need. Sadly, while biking home from a marathon study session […]

Lifelong love and learning

After six years spent sailing down the coast of Central America and around the South Pacific, Mike and Mary McCluskey considered three different cities—the homes of their children—to (figuratively) drop anchor and call home. The […]

Ice cream dreams

This feature is part of the CN&R’s 2023 Entrepreneur Issue. In 2013, Shenlyn and Martin Svec’s lives were changed by, of all things, a few scoops of ice cream. The couple were vacationing in Texas […]

Chico News & Review

Articles by Ken Smith