Robert Kumpel

Reader writers recall their weddings, engaged at Escondido baseball stadium “I think what’s made our marriage work is our ability to change,” says Marge. “When we got married, the priest told us, ‘For the rest of your life, everything you have is equally yours. If you only have one piece of bread, you divide it in half, equally.’ Well, we’ve made a game out of that for 43 years. When there’s an apple, we’ll cut it right smack in half. But the idea is to share….” By Robert Kumpel, Feb.

The drive in from Pine Valley, potluck meals, misgivings increase, hipster holiday, importance of humility, local food for the feast, turkey cooked in brown bag, in 2005 we had 250 guests On a warm autumn afternoon, a homeless man lies against a wall on First Avenue just south of Ash Street. He's sharing a bottle of cheap vodka with an older homeless man in a wheelchair. They're both drunk. With Thanksgiving coming soon, what plans do these men have?

Editor's picks of stories Robert Kumpel wrote for the Reader I'd never marry a pale girl "I don't really think about skin cancer too much. I'm not really worried about it. I've had a bad sunburn before. I couldn't put any lotion on or anything. Even aloe vera gel hurt. My mom's pretty tanned too. My mom's jealous of my tan, and my dad kind of makes fun of me. He tells me I look like a black man with two white parents." (June 20, 2002) Are the van Dams fit parents?