Laughter yoga exercises the funny bone for a variety of health benefits. By Mike Nelson Photo by Mike Baker LET IT GO: There’s no room for embarrassment during a laughter yoga session, where getting silly is the point – and the prescription...
By Bridgette M. Redman In a city known for its views, few can compete with those from the restaurants and rooms of the Marina del Rey Hotel. It’s one of the grand dames of the coastal town, having been built in...
The Local Love Project is a community lifeline when disaster strikes. By  Alex Wilson | Photos by Viktor Budnik at Merrick grew up on the tiny island of Key West, Florida, the southernmost tip of the continental United States and a...
By Mike Nelson At the Wilson family farm in Rochester, New Hampshire, 9-year-old Kay, one of six children, watches her mother feed, for the umpteenth time, “hobos,” men hungry and without homes. As they sit on the back step of the...
By Mike Nelson | Photos by Viktor Budnik A farmer with a law degree? Sounds like Oliver Wendell Douglas, the highly successful attorney from the big city who became a highly unsuccessful rural farmer in the 1960s sitcom Green Acres. Except...
By Nancy D. Lackey Shaffer | All photos courtesy Zachari Dunes on Mandalay Beach Oxnard’s Mandalay Beach is one of the prettiest seaside spots in Ventura County. The view seems to stretch on forever, the waves crash majestically against the...
By Tim Pompey | Photos by Viktor Budnik Its manicured walls and gates sit quietly near the intersection of Thompson Boulevard and Ash Street. A former commercial motel in downtown Ventura, its history since 2009 has involved working with homeless...
By Alex Wilson | Photos by Viktor Budnik Martino’s Catering has always been a family affair, which might help explain why it’s grown from humble beginnings to now serving about 80 happy couples and their families at weddings every year....
By Alex Wilson | Photos by Viktor Budnik Martha Cantos has proven herself as a successful downtown Ventura business owner with her charming and colorful boutique Ecugreen since opening in 2017. Her entrepreneurial path to success included years of selling...