I had to do a business post and had the pleasure of working with Joyce M. who gave me excellent…read morecustomer service. It's been a pleasure doing business with Alameda Sun thanks to you.

I AM LIVID. My Grandmother's obituary was published today and they completely removed a line about…read moreher son who passed away a few years ago. I can't get a hold of anyone there.. I am so upset that one of those most important people in her life was left out of her obituary by the newspaper company. I double checked my submission and it's definitely there.

This is my 200th review…read more I have been pondering what to write for this momentous occasion. All week I thought about it ... I even ran ideas by Candice at Yelp during our yummy lunch I have yet to review. And I realized it is not easy to write sometimes. If it is for your job, it can really suck the life right out of you ... if you HAVE to write. So that is why it is so fun for me to Yelp. Because I do not have too. But for all you media out there exchanging words and wit for a paycheck ... kudos to you if you can get it right. And since I am an Oaklander ... I want to send a big fat kudos to our local rag ... the Oakland Magazine ... with the beee-utiful Grand Lake Movie Theater gracing the cover this month. I am so happy there is a local magazine to highlight Oakland. Oakland is such a fantastic place with a huge heart and lots of charisma! We have access to everything the bay area has to offer ... and we have the best views. (In so many ways)! We are the melting pot of America. So it is no surprise that in a city with 500,000+ people ... we should have a magazine that is for us. By us and for us. But know that it is a lot of hard work to produce a magazine month after month in a slammed economy like this. There are many obstacles for the small business these days. Pinch ... ouch! Every month, Oakland Magazine is reaching out to the community and sharing information about what is going on in Oakland. The community and businesses are paying attention and you are doing excellent work sharing the buzz around town. We Oaklanders and East Bay residents love to come together for a festival or a party, excellent food, celebratory cocktails, great shopping and a healthy farmer's market too ... so keep on keeping us posted of the who, what, when, where, why and how of all things Oakland and its surroundings. And Dear Editor: I am sure you have figured out that it is impossible to make everyone happy. Readers, advertisers, bill collectors, employees and editors all of different definitions of happy. They always will. Just keep pounding the pavement and looking for great angles, good stories, decent advertisers and amazing supporters. And BTW: Thank you for the annual Best of Oakland and Best of the East Bay edition that came out this month. In Montclair, we are proud, surprised and amazed to be recipients of several of the Best of Oakland Awards! http://www.oaklandmagazine.com Best Charity Event Montclair Pet Mayor Contest Montclair Pet & Wildlife Fund 1955 Mountain Blvd., Suite 111 (510) 339-2400 www.petandwildlifefund.org/mayor Best Veterinarian Montclair Veterinary Hospital 1961 Mountain Blvd. www.montclairvethospital.com Best Place to Work Montclair Veterinary Hospital 1961 Mountain Blvd. www.montclairvethospital.com Thank You Oakland Magazine and the East Bay Community for your support. I hella heart Oakland! There is no place I would rather be.

Several years ago I was a subscriber to the Oakland Magazine. There was a period that I had to…read morecancel the subscription due to budgetary reasons. Being on a three day work furlough from state employment meant sacrificing during those lean years when the "guvernator" aka "terminator" was in office...less dining out, less going out to the movies, museums, excursions, baseball games, etc., and a cancellation of a local magazine. Last year I saw a representative from Oakland/Alameda Magazines at a spring event (Mother's Day weekend) on Park Street in Alameda. I wanted so much to subscribe to the magazine and I was given a choice - the Oakland one or the Alameda one. The decision was not an easy one. I am a native Oaklander, living in Alameda since September 1988. However, Oakland will always be in my heart. I may be out of "ghetto" Oakland, but the "ghetto" is still in me when my OCGA is out in the open. Thus, Oakland Magazine wins out over the Alameda Magazine. As I have mentioned in other reviews, I can't think of anything better than having what I consider the best around me...born and educated in Oakland, live in Alameda and work in San Francisco. Most of my reviews are based around these three cities (88%). They all have something that I truly enjoy besides the weather and our local sports teams. Let me not stray off the subject of this magazine, but elaborate as to why I enjoy reading it. The magazine is informative and it also offers me the opportunity to try the different restaurants and attend the events that are advertised, only to form an opinion and present my review thereof on this website. The last two issues (December 2012; January/February 2013) were enjoyable reading. What a pleasure it was to see Dr. Warren Strudwick on the front cover of the December issue. He is considered one of the best treating physicians in the field of orthopedic surgery and sports medicine. He also provided excellent medical care to my husband when he injured his shoulder in an automobile accident. The January/February 2013 issue is as what's noted on the front cover..."Journey Back in Time". I do recognize the architectural designs on the some of the buildings. Location is in the vicinity of 14th & Broadway. In this issue, there is a restaurant review of Hopscotch. I haven't been to Hopscotch yet, but their location is across the street from where I was born - 1966 San Pablo Avenue...a journey back in time to the 50's. I'm not sure what was at 1915 San Pablo Avenue during the 50's and all I could think is Friedman's Appliances. However, a few doors north of Friedman's was a restaurant called Victor's Chinese American Cafe and who owned that restaurant. Well, none other than Victor "Shanghai Kid" G's dad. Here's to you, Victor, and the wonderful memories of growing up in that part of town. (Hey, the Greyhound Station is still there after all these years and it still looks the same...rundown.) Thanks, Oakland Magazine, for this publication. I hope to enjoy more years of reading your magazine and wish you continued success in publishing a wonderful magazine.

We started using Madison Street Press for our city's Historical Society Newsletter. The process has…read morebeen so easy! Turn around time is excellent. They respond quickly to any questions and even fixed a small editing issue. They are professional, reasonably priced and do a great printing job. So happy that we found them!

MSP is my go to for mailing jobs and booklet or newsletter projects. They've been around for years…read more A nice smaller company which still offers great customer service.

I read a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and on line content, and am often reminded of an…read moreexchange between Dr. Bashir and Garak in Star Trek: DS9: Of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?" "My dear Doctor, they're all true." "Even the lies?" "Especially the lies." In its broadsheet edition day, the Berkeley Daily Planet was both a great read and infuriating. I did not agree at all with their Israel, Marine Recruiting Office, and other "progressive" stances, and often found myself flinging down the paper in disgust. Yet, I couldn't wait to pick up the paper again and read some more, especially Becky O'Malley's "holy" opinions and the best letters section outside of the Anderson Valley Advertiser. Broad and sometimes contentious political debate within the Fourth Estate can be free speech at its best. "To hold a pen is to be at war" - Voltaire Unfortunately, thanks to narrow special interest boycott (of which one of the leaders has his say below), the economy, and some payroll service fraud thrown in, the Berkeley Daily Plant closed up their print edition and went on line. So image my delight when I recently picked up a Copy Mat "newsletter" edition of the Daily Planet. "Great Caesar's Ghost!" - Perry White I devoured the issue and was left wanting for more. So whether I agree with the content or not, I hope that the Daily Planet is on the way back, and mindful of the Joseph Pulitzer quote that "Newspapers should have no friends"

They are not beholden to donors. They have no agenda beyond community service. You will get the…read moreunvarnished truth about Berkeley here. You'll see the love for the community as soon as you dive in. We are so lucky to have this kind of independent journalism here.

I was so thrilled to get the June edition of Marin Magazine in the mail the other day! During these…read morestrange times, not only did I not expect to get the magazine at all, but to get such a wonderful edition was a special treat. The beautifully written article by Pete Gauvin, "Water Therapy," was the perfect addition to this month's magazine, giving us readers all kinds of ideas and inspiration for getting out on the water safely and happily. Thank you Marin Magazine for continuing to bring us such a great magazine!

Appreciate that it is free and the covers are artfully done reminding me how lucky I am to live…read morehere. Good effort to highlight what is going on 'now' each month. Always entertaining interviews with the 'famous' Marin locals on the back page. What's missing? Balanced, in-depth reporting. I'm already walking around with rose-colored glasses since I know how fortunate I am to be here. But it's not perfect, so use some of those glossy, fun-filled pages to give us more of the real back story. Then I'll consider a couple more stars.

It's not like the Novato Advance of old days which was…read moretruly filled with local information about Novato. Now, for the most part, it's nothing but ads. Sometimes it's only four pages long. The editor/owner's opinions many times contain inaccurate and biased information. About 4 years ago it just appeared on our driveway for free. That lasted about 2 years, then, like a miracle, it disappeared. During that same time it was further downsized as the name Novato Advance was removed and it was given the generic name of Marinscope to cover all of Marin, which it was basically already doing. Let me ask you. Is this any way to run a newspaper? I think not.

I just read "The Berkeley Barb and the Trump raid" commentary by Sherman R. Fredrick in this week's…read moreMarinscope newspaper. I was very surprised of how he underestimated (and actually made light of) the impact of classified documents - especially the top-secret documents - that quite possibly dealt with international intelligence involving hidden operatives and nuclear secrets. Is he saying that he actually trusts this guy in keeping this national security information under wraps with his track record in this regard? The FBI "raid' was done out of necessity because Trump had taken possession of them illegally, stalled for over a year, and then wouldn't co-operate fully with giving these many documents to the National Archives where they legally belonged. He lied to the FBI that he had given them all of the documents and actually had about twice as many that he had secretly detained. The actual search was done without the agents wearing the usual "FBI" jackets and was not announced publicly by the FBI (it was Trump himself). The subsequent information that has been made public was planned to be kept secret as part of an on-going investigation until both Trump filed legal requests to get more details. Fredrick stated that, as far as Trump possibly having "declassified" these many documents, "well have to see about that". Seriously? From what has been indicated, many of these documents were so sensitive that the agents who handled them didn't have the clearance to inspect them and they certainly couldn't be declassified without thorough review. Besides, if they were all properly "declassified", they all would be available to the public. This dangerous mishandling of top secret documents by the former president has already cause irreparable harm. There has to be an assumption by the CIA that it is quite possible that many of these national secrets got into the hands of our foreign adversaries. If field intelligence operatives have to be pulled (or are assassinated), it could greatly disrupt both our nation's investigative methods and the accuracy of current national security knowledge. ~ Duane Van Dieman, Mill Valley

Good news world! The editor finally paid me my wages. Alleluia!…read more So, all is set right as far as getting compensated is concerned. I hope this little paper endures because it is the among the few papers covering issues and concerns of the neighborhood. With the Mission Dispatch on "vacation" since December of 2009, due to the economic recession, the Mission District and surrounding areas has few voices for the community. And, as far as I can see, mainstream media does not provide much in local news, especially at the neighborhood or grass roots level. Also, El Reportero features news that impacts the entire Bay Area. It's coverage is wide. And, I noticed that it does make an effort to present news that is often missed or ignored by mainstream sources. For example see this recent article... http://www.elreporterosf.com/editions/?q=node/4645 I still believe papers like El Reportero have lots of potential and I hope they endure and continue reaching out to the community.

What Jonathan didn't say is that he was asked to either pick up the check or accept payment via…read morePaypal, which was immediately sent to him immediately after he was owed the money. However, he said he couldn't accept Paypal, and then it took him a long time to pick up the check. He went on his own to cause embarrassment and write on Yelp that he didn't get paid. Which was false! I am glad he went on to correct the record, but his negative comments is still there online. El Reportero is really a paper that prints real news that does not entertains or distracts, but rather informs and denounces government corruption as part of its coverage. www.elreporteroSF.com

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