Daily Business Report: Wednesday, March 12th, 2025
“What the Constitution Means to Me” couldn’t be more appropriate for current times.
By Martin Kruming | Theater Critic
Now playing at the North Coast Repertory Theatre, this 90-minutre journey (no intermission) evokes laughs, shouts, questions and comments from all sides. But most of all, it’s a thoroughly entertaining and provocative look at America’s oldest document through the eyes of a young feminist who first comes on stage and says, “Hi, I’m Heidi.”
Written by playwright Heidi Schreck of Brooklyn, the story begins in Wenatchee, Washington, the apple capital of the world, and takes the audience on a journey that includes the likes of Thomas Jefferson, William O. Douglas, Harry Blackmun, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her friend, Antonin Scalia, John Roberts, Martin Luther King, Bayard Rustin, Pablo Picasso and more. There are even references to actors Patrick Swayze and Mel Gibson.
The Supreme Court cases are ones of great historical significance, including Roe vs. Wade and Dred Scott vs. Sanford, and then there are the 9th and 14th amendments of the Constitution.
Abortion, freedom, women, men, young, old all have a part in the play. There’s even a dialogue about the words, shall and will, in interpreting what the government can do.
The backdrop for the play is an American Legion Hall in Washington during the 1990s where then 15-year-old Heidi (played by Jacque Wilke of Denver), is hoping to win a scholarship. Behind her are three rows of photos with about 90 veterans – all older white men. Andrew Oswald plays Legionnaire Mike.
At about the 75-minute mark, Heidi and Legionnaire Mike are joined on stage by a teenage debater played by Genevieve Tai, who’s eloquent and persuasive in arguing for a younger generation to rewrite the Constitution of 1787, something that an older Heidi doesn’t favor. The argument is: “Our Constitution is so old” vs. “We have to trust the people.”
Audience members also weigh in before giving the cast a standing ovation.
The theater distributed copies of a booklet entitled, The Constitution of the United States … its only keepers, the people. – George Washington.
“What the Constitution Means to Me” runs through March 23 at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Encinitas.
Martin Kruming is a retired journalist, attorney and college instructor who chairs the Global Neighborhood Project, a nonprofit that focuses on citizen diplomacy through photography, storytelling and chess plus the arts and sports in countries off the beaten path such as Azerbaijan, Botswana, Latvia, Mongolia, Morocco, Uruguay and Uzbekistan.
Bipartisanship is rare in the California Legislature. Here are the bills breaking the divide
By Ryan Sabalow | CalMatters
In these hyper-partisan times, Democrats and Republicans can’t seem to agree on much. That includes the members of the California Legislature.
Of the 2,278 bills lawmakers submitted by the deadline last week, only 11 had Republicans and Democrats as joint lead authors, according to a CalMatters analysis of the Digital Democracy database.
Another 41 bills had bipartisan “co-authors” and “principal co-authors,” designations that are more symbolic since a bill’s lead authors and their staffs are expected to marshal the legislation through to the governor’s desk.
Authors and co-authors can still be added to bills later in the year. But taken together, these early bipartisan bills represent less than 1% of all the legislation filed so far this session. The figure perhaps isn’t surprising, given ever-rising partisan acrimony and Democrats having a supermajority in the California Legislature.
Big Bear’s beloved bald eagle nest is now home to a family of five
Jackie and Shadow’s third chick popped out of its eggshell in the wee hours Saturday morning, confirmed by Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that manages the popular YouTube livestream of the famous feathered couple.
“As everyone excitedly waited, the pip hole kept growing until by 2:11 a.m. this morning, the chick was visible with much of the shell gone. It was already drying but not quite out of the shell,” wrote Friends of Big Bear Valley in a post.
“And at today’s early morning feeding at 6:13 a.m., Chick #3 was presented to the world!” the post continued.
