The True Stories Lounge

04/07/2026

❛ While the novelist is banging on his typewriter, the poet is watching a fly in the windowpane.

Poet Billy Collins, born in 1941.

03/24/2026

At least 500 people were ordered “removed in absentia” when they did not show up for their court hearings at the San Francisco immigration court last week, said Milli Atkinson, director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the San Francisco Bar Association. ⁠
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Now they may lose the chance to apply for legal status or protection in the U.S. and could be arrested and deported without a future hearing. ⁠
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An immigration judge who worked in San Francisco for 35 years until retiring in 2021, said the federal government was likely mass-scheduling hearings in a bid to ramp up deportations. ⁠
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“They’re counting on these people not showing up because otherwise you wouldn’t have that many cases on that day,” she said. If everyone scheduled had arrived in court, she added, judges would not be able to hear all their cases. ⁠
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Last week, Mission Local observed only a small fraction of people scheduled for hearings appearing in court.

03/24/2026

A bear got stuck in a doggy door for FIVE hours, and the French bulldog treated it like dinner theater.

In Duarte, California, a home security camera caught a wild bear trying to squeeze into the house through a dog door. It only managed to get its head in before getting stuck in a painfully awkward position, and that’s when the family’s French bulldog walked up like he owned the place.

Instead of hiding, the small dog marched right up, barking and sniffing like he was the head of security. Then came the moment that made the clip explode online: the French bulldog dragged his own full food bowl over and started eating right in front of the bear, slow and unbothered, like he knew the bear was hungry and wanted it even more.

For what felt like forever, the bear huffed and struggled to back out while the dog kept circling, yapping, and scratching like, “You can’t have any.” Eventually, the bear forced itself free and shuffled off defeated, and the French bulldog just stood there like he’d won the longest standoff of his entire life.

03/24/2026

Save the date for the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival April 9-12, 2026. Passes go on sale Friday!

03/24/2026

Can old dogs teach humans new tricks for how to live longer, healthier lives? A nationwide dog study of aging dogs hopes to find some answers. https://cbsn.ws/3NG6OVt

03/24/2026

On 16 march 1944, Anne wrote:

'These are crazy times and even crazier circumstances.'

Anne wrote these words in the Annex, where she had been hiding for almost two years, surrounded by fear and constant tension. Yet at just fourteen, she felt herself growing more independent and mature, despite the world closing in around her.

During this period she wrote that she had to put her thoughts on paper, because otherwise she would “suffocate”. Writing became her way to cope, to reflect, and to keep hope alive.

In March 1944, Anne thought deeply about the war, humanity, and her own future balancing the horrors she witnessed with an unwavering belief in peace.

A reminder of the power of words, even in the darkest of times.

{PS}

03/24/2026

On the morning of September 25, 2000, 19-year-old Kevin Hines walked with heavy steps toward the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. He was silently battling the weight of bipolar disorder, overwhelmed by a darkness he could no longer contain. Standing on the edge, he watched the water churn beneath him while traffic rushed by, unaware of the war raging inside him. Then, in a moment of despair, he climbed over the railing and jumped.
Kevin plunged at over 75 mph, falling the equivalent of a 22-story building. The impact shattered three vertebrae in his back; he felt his body breaking even before hitting the water. Against all odds, he survived. But survival didn’t mean immediate safety—paralyzed from the waist down, struggling to stay afloat in the freezing bay, he was in agony and drowning in both water and regret. “The moment my hands left the railing,” he later said, “I knew I had made a terrible mistake. I wanted to live.”
Then, something miraculous happened. Kevin felt a presence beneath him, something large and gentle lifting him toward the surface. Witnesses onshore later confirmed it wasn’t a shark, as he feared, but a sea lion that stayed beneath him, nudging and keeping him afloat until the Coast Guard arrived. That moment changed Kevin forever. He survived not only a su***de attempt but was granted a second chance at life. He went on to become a powerful advocate for mental health, sharing his story around the world, and authoring *Cracked, Not Broken*. What tried to end his life became the beginning of his mission: to help others hold on just one more moment, in case that moment is the one that saves everything.

03/24/2026

Truth is strange.

According to the sheriff’s office, while Dayton Webber was driving, he shot and killed a front-seat passenger during an argument.