Nonfiction

Journeys

Have Scooter, Will Travel:
​​Journey to Freedom
by Marsha Michaels
a woman with multiple sclerosis trades in her reluctance to give in to her disease for an electric scooter, a decision that changes her life in a positive and profound way​
Monsoons and Showers
by Vivien Zielin
on a train from Bangkok to Singapore, a conductor stashes contraband drugs under a passenger’s seat, and a man is left sudsy and waterless in the middle of a shower
​“Dates” I Know by Heart
by Tina Martin
a poignant account of a whirlwind romance during Peace Corps training on Hawaii before the would-be lovers have to bid farewell for assignments on separate Pacific islands 
Paris: A State of Mind​
​by ​Cathy Fiorello
a personal essay that recalls the author’s first visit to Paris and investigates her love of the city as it mysteriously touches her inner core of self
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More Nonfiction

🌉 An Inside Look at V&B 
by ​Mary Hunt
a history of Vistas & Byways, the review you are currently perusing, including interviews with founders and indefatigable staff, originally published in ​SFSeniorBeat
🌉 Urban Legend or Not:
The Questionable Circumstances Surrounding the Death of a President in 1920s-Era San Francisco
by Monika Trobits
an investigation of the salacious rumors concerning the death in San Francisco of President Harding
A Journey to Hospital Land; And Back
by Mike Lambert
a man’s sardonic account of three consecutive hospital stays, all for serious conditions—how could he have been prepared for this frightening environment?​
​A Fifteen-Minute Sanity Test
by Tina Martin
an engaging memoir about a determined, but vulnerable, woman’s short interview with a male psychologist to decide if she is qualified to join the Peace Corps​
🌉 The First Hill of Beans: Folger’s Coffee 
​by Monika Trobits
a  history of the Folger family’s migration from Nantucket to San Francisco during the Gold Rush and how Jim Folger founded the famous coffee company​
Provence and Tuscany: Homegrown Contentment​
​by ​Cathy Fiorello
a lively travel sketch that contrasts and compares what’s beautiful, delicious, and wonderful about the elegance of France and the exuberance of Italy​
🌉 Brief Encounters in San Francisco 
by ​Kaaren Strauch Brown
a thought-provoking and compassionate depiction of a series of brief encounters with homeless people in San Francisco​
An Intrepid World Traveler
a book review of Vivien Zielin's Eyeballing Big Croc
by ​Cathy Fiorello 
​a review of Zielin's collection of stories about her ambitious, unconventional travel, which, Fiorello reports, made her feel "I've almost been there"
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🌉 BAY AREA STEW SELECTION - A TASTE OF LIFE IN THE BAY AREA
Click or tap for an index of Bay Area Stew selections and Bay Area Modes of Transportation theme photography

​The Vistas & Byways Review is the semiannual journal of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and visual arts by members of OLLI at SF State.
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​The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University​ provides material support to the Vistas & Byways volunteer staff.