16 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM grandmother hadn’t been a volunteer docent, would her granddaughter still have grown up to lead Stanford University’s prestigious museum? (Page 29) What if a friend had never given Tian Mayimin some of her mother’s century-old sourdough starter? Would something else have triggered the passion for bread-making that Tian turned into Little Sky Bakery? (Page 24) For Nathan and Siera Conte, the young couple behind Groovy Goose coffee shop in San Carlos, it was a series of coffee dates that cemented a partnership in life and in business. (Page 74) You’re probably familiar with horseback riding and with gymnastics, but have you ever met one of the daredevil athletes who combine the two and compete in the sport known as vaulting? You have to wonder what sparked that initial idea to transfer a handstand from the stable surfaces in a gym to a precarious perch on the back of a moving horse. Woodside Vaulters’ Hanna Parker shows us what it takes to combine athleticism and artistry with equestrian skills in this month’s feature story. (Page 100) You’ll also meet the vivacious duo behind Arya Steakhouse (Page 69), hear how a couple who found love after losing their spouses created a new home in spectacular fashion (Page 83) and get a sneak peek at six amazing kitchens on this month’s annual SolMateo tour (Page 90). For vacation inspiration, explore breathtaking Tomales Bay on a memorable weekend getaway. (Page 43) Closer to home, rediscover downtown Palo Alto by getting off the main drag and strolling along its side streets. (Page 60) Dig into this, our 70th issue, and find something to spark your own passions! Andrea Gemmet andrea@punchmonthly.com {editor’s note} backyard. Even as an adult, I still plunge headfirst into books and have to be dragged back out, blinking, into the everyday world, counting the minutes until I can dive back in. As a child, nothing was safe. If it had words on it, I was going to read it, from newspapers and dictionaries to scholarly art history tomes on my parents’ bookshelves. Mom and dad would laughingly remember reprimanding me for a misdeed, only to be told that, according to one of their parenting books I’d found, it was “just a phase” and perfectly normal for a child my age. (I think that may have inspired them to keep a closer eye on what I was reading.) Thanks to what I’d learned of the world through all those books, I was pretty sure that “reading for a living” wasn’t a real job, but like many bibliophiles, I harbored a childish ambition to become a writer myself. I found a way to translate my passion for the written word into a career when I signed up for a high school journalism class. Telling stories, using language both precise and concise, held immediate appeal. As an inveterate procrastinator, the constant deadline pressure did wonders for my productivity and focus. And best of all, it required me to constantly learn new things, through interviews, background research and lots and lots of reading. Now that my daughter’s in college and exploring which one of her passions will guide her direction in life, I’ve been thinking about how those sparks of interest get ignited. So many of them fizzle out, but those precious few that land at exactly the right moment, take hold and burn brightly, can lead us somewhere unexpected and wonderful. You’ll find traces of those sparks on the pages of this month’s issue of PUNCH, where you’ll meet Veronica Roberts, the director of the Cantor Arts Center. If Veronica’s beloved One of the things I love about the storytelling we do at PUNCH is getting to know people who are passionate about what they do. Sometimes following your passion is a no-brainer—just ask any video game-loving kid who is now making a living as a game-tester. But it requires a lot of creativity and drive to leverage a passion into a profession. In this month’s issue, you’ll meet people who turned a zeal for great coffee into a small business, a love for museums into a career and a newfound interest for baking bread into a popular bakery. For me, that all-consuming interest has always been reading. Ever since I was very young, I’ve loved to read, anywhere, any time: after bedtime by the weak glow of my nightlight, the backseat of the car, the sidelines of my brother’s soccer games, perched on a tree branch in the
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