There is nothing more fascinating then watching women try on clothes. Sitting on a big leather sofa in the dressing room of an upscale mall store I watched as an endless stream of women tried on pants and shirts, dresses and skirts. In and out of their cubbies they paraded, appraising, commenting, selecting or discarding garment after garment.
Even in recessionary times, spring still arrives and with it a desire for a lightening of garb. Off with the wool and the boots, on with the cotton and sandals. Spring is also time for prom and graduation, which is what caused me to be sitting idly on the leather sofa. My daughter is promoting from middle school. Hunkered down I wonder, where have the past nine years gone?
It’s seems like yesterday when I watched mothers of teens and shuddered. Their children were scary. Surely they were on the cusp of drugs or bad grades or questionable behavior and I wondered about the parenting skills that allowed children to dress like that. But now, here I am. My friend’s children are growing up. My children are growing up. And as the parent of a soon-to-be high schooler, I realize how utterly wrong I’ve been.
Sonoma teens aren’t scary at all. They are courteous. They are conscientious. They are cool. If you’ve been reading The Sun you will have noticed the string of Senior Project Profiles. This series highlights what Sonoma Valley High School seniors are up to – what they’re interested in and what their passions are by way of their senior projects. This week we recognize the work of a senior who helped build a school in El Salvador. Does it get less self-serving than that?
So please, check back each week to see what our fabulous teens are up to. They’re working hard at school, they’re dressing up for prom, they’re getting ready to leave the nest and above all, they’re doing their best to make their way in life.
Congratulations!
We’re always pleased to see local Sonoma Valley folks win awards. So many are deserving, and one such is the amazing Nigel Armstrong, who just came in second at the prestigious Menuhin Competition in Oslo, among 21 young violinists from around the world. This coming Mother’s Day, for readers in need of a special gift, Nigel will grace Jacuzzi Winery at a concert put on by the Sonoma Valley Classical Music Society.
Another Sonoma institution touting its recent awards is the other local paper. Apparently they have won seven awards this year in the California Newspaper Publishers Association annual awards competition. Of course, papers have to pay the trade association to enter the competition, with an entry fee for each category submission. And there are dozens of categories. The Sun has participated in the past, winning a few awards, and we learned that entrants must send their editors to serve as judges for the contest, as well. They spend a day reading and ranking the works submitted by other entrants, sometimes even in their own categories.
The Sun stopped entering the CNPA contest several years ago, wondering just who it was, really, that we were trying to impress. Spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to enter multiple categories was a bit beyond our humble budget, and in fact, we preferred the positive judgment of our readers to the uncertain opinions of editors from other papers.
We at The Sun strive to deliver an entertaining and informative product, reflective of our wonderful Sonoma Valley community and hopefully inspiring, too, with stories of remarkable and sometimes heroic local activities. Please judge us, dear readers, for what we aim to be: purveyors of “Warmth, Light, and Truth” and an important part of this community.
