I sat writing this in a local restaurant, watching dozens of people spending big bucks on meals. Discombobulated, seeing money roll out of pockets, I ran to the grocery store, only to stare at more high prices (why, oh why did we get a Whole... Continue
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It was recently announced that millennials now outnumber baby boomers in the United States, a milestone in the history of American demographics. For nearly all our roughly seventy-five years, baby boomers have dominated trends in fashion, economics, technology, science and environment, but this chapter is... Continue
My brother, his wife Marian, and I took our fifth road trip to gather family history, sifting through county records and newspaper archives – finding local articles, and deeds. We made Marian come as she has a sense of direction. In the past four years... Continue
As the school year begins, I’d like to pose a question: What would be a good topic for an article about education in Sonoma Valley in 2019-2020? One possibility could be “The Year of Results.” Yes, I believe that all the parents, the teachers, the... Continue
As modern life progresses and introduces new cultural forms, our tendency leans to retrieving artifacts from the past. This process of retrieval softens the shock of obsolescence; through names, shapes or designs, outdated cultural artifacts lend their comfort and familiarity to newer, less familiar ones.... Continue
There is a lot of symbolism in this photograph of those Twin Towers, which were home to some of the country’s biggest and most powerful corporate and financial players, and from which they projected their power and influence around the world. Lost in the understandable... Continue
As a veteran of the periodic Sonoma brouhahas over land-use decisions, I bear the scars to prove it. My rule of thumb is to weigh in only on those issues that are critical to the nature and character of the community I call home. The... Continue
Having to become an expert on insurance is one of the many surprising and not so pleasant aspects of the “new normal” after a wildfire takes your home. I know more about insurance now than I ever thought I would. Learning that your home insurance... Continue
After a summer of family vacation dramas, parents seem to be doing their annual Happy-Dance at the launch of yet another school year. For weeks, they swarmed online sales and malls, equipping The Kids with the latest must-have back-to-school outfits and accessories, such as: Stylish... Continue
It’s not a triumph to dominate, hurt, or violate life. Every day there is some atrocious scar across America. Now, our government has removed more protections for wildlife. “These changes crash a bulldozer through the Endangered Species Act,” said Noah Greenwald, of the Center for... Continue