With all the holiday celebrations behind us, we know that Santa Claus did not bring the Sonoma Valley School District three million dollars to avoid making cuts to ongoing programs. And the Three Kings didn’t either. So this is how we must start this new... Continue
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For the past 100 years, U.S. nonprofits have benefitted from the fact that Americans who filed an itemized tax return have been able to take a tax deduction for donations to their favorite charities. However, life changed dramatically for nonprofits on January 1 when the... Continue
Look, I’ve hiked the Cinque Terra, ridden a donkey up the cliffs of Crete, and waterskied down the Colorado River. I trekked through the Mayan jungle and climbed Tikal. I hiked the pine forest above Rio Caliente, scaled Nevada Falls, and climbed rickety ladders to... Continue
The 60s changed my life, or more correctly, the 60s changed my mind. I am a member of the "love generation", that cohort of baby boomers who discovered that a sacred presence permeates all things, that words can never do it justice and that one... Continue
For almost the entirety of human history governmental systems have not been democratic. Though we in America like to think of Ancient Greece as the birthplace of democracy well over 2,500 years ago, even that's more fiction than fact; the Greek city-state of Athens, with... Continue
"Many consider the elevation of Voice of America (VoA) to the status of the official domestic news organ of the United States as emblematic of when authoritarianism became fully established in America. Quietly, and without much notice, the Trump administration had been actively recruiting for... Continue
This week, the Senate, voting on party lines, passed their version of the mysterious ‘tax reform’ bill, which puts this generationally catastrophic wealth transfer to the 1% one step closer to becoming law. Policy wonks can get into the weeds and try to tweak the... Continue
By Susan Gorin -- “We all have this thing called humanity that was so important in this particular event.” -Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett, comments at the Civic Ceremony, Nov. 18, 2017 As we settle into our post-fires reality, new terms have entered our conversation,... Continue
What-Has-Been opposes Things-to-Come, while at the same time What-Has-Been creates Things-to-Come. Things-to-Come makes What-Has-Been obsolete, yet Things-to-Come mirrors What-Has-Been. The relationship between What-Has-Been and Things-to-Come is not paradoxical, rather interpenetrating. They are not separate, they are not the same; this is because neither What-Has-Been nor... Continue
While we’re swirling from fires and politics – we land smack dab in the midst of holidays, with family and other humans – trying to get along. Relationships are a part of the season, whether we like it or not. If we tell the truth... Continue