Public Citizen

Larry Barnett lives in Sonoma where he was elected to three terms on the City Council and served twice as Mayor. A thirty-five-year resident, he currently serves on Sonoma's Planning Commission, where he recently was Chair for two years. Until her passing, he was married to his wife Norma for 50 years, has two daughters and three grandchildren.

Things to Come

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

Things unsaid

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

Fire survivors need your cash, not your clothing

By Dr. B.J. Bischoff -- Recently I was in a meeting with the leader of a Sonoma County nonprofit organization. I knew she had lost her home to the Tubbs Fire in October, so we started chatting about her experience in fleeing her home and finding... Continue

Grappling with gropers

If it seems hard to breathe lately, it’s not because wildfires are back. The sudden shortage of oxygen follows a rash of reports of sexual harassment by men in politics, business and entertainment which have caused local lechers to inhale sharply and all at once,... Continue

Welcome to the Dark Side

Women have been putting up with piggish men for a long time; do you recall the cartoon showing a helpless woman being dragged by the hair while a caveman says to his friend, "I love these pre-holiday sales!"? For a very long time, the meme... Continue

Things we lost and found in the fires

By Supervisor Susan Gorin -- It is not often that life hands you huge dichotomies in the same day, same night, same week, but for many of us the past several weeks have been a master course in contrast between destruction and beauty. Every moment since... Continue

Garbage in, garbage out

To stave off the impending collapse of planetary ecosystems under the twin onslaughts of global warming and human overpopulation that are rapidly eradicating all forms of life, I wanted to make sure I was properly recycling. So I dug out my copy of the four-page... Continue

On ants and massacres

Speculation and conspiracy theories naturally flow from horrific massacres such as occurred in Las Vegas: Steve Paddock was trying to sell guns, was killed to make it look like a suicide; he was a hit man with a specific target among his victims, all others... Continue

Mixed feelings

It’s still difficult to write a column now, after these horrendous wildfires. Moving into the rainy season and holidays, my eyes are bulging out of my head. We enter winter with mixed emotions. I’m sure most of us share more vulnerability while others are grateful.... Continue

Wisdom of the ancestors

During the particularly tense night of October 11, I received a phone call from one of my Oaxacan friends. She was watching news reports of the Northern California fires and wanted to know if I was all right. After we had discussed the number and... Continue

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