Over the holiday weekend, I saw two films that really put their finger on the pulse of the present moment in our culture: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “The Big Short” and clarifies the times in which it is produced. Both of these movies... Continue
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Recently, a leader of a Sonoma Valley nonprofit organization identified a serious community problem that her organization has the ability to tackle. Then, she immediately suggested that she and her staff could create a program from scratch to help solve this problem, which is not... Continue
The human experience is paradoxical; our minds are infinite, as vast as the universe itself, while our bodies are finite, grains of sand tossed by the tides and winds of time. We collectively use our imagination to explore the far reaches of Universe, plunging the... Continue
The Springs. A place. A state of mind. People out on stoops, walking along newly laid sidewalks under streetlights, running along the corridor in the early morning, visitors staying at the Fairmont venturing out to the neighborhood, locals gathering around taco trucks, hot pink and... Continue
Alcohol causes more deaths than those caused by painkillers and heroin, combined. The Center's for Disease Control reports that in 2014, 30,722 people died due to alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis of the liver, as compared with 28,647 deaths due to overdoses from opiates. If drunk... Continue
We praise democracy, but we don't seem to like it very much. Voting rates in America are terrible, and voters seem to prefer established families or Reality TV stars to experienced politicians. Most people agree that our democratic electoral system has been corrupted by money,... Continue
For reasons shortly explained, it’s looking like the folks hoping to build a community swimming facility on Verano Ave across from Maxwell park have dived into a public relations swamp of their own making. They are Sonoma Splash, a non-profit which in 2014 announced plans... Continue
H.G. Wells' classic "War of the Worlds" is a tale about how some of the smallest creatures on Earth ultimately destroyed Martian invaders wielding technology powerful enough to wipe out humanity. His idea was not entirely fanciful; as global warming lifts the average temperature of... Continue
By Loretta Carpio Carr As we approach another new year, we often reflect upon the changes we would like to make in our lives. We may resolve to exercise more, eat less, or learn a new skill. A recent trip to the grocery store brought... Continue
The most uncomfortable truth of human experience is that life feeds on other life, and each of us depends upon the death of other living things for our continued existence. In early societies, this truth infused creation mythology and manifested in rituals during which life-from-death... Continue