This time of year even people with a lot of money worry about money. An average American spends $786 on Christmas gifts. And now, with the halls un-decked and all those live trees dumped. What’s next? Yup, the tax man. I talk to folks who... Continue
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Surveillance in the digital age is a universal reality at unprecedented scale, reaching into the intimate details of uncountable millions of individual lives. Now politely called “data-mining” to lessen it’s sense of violation, we used to call such activity espionage or spying and its “Peeping... Continue
Happy New Year. I love it. It’s time to reorganize. It’s time to think differently. My mother always used to tell me that when one wakes in the morning, the troubles of yesterday must be forgotten. It is a conscious decision. It is important to... Continue
The Millennials are the first generation of Americans who will see their living standards decline from that of their parent’s generation. The combination of harshly reduced living standards (enforced by the Wall Street/Washington austerity consensus), accompanied by markedly decreased job security and constant competition for... Continue
It’s notable that so much of that which make us uniquely human remains hidden until we die. Metaphysical strands and threads invisibly connect us to each other, things and events in which we had a part, stretching through time and space often unacknowledged and unseen.... Continue
Last minute shoppers need help and I’m just the guy to lend a helping hand. What better way to learn about history, particularly the history of our splendid town, than to give gifts that have stories. Because procrastinators, like me, are living amongst us, I... Continue
Volunteers are the lifeblood of our community. They give tirelessly of themselves in the service of others. And they receive nothing more than a simple “thank you,” a smile on the face of someone they’ve helped, or that inner satisfaction of knowing that they have... Continue
For most of human existence a nomadic way of life was life itself. Moving with the seasons alongside migrating animals while establishing temporary lodging lasted hundreds of thousands of years. The simple non-industrial hunter-gatherer style of life produced no garbage; everything used was natural and... Continue
It’s cold. Reminds me of our sister city, Kaniv, in the Ukraine, only its high is our low. So, if you’re complaining about the weather, think about Kaniv. Our sister city relationship in Kaniv is in slumber and like any hibernating animal, Sonoma hopes that... Continue
Holiday hairballs abound this time of year. Some relationships have ended. As we reflect back, we realize that some stopped abruptly and some were never completed. Why do we split off, instead of mending these split ends? I hear it all the time: “Hey, I’m... Continue