Dear Bonnie, I just bought my first rental property. I can write off the closing costs, right? What else can I write off? J.K., Sonoma Dear J.K. Thanks for writing. I get this question often. And I’m afraid the answer is no, you cannot write... Continue
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Health is a big deal. I have friends who eat mainly protein or veggies, rice or nuts -- no carbs or gluten. (Or, are we nuts?) It’s so crazy trying to figure out what to eat. I have a hairball to get out about it... Continue
Human sensibilities are in part a matter of scale, which is to say that as we interact with the world we move from the particular to the general and vice versa, oscillating between conceptions of reality in order to find our comfortable place among events.... Continue
Eliza spoke of suffocation from the stench hovering around the stables on a hot summer day. Everyone knew her. She drew sympathy from local Indians, the Mexican elite, soldiers, and American settlers. California was restless in the mid-19th century, as people from all backgrounds rummaged... Continue
Like Jack ferrying a donkey to market, trading it for magical beans and then escaping the confines of conventional society in ‘Jack and The Beanstalk’, the giant he disturbs is analogous to the giant gray-market behemoth suddenly disrupting our economy, stomping on established forms of... Continue
Earlier this week I attended Troop Fourteen’s Court of Honor in which six young men became Eagle scouts. The Boy Scouts of America has in interesting history and is rather dear to my heart. Growing up in San Francisco I spent every Tuesday evening in... Continue
I’ve spent considerable time with my granddaughter watching Sponge Bob Square Pants, the kids’ cartoon show featuring an ensemble of recurring characters living in the undersea fantasy town of Bikini Bottom. It’s wacky, weird and colorful, but also presents a coherent vision of moral character... Continue
Over the last six weeks I have been doing phone banking for the primary election, working off a database of prospective voters which shows the approximate age, gender and party affiliation of all the voting members of the household. The data point of that real-time... Continue
Though it is supposed that rationality and logic comprise a monolithic structure apart from feelings and emotions, the truth is that our rationality sits upon emotional structure. This is most evident in attachment to scientific rationalism, and its reliance on empirical “fact-based” data. I put... Continue
For many parents around the Valley, this is the week their little ones have waited for and dreamed of, for what seemed an eternity -- summer vacation. Throughout the summer there are endless events that promote history in one way or another. Do visit... Continue