Last week was National Volunteer Week, so hats off to the one in four Californians who contribute their time to volunteer for their favorite nonprofit organizations! The Corporation for National & Community Service estimates that 32 percent of California volunteers choose to donate their time... Continue
Columnist
I’ve just returned from a solitary retreat in the Colorado Mountains where I stayed in a tiny remote cabin in the woods without electricity, telephone, running water, bathroom, Internet connection or refrigerator. I prepared meals on a one-burner propane stove and read by lantern light.... Continue
Want a six-foot talking Terror Bird? How about a dwarf Stegosaurus? Miniature Wooly Mammoth, anyone? Get ready; genetic engineering is about to explode into the commercial marketplace, bringing us the strange excitement of all kinds of new and intriguing designer pets. You may think I’m... Continue
I’ve written about love before, and my words don’t really amount to much compared to how love feels. I’m not alone in writing about love, of course; it’s the stuff of rock and roll, Shakespeare, a thousand poets, romance novels, crime drama plots and notes... Continue
“What if I had stayed in that job, that house or that relationship? Could I have taken more risks? “Did I quit too soon? Should I have quit? Could I have spoken up more? Why didn’t I plan for retirement?” Beyond midlife, some people question... Continue
Sitting here in the “land of the free” while much of the world struggles with democracy and reorganizing society, I can’t help but contemplate the meaning of freedom. Tossed around liberally by conservatives, freedom as a word seems to have morphed into a convenient catch-all... Continue
Dear Bonnie: Late last year I started a new job after being unemployed for almost the entire year. I collected unemployment, which I now have to pay tax on. I just did my taxes and I cannot pay the amount due. I know that they... Continue
“You win a while, and then it’s done, your little winning streak.” - Leonard Cohen You may think you are a loser: full of self-criticism, disliking your looks and your body, eating badly, drinking and smoking, not sleeping enough, ignoring your kids, slacking off at... Continue
One of the difficult decisions members of the boards of directors of Sonoma Valley nonprofits make is how much to compensate their executive directors. And one of the difficult decisions nonprofit executive directors make is how much to compensate the employees who work for them.... Continue
Of all the difficult things in the world, watching myself get old and decrepit will surely rank among the toughest. Unless I keel over and suddenly expire, fate dictates I will likely suffer indignities of pain, weak bones, altered gait, low energy, debilitating disease, and/or... Continue