Dear Bonnie: I’m puzzled about my taxes. This year I was finally able to itemize deductions. I turned over a big batch of receipts for medical expenses to my accountant and she said I couldn’t take the deduction. I thought medical expenses were something you... Continue
Columnist
“But words will never hurt me,” says the childhood aphorism, yet nothing could be further from the truth. Try yelling “oatmeal!” in crowded theater and watch nothing happen but annoyed stares and admonitions to please be quiet. Yell “fire!” and watch chaos erupt. Words, in... Continue
Understanding of brain physiology has increased enormously in recent years, yielding answers about mapping, the role of various structures such as the neo-cortex, amygdala, corpus collosum, and so forth. Moreover, though we now know how various structures relate to processing new and retaining older memory,... Continue
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
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