Public Citizen

Larry Barnett lives in Sonoma where he was elected to three terms on the City Council and served twice as Mayor. A thirty-five-year resident, he currently serves on Sonoma's Planning Commission, where he recently was Chair for two years. Until her passing, he was married to his wife Norma for 50 years, has two daughters and three grandchildren.

If water could talk

Mother Nature came crying to me last night. “I’ve had it,” she said, her tears falling loudly on the skylight, “I’m done.” But the creeks, dear one, had heard it all before, And just laughed. Life as we know it is impossible without water. Water... Continue

When enough is never enough

If your economy requires people to consume things they don’t need or even want, and to do more of it each year than the year before, just to keep the whole edifice from collapsing, then you need a different economy. So wrote Jason Hickel. My... Continue

‘Mom at hospital for operation’

Chapter 68: 1950 • Sonora ~ Larry’s diary (age 16) Oct 1 Saw Father of the Bride with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor. Oct 2 Mom at hospital for operation. Carried horn home. Oct 3 40 seniors and I went to Sacramento to see Sutters... Continue

Our time has come

Lately everything sounds like it’s about pointy things, guns, rockets, or bullet points. Is it just me? I’m avoiding it all like the plague. We know how well that worked out. It just seems like it’s all coming to a head, like the political arena... Continue

SSU strike was a one-day wonder

The one-day labor win for the faculty, adjuncts, post-doc fellows, counselors, and librarians at the planned week-long strike at California State University (CSU) is probably the best unexpected political news for 2024, so I’m banking it. I had planned to write a PMC column urging... Continue

The joy of tracking

Now that the rain is here and the ground is muddy, it is the best time of year for animal tracking in Sonoma Valley. While our local coyotes, bobcats, fox and other wild creatures live here year-round, finding their tracks is much harder when everything... Continue

Perfecting my disappearing act

Life on earth is very, very old, a couple of billion years, at least, and nearly all the creatures that have ever lived have disappeared. Were it not for photographs, we’d lack a visual record of our recent past, let alone that of our ancestors.... Continue

Of mind and meat

The mind/body split is quite a persistent delusion, even though the two are inseparably bound. In a supreme act of imagination, “I am self” decides that it is something apart, not only from the body but almost from the rest of the universe. This tendency... Continue

Join one of the county’s Sonoma Valley-centric Commissions

Did you know that The Sonoma Valley Community Advisory Commission (SVCAC) is one of the longest running advisory commissions in the county? It was first formed in 1993 through a Joint Powers Agreement between the County and the City of Sonoma particularly focused on land... Continue

Getting ready for anything

My friend Richard Reoch recently lost his wife of 50 years. That experience prompted him to write the following about getting ready for anything. “Thank you for teaching us,” the nurse said to me as she took out her phone and photographed what I call... Continue

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