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.

Nature always wins

Simple rules can produce complex outcomes. This is easily illustrated in games like chess, where the rules governing the movement of pieces on a fixed playing board arranged in a grid of squares produces over ten to the one-hundred and eleventh positions, a number greater... Continue

The life and death of a Vasculopath

For reasons not entirely clear to me, I build up gunk on the walls of my blood vessels. My coronary arteries have needed cleaning and repair, and I’ve just been told that my right carotid artery is building up gunk and needs additional examination. “You’re... Continue

Utopian horizons are north stars, not distant shores

The surviving members of the rapidly diminishing founding cohort of the ‘60s great cultural revolution, the consequent modern-day social movements, and the progressive political movement are now beginning to pass into history. This much-maligned demographic I represent, the cursed Boomers, were the generation that helped... Continue

1948 was not an easy year…

Chapter 47: 1948 • Sonora My brother did not keep a diary for much of 1948; between April 2 and December 31 there are only six entries. Our parents were going through difficult times and the household was in chaos. Dad was selling the store,... Continue

Measure P passed four years ago. Why is it being undermined?

Andy Lopez, David Ward, David Pelaez Chavez, have we forgotten their names? Have we forgotten Measure P, passed by Sonoma County voters with 64.7% of the vote in 2020? Forgotten the letters of agreement created by law enforcement unions and the Sonoma County Board of... Continue

Learned helplessness

In recent conversations these days, we agree it’s hard hearing of relentless shootings and terrible news. Emotions and opposing opinions pull on us like an undertow. We can’t help but feel overwhelmed sometimes. But, the fact is, no one is born believing they have no... Continue

Parade of monsters

Can you separate Sonoma from what is going on in Ukraine? I can’t. That’s why this column, which was originally intended to be about promising solutions to the global crisis, has been about the war. There’s no solution to the war in Ukraine except to... Continue

My new friend ChatGPT

At my advanced age I’m losing more friends than I’m gaining, so it was nice to spend a little time online chatting with my new buddy ChatGPT, the latest iteration of Artificial Intelligence available to the public. When I was a teen, one of my... Continue

Biden’s war, part 2

We tend to view our political leaders as figures playing their parts in an ideological drama portrayed on our screens, beautifully attired, their faces polished by make-up made to look real. We forget they are human. Not until we read their biographies after they have... Continue

Political resolutions for 2023

The primary challenge of progressive politics is to demonstrate to a deeply alienated and often chronically traumatized working class that government can change their lives for the better. That was the theory of change that motivated Bernie Sanders’ epic campaigns in 2016 and 2020. The... Continue

Columnist