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.

Not just a Jew in name only

Neither of my parents were observant Jews. Yes, we belonged to a reform temple and would attend services there for the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, but other than that, we were mostly Jews in name only. We ate bagels, cream... Continue

We are all Ukrainian

I am Ukrainian – or, more precisely, of Ukrainian origin. Like many Jewish Americans, my ancestral roots reach back to Eastern Europe. My father was born in Kiev (now Kyiv) and thought he was a Russian. Other relatives lived in the Pale of Settlement between... Continue

Our two years of COVID 19

March 2020 feels like a lifetime ago. COVID-19 has warped our sense of time, and though there are firm event markers – among them Sonoma County’s first Shelter in Place order almost exactly two years ago – the experience as a whole has been incredibly... Continue

Make it stop!

As a psychotherapist, I've spent much of my life helping people get along and trying to learn it myself. Now, watching this brutal war in Ukraine I’m derailed seeing destruction again coming from dictators and other human beings. Why do we have so many cruel... Continue

Touching the earth

Walking seems such a simple thing. I used to think nothing of jumping up and heading out of the house when I was a boy; following the impulse to move felt seamless, an act so natural as to be thoughtless. My father Norman was a... Continue

My mother gave me her bookcase!

Chapter 29: 1947 • Sonora ~ On his twelfth Christmas, Larry received a small five-year leather-bound diary with room enough on each page for three lines per day. Jan 1 Am just getting over sickness and added a small piece to my room in which... Continue

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s race is on

The 2022 Sonoma County Sheriff contest is down one candidate, Kevin Burke, Healdsburg Police Chief, who dropped out of the race last week. As the meeting secretary for CBSC (Citizens for a Better Sonoma County), I get to participate in the candidate interviews. We interviewed... Continue

Is crazy the new normal?

The world is turned upside down; global warming, international relations, pandemic disease, and regional politics have all gone nuts. Appreciation of norms, the behavioral and social customs that preserve comity and decorum, is not in decline; it’s collapsed. Trump and his minions are not the... Continue

It was nothing but the best for mom

Chapter 28: 1946 • Sonora ~ My mother, brother, and sisters loved to read. They regularly checked out books from the local library, and in every room at home someone would be sprawled somewhere with their nose buried in one. Larry’s favorites were historical adventures,... Continue

School board skirmish

Many are concerned that our nation is descending into civil war or – even worse – another mask mandate. Adding to anxiety is imminent war in Ukraine, that favorite invasion route to and from Europe for Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and Hitler. In 1991, Ukraine declared... Continue

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