How does our county budget benefit our community?

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has approved a $2.26 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2022/2023, which began July 1. To give a broad overview, though this is certainly not comprehensive, among the funding allocated: $5.5 million to increase General Fund reserves; $2.8 million to... Continue

If it works for veggie burgers…

There is a certain type of veggie burger I love. For a while Whole Foods, Sonoma Market, and Safeway carried it. Now only Sonoma Market carries it. It is a good thing we have four supermarkets in Sonoma. I hit them all to get all... Continue

Marooned by war, a young Ukrainian adapts to America

I met Valeriya Rudyaka at the Plaza in March at an event in support of the people of Kaniv, our Sister City in Ukraine. When I saw her recent post on NextDoor, I asked her if she’d like to get together to share her story.... Continue

Alchemizing liberals into progressives

The Trump Supreme Court just announced the effective end of the 50-year-old Roe court ruling, which affirmed the 'right to privacy' as a constitutionally grounded civil right that gave women legal agency over their own bodies. We are shocked to realize that we have been... Continue

No bed of roses…

Chapter 36: 1947 • Sonora Missive to Marceline (part 2 of 2) May 2, 1947 (continuation of the letter from my mother to her favorite niece) Boy, if I had the chance to live my life over again do you think I would have gotten... Continue

‘Malignant dissociative contagion’

This is what psychologist Sue Grand calls the type of psychological disturbance spreading across America and the world right now. It’s happened before, of course, and has been called by other names like “social hysteria,” and “group delirium.” Whatever the name, such episodes are examples... Continue

A sudden need for polka dots

We’re all a little worn around the edges these days. It’s been a ride being alive in these unfathomable times, but it’s made me jump up and down with glee lately to see some of you and chat. Hello Sonoma! I wonder if you feel... Continue

By dawn’s early light

Banned for two years because of The Plague, our local celebration of the Greatest Nation On Earth (if you don't count Canada) will see the return of Sonoma's traditional Olde Time 4th of July Home-Town Parade and Fireworks Show. Yes, despite another variant threatening to... Continue

Bombs bursting in air

As many predicted, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court has become a dangerous embarrassment, reveling in a medieval Christo-fascist worldview that once burned ‘heretics’ like Joan of Arc at the stake, routinely drowned women as witches and filled the death camps at Auschwitz and... Continue

We are fine, yes?

There are so many ways we tell ourselves that everything is going to be just fine. “We’re America,” we’re told, “there’s nothing we can’t do when we work together.” Or, “We’re the greatest country the world has ever known.” Or “America is the world’s beacon... Continue

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