1942 • Vallejo, California ~ The only dog the family ever had was when they lived in Vallejo, but they didn’t have him for long. It was a little black and white eight-year-old mongrel, and eight-year-old Larry loved him. On a cloudy Sunday, our parents took a... Continue
Columnist
My personal journey with cannabis began in 2017, just after Prop 64 passed in 2016 for adult-use cannabis dispensaries in California. After years of health issues, unsatisfactory treatment from conventional medicine, and four surgeries, I decided to follow a new path. I began to seek... Continue
The political bumbling by the Senate and White House Democratic leadership in the last two weeks have only driven down the numbers of the ambitious ‘Build Back Better’ agenda of the Biden White House. This bill, which is a down payment on making the U.S.... Continue
We live in divided times. It seems like one group is pitted against the other wherever we turn. Sometimes we wonder if it’s possible to create more unity. But we are not powerless. Unification is possible, both personally and politically. We’ve been traumatized with uneasy... Continue
Our word “silly” is derived from Old English, and originally meant blessed or lucky. As so often happens, its meaning changed over time. By Shakespeare’s day, silly had come to mean thoughtless or foolhardy, and it retains that meaning plus another that encompasses amusing or... Continue
Over the past several years, I have heard from countless constituents, in my district and across the county and region, sharing their ideas and eagerly awaiting updates on the land-use planning process for the Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC). After much anticipation, an update is coming... Continue
Well, it had to happen; the honeymoon is over and the Democrats have returned to form, after a good clean start of the term with a quick and decisive win on the $2T CARES Act. A good rule of thumb for Democrats is: the longer... Continue
By Stephanie Hiller The United Nations Food System Summit (UNFSS) that wrapped up its flashy tents at the end of September was a masquerade, a thin porridge where a real meal was urgently called for, serving up in bold colors the dramatic conflict between family... Continue
My nearly 30 years of civic engagement, ranging from serving on the Sonoma City Council for twelve years (twice as Mayor), sitting on the Planning Commission, and citizen activism and involvement in ballot measures and citizen appeals, has provided me the opportunity to understand land-use... Continue
Things change, people change, it is inevitable. Sometimes we have to let go of something or someone we love because change has left the person, place or thing harmful to our wellbeing or incompatible with our beliefs. We had our last dinner at the Depot... Continue