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.

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

So… what now?

It’s been a confusing, disorienting, challenging century…. from growing up with White Rabbit to growing old with Trump. And now it’s time to swivel again. We wonder whether to keep the slower pace, less social lifestyle, quilting or carpentry projects, relocate, change jobs; basically, what... Continue

Old photos

We may be living in the digital age, but many of us grew up when the world was only analog, which means we possess many generations of family photographs. I’m talking about photographic prints, many of them black and white, filling envelopes and storage boxes... Continue

When the Boomer Bubble pops

At 75-million strong, Baby Boomers have had an outsized effect on our nation’s economy, culture of entertainment, technology, fashion industry, environment, real estate, and virtually everything else about contemporary life. In our passage from children to codgers, we’ve been like the bulge in a python... Continue

The mess on Moon Mountain

For the last few years I have been observing the slow motion construction of a bunch of McMansions at the corner of Moon Mountain Road and Highway 12. This piece of real estate seems to be cursed. The first person who attempted to build there,... Continue

Mother’s idea of housework was to sweep a room with a glance

Chapter 27: 1946 • Sonora ~ My father believed that life was hard work. He believed you had to earn everything you got, and that to get anything done right you had to do it yourself. He believed that you always finished what you started,... Continue

Resisting the bureaucratic mind

Anyone who’s raised children knows that of three basic freedoms - to say “no,”, to relocate, to choose friends - the freedom to say “no” is among the earliest to manifest. As an element of basic freedom, animal life has said “no” from its very... Continue

It’s a big deal

Along with The Big Lie, we’ve now got The Big Quit – people walking off their jobs. It’s crazy out there, it’s all too much, the problems of this world. Thank God there are a few inspiring things happening that excite me. Queen Latifah, star... Continue

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