Chapter 7: Mid 1940s, Chico — Every summer Mom took the kids to visit her mother, Nellie Chatfield, who still lived in the two-story house on Boucher where my mother grew up. Chico was even hotter than Sonora during the summer, in the 100s every... Continue
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What a year this has been. First Covid, then the Walbridge and Meyers Fires, and now the Glass Fire have tested our community again and again, with a few power shutdowns thrown in to keep us on edge. I am in awe of our first... Continue
We are rapidly approaching the event horizon of the November presidential election. This troubled election will clearly be a major stress test on our national claim to be the ‘Leader of the Free World’ and prime exemplar of first world capitalist democracy. We have been... Continue
Before Sonoma's Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) was established in 2000 with voter approval of about 65%, large tracts of agricultural land at the city's southern border were being rapidly developed. The risk of sprawl was obvious; we'd all seen what had happened to the likes... Continue
The announcement that Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19 has a quality of inevitability. From the beginning of this pandemic, Trump has minimized its health risks, downplayed its severity, boosted quack treatment theories, ridiculed wearing a mask, argued with administration health professionals and generally... Continue
High on the list of Lessons of 2020 is that people (particularly “those people”) – are often beaten or Arrested to Death with impunity. So it’s understandable that voters’ ears perk up when our Sheriff tells us Measure P is a bad idea because .... Continue
How to survive in scary times? After the last phase of suffocating smoke, intense self-care and safety was needed. The constant crucibles of our lives seem to continue nonstop. At least you can save money on your next trip to Burning Man – we’ve got... Continue
We are in the crucible of history now and the molten force of this moment will cast the template for the form of government that we will live with for another generation, at least. This is it. The unimaginable political apocalypse of a triumphant right-wing... Continue
Chapter 6: 1945, Sonora – At five, Betty opened her first business. She admired the ads of the Lucky Strike girls wearing long gloves, short skirts, high heels, and satin pillbox caps. She particularly applauded the ingenuity of the lacquered trays they carried like a personal... Continue
Good News: No catastrophes are scheduled for this week! Wildfires are being controlled, earthquake monitors are flatlined, the Plague Is What It Is, and volcanoes are silent. Schools are closed, large gatherings banned, the NRA looted by its executives -- even mass-shootings have been postponed. ... Continue