Thousands of words have been written in the press, social media and by local political bodies to oppose ballot Measure J, authored by the Coalition to End Factory Farming. I have 550 words in this column. First I must disclose that I have been a... Continue
Personal/Political
Start of summer of 1968, the war in Vietnam was raging. A smaller war was raging in our little green house. My father, World War II vet, notorious underachiever, with a bad temper and me, a drug addled 16-year-old hippie war protester, were at odds.... Continue
Last year I watched the movie, “Leave the World Behind.” The plot is an apocalyptic scenario in which external threats and internal strife break down societal order. Starting with a tanker ship running aground on the beach, then building the story that everything we know,... Continue
As I was growing up my father constantly downplayed our dreams saying they were not reality. I now realize that his “reality” was, indeed, only his perception of reality. As I grew older, I found out I could make lots more money than he did... Continue
On November 19, 2023 I attended a church service held by the Sonoma Collective Church in the theater at Sonoma Valley High School. I am not a religious person, though I had a Catholic upbringing. My mother was a devout Catholic and never missed mass. ... Continue
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, propylene, butylene, isobutane, and n-butane. LPG is used in heating appliances, cooking equipment, and vehicles. 2 years ago over 100 railroad tanker cars filled with LPG were... Continue
The other day I saw a post by Sarah Ford in Facebook, the words Sonoma VAL ley Sun inside a red heart. It was a fitting tribute to Val Robichaud our publisher at the Sun. Seeing it made my heart break once again and made... Continue
If your economy requires people to consume things they don’t need or even want, and to do more of it each year than the year before, just to keep the whole edifice from collapsing, then you need a different economy. So wrote Jason Hickel. My... Continue
These are the words of Annie Falandes, the founder of Homeless Action Sonoma (H.A.S.) from her December newsletter. “People ask me, why spend so much money? Someday I will have time to pull up the statistics, but as I have known from other studies, what we... Continue
So what exactly happened at the Sonoma City Council meeting of December 6, to hear Kenwood Investment’s appeal to not pay the required housing impact fees for its downtown hotel project? A lot of complicated talk happened, resulting in city staff going off to work... Continue