Once every decade or so a monumental land-use matter arises in this community which sets the stage for the decades to come. In the 1990s it was the luxury high-end Rosewood Hotels resort proposed for the hillside above the city cemetery, where the open space... Continue
Public Citizen
I suppose that people have always had endless opinions. Roman gladiators probably had many opinions about the ruling class that set them to killing each other. I’m sure those who lived next door to Attila the Hun had no shortage of opinions. I recall a... Continue
The first of the year marks the anniversary of the 2006 New Year’s flood. Having trundled myself out of bed at 5:30 that morning only to find East Napa Street filled with a foot of water running strongly southwest, I thought to myself that this... Continue
Now that I have set aside my cloak of public office and have returned to the rank of ordinary citizen, it might be useful to consider exactly what some of the responsibilities of citizenship happen to be. While serving as a councilman, I had the... Continue
Recent cosmological discoveries by leading astrophysicists have generated some astounding new theories about the nature of the universe and our place within it. With the rapid advance of observational technology, up to and including radio/X-ray telescopes and Hubble, our ability to measure the size of... Continue
How can one summarize the experience of 12 years on the Sonoma City Council? Well, for one thing my hair has turned gray. And, wait a minute… 12 years ago I had hair! Consider this; 12 years ago councilman-elect Sebastiani was 14 years old! Congratulations... Continue
I recently attended my fortieth high school reunion. I lived in the same small town for the first 18 years of my life; consequently I’ve known a number of people at the reunion since nursery school and kindergarten. Being 3,000 miles away from my birthplace... Continue
In 1910, like a lot of other refugees from Eastern Europe, my grandfather arrived in America at Ellis Island in New York harbor. Twelve years of age, he had spent 38 days in steerage on a freighter, looking after his eight-year-old sister. Steerage, for those... Continue
Historians call this current age “modernity;” its defining characteristic is rapid change. Modernity began in earnest with the industrial revolution. When machines replaced man as the primary means of production, the technological age of modernity began to rapidly transform ways of life that had been... Continue
October winds Announce autumn’s arrival. Leaves yellow, walnuts drop, Squirrels nest. The wise man Covers split wood. The rainy season has arrived, and with it the smells and sounds of autumn. The ground itself seems to breathe a sigh of relief after the first rain,... Continue