These days the media is awash in rants about hate speech. It seems everyone is saying how nasty things have become, how hate speech is tearing our country apart, provoking widespread violence and spitting, and that ‘it must be stopped!’    Easier said than done. Certainly... Continue

At one time or another, and often several times at the same time, readers have felt completely overwhelmed by Everything Going On These Days. No wonder we forget where we put the keys. Just walking from car to the front door, we can simultaneously ponder:... Continue

According to scientists (yes, those people), summer ends on September 22 or thereabouts, when the sun crosses the celestial equator resulting in a day and night that are nearly equal in length. For most humans, however, summer ended when the kids went back to school.  ... Continue

Holocausts, Shrinking Wine Sales, Dipping Gun Deaths, Meager Rain, Seismic Faults and Epstein Agonistes Your correspondent senses that these are very trying times for many in our Valley. Trying, because many are just trying to ignore how trying Life has become, what with the unending... Continue

 ~"Cecil was a beloved African lion who rose to fame in 2015 after he was lured outside the protected area of Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, and killed by an American trophy hunter named Walter Palmer."~ Robyn White, Newsweek Journalistic ethics has required your correspondent to... Continue

As this issue hits the streets, Sonoma and the entire nation is preparing to celebrate yet another bombs-bursting-in-air Fourth of July, replete with exuberant flag-waving, bands, parades, fireworks, speechifying and wine, until dawn’s early light. Given the political drama of current times, no one should... Continue

Your correspondent rigorously strives to remain absolutely politically neutral and unbiased, if not oblivious, when providing the must-have information presented in these spaces. Readers can therefore imagine my surprise to hear that households throughout our Valley are home to more dogs than Republicans.  That may... Continue

‘Tis the season that locals and tourists alike look forward to with excitement, fear and trepidation: Wildfire Season.   For weeks now, every entity responsible for preventing, fighting or talking about wildfires has urged residents to “Keep your Go-Bag at the ready!” and “Be prepared to... Continue

“. . .  dear old golden rule days, Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic, Taught to the tune of a hick'ry stick, You were my queen in calico, I was your bashful barefoot beau, And you wrote on my slate, ‘I love you Joe,’ When we... Continue