Opinion

There was a change in the pitch of the engines on the plane that woke me up. I wasn’t concerned because if one is heading into a war zone, it is not hard to stay awake. Everything is new and you don’t want to...

During the height of the pandemic, the United Nations shined a spotlight on the vital role of fresh fruits and vegetables in the health and future of the human race. “As Covid-19 continues to affect the health and livelihoods of people across the world, we...

This week is a favor from my readers. Today I’m going to tell you about a very good friend, who I now call family, that has become something special to me and to my brood. You may remember that some time ago I mentioned that...

Today is a day when my dad would greet everyone he met with the most common phrase in the farmers lexicon. “Hot enough for you?” Actually, he didn’t say that very often. When you wake up over in the San Joaquin Valley, summer is...

It was 2020 and, like a champ, I had the flu and the pneumonia vaccination in one foul swoop. It was recommended for us folks of a certain age. We weathered mild side effects from both shots, and I didn’t get either virus. Result…...

This week’s issue of the Valley newspapers hits the stands three days from Sept. 11, 2021: the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the Twin Towers, in lower Manhattan. Known colloquially as simply 9/11, it is a date etched...

We last saw each other when we were quite young. She showed me photos of herself frozen in time in my childhood cottage. It was definitely her, but I had no memory of it. But there’s something about family ties that makes it not...

I usually awake on a Monday morning and see what is going on in my life. This morning I got bad news on my phone. One of my best friends’ mom died last night. She chose, if that’s possible, to die on the anniversary...

It all started about three weeks ago with a stiffening of the neck that while a minor bother for a few days to within a few hours the pain became severe enough that I could not swivel my head side-to-side more than a few...

Some years ago, in a library in Southern California, I gave a book to a young lady in hopes she would find it a compelling story. She replied she had heard of the book but had yet to read it and thanked me for...