Funny Papers Again Column | The Gradual Waning of American Shock
Saturday afternoon around 4:30 I was 410 words into my column for this week when my cell phone rang. The choice to interrupt a train of thought while writing usually falls to the “let it ring and go to voicemail” protocol, but in this...
Window on the World Column | Our City by the Bay
The last time at the hotel, there were young Asian girls next to us wearing facemasks in the elevator. We thought they were a bit strange. Little did we know that the world was on the cusp of the largest, strangest pandemic in our...
Letter to the Editor | Going Forward: Remembering the Sacrifice of Officer Tippit
To the Editor:
About this time each year our national media will start reminiscing about the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. And like others, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard what happened on the streets of...
Window on the World Column | The Wonderful World of Books
I wish more people read books. I’ve said that many times in my life since the Internet has become near everything in people’s lives and books were placed on the back shelf, as it were, where they have become very dusty. Occasionally I’ll get...
Letter to the Editor | Biden’s Immigration Bill
To the Editor:
The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which is an eight-year plan to citizenship, was revealed by Democrats on Capitol Hill. This bill would apply to roughly 11 million migrants who are currently living in the United States without legal status.
This citizenship would...
Letter to the Editor | Deadly Force at School
To the Editor:
One of the default solutions offered for countering an active shooter in a school is arming teachers. Thus, ensuring that “the school” can push back on an intruder rapidly and lethally.
At first glance, this solution rings true; but is it really? Like...
Window on the World Column: Health and Sickness During Corona
During your wedding vows, in less than good health and in slightly better health and all that jazz, you are so caught up in the romanticism of the prospect of — hopefully — being together forever, you don’t really think about the sickness part...
Funny Papers Again Column | On the Road Again; Just Can’t Wait
I will remember this month, this May of 2024, as one of journalistic chaos and don’t you wanna know why? Let me tell you why; and in the telling offer up a plea of “guilty with prejudice” to the charge of Unwarranted Opinion.
If one...
Letter to the Editor | The Path to a Better Future
To the Editor:
I’d like to thank Estrella Cruz for her March 17 Letter to the Editor (“Biden’s Immigration Bill”). She explained provisions of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 that can potentially shift the focus of the immigration “debate” away from emotionally charged rhetoric...
Guest Column | Let’s Not Neglect Our Real Hearts This February
We all live in a brainiac world, to be sure, but the heart remains the emotional, spiritual center of our being. It’s still such a symbol of love and emotion, with our language sprinkled with metaphors invoking the heart as the source of empathy,...
Local News
Two arrested after altercation at Soledad bar
SOLEDAD — Two men were arrested after a physical altercation at a Soledad bar Saturday night, where officers later found a firearm, ammunition and...






















