Opinion

“I didn’t know her,” the preacher said. “But if I had known her, I’m sure I would have liked her.” I raised one querying eyebrow at my husband. We are at his aunt’s funeral in Watsonville. (Is it a funeral service if the person...

For today’s column I cite Joe Mathews as main source. Joe writes the California Connected column for Arizona State University’s publication Zocalo Public Square (which is redundant as a zocalo is a public square, but I digress). Instead of taking a dramatic approach where I...

So today is Presidents Day. Well, it is as I am writing this. I can remember when I started to understand what a President does in the four years, or more, that he serves. I remember some Presidents that were older than me and...

February is the month of love, and certainly not the time to talk about breakups. But when it comes to separating from all the “stuff” in your life, the familiar refrain, “It’s not you, it’s me,” rings true. Editing might be a little painful, but...

Funny how the mind works. Today I was blankly sitting in front of my laptop with no idea what to write about, tuned to KCBX, the local NPR radio station, when a report from Chicago mentioned the famous circular downtown roadway known as the...

How about that Super Bowl! Did you get to watch it? I can’t remember the last one that I have watched, but this one was really a good show. Lorraine and I enjoyed ourselves just hoping the best team would win. You know what? The...

“You’re limping again,” he said (again). “YES! FULLY AWARE AGAIN OF THE FACT I’M LIMPING. DON’T MENTION IT ALL THE TIME!” (I don’t think he will for a while.) I’ve had a gammy leg, as father would say, for over six months now. When you...

According to English language experts, the phrase “Third time the charm” dates back to the 1800s in Old Britain when the number 3 was thought to be fortuitous, and whenever it appeared at a significant time in a person’s life, it would bring good...

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,...

Liar, liar, pants on fire! Have you ever heard those biting words as a child? Maybe it was just a schoolyard taunt by someone you didn’t get along with. Perhaps it was a case of “The dog ate my homework.” And your teacher was...