Opinion

To the Editor: Once upon a time there was a farmer named John. He noticed the narrow bridge that connected Soledad to the Mission District was badly in need of an upgrade. After years from the 1960s forward, talking to each new county supervisor, the...

I’m going to tell you a secret. Oh, it’s nothing nefarious or secretive. It’s just something I decided to do a few years ago and it hasn’t been a tremendous success. I’m getting older you know. People usually are nice enough that they say,...

“No doubt the universe will unfold as it should,” I tell my husband (sort of citing my favorite poem “Desiderata”). This was after we returned home from our neighbor’s place up the hill. Most times you go to neighboring homes and receive tomatoes or...

The definition of the word “volunteer,” according to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, is a person who does a job without being paid for it. That’s pretty straightforward, but in my opinion it falls a bit short of the mark; if one takes the...

What if they started a war and nobody showed up? These words went to a paper I wrote about 40 years ago while stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C. I was an instructor with the U.S. Army Institute for Military Assistance. I attended an evening...

People are digging out maps and figuring out where this place is — Ukraine. Who are these people? They live so far away from us; aren’t we glad we are not them! They seem like a fiercely loyal people — they love their animals...

Somewhere along the line I am sure I mentioned that I have lived and worked in different locales spread across the country and as such there are memorable episodes, one of which came to mind recently so I thought I would share it. I...

While caring for aging parents or ill spouses can be viewed as an honor, it can also present serious physical and emotional challenges for caregivers and their families. Stress often plays a big part in caregiving. Left unchecked, caregiver stress can have detrimental effects...

Hello! How was your week? I found that there is way too much reporting about the war. What war? Yeah, that’s my opinion also. I guess if we are not to get into the mess that’s occurring over in Eastern Europe, there’s not much...

I was born on the East Coast of England and many of my formative years were spent by, in and on the North Sea. To this day I still feel the call of the water. It’s so primal. Not just that water, all bodies...