Window on the World Column | Enjoying Her Staycation
When your granddaughter is coming to visit you from the congested summer heats of Sacramento and she hasn’t had much of a summer vacation, you feel the need to right the wrongs and set her world a bit straighter than it was — at...
Guest Column | Monterey County Free Libraries’ 5 Things for August 2026
After a fun summer, it’s Back to School and Monterey County Free Libraries is ready to support students academically and with leisure activities.
1. Learn: To assist students with schoolwork, MCFL subscribes to Brainfuse HelpNow, an online service offering academic support in most subjects. HelpNow...
Funny Papers Again Column | Over and Out
For some of the planet’s inhabitants, there is a deep connection between humankind and florakind; florakind being a word I just made up, my definition including all the earth’s forests consisting of all species of trees in the world. An individual who, according to...
Window on the World Column | Coal-Es-Terol
Having completed my bloods a month before, I boldly stroll into my primary doc’s office, waiting to hear the good news. I had been exercising, watching my carbs, exercising my good attitude (even more important than the body!) and watching the blood pressure. What...
Theater Review | Stage Hands’ ‘I Hate Hamlet’ delivers laughs and heart
Last weekend the venerable Stage Hands theater troupe delighted audiences with the opening of their summer production of “I Hate Hamlet.” The show is a serio-comic romp through the relationships and emotions of five very alive people and one ghost.
Written by Paul Rudnick and...
Funny Papers Again Column | Well-Written Words Can Bring Change … Happened to Me
I gave up on a book last week. I have set aside other books in my day, but those occasions have been rare and usually because I felt the story did not justify the sheer volume of pages; Joyce’s “Ulysses” and Tolstoy’s “War and...
Window on the World Column | Blame It on the Moon
I’m going to blame it on the moon. She was cool and shimmery in her slim golden gown like a bygone Hollywood actress, as I watched her crescent shape light up her golden hue just a little, as if smiling directly at me. I...
Guest Column | Your Health, Your Community: The Rural Difference
In an era increasingly dominated by large healthcare networks, finding medical care that is advanced, timely and personal can be challenging. Too often, patients spend long periods in crowded waiting rooms, navigate complex schedules and large facilities, and feel like just another appointment in...
Funny Papers Again Column | Ye Gods, Stay Out of Our Government — Part II
“You’re too damn cynical!” That was the total critique of a speech I gave back in high school in 1970, the critic a friend we called Pepper. I took that criticism to heart and in the decades since have tried to temper my cynicism...
Window on the World Column | 10 Years of Animal Champions
“When South County Animal Rescue (SCAR) was founded at the beginning of 2016, I’m not sure what we honestly expected. We knew that there was lots of work to be done and it wouldn’t be easy, but there was a gap in our communities...


















