Opinion

Local column by Joanne Banuelos

I have been writing about my life and my town for a long time if you follow me on a regular basis. I have shared my travels and my thoughts, some appreciated and some have brought condemnation. It gets harder and harder to write...

Back in 1980, I spent a couple hours with an American icon, a man whose music struck chords across a wide swath of the nation and at times insinuated itself into the political discussion. He came from a small, rural part of Arkansas, born...

Below is what happens when a writer is somewhat confined to his immediate surroundings; that writer reads a lot of books and views a lot of documentaries and then sits down at the keyboard and just lets the fingers go where the imagination, and...

It’s that time of year again. At the end of a long, wet winter, we Californians are exhausted by the grey, the mud, the mess. We are tired of short days and rain and storms. Our bodies are depleted of vitamin D and our...

The first part of today’s Funny Papers Again column is an off-handed comment on the present politically charged situation, so if you are as fed up with anything even slightly political, just skip to below the three asterisks and read on. In last week’s column,...

For those of you who read last week’s column, I can honestly tell you I realized who the murderer of Roger Ackroyd was before it was revealed by the author. It was no great feat of detective prowess on my part, no great discerning...

In observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Mee Memorial Healthcare System is educating South Monterey County residents about the disease and the potentially life-saving screening available locally. Breast cancer can take years to develop, yet women rarely have symptoms in the early stages....

Did you know that gratitude is often a forgotten factor in the science of well-being? Studies have shown that grateful people experience less depression and stress, lower blood pressure, more energy and greater optimism. Some cycles, such as the cycle of violence, need to be...

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...