Opinion

I received an email from a fellow who lives out Jolon way, in which I was asked about a situation I had never really considered and I found that I was probably too close to the subject to have ever had the notion enter...

“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...

We’ll get to the title of this week’s column, kinda, but first I offer up mention of a television program both to conjure a memory in the likeminded and to inform a younger readership; if one exists. When I was a kid laying on a...

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...

There has been a bit of a ruckus over some recent comments made on social media, a lousy debate forum as it offers space for quick one-sentence responses; such responses often just a curse word or two and the suggestion the commenter go to...

I am attempting to solve a mystery before a world-famous detective, once again, solves it. The task is not an easy one, but I feel I am up to it given my years of experience; reading experience, that is. I have for more years...

This week is a favor from my readers. Today I’m going to tell you about a very good friend, who I now call family, that has become something special to me and to my brood. You may remember that some time ago I mentioned that...

(NOTE: After completing this column, I was informed there will not be a talent show at this year’s Salinas Valley Fair, but I’m going with this anyhoo. —SCW) If the title of this week’s Funny Papers Again confuses or confounds you, then think how I...

What in the world is going on with our government? You have a guy that was videoed threatening to use his power to hold up aid to a foreign country’s aid, then getting millions of dollars transferred to his son and brother actually trading...

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,...