Opinion

One of the first things one learns when writing a column is that the title is important; words must be chosen that catch readers’ attention and insure further reading. I’m betting it worked well this week; but I hope only for this week because...

Do you ever get the feeling that you were born at the wrong time or place? How about what you do? I ask these questions because I often find myself in a situation where a little prior knowledge of a subject would have surely...

You may have noticed, or not noticed may be correct, that my smooth young face has been missing from this esteemed periodical for 14 days. Perhaps you were happy to not have to read my scribbling while looking for news, and wondered if my...

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 had been a long time coming. Our newsie friend moved from California a few decades back and had been asking us to come and visit for the longest time. There was always a reason we couldn’t make it. Why couldn’t we make it?...

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...

“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to...

I am the first to admit last week’s offering under this byline exists as anemic example of writing, so henceforth I’ll try to be more careful with the space so generously available to me. That said, or read, let us on to a couple...

The new year offers a blank slate — an opportunity to set things right, to change course and accomplish our goals. When we set New Year's resolutions, we are utilizing a very important concept called self-efficacy, which means that by virtue of aspiring to...

For decades in the Salinas Valley, the short-handle hoe, known as “El Cortito,” was used for weeding and thinning rows of crops that kept farmworkers stooped over for long hours each day. Workers were only able to stand and stretch when they reached the...