Opinion

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...

“I want that body!” I said to the husband. We were watching the Olympic Swim Trials. Broad shoulders, muscles, I love it! It’s that time of year when people are stripping down, displaying their body-beautiful to the world, heading to the ocean or a...

Last week I wrote a little to explain why Special Forces are such revered soldiers. It is because they have studied small unit warfare for at least three months back at Fort Bragg, the home of Special Forces. This is where they earn the...

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Today seems like it might be a little different than most Sundays; there is an Artichoke Festival. This year it is in Monterey instead of Castroville. I was going to accompany my bride and her friends and go with them, but I needed to...

I first met Lori Tuttle by chance — is anything actually by chance — at a craft vendor fair on Highway 68. She had a lovely stall of repurposed goods with a cowboy touch that she had lovingly restored. I was selling my books....

Garden serenity is getting difficult in the afternoons with the dual challenge of ever-rising temperatures and afternoon winds that seem like they’re powerful enough to give Dorothy another trip to Oz. The morning and evening calms, however, make it all worth it. For those who...

There was a change in the pitch of the engines on the plane that woke me up. I wasn’t concerned because if one is heading into a war zone, it is not hard to stay awake. Everything is new and you don’t want to...

To the Editor: On Oct. 18, I joined millions of people across the country who stood, marched and held signs to show our love for democracy. My sign simply read “NO KINGS.” Others made me laugh — like “Aging Hippies Against Trump” — but one sign has...

Mapping it on from Billings was a bit of a wrench for our boy Aaron, since you can never see everyone you want to when you go home; though he did manage to connect with two grandmas, a grandpa and an uncle in the...