Opinion

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We live in a valley formed by mountain ranges to the east and west with an ocean bay 50 miles to the north and a coastline 25 miles westward; a geographical formation that climatologists designate a semi-arid area. By comparison to many areas of...

Local column by Joanne Banuelos

This week’s column will be, of necessity and choice, a bit shorter in length than normal. Since I was a little boy raised in the Eisenhower Generation I have, as have many others of my generation, seen War movies from World War I (the...

Wow! Has it been a week already? Do you find that it seems like time is rushing by while we wonder if we should wear a mask to go to buy groceries? What have we learned in these crazy times? I mean, we knew...

I suppose that today I should write something about how messed up our government is, but I think that would be too easy. There is no use in restating my thoughts about how miserable it is being run right now. If you read anything...

I had been looking forward to 2020. At Solace, we were going to be empty nesters for the first time ever, work seemed positive, we had lovely trips planned — places to go and people to see, both here and abroad. I’m not ordinarily...

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...

The vast majority of American politicians are in the business of kicking the can down the road, with one notable exception: Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. I know “kicking the can down the road” is an old cliché used to reference the arms race, federal budget, childcare,...

I landed at London Heathrow Airport, as I have done many times these past 37 years. I checked into my fave airport hotel — the Hilton Garden Airport Hotel at Terminal 2 and relaxed for the rest of the day, culminating in a delicious...