Opinion

This year marks the 175th anniversary of California’s admission into the United States, a milestone that invites all of us to reflect on the origins, values and aspirations of our Golden State. But it also offers a chance to celebrate the critical role that...

You know how it is when you are older and yet you’re still wanting to do everything? That would be me. I have the urge to consistently go and do all the time, but sometimes my body — or, increasingly, my knee and hip...

I had to do it, the time had come, so I walked stoutly to the middle of the Oak Avenue overcrossing and stepped over the rail, took a long look around me at my hometown of Greenfield, California, then jumped to the dirt below. That...

East Greenfield is not an official designation, but it serves my purpose as definition because I can remember a time when the whole of the area east of Third Street was just about the extent of residential property; and most of that was on...

This week’s Funny Papers Again column will not appear in this space. Instead, some other nonsense will appear here. The reason for this is because to present an articulate position in a concise manner on the subject chosen I had to do a little...

I woke up this morning wondering who was going to get up and turn on the furnace. I had a secret card with me as I had put our dog Ranger on my side of the bed before we went to sleep. So all...

Driving into the Correctional Training Facility at Soledad and you are reminded of how a secure institution can be. Acres of barren land, no trees, double high-wire fences, guard towers. And that’s how it should be, we know that. But head over to the...

Honey, can you come here? I rolled over and took a look at the clock on my nightstand. “Yeah,” I replied, not knowing if the house was on fire or what. Lorraine almost never calls me after I have gone to bed. We discovered many...

Sometimes we forget how are mother’s guidance shaped our behavior. Nobody’s mother wants to see their children in trouble with the law or school. Yet most of the time we just simply forget and do stupid things that you hope your mother will never...

In this column, let us venture into the sociological world of politics in the present age through the eyes of a former member of a cult. This particular cult, like most cults, was grounded in religion, in this case Christianity. This person would have claimed,...