Opinion

If you are a shopper of any kind, chances are you probably stash plastic bags under the sink or keep them nicely folded around the house for future use. But as convenient as they are, lightweight, single-use plastic bags represent an environmental concern. In King...

How are you doing? I mean, do you still wear your mask? Did you seriously see that the doctor that goes on TV wants us to wear three? The past few days are almost historic. Some folks from the surrounding areas of what we...

Well, if I thought there was lots to do last week, we were even busier this week. First, there was a party for Taylor, this is the young lady my younger calls his sweetie. She has studied to be a counselor to high school...

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...

Many times, over the past five decades I drove between Southern California and the Salinas Valley on El Camino Real, aka the 101, and so am very acquainted with the stretch of asphalt from Santa Barbara to SoMoCo. Now, like motorists everywhere finding a...

Many of you, or some of you, or heck maybe none of you will, recognize the title of today’s column as the opening lyrics of the song “The Levee’s Gonna Break” made popular by Led Zeppelin in 1971 (actually it is a re-working of...

In my newfound practice of giving people an experience instead of a gift, it was going to be our oldest son’s birthday and he was no longer going to be receiving socks and underwears from us, or even a normally coveted plaid shirt. I...

It was simply one of those days. A wake-up call that didn’t involve coffee or soft music, let alone the sound of little birds singing to herald the dawning of a new day. “This is Bank of America. We have reason to believe that...

I have notes scribbled on scraps of paper scattered about my work area, in pockets and various other places I will no doubt discover after this goes to print. But I have enough here for a short column to cap off another year in...

I cannot deny that the last several months have been a bit special for the small traveling public of which I was a member. Empty airports, reminiscent of the Tom Hanks movie, four seats per person in coach class and check-in desks where you...