Opinion

It is one week into the new year and I have been clearing out old notes on scratch paper and photos and videos from my cell phone, some of which will appear in this column while the rest either ends up in the waste...

I have learned recently that fishing does not have all that much to do with catching fish. I’m sure it does in the big leagues and the commercial fisheries of the world; but in your average household that owns a couple of poles, it’s...

If I were a cleverer wordsmith, I am sure I could come up with the right phrase, or adage, to convey how a bad thing can turn into a good thing; how a misstep may lead to a better path. It is possible I’ll...

She was already 10 days later. My sister Rosie and her best friend Charla had been there at our house for the birth that didn’t happen (they did leave behind a very nice teddy bear called Rob who is still around today), and then...

I often tell people how difficult it can be to put 1,000 words together every week with the expectation those words will somehow make sense and in so doing entertain readers for a few minutes. I tell people this because it is easy to...

More than three decades ago, Cesar Chavez, founder of the first successful union for farmworkers, predicted a future in which the cities of California would be run by people who looked like him. “History and inevitability are on our side,” he said in one of his best-known...

It’s not often that reporters get a swan song, so I’m grateful for the opportunity to say goodbye. Dear reader, next issue will be my last one with the King City Rustler and Salinas Valley Tribune. You’ll see me out there collecting news and photos...

Considered the father of modern medicine, ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (known for his “first do no harm” ethical code called the Hippocratic Oath) still influences our practices more than 25 centuries after his time. The first to regard disease as a natural, not supernatural, phenomenon,...

Farming is often thought of as a way of life and not just a job. Many California farm families have been living this life for generations — and they want to continue the legacy, growing crops, raising livestock and supporting the communities and people...