Opinion

So, another Fair has rolled into town and out again. And it was a good one, at least for me. It is the reason this column may fall well short of the usual 1,000 words. I have enough notes and ideas that if combined...

(Part III will finish up this story of the early days of grape growing in King City. We continue with the drive hauling grape rootings from Coalinga to King City over State Route 198.) About two miles westward out of Coalinga there begins an incline...

In a short conversation with a man I’ve known for decades I mentioned how hard it can sometimes be to conjure up a topic for this column; he agreed by saying if such a task were left to him, he’d probably get run out...

As Planet Earth nears the end of another orbit around the sun, many in the United States observe Christmas Day. It’s celebrated as a religious day, this 25th day of the last month of the year, just two weeks away. This column about Christmas came...

I have for many years been a reader of biographies, a habit I got into way back in the early 1960s after my parents purchased a set of encyclopedia, which included a series of biographies of famous Americans, one a month for a year....

The Carnegie Classification is a leading framework for recognizing the diversity of U.S. higher education institutions. Last fall, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching updated the framework of classifications and now includes a new category — “Research Colleges and Universities” — which...

I was, coincidentally, in England right after the death of Queen Elizabeth. It was a most strange and eerie time in the country. The nation was in mourning well after the nation was officially mourning, as it were. I happened to walk along the...

In response to the 1994 Northridge earthquake, California enacted stringent seismic safety standards for hospitals under the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act. While crucial for ensuring the safety and functionality of hospitals during and after seismic events, this mandate has presented...

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...

It is our family custom, after the passing of a loved one, that we gather together and celebrate the life of that person. Whether it be in church or not, this ceremony of sorts provides closure, for want of a better word. The breaking...