Columns

Sitting outside with friends last night overlooking the Russian River, my thoughts turned to George Gershwin and Ella Fitzgerald. I began to hum, “Summertime, And the livin’ is easy, Fish are jumpin, And the cotton is high…”

I am a newspaper reader. I like holding the paper and scanning the pages. I look at headlines, photos, graphics, study the ad design. I like being able to jump from topic to topic, read a crime story, read a sports story, read my horoscope, in no particular order. I like newsprint. I like how it feels and I like kicking the paper with my knee to bend back the pages.  But newspapers in print are all scaling back in size, pages and distribution. Everyone is moving to a digital format. Young people already do all their news reading on a computer or smart phone. It’s us older fogies that need to adjust.

It’s a little early to write one of those “How I spent my summer” essays but there’s nothing wrong with getting a head start on a writing assignment. Besides, the choices and experiences for the short months between school years — for youth, teachers and all others — have multiplied and morphed since the lazier days of summer lifeguards, pumping gas or washing cars.

District 2 Assemblymember Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) was on hand at the July 20 meeting of the Windsor Democratic Club to discuss his 2017 legislative activities. He outlined highlights of the recently passed $183 billion budget with expanded support for K-12 education and additional funding for pre-schools. Wood reported that gas taxes have been increased to pay for repairs to our highways, the condition of which is costing motorists approximately $700 per year in repair costs to their individual vehicles. He touched on other legislation in which he is engaged, including Assembly Bill 1433, which proposes using funds from the recently passed Cap and Trade Extension for carbon sequestration through better management of our forests and natural and working lands.

We all know that healthcare and health insurance costs are wildly unaffordable. What happens when one of our own, who has some means but is not “poor enough” to be given charitable care, has to find a way to survive a cancer diagnosis? Can our community itself devise a way to help this person and others in the future?

The Trump administration’s recent decision to “review” the protected status of our local marine sanctuaries is a troubling and vicious attack on the Sonoma, Marin and Mendocino coast, which supports an incredible diversity of marine life, tourism, fishing and research.

In a penultimate battle over political might and cultural correctness, the soon-to-be former United States of America chose its first female president. She was the daughter of a reality TV star, himself a former president. She represented the Inner Party against another woman candidate of the Outer Party.

When I was growing up I remember often complaining to my parents that I was bored. They would always say, "Go outside, ride your bike, put your roller skates on." And I did just that; I would ride around my street or lace up my skates. It passed the time and helped ease my boredom. Those memories of my teen nostalgia got me thinking. The world seemed simpler then, less chaotic. What I wouldn't do to transport my teenagers back to the ‘80s so they could get a glimpse of life less complicated. So they could truly understand what my teen years looked like.  

Let’s face it — none of us are getting any younger these days. Then again, who wants to? Counting our ages and tracking our generational footprints has become baffling. Old truisms, social definitions, markers for achieving adulthood and official government census numbers all need updating. If 70 is the new 50, and 35 is the old 25, how are we supposed to know how to act?

Last week, Katey and Nicole Bacigalupi welcomed me to their Russian River Valley tasting room. I remembered the first time I met these twins, when at five years old they attended horse camp at Hoofbeat Park. Seeing these adorable girls all grown up with families of their own, and managing sales and marketing for their family business of wine offered a much-appreciated small town memory.