Columns

Having lived a few years sometimes seems to confuse my thinking. I get confused between what I grew up with and what I live with today — for example, customer service. When I was young, customer service meant someone would be trying to help me, the “customer,” with some “service.”  Often, businesses were rated on their customer service. 

Near as I can figure, Arline and I arrived in Scranton, Pennsylvania, about seven years after Joe Biden, at age 10, moved to Delaware with his family. We had been married in Pasadena, California, exactly one week before, and had driven from the wedding reception to Scranton in six days. Happy honeymoon, dear.

There are many victims of the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 — locally, across our nation and globally as well. Just in Sonoma County, there are several kinds of victims, and not all are humans. First, we have had 20 COVID-19 fatalities and over 2,000 positive infections. Thousands of local workers have become unemployed or have lost their jobs. Our Latinx population has suffered by extra measure. Individual businesses and our general economy are being victimized by the enforced closure under public health safety rules. But maybe the most perilous victims are our school children, after only the disease’s deaths.

SCAC Meeting • Tuesday, April 24 • 2:30 p.m. The Senior Citizens Advisory Commission will meet at Town of Windsor Council Chambers. Agenda items include a presentation by Sonoma County Council on Aging. Everyone is welcome to attend. Bocce Ball-Ladies Group • Tuesday, May 1 •...

We often lament the lack of civics and citizenship curriculums in today’s schools. We believe we should add lessons on the importance of voting, readings of the U.S. Constitution, lectures on the essential elements of a democracy and the rights and responsibilities of every American of all ages, races and gender. We can’t answer President Joe Biden’s Inauguration Day call for unity without knowing these axioms.

Like everyone else in this sector of the solar system, I’ve been obsessed with the national elections for the past year, and the results have made me wonder what I believe.