Columns

The following snippets of history are drawn from the pages of the Healdsburg Tribune, the Healdsburg Enterprise and the Sotoyome Scimitar, and are prepared by the volunteers at the Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society. Admission is always free at the museum, open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

It’s only just beginning. Hundreds and hundreds of first-person accounts of both tragedy and loss and heroics and generosity will soon grow into thousands of interwoven threads that will become the history of the firestorm of October 2017. With time, the beginning hours of the wind-whipped firebombs and mass evacuations that started with a spark on Oct. 7 and 8 will be joined in historic texts by countless tales of rescue, relief and recovery.

The ultimate manifestation of inequity is that, in the worst of times, the vulnerable suffer the most.

Fun facts: The word “yet” has a few meanings. As an adverb it references “a continuing state or condition.” As a conjunction, it introduces a contrasting fact or thought. As a modifier, it intensifies meaning, as in “yet again.” Another column of observation from Pierre Ratte.

Veterans Day occurs on Nov. 11. It was originally conceived as Armistice Day to commemorate the end of World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. The holiday’s name changed in 1954 to honor all...

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 glorious time of year for our farmers, as they’re coming into their peak growing season. All spring and summer long they’ve been tending their late summer/fall crops, and they’re finally ready to bring them to market, in all their perfection.

Our “shelter in place” and declared public health emergency started here the day after all of Ireland canceled St. Patrick’s Day festivities on March 17. That cultural shock alone was enough to let us know this virus pandemic and economic disaster would be bringing permanent life-changes to all of us.