Marketing wineries
With a 30-year professional background in the local wine industry, including marketing positions at leading Sonoma-Napa wineries, as well as directing tasting rooms and wine clubs, and organizing special events by the score, I would like to make some observations in the context of the current debate over special events at Sonoma County wineries.
Alexander Valley School third graders give thanks
The students in Colleen Flores’ third grade class at Alexander Valley School wrote about what they are thankful for this Thanksgiving. Below are their responses.
Our Thanksgiving Table
It is time to come together and sit around the Thanksgiving table. Family members, from near and far, will be together again. We’ll eat turkey, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. There will be pies and a family blessing. The couch will be full after the meal and a football game will probably be on the TV, just the way the original Pilgrims celebrated the very first Thanksgiving in 1621.
Our next leader
The election is over, the signs are being picked up and James Gore will be on the job. I met with James on Veteran’s Day at the Center Street Café. Knowing Mike McGuire pretty well and now getting to know James I was curious to find out how the heir apparent to Sonoma’s north county supervisorial district will match up to McGuire’s stellar tenure. Although they are both quality people in their own right, I couldn’t help but compare them. A few of their similar trait: they are both extremely intelligent and excellent multitaskers; they are both tireless campaigners; they both have charismatic personalities; they both will take the time to talk to anyone; they both suffer fools graciously; they both put their constituents above special interest groups; and they both absolutely love the flora, fauna and people of northern Sonoma County.
From source to tap: Where our drinking water comes from
When we get thirsty we turn on our taps and voilà, a nice refreshing glass of water appears before us. Having around-the-clock access to safe and reliable drinking water requires huge investments of time and money, but rarely do we consider the source or the value of water.
Arts & Entertainment
Blues from the Hill Country
“Modern Mississippi music.” If you ask singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Luther Dickinson to define what the North Mississippi Allstars (NMA) create, that’s the answer he’ll give. It’s the path he and his brother Cody have been traveling down ever since NMA dropped their 2000 debut, Shake Hands with Shorty, and one the band members will share when they hit stages on their latest tour.












