Columns

When I sit down to write my column, I draw on experiences in my life and hope they connect with you as a reader. I describe my writings as Erma Bombeck-like, a humor/slice-of-life commentary (and then have to explain who Erma Bombeck was to anyone younger than myself), but I hope you have felt that I am honest and as open as privacy allows.

At this writing, we’re into our second week of some of the most horrendous fires in the history of Northern California. They are still burning and the air is more than a little smoky.

Thanksgiving presents itself in a simple gathering of food and family. It requires no tree in the living room, no retrieval of dusty ornament boxes, no cards, no gifts that usually miss their mark. It is all good eating and camaraderie.

The other day I saw a woman trying to wrestle a bouquet of balloons into her car. The wind was gusting and the balloons were bouncing and the woman was struggling and I had an epiphany: this is an exact allegory of my life as the year ended.

City’s Ordinance Problem Downtown Healdsburg may soon have another luxury hotel, thanks to an error by city staff in publishing notice of a 2018 ordinance that would have prohibited the hotel. Unfortunately, the error wasn’t a one-off.  The city’s 20 most recent ordinances—going back to April...

Did you know that there is a Senior Center Endowment Fund? The fund was created by a resolution in 1997 and income from the fund is to be used exclusively for the benefit of the Healdsburg Senior Center. With the fund reaching its maturity in 2020, a group of Healdsburg Senior Citizens advisory commissioners and the Friends of the Senior Center have been working on collecting project ideas for the endowment fund to sponsor and would like your feedback.  

Thank you from the elves

A bas-relief sculpture in Healdsburg along University Avenue harkens back to the days of manual labor when steel and iron workers built skyscrapers that changed America’s city skylines. The subject matter and style reflects Depression Era art coming from the Federal Emergency Relief Act, which...

An open letter to the city council