Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Essays”

Drinking Water Tax In The Works

There’s a bill in the state Senate that if approved would impose for the first time in California a tax on public drinking water for both homes and businesses. SB 623, sponsored by Sen. Bill…

If You’re Tired Of Reading About Cannabis…

If you’re tired of reading about cannabis, don’t expect relief anytime soon. Right now, we’re in the cannabis moment. The media here and around the U.S.A. can’t get enough stories about dope fiends, dabs and…

Jumping The Shark, But Keeping It Greene

If a team of tasteful, classy evaluators were to compile some sort of chart or graph or list of human entertainments, graded and categorized according to relative cultural value, I'm sure the top would be…

Headhunters Coming To Fort Bragg (Really)

I barely got to enjoy the rough dismissal of Fort Bragg city manager Linda Ruffing from her three grand a week job when I learned that the city intends to fill the vital office of…

Back In The DDR

Organists have long been present at, indeed participants in, great political events:  the 759 Byzantine delegation from Constantinople to the French court of Pippin the Great, the diplomatic mission that is said to have reintroduced…

A Lone Pine View

Worth more than any blinking traffic light, it guided folks for years. It told them where they were and how to get to where they were going. It stood alone, overlooking Boonville, like a sentry…

Duets

Funny how things will stick in one's memory. The bit on Sacco and Vanzetti in a recent AVA column reminded me of other infamous duos from the dark distant past that have stayed with me…

Alligare Sprays, Dempel Pays

Nothing is closer to me than my grapes. I live and breathe each and every vine. So when I traveled down the Pinot Noir rows and observed damage I was immediately concerned. In no time…

-