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Anderson Valley Advertiser

Letters (May 13, 2015)

For quite a few years, I too hand-picked the snails and slugs from my ravaged plants, rewarding myself with the modest satisfaction of taking them next door to my neighbor's house and feeding them to his chickens. The gastronomic frenzy induced in the average flock by the arrival of a few dozen fresh snails is something to behold. If you've ever wondered where the earth's dinosaurs really went, you need search no further: all they did was get a bit smaller and grow feathers.

Cocoa

Her name was Cocoa. She spelled it like the beverage, not Jane Goodall’s gorilla. She looked Ethiopian with her cafe con leche complexion, high cheekbones, and yellowish brown eyes—most of the women at the party were Ethiopian. However, Cocoa was from Senegal. She had the poise and the figure of a young woman in her early 20s. He was stunned to discover she was seventeen—the same age as the high school seniors to whom he taught biology.

Northward Ho

Good friends Don and Misty are coming up to Bieber for a few April days before we road trip north together. Don is Portuguese and his wife Misty is a lovely Japanese woman. They’re mad…

Valley People (May 13, 2015)

LORETTA HOUCK remains in serious but stable condition at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after suffering a terrible injury to her head in an accident two weeks ago. You can help Loretta and her family with…

Stripes

A friend recently sent me a link to a short movie about a high school art teacher in St. Paul Minnesota whose students are recent arrivals from other countries, refugees from military conflicts. Many of the students barely speak English, so this teacher has devised fun and creative ways to explore color theory without needing much language for the learning.

Too Many Straws In the Russian

On April 21st, officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the State Water Resources Control Board sent joint letters to property owners in four of the Russian River's largest tributaries imploring them…

Gratitude

When we feel gratitude, we give ourselves the gift of concentrating on what's important, and when we share our gratitude, it helps others feel gratitude, and also share it. I am a believer in the…

Bird’s Eye View (May 13, 2015)

I am in the “big heart of England.” Birmingham, the second largest city in Britain after London, and enjoying a pint and a steak and kidney pie and chips at The New Inns, a classic old pub built in the early 1900s. As has been the case for centuries, the pubs are mostly very welcoming, particularly those outside the trendy city center areas, and intentionally provide a warm and cozy atmosphere somewhat representative of people’s living rooms.

Even In the Courtroom…

Darrell Elrod and Ms. Markien Willburn came to court tweaked last Thursday to argue that they were not tweaking last winter when Officer Cody Mason pulled them over in Willits on the longest night of…

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