Columns

With gasoline prices surging, household budgets struggle. Fortunately, there are significant charitable organizations addressing needs in and around Sonoma County.

If you own or work for a local business, these are tough times. From Thanksgiving through St. Patrick’s Day, some small businesses have to lay off staff, cut hours, slow down on purchasing or even give up and close. I’ve seen it happen year after year — winter is hard on commerce.

America is an idea that is made up by many voices. The only way to limit the American ideal of democracy and a more perfect union is to discourage or deny even one of these voices. Seldom in America’s history has there been more topics or reasons to raise our voices, listen intently and engage in purposeful conversations. We find ourselves living in times of a global pandemic, whirling natural disasters, national political turmoil, racial awakening and economic uncertainty. Voices are cascading, clashing, clamoring and crescendoing everywhere.

Do you know why the school day is structured as it is? I always assumed it started when Socrates was teaching Plato in his AP Government and Philosophy class at Athens University (then known as Athens Teachers College) in the Grecian year 400 BC.

Birkenstocks were introduced to the U.S. market in the summer of 1966 and reportedly sold through health stores. Originally taken up for healthy feet and emblematic of the hippie movement, Birks have been trending with techies...

This Week in H’burg is a weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.

There’s a lot of water flowing into Yosemite Valley. All the major waterfalls are gushing, including Vernal Falls. Unnamed waterfalls from snowmelt seemingly flow out of granite walls everywhere one looks.

(This editorial was originally published last April, 2020. We think a rereading offers a valuable reflection of where the past 12 months have taken us and shown us both what we have and have not learned.)

Note: This week in H’burg is a new weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.