Columns

Whenever the topic of mental health or mental illness is in the news, it is seldom a good thing. The mass killings at a Florida high school by a sick and troubled youth wrought moments of national grief over yet another preventable tragedy. If only 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz had received the counseling and support he needed, 17 students and teachers might still be alive today.

Traditions

The culture in Sonoma County agriculture is how Jessica Felix described the music we were about to hear for the 20th anniversary Healdsburg Jazz Festival. She then introduced Bill Frisell and Julian Lage.

Recently we had a visitor from the east coast, a friend of over 30 years whom we see a few times a year, but never out this way.

Latino music playing in the vineyards as the sun rises, men shouting to be heard over roaring engines as their hands move with the precision of a surgeon with scalpel cutting one cluster then quickly another. Trucks barreling along narrow country roads delivering grapes prior to the heat of day. The entire county smelling of grape aromas — earthy, fruity, sweet and floral smells permeate the air. 

In 2008, the folks behind SMART told us that if voters approved the quarter-percent 20 year sales tax they would build 71 miles of train and a 71-mile bike path and that annual operating costs would be $16.5 million per year. They also claimed SMART would alleviate traffic on 101 and help fight climate change. The problem is none of these promises ever materialized and now SMART is asking voters to approve an additional $2.4 billion on a 30-year tax extension nine years before the current tax expires. 

Long, long ago in 1897 a little girl named Virginia wrote to her local newspaper asking if Santa Claus was real. The editor replied: “(you) have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age” as he defended the spirit of love, generosity and childlike faith. “How dreary would the world be if there were no Santa Claus,” he wrote.