Last week I became a statistic. I was one of the over 6,700 cases of whooping cough reported in California for 2010 - the most cases reported in 63 years.
I used to know Denair as a small town where I would go to visit an old friend who showed sheep. Just a small town, not too much going on, but a pleasant Central Valley community.
"No man is an island," begins the famous poem of the same name by John Donne.
On Election Day, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case Schwarzenegger vs. Entertainment Merchants Association. The irony of this case name was obvious: The celebrated violent-action-hero governor of California had signed a bill into law in 2005 forbidding the sale of ultraviolent video games to minors, a law that lower federal courts prevented from ever going into effect.
"The taxpayers gave and they also took away. On one hand, the people said by a majority, 'Give us a budget.' On the other hand, they said, 'Don't pick my pocket.'" This was Jerry Brown's verdict on California voters' picks on ballot measures delivered at his post-victory press conference Wednesday.
The day after an election can be difficult for many. Of course, there are those candidates whose hard work, sincerity and perseverance didn't pay off and they now have to deal with the reality of losing a race for office. Many candidates are social people and failing in such a public manner must be hard. Everyone knows you didn't get the job - tough break.
Air travel has always been a part of my life. The moment my Indiana-born dad met my California-born mother and fell in love, my flying destiny was sealed.
For half of the candidates on Tuesday's ballot, these are the days you remember.
Election season advertising campaigns are always insufferable, but this year is the worst in recent memory.
Last week a press release came across my desk that killed a dream of mine. The news was innocent enough; it congratulated an Elk Grove college student on his upcoming appearance on the TV show "Jeopardy!" For me, however, this press release ended four months of waiting and hoping on a phone call from the "Jeopardy!"casting staff. You see, I was also in the running to compete in ...
I'm not usually one to rail against new technology. I'm a geek, a nerd, a certifiable tech-addict with more gadgets, gizmos, whozits and whatzits than "The Little Mermaid" could ever dream of.
Education, like politics, is local. You want it close to home, the better to monitor it. That's how it should be.
Back when our country was young, political candidates relied on their friends to spread the word about their accomplishments and suitability to hold office. In fact, historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote that candidates "were supposed to play coy, obeying a call to service from their country, saving their energies for the task of government. Electioneering was done by newspapers, pamphlets, and occasional public meetings." <p style="margin: 0in 0in ...
You hear stories of courage every day. A man survives cancer and goes on to climb Mount Everest. A woman born without legs opens her own business and becomes an inspirational speaker. A child becomes badly burned in a house fire and, despite the pain, is cheerful and full of hope.
It's Thursday morning at 4 a.m. and I can't sleep. It's a common occurrence when I'm carrying a big load at work-my brain just doesn't turn off even though my eyelids are closed. So, instead of counting sheep, I'm doing a mental roll call of my to-do list at the office. But, I have a rule. If I'm still awake after 30 minutes of lying in the dark, ...
My friends from out of town want to know what I thought of President Obama's State of the Union address. The answer is simple. I live in Los Angeles. I didn't see or hear the State of the Union address. I was watching the Christopher Dorner manhunt. In the days since Dorner became the most feared name in Los Angeles, my adopted city has gone through an emotional roller coaster: horror at the ...
It's commonplace to be familiar with those particularly disgruntled folks who breathe a sigh of relief at the end of each Valentine's Day. However, if there is one typical feature of Valentine's Day that we should take care to continue, it is writing meaningful cards and letters. I still hold memories of myself enjoying how fresh ink scratched the paper as I wrote all my birthday party thank-you notes nearly seven years ago, ...
Patterson has done what Ceres has not, so far: Opened a Walmart Supercenter. It appears the project, which opened last month, dodged the bullet of the anti-Walmart forces. On the other hand, the proposed and approved Ceres Walmart Supercenter is balled up in legal proceedings that could take years. What gives? Why was Ceres targeted by paid Walmart assassin Brett Jolley (the attorney who makes a living by fighting Walmarts up and down California) ...
My father taught me the line when I was a child: "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!"
The Environmental Perfection Agency is finally having its wings clipped.
There's a lot that Al Gore says that makes sense. Ditto for Warren Buffet. But the next time they lecture us you may want to see if their words match their actions. Gore has a long history of "do as I say" and "not as I do." It goes back as far as his speech as vice president, lecturing us on the immorality of buying and driving big SUVs and ...
If I was a politician, I might be labeled a flip-flopper because I have recently reversed my previous opinion on a local governance issue. The matter in question: red light traffic cameras. Four years ago, the City of Turlock was considering installing red light enforcement cameras at two Turlock intersections. I was personally against the idea of traffic cameras and was happy when the City ultimately decided against their installation. I have since ...
Jerry Brown's legacy awaits. And so does the future of California.
I confess. I could care less that Lance Armstrong blood doped. I could care even less whether Barry Bonds and half of baseball uses steroids. They are playing games that happen to be big business. Yes, they either did or may have cheated. But why is this is a national crime? Should the FBI and the Department of Justice be spending inordinate amount of resources going after them? Yes, they broke the law. ...
Information on the Internet should be free. It was the mantra of Aaron Swartz. Odds are you didn't know of him until this week. The 26-year-old man described as a crusader for social justice/cyber activist committed suicide. It was in the wake of federal prosecution for his crime of using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer network to download 5 million academic journal articles from a database that charges for access. Swartz ...
It is common knowledge that teachers play a key role in the development of their students' minds and outlook on the world around them. But this oftentimes cliché about the importance of educators never really hits home until a beloved teacher is suddenly gone. My senior year high school English teacher passed away on Saturday. Although it's been over 20 years since I sat in his classroom, the thought that he would no ...
My eyes filled with tears as I listened to the parents of the victims of the shooting in Newtown, Conn., speak out, many for the first time. They gathered to announce the founding of a nonprofit group, Sandy Hook Promise. Their purpose was to engage in the public dialogue about what they called "gun responsibility." They want something positive to come from their children's deaths. They did not endorse a specific proposal. They ...
A few weeks ago I lost the use of my toilet and learned firsthand just how much I missed it when it wasn't there.
There is little argument that gay teens have been in Scouting since the movement started a century ago.
As we plow through this new year head on and heartened, it is a given that we will encounter technology in its newest and most thrilling forms. However, the ever-increasing reliance on digital devices poses some thorny questions about what technology could be doing to our attitudes. The proof is in the pudding as the primary purpose of most digital devices today is to cater to our ease and to gratify information needs ...