Opinion

“Where are you from?” It’s a common question, and one that can be quite loaded for people of diverse ethnicities. On its face, it’s a plain question based on curiosity, filled with nostalgia, or awe. But it could also carry covert racism and hatred, carrying the connotation...

I’m still reading the biography of Mark Twain by Ron Chernow. The book is more than 1,000 pages long, so cut me some slack. My last column channeled Twain’s propensity to write fake news stories when he was a journalist. Prior to picking up Chernow’s...

As we draw nearer to Thanksgiving, I am reminded of this holiday’s origins and significance. There are some interesting and noteworthy parallels with today’s world, two years after Covid-19 began. While Thanksgiving has only been a national holiday since it was established in 1863 by...

Just a quick note to compliment the article (“The long and winding road,” June 19, 2024) by Alan Feinberg. Great feature—and looking forward to more town history. Johanes Swenberg Los Gatos *Letters are edited for length and clarity

Hello, fellow Los Gatos residents and visitors, We have a wonderful town. But dog owners who do not pick up their dog’s droppings (poop), please do not leave it on our sidewalks. Unhealthy, unkind, just wrong. So many of you do pick up after their pets...

A much-discussed course of action to bring housing affordability to our area is to create more housing. And if we are to build more housing, why does it take so long?  While serving on the San Jose City Council’s Ad-Hoc Committee on Building & Planning,...

I did not inherit my father’s handyperson skills, although I remember observing him install central air conditioning and successfully accomplishing other large projects at our house in Kings Point, New York. Perhaps seeing a booklet lying around his workroom describing how to build a...

In times of division and frustration, it’s essential to remember that peaceful protest is one of the most powerful tools we have to create change. The right to gather, speak and demand accountability is at the very heart of democracy. Throughout history—whether in the...

Urban planning thrives on informed decision-making. However, the increasing influence of game theory—a branch of mathematics that studies strategic interactions—can be a recipe for disaster in the messy world of governance. While game theory offers insights in some areas, relying largely on its models...

The loud and obnoxious squawking of crows used to bother me. I am generally a quiet person who likes to grab a book, find an empty noise-free area to sit at and read for hours at a time. I still cherish times when my...