Translate
Pop Pop’s optimistic outlook for 2025
As my grandkids call me, “Pop Pop,” I find myself navigating the inevitable march of time. While recent health challenges, like hernia surgery and a persistent snoring problem (these are but a few of the conditions I am having to address), have forced me...
Hosting an au pair has been a game-changer for our family
When my husband and I moved from Germany to the United States in 2017, our oldest daughter was three and I was expecting the second of our three children. It was a time of major transitions, and it was important to me that they...
Guest View: Protecting the newts of Alma Bridge Road
A week before the 2022 New Year, I received a text from a friend expressing his dismay at the great number of dead newts he saw on Alma Bridge Road while he was biking. This was right after one of the December winter storms....
We’re moving from chips to charm
Santa Clara County has been carrying around the nickname Silicon Valley for half a century. However, the nickname is as one-dimensional as a microchip. The phrase summons images of hoodie-clad coders, driverless cars, and tech CEOs who think kombucha is a food group. Silicon...
Beware the Ides of March…for a blood drive!
Julius Caesar, a name synonymous with power, ambition and—ultimately—betrayal, met his fate on the Ides of March. While we remember this date for the fall of a Roman emperor, the Ides of March also offers us a chance to rise to a different kind...
Guest View: Dissolving the SOS in Los Gatos
The acronym “SOS” stands for save our ship. It can also stand for sorting, othering, and siloing, which is how the acronym is used in “I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times,” written by...
Blum: When Grown Men Cry
Crying doesn’t mean something’s wrong. Sometimes it means everything is gloriously right.
My wild road map for older adult services
The Community Health and Senior Service Commission (CHSSC) is implementing year one of the road map to improve the lives of older adults in Los Gatos.
As CHSSC’s chairperson, my position presumably affords me some latitude to “tongue in cheek,” think outside the box and...
Blood: The hot commodity everyone needs
We've got a crisis on our hands, and it's not the latest TikTok trend or an avocado shortage. We're talking about a severe blood drought. The life-giving, accident-saving, surgery-enabling fluid is in shorter supply than toilet paper during the whole pandemic debacle.
You might be...
Everybody needs a lifeline in the blood bank
For two years, I’ve organized blood drives, transforming St. Luke’s Church in Los Gatos into a hub of hope, in partnership with the American Red Cross and our dedicated Rotary Clubs.
What began as a logistical dance of appointments and volunteers has become a visceral...















