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Lessons I’ve learned from ‘How Big Things Get Done’
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...
Navigating the social landscape
Have you ever wondered how prominent figures like Benjamin Franklin achieved remarkable success? One key factor in his rise as a writer, publisher and politician was his mastery of “social intelligence.” What follows is my analysis of how Franklin’s lessons might apply to our...
Van Nada: 4 Town officials responsible for flood of Builder’s Remedy proposals
Four Town officials—Town Manager Laurel Prevetti and former mayors Maria Ristow and Rob Rennie, along with Councilmember Rob Moore—have been responsible for the failure to get the Housing Element passed, despite five attempts. Ristow recently said the three of them should be recognized for...
Tackling emerging contaminants in drinking water
Emerging contaminants, also known as “contaminants of emerging concern,” are substances in the environment that may be detrimental to wildlife and/or human health.
Some emerging contaminants are chemicals and compounds entering bodies of water like lakes and rivers, which are identified, tracked, studied, and ultimately...
Support senior housing in Los Gatos
On April 5, the Los Gatos Town Council will consider whether to approve the Los Gatos Meadows rebuild, which would bring 174 units of senior housing online. As a 24-year Town resident who lives near the site, I believe that the project is essential...
Cawing crows and community service
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...
The Great Vanishing
If you drove down Los Gatos-Saratoga Road this morning and felt a strange, existential chill, as if a beloved landmark had been quietly snatched in the night, you aren't alone. The horizon is flatter, the colors are duller, and the “Gateway to the Mountains”...
Blum: Los Gatos in the lab
Please indulge me as I dive into this puzzle of Los Gatos and its potential identity. As someone who's read books about the atomic bomb, the enigmatic Oppenheimer, and the playful genius of Feynman (though I wouldn't dare call myself a scientist!), I've come...
Lung cancer can attack without a cigarette in sight
I walked out of a chemistry lab my freshman year of college, excited to call my family and update them on my newfound independence. What greeted me on the other line was not
exciting news, however, it was news that crushed my soul.
“Kaitlyn,” my grandmother...
Step in Time with Tanya Sedneva
I love Mary Poppins. It’s true. I attribute my fandom to my childhood growing up on Guernsey, a coastal island rock, delivering less than a spoonful of sugar—and more a dose of dreary. Winter months dragged as rain fell from a bleak sky. I...


















