Guest View

The Laurel and Hardy film “Perfect Day” is a masterclass in irony. In about twenty minutes, it captures the unraveling of a well-intentioned Sunday outing. The boys and their wives are dressed and ready for a relaxing picnic. But the car won’t start. Tempers...

Contributor Jeffrey P. Blum is a family law mediator. Robert Greene’s book “The 48 Laws of Power” instructs us to never criticize our boss. Avoiding criticizing your boss is important for maintaining your position and gaining favor. Criticisms can be perceived as a challenge to...

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...

Somehow through my years as a volunteer in many different endeavors I’ve gotten the notion that I know how to generate interest about the organizations I’ve been involved in. In many cases I did this by writing articles about the organization, such as the...

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...

In 1950, Rotary International adopted two mottoes. One was “He Profits Most Who Serves Best” (Rotary did not officially welcome women until 1989), and the other was “Service Above Self.” To this day, Rotary continues to use the latter motto. After being a member of...

More and more these days, we Americans are losing our sense of connection and community.  In 2023, former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy reported an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. This year, the American Psychological Association warned of a crisis of disconnection in the...

My North Santa Cruz Avenue business, Beyond Text Bookstore, has now been open for over six months. That’s six months the place has been filled with real people—not just my dreams and hopes. Upon reflection, I wanted to share a little about what I didn’t know...

This article serves as a refutation of Jeffrey Blum’s article, “Community, not theory, should be at the heart of Town’s Planning,” which ran in last week’s edition.  Jeffrey Suzuki is a former Planning Commissioner, the current Vice Chair of the Complete Streets and Transportation Commission,...

Next to picking a college, picking a college major can be the most important and nerve-wracking decision facing a young person. Unfortunately, students often fail to recognize that a good education is about more than just the degree; it’s about exploring multiple disciplines, ​finding...