What people read can shape their minds Between book covers when they find A clearly stated point of view That tells them what they ought to do Tall and short and old and young Read Charles Bukowski, Carl Jung, Oscar Wilde and Carl Sagan, Lenin, Marx and Ronald Reagan Writers in good stead and standing […]
Allison Martin: Reducing and cleaning up litter starts with all of us
By Allison Martin Special to the Herald Ten cigarette butts. Nine plastic bottles. Eight food wrappers. Seven plastic bottle caps. Six drink straws. Five dirty diapers. Four soda cans. Three old shirts. Two Styrofoam containers. One rubber tire. And I collected it all in just five minutes during the 2017 Coastal Cleanup Day in Solano […]
School board approves tentative agreement with teachers union
Following nearly a yearlong impasse over contract negotiations with the Benicia Teacher Association (BTA), the Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District voted to ratify a tentative agreement with a 2.5 percent salary increase at Thursday’s meeting. Throughout the 2017-18 school year, the BTA and BUSD’s bargaining teams met for several negotiation sessions. In […]
Arts & Culture Commissioner Gethsemane Moss running for school board
With more than 20 years of educational experience and a child about to graduate high school in the spring, Gethsemane Moss is ready to serve Benicia and its youth in another big way. She wants to be a school board trustee. Moss is running for a seat on the Governing Board of the Benicia Unified […]
The A Cappella Handyman: Farm Truck
After we bought “the Farm” in 1984, the next task was to maintain it and the extended side yard that gently curved to the sidewalk and then up the hill towards Seaview. The first 30 years weren’t so bad, but then I hit 70, and my work clock began to slowly unwind. The City Fire […]
Voice of the Village: What’s up, doc?
By Judie Donaldson Do you ever have the feeling that you’d just like to go back to the good old days? You know, when life was simpler. I’m feeling this way today because I have an appointment with my doctor next week. When I was little, I thought that when you had a physical problem, […]
Poetry Corner: Bud Light “A Double Exposure”
He was one of the best dressed men I ever saw; Latest cut lapel, with awe; I checked his suit, a light over plaid, of red with ochre-brown, for fad. He was superb, yet for awhile, I was perplexed. Such style. He wore the best, yet was ill-dressed. Because I never saw him smile.
Sindy Harris: The anatomy of a litterer
By Sindy Harris Special to the Herald Benicia may have noticed a cleaner Interstate 780 and its ramps lately. My husband, Steve, and I hope so, since we adopted a three mile stretch of I780 and its adjoining on and off ramps through CalTrans’ Adopt-A-Highway program several months ago. We have become a bit obsessed […]
Poetry Corner: Desmond Rutherford “Mirror in the Bog”
The susurrant music of the trees lulled me deeper into the moss-festooned forest Ladybird beetles expose mechanical wings and lift in a deafening machinery of emotion Earthworms expand and contract in an accordionic progression that, to the mole, is a scraping sandpaper shuffle Moles know moist dark movement is best, avoiding potato bugs is a […]
Poetry Corner: Bobby Richardson “A Tear Drop Will Never Be Enough”
They were not supposed to die that day They were not supposed to leave us They were not supposed to die that way Leaving America and the world to grieve them They were part of who this Country was They were what made it the “Home of the Brave”!! And when they took them away […]