The Benicia Fullosopher Cruise ship employees The Crew: I cannot ever express enough appreciation for the extremely hard-working crews. Some ships have crews from sixty different countries. Others ships have a particular job done by a crew from a single country. For example, all the waiters might be from Indonesia and all the cabin crew […]
The A Cappella Handyman: Dear Writer
Dear Writer And suppose there wasn’t a single soul in your audience. Would you write any more or any less? Would you write any better or any worse? Or would you write despite the fact that no one heard a single word? Yes, I believe that write you will and write you must, whether you […]
A Vibrant Faith for the 21st Century; Where Fools Rush In: An interpretation of Numbers 5
I came of age, as an evangelical Christian, in the period 1977 to 1983, during which time I attended Wheaton College. That form of evangelical Christianity was very, very different than the form it took following the rise of the religious right in the middle and late 1980s. In particular, abortion was not nearly the […]
Benicia Letters Once More: Being a Godfather
The following “letter” is part of the continuing series from the unpublished novel by James Garrett, “Benicia Letters Once More”. He does not plan to publish the book but instead is choosing to share the letters with the readers of the Benicia Herald. The letters continue the storyline of Garrett’s first novel “Benicia and Letters […]
A Different Drummer: Farewell misery, hello happiness (Part 4)
At last, I get to chronicle the happy leg of our harrowing journey. It’s hard to believe the whole driving trip of 1,124 miles lasted only three nights and four days. It seemed like a month. After two nightmarish border crossings and a sleepless night in Montreal, we were entering Vermont and headed toward our […]
Bob Livesay: Where have all the voters gone?
By Bob Livesay In my opinion, the voters just got a big wake-up call. They will not let Mayor Paterson, Vice Mayor Young or other progressive groups make their decisions for them. The “Dear Gov. Brown” letter was the last straw. You know, that letter that says “End the issuance of permits for new fossil […]
Voice of the Village: Have you ever made an attitude adjustment?
By Judie Donaldson How many times, if ever, have you made a significant change in your life? Have you gotten rid of a seriously bad habit? Have you transformed your attitude toward someone from negative to positive? Have you eliminated a bias? When I was young, I thought that you could just decide to change––and […]
The A Cappella Handyman: Evening at the Naked Oyster
Pedro Los Dos is back in town. He’s First Mate on The Valparaiso, an oil tanker out of Coos Bay, Oregon. He’s here in Benicia for some R&R so he checks into the Union Hotel and heads for dinner at his favorite waterfront nightspot, The Naked Oyster. He’s got a Rib Eye Steak in mind, […]
ArchiTalk: Not a bad day
I just turned 60, said to be the new 40. I’m not sure what that means. Probably something about how the next phase is going be different, and it may as well as be as fantastic as possible. That’s my plan for it. At the very least, the fact that it’s a ten-year birthday means […]
Mrs. B’s Blather: Do you trust your professionals?
I was in need of a new veterinarian when Dr. Laurie retired from her practice in Benicia. This search reminded me of my parents attitude to medical doctors. They had little trust for these able practitioners, They believed they were all about the money. When I began my search, the first veterinarian approached me with […]