Opinion

For one reason or another, every single character is ugly and unlikeable, but nearly all manage to bring some heart into a film that is so bleak and gray you’ll want to watch “The Road” as a palate cleanser. This is a compliment to writer-director Martin McDonagh, but an even bigger thumbs-up to Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell.

In previous years, I have written about the year in review, however, since we are approaching the turn of the decade this coming year, it seems appropriate to have a decade in review.  As many of you are already aware, the county has been...

Directed by Andy Muschietti (“Mama”), the second live-action adaptation of the beloved Stephen King book about a cosmic entity that terrorizes kids by disguising itself as a clown is a near perfect movie in several respects. It sinks its teeth into you with its gripping horror and keeps you laughing, smiling and engaged with its excellent script and top-notch cast.

Letters to the Editor, Nov. 30, 2018

Following the U.S. election, many celebrated a significant electoral victory. Many simply exhaled. Others are showing signs of frustration and despair. A significant segment of devastated voters is beginning to reflect on what just happened, and many, if not most, anxiously wait for the...

Memo from Rev. Mathews-Johnson Composer Meredith Willson once told the story of a band whose music so pleased a king of long ago that he opened his royal treasury to the musicians. He invited them to walk in and to fill their instruments with as...

Thousands of Monterey and Santa Cruz County families were forced to evacuate March 11 after the Pajaro and Soledad rivers flooded this rural agricultural area. The storms arrived at the beginning of the growing season, just as farmworkers were going back to work and...

Letters to the Editor for the week of Aug. 23, 2019.

Memo from Pastor Rene “Mind your head.” When visiting our daughter in England I noticed those words posted over the many tiny doors in old buildings (were people that much shorter in those days?). Even with those warnings I constantly brained myself on the low...