Canary

Which would you choose? Your physical, mental, and emotional safety or your sole means of supporting your family? That’s a choice some women face as they work in the fields in and around Santa Maria, picking the produce that literally feeds the nation. You’ve seen these women. They stand and stoop among vines and rows, […]

Have you ever thought about dominoes? Like really thought about them? I’m talking about dominoes waiting to be toppled over. There’s a definite start point. They have to be consciously arranged in a line that extends from one point to another. Dominoes are not deployed in a constant state of falling. That would be weird, […]

Labor Day is right around the corner, and with it comes the end of summer. By that point, all of the “non-harmful algae compounds” that recently found their way into the State Water Project’s supply should be out of the local system. If you hadn’t heard about the incident, you might have smelled or tasted […]

I try to keep my focus on the Sun’s coverage area. I do. That’s all of Northern Santa Barbara County, plus Nipomo. But sometimes, something happens outside of those boundaries that really gets my wingfeathers flying across the keyboard. This week, I’m particularly disheartened/outraged over the comments being made in relation to some Cal Poly […]

Quick, tell me what happened to those girls who were kidnapped in Nigeria earlier this year. Do you know how that situation resolved? Do you know if it resolved? Off the top of your head, can you tell me where they ultimately found Malaysian Airlines’ mysteriously missing MH370? Or if it was ever found at […]

If Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meetings were brought to you by letters and numbers, the way episodes of Sesame Street work, the predominate portion of the alphabet for the July 29 meeting would have been “P.” That letter, I’ll wager, will be taking the spotlight from now until November in the board chambers […]

You’ve heard of Chipotle, right? The chain has made a lot of headlines for the quality of its food and its progressive company ethics. But still, you might not have heard of it. If there’s something Northern Santa Barbara County has plenty of—besides strawberries, of course—it’s Mexican food, so I’d understand if yet another burrito […]

This week’s cover story about a former prisoner who spent time in solitary confinement prepping to perform in a series about a prisoner spending time in solitary confinement got me thinking. And here’s what I thought: Solitary confinement is a stupid idea. Obviously, it has benefits when it comes to keeping violent offenders away from […]

My buddy Robert is all upset over the latest news to come out of Sacramento. As a California valley quail, he’s long enjoyed his status as the state bird, frolicking among golden poppies and telling his cousins in other states about the best surf spots—even though he’s never set a foot on a board in […]

The scariest military battle in which I ever fought—to paraphrase Mark Twain—was a Fourth of July in Santa Maria. Cities up and down the coast have banned fireworks of a personal sort: the kind you light a few inches away from your browning front lawn in the hopes that a car or truck won’t need […]

Primary season might have come and gone, but I still have voting on the brain. Mostly this is because it’s Best Of season here at the Sun. As I type this column, our staffers are counting the last few hardcopy ballots and adding them to our online stash. (Sorry, dear readers, you’re going to have […]