A recent week was particularly rough. It was enlightening, but the process was tough. To share my “tough and enlightening” week with you, it is important that you have a little bit of history: It was four years ago that I started teaching a yoga class at a local nonprofit, UCP WORK, Inc. UCP WORK […]
Commentaries
Posted inOpinion
Support nuclear power
The great source should be our main source
Those who oppose the use of nuclear power and think that solar, wind, and others will be substitutes do not understand that the real issue is in the numbers. Those nuclear power plants turn out two to three billion watt-hours of power every hour of every day, night and day! That is enough for two […]
Posted inOpinion
Let love, not hate, prevail
A local Islamic leader encourages people of all faiths and cultures to reach out to each other
My name is Mohammad Mohabbat and I’m the author of the internationally selling book “My Name is Mohammad,” which is a heart-wrenching story of my life. I have been working diligently for decades to bring people of the world together and not allow just a few misguided individuals to pit us against each other. My […]
Posted inOpinion
Online porn is risky
More kids are being exposed to–and harmed by–Internet pornography
Several years ago, researchers Wolak, Mitchell, and Finkelhor published a highly disturbing article in Pediatrics magazine about youth exposure to online pornography that highlighted its effects on youth ages 10 to 17. Very few kids or young teens find their way into my office, but I’m beginning to see more and more young adults who […]
Posted inOpinion
Help Santa Maria protect and maintain essential services
A quarter-cent sales tax measure would lead to a safer and healthier city
On Jan. 17, the City Council will decide whether to declare a State of Fiscal Emergency and place an Essential City Services ballot measure before the voters this June. While many of our neighboring communities have multiple local funding mechanisms, this will be the first time we have placed such a measure before our voters. […]
Posted inOpinion
Homeowners need relief
The administration must take immediate action to alleviate the continuing crisis of foreclosures
I read the recent op-ed by Maria V. Eyles (“I’m dancing the foreclosure shuffle,” Nov. 17), which laid out, in excruciating detail, her incredibly difficult experience trying to obtain a mortgage modification. For the sake of our community, I wish it were a unique experience, but constituents call my offices on the Central Coast every […]
Posted inOpinion
Santa Maria can’t afford more cuts
We need legislators to focus on increasing state revenue instead of cutting vital social programs to compensate for the budget shortfall
For six years, I have represented thousands of homecare workers. I am a Santa Maria resident and the Central California Coordinator for UDW: local 3930 of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents about 900 homecare workers in Santa Maria who serve elderly and disabled clients through the In-Home Support […]
Posted inOpinion
A new hope
Share Star Wars with a girl in your life, because she can be geeky, too
So I was at my friends’ house, and their young daughter was playing with a toy that consisted of simple metal locks mounted on a wooden board. She spent quite a while—especially for a toddler—manipulating the various chains and fasteners to open doors that revealed images of cheerful farm animals. Having successfully figured out how […]
Posted inOpinion
Renew the true holiday spirit
The best gift you can receive is the joy of making someone happy: Being unselfish is the only way to really live
The question most often asked during the holidays when gifts are exchanged is, “What did you get?” Much less frequently asked is, “What did you give?” Invariably, the inquiries regard material gifts. Purchasing a gift certainly can be a thoughtful, wonderful gesture, especially when it’s reinforced by other actions. But the most valuable presents are […]
Posted inOpinion
Preventing AIDS is not complicated
Simple precautions prevent HIV infection, but 30 years after the discovery of the disease, people younger than 30 have increasingly failed to act
People who weren’t yet born when AIDS first emerged are now most at risk for becoming HIV positive, an alarming development that underscores the urgent need for education about this terrible disease—as Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, must remind us. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the HIV incidence rate for […]
Posted inOpinion
The ballet beckons
See the Nutcracker this weekend
It’s that time of year again. Children in ballet studios across the country are preparing for their annual productions of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Most efforts begin in the same chaotic manner. The instructor’s words rise against the clamor of 50 children’s voices, each vying for their own particular kind of attention. It is a glorious […]
Posted inOpinion
I’m dancing the foreclosure shuffle
Try mortgage modification with a bank that has sold the loan
By mid-morning, I slump onto my desk, which is littered with documents, notes, and phone numbers on sticky tags. The so-called “loan modification” people at one of the major banks have me limp as a rabbit in a wildcat’s mouth, shaking out my strength, savings, time, and resolve, while their foreclosure attorneys declare another victory […]
