Cars jammed U.S. Highway 1 on a June day 53 years ago as the gates of Hearst Castle first opened to the public. Some 40 million visitors have since marveled at the castle’s spectacular location, collections, and history. I was privileged to know and work with Bob Doyle, a guide who began leading tours there […]
Commentaries
Posted inOpinion
Circumcision measure ignores the facts
Attempts to ban the procedure defy medicine and tradition
Read New York Times writer Jennifer Medina’s article, which appeared in the Tribune on June 6 (“Efforts to ban circumcision gain traction”), about San Francisco activist Matthew Hess’ endeavors to have a measure placed on the ballot in San Francisco to criminalize circumcision (except for any adult males who may elect to undergo the procedure). […]
Posted inOpinion
Attention seniors!
The Central Coast Commission for Senior Citizens is here to help
Every day, 10,000 people in the United States turn 65 years of age. They’re among the 64 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, the generation known as the Baby Boomers. Concurrently, our community includes an unprecedented number of residents age 85 and older. As the Area Agency on Aging for Santa Barbara County, so […]
Posted inOpinion
Safety is paramount
The NRC is an independent regulatory agency respected around the world for its high standards and low threshold for concern
As a public affairs officer with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, I read with great interest a commentary in the San Luis Obispo Tribune by Jane Swanson of the organization Mothers for Peace (“NRC has long path to earn trust,” May 19), which challenges assurances from the commission about nuclear power-plant safety following events at […]
Posted inOpinion
Vinyl lasts
Save history, save your records, Citizen Curator
Did you ever groove to the Haydn Quartet singing “The Owl and the Pussycat” from 1901? Or how about the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s 1917 recording of “Livery Stable Blues,” considered the first jazz recording ever released? Most likely you haven’t, but thanks to collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and its Encyclopedic Discography of Victor […]
Posted inOpinion
Fund art education
Instruction in the arts strengthens problem solving and creative thinking, bridges cultural differences, and improves students’ confidence
I commend Walter Reil for most of his observations in his commentary “STEM the tide” (May 17). It is true, I hear it all the time from educators, that the No Child Left Behind Act in fact really means “most children left behind.” Its principle focus—testing—certainly is a national crime. However, Reil neglects to acknowledge […]
Posted inOpinion
STEM the tide
Community support of science, technology, and math education is critical
Our nation’s prosperity depends on the education of our students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), yet their proficiency in such subjects is deplorable. Increasingly, our students lack access to rigorous STEM curricula and hands-on STEM activities or avoid them where such challenging courses are still available. No wonder U.S. students rank 17th internationally in […]
Posted inOpinion
Our Pearl Harbor moment
Changing the built environment – making it healthy, energy efficient, and job creating – is not something merely pleasant, nor an aesthetic wish. It is the code blue response to a life-endangering crisis.
The world we are giving our children and grandchildren is in critical condition, wracked by a terrible combination of social, environmental, and economic catastrophes. We must no longer deal with these ongoing calamities in an atomized, piecemeal way as we did during the last century, because, as we are now beginning to recognize, they are […]
Posted inOpinion
Honor immigrants, celebrate diversity
I am inspired and humbled to glimpse how some recent immigrants from mainland China strive to succeed in a new home very different from their origins
I accompanied a Chinese friend to renew her business license at City Hall, where we filled out several forms and were sent to another office a few blocks away to complete more. The clerk at the second office saw my friend’s mailing address is in San Gabriel—not the Santa Maria address of the business—and mentioned […]
Posted inOpinion
Beware of the soulless corporations
For-profit corporations are by nature amoral, not patriotic, not compassionate, and held to no standard other than whether their actions improve earnings
The vast majority of wealth and many politicians in our nation are owned by for-profit corporations. But rarely are some aspects of for-profit corporations discussed. Five decades ago, a wise old law professor told his corporations class: “In this class, you will learn how to create a legal person, a person potentially immortal, a person […]
Posted inOpinion
Reduce our footprints now
We groan over our energy bills and making wars on oil-producing countries, yet we don’t take the simplest steps to curb our energy use
From oil to coal to natural gas and now nuclear power: As one by one the use of these energy sources results in catastrophes, we keep searching for a safe alternative, but even if we champion solar, hydro, wind, ocean waves, wood, and other such renewable energy sources, our insatiable appetite for energy simply can […]
Posted inOpinion
Try the EPIC approach to education
If our community works cooperatively with our schools, we can truly improve our students’ education��”even during this time of budget constraints
The article by Amy Asman concerning the Lucia Mar TAP education program (“TAP into the future,” March 30) was excellent. Undoubtedly, California cutbacks in school funding resulting from the recent severe decline in state revenue will compound problems in the education of our children. Ultimately, our local community must find ways to improve the education […]