Opinion

A lovely spring weekend sparked an impromptu trip to see wildflowers last Sunday. Pinnacles National Monument is about an hour and a half south of the Santa Cruz grandchildren, so it seemed like the right destination. We spent Saturday night in Santa Cruz in order to leave by 7 a.m. on Sunday, though daylight saving and the five-minute rule (add five minutes to departure time for every person in the party) got us going with our five adults and four children at about 10 instead. While we were waiting for everyone to get organized, we had an unusual opportunity to read the fat Sunday edition of the metro daily, something we usually skip because the ratio of ads to interesting content is unappealing. -more-

If the front page looks a bit brighter to you today, it’s because we’ve made a few small changes to what’s called “the flag” by newspapers insiders. The dictionary and many civilians still call it the masthead, but these days the pros seem to reserve that term for the place on the inside that lists the address and the staff. In any event, it’s that strip across the top of the paper that lets you know what you’re getting when you pick the paper up. -more-