Opinion

There is so much appalling news from the world this week that it seems like a good time to launch a new department of this paper. Since we are now all present at all major disasters by virtue of high-speed media, it can seem churlish to complain about petty annoyances of everyday life. And yet, if we don’t allow ourselves to complain about such things occasionally, our coping mechanisms will soon get overloaded. -more-

Anyone who’s lived in Northern California for a few years is bound to have mixed feelings about October. It is arguably our most beautiful month: warm sunny days, crisp fog-free nights, clear enough to see the moon and all the stars even in the city. But October’s gorgeous weather stirs memories in many of us of two October events in the last twenty years that reminded us of our mortality, and of the fragile grip we have on our lotus-eater lives even in this perfect-seeming region. -more-