The Governor Should Move to the Delta
When you’re faced with two different thorny problems, sometimes the best way to make progress is by combining them. I’m talking to you, Jerry Brown. Your first problem involves water. Residents of the...
View ArticleCan California Figure Out a Way to Train Nurses?
I’m a Valley girl—I’ve lived in the San Joaquin Valley almost my entire life—and I’ve been a nursing instructor. That combination, according to state jobs statistics, is rare. There is a serious...
View ArticleBring the George Lucas Museum to Modesto
In California, we have high standards, especially when it comes to development. Whether it’s a new warehouse or an apartment building, the bigger the project, the lengthier and more complicated its...
View ArticleMerced’s Kids Are Not All Right
Have you heard of “disconnected youth?” It’s a term for young people age 16-19 who are neither employed nor in school. My county, Merced, has won the disconnected youth prize in California, with 13.7...
View ArticleCan California’s San Joaquin Valley Conquer Urban Sprawl?
I studied to become a civil engineer with the goal of building grand things, like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Hoover Dam, and interstate freeways. Thanks to two inspiring professors, late in my college...
View ArticleAll California’s Problems Lead to the San Joaquin Valley
It’s not clear if Governor Jerry Brown and his challenger Neel Kashkari will debate each other this fall. But if they do, there should be no doubt about the proper location for any and all debates: the...
View ArticleThe Central Valley Was Ride-Sharing Long Before Uber
Public transportation is a huge challenge in Huron, the city of about 7,000 people in California’s Central Valley where I grew up. If you need to make the 110-mile round trip bus trip to Fresno to go...
View ArticleIf California Cows Could Talk
I am a California dairy cow. Mmmm—oo. Surprised to hear from me? In normal times, I wouldn’t be inclined to cooperate with the anthropomorphic scheme of a writer desperate for a mid-summer column. But...
View ArticleYour Electric Car Isn’t Making California’s Air Any Cleaner
This is a tale of two zip codes. First there’s 94582: San Ramon, California. Since 2010, the roughly 38,000 citizens and businesses of this prosperous Bay Area suburb, where the median household income...
View ArticleCan a Rainbow Flag Change My Small Town?
Growing up in Merced, I did not feel that the town was accepting of gay people, or of me in particular. People around my public high school would carelessly throw out homophobic slurs and make fun of...
View Article
