This entire scenario reminds me of 1997, when the Chief and I, returning from Auckland to Cabo San Lucas, experienced two Easter Sundays over the course of one calendar day. OK–so it involved transiting the International Date Line; still, it was a little unsettling, if not exhausting. I might not know what day it is […]
Here we still are, sailing into the unknown, all hands on deck and expecting virtually anything in the absence of reliable charts. While I will admit we may have gone overboard with some public restrictions–especially those outdoor activities during which a safe distance can be maintained–the time has not yet come to open entirely. It’s […]
The Source LGBT+ Center joins 170 organizations speaking to government and health care providers regarding care for marginalized communities. As we move further into population level interventions and continue to grapple with care shortages and economic harms as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the undersigned LGBTQ+ and allied organizations call upon public health authorities, […]
During times such as these you realize which people you’d want in the proverbial foxhole with you. They make themselves plain by their behavior, by how they confront crisis, and it’s easy to recognize one as an asset and another as a liability. But, during times such as these, we–each of us–have to be an […]
An Opinion Piece by Jerrold Jensen The Visalia Unified Board of Trustees has unanimously agreed to not submit plans for a new high school to the State Department of Education. It had to be a tough decision and they deserve positive recognition for cleaning up the mess left behind by the previous administration. Measure A […]
Dear VRM Family and Friends, First and foremost, we cannot adequately express how grateful we are to have you join us on this journey, so thank you from the bottom of our heart. Without your prayers, encouragement and generosity, the disadvantaged and vulnerable men, women, and children in our community would not have a safe and healing environment […]
Even in the best of times, child welfare systems in California are beleaguered, underfunded, and stressed. There are too few social workers for foster children and their troubled birth families, and these caseworkers are often overworked within a huge bureaucratic system. Juvenile Dependency judges will have caseloads of 500 children, and children’s attorneys are likewise […]
Prior to the invention of the television in 1927, the computer, smart phone, and other electronic devices a child never had the opportunity to interact with these machines. They did not exist. Today is different: they are almost everywhere. Never in the history of the world has there ever been as many electronic devices and […]
How quarantine taught me.. I began 2020 by calling the suicide hotline. My brother was in crisis. I was there with him when he confessed it. I was there with him in the ER room. And I was there when they committed him to the mental health hospital. It was one of the scariest and […]
About this time two years ago we were in Azerbaijan with our old college friend Alison. While this is remarkable in its own right–hell, the very idea of a vacation is remarkable right now–what sticks out in my mind is an epic walk Alison and I took one day. She wanted to revisit some of […]