Olompali’s Heritage Day Festival

If you have never visited Olompali State Historic Park, there’s never been a better time than this Sunday. This year’s event will... Continue

A glimpse of London’s genius

Though “Call of the Wild” is required reading for the Valley’s eighth grade students, many people I run into seem to have forgotten... Continue

Remembering Diane Moll Smith

Diane Moll Smith has been weighing on my mind.  She was a great historian. She passed away on March 8, just before I left for a three-week... Continue

Sir Francis Drake subject of hoax

This week’s column concludes the trilogy on Sir Francis Drake.  The location of his landing has been a hot topic for centuries,... Continue

The landing of the Golden Hind

This week’s column continues the commentary on Drake’s explorations and his landing on the Sonoma coast.  The Pacific Coast was... Continue

Sir Francis Drake and occasional beheadings

This is the first of a three part series.  Readers should be warned that this expose contains strong rhetoric, violent images and... Continue

The end of our Egyptian odyssey

Matt and I had just gone to sleep when the wake up call arrived and the alarms on our phones began their incessant siren-like and repetitive... Continue

Sonoma’s role in cleaning up Aswan

The Saharan heat is inviting this time of year.  We are told, and I can attest to this from personal experience, that within a few... Continue

Turning stones and breaking bones

For the next few weeks I will be turning stones in Egypt and Turkey.  The culmination of a two-year project with Sonoma’s sister-city,... Continue

Another icon up in smoke

I heard the news early from friends in El Verano: Paul’s burns to the ground! Sonoma, like most towns, has lost its share of intriguing... Continue