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Sonoma Valley Sun Articles
 Joan's Life and FamilyCome to the Water in Sonoma once again 8-26-10The year is 1995 and I stand here beside a well, sucking up information like the proverbial sponge. Who knew so many fascinating details could be elicited from Scriptures when one is exposed to the cultural traditions and requirements of ancien... read more… Hot summer day + inviting pool – let’s go! 8-19-10What do you know? What hobby do you like to share? Are you fond of gardening? Hiking? Playing cards or Scrabble?Do you love to read? Take in a movie? Pick up litter as you stroll around town? Feed the ducks? Play a musical instrument or two?Do you da... read more… Some things just change your life forever 7-29-10Nearly four months after its presentation, people are still stopping me on the street to tell of the impact The Vagina Monologues 2010 has had on their lives. Which reminds me of my promise to tell my readers about its impact on the women who h... read more… A quite unexpected roadside reunion 7-22-10National Public Radio recently ran a segment called, “A Beginner’s Guide to Hitchhiking.” I liked what I heard as it reminded me of hitchhikers I’ve picked up in recent years. Oooh, I can already hear your condemnation, ... read more… Profound effects of The Vagina Monologues 5-27-10As audience members strolled out of the Women’s Club after April performances of The Vagina Monologues, they had the opportunity to speak with the actresses if they so chose. In amazing numbers, they so chose.Sue Franklin, in presenting h... read more… Learning to work with your body instead of forcing painful change 4-22-10Ralph Scott is a knowledgeable, caring, highly intuitive and professional healer who helps clients get past pain without inducing more pain in the healing process.At age seven, he knew for certain that one day he’d be helping people get o... read more… An upcoming benefit performance and a just-past conference 3-18-10Peeking into two extraordinary events: three weeks from today, you can attend opening night of Sonoma’s second annual V-Day production of The Vagina Monologues. Last week, nearly a dozen Sonomans were edified, astounded and motivated by the two... read more… They REFUSE to hate each other 2-25-10“It is such an important time to gain a better understanding of what is required to create peace in the Middle East,” says Lorin Peters, the Bay Area teacher previously featured in this column who travels to the Holy Land annually for pea... read more… Welcome my guest: Jacqueline Jill-Rito 2-18-10For the first time, just joan is providing space today for a Guest Columnist. Confident readers will support this decision … I’m offering a piece of prose written by a friend in New York.Jacqueline Jill-Rito, a single parent and en... read more… A few bright spots among Haiti’s horrendous devastation 1-21-10While luxuriating in a hot shower this morning, I thought about my cold showers while living in Haiti. About those afternoons I was first to get to our back yard where the generous tropical sun had primed the outstretched garden hose for a hot-water ... read more… Who knew birds have stories to tell? 1-15-10Well aware of the annual bird count in Sonoma, I feel connected to you as I enjoy a continuous experience of delightful bird-watching in northern Indiana. Both of my sons residing here have numerous feeders to attract splendid varieties of thei... read more… Scraps of paper, bits of the past 1-07-10The hunter-gatherers brought home food, but for just joan it’s all about paper. An entire lifetime I’ve been clipping/saving scraps of paper and filing them away for the day I have some use for each. Oh, I purge those files occasionally, ... read more… “Brenda Starr” hits the road 12-31-09Folks often ask if I’ve been writing for newspapers all my life and often seem surprised to learn I have no background in journalism and never wrote regularly for any publication before becoming “just joan” in the Sonoma Valley Sun ... read more… A Christmas past – just one year ago 12-24-09It’s totally not too late! Whether you’re reading this on Christmas Eve or later, please focus for a moment on this question: Who in your acquaintance is negotiating this holiday season from a new vantage point because of a major change i... read more… She started early on a lifetime dedicated to the common good 11-13-09A particular joy in the last half of my long life has been meeting and developing nifty connections with lots and lots of utterly fabulous folks. That has certainly continued as I live in Northern California and in our incomparable city of Sono... read more… The joy of making a difference 10-30-09On the very day The Sun came out last week, I received a response to my column all the way from Singapore. A gentleman I haven’t met wrote, “Thanks for the article, Joan. I have emailed the folks at Self-Help for details that I am sure ou... read more… I visited her Bija, she was abroad; now she’ll be in Sonoma 10-16-09Bija Vidyapeeth, an organic farm and learning center situated in the beautiful hills of the Himalayas in northern India, was founded by Vandana Shiva as an international school of sustainable living.Bija Vidyapeeth, translated “School of ... read more… Reminiscence and fresh excitement in “Oklahoma” 8-07-09Once or twice a year, my mother treated one or more of her four children to an exciting day of “window shopping” in Chicago. We’d study the elaborate window displays of stores like Carson Pirie Scott, Mandel Brothers and Marshall Fi... read more… How do you measure success? 7-31-09So often it’s purported a good start is necessary for success in life. With failure, we might hear, “Yes, but look how the person was neglected in childhood.”A friend of mine was just two when her father took the family savings and ... read more… Every scream represents an unmet need 7-03-09With the self-deprecating humor of a talented comedienne, Cindi Vian peppered her PowerPoint presentation with remarks that regaled her audience and at the same time established a direct connection among them regarding her very serious topic.I was on... read more… Flu, flu, go away. Don’t come back any other day. 5-22-09Everyone knows the annual flu season is upon us – old strains, new strains, sniffles, sneezes and coughs. Everyone does not know that one of the most effective means of prevention is a safe and inexpensive over-the-counter product found in your... read more… India, United States and Sonoma celebrate golden anniversary together 2-06-09Just over 100 years ago, Mohandas Gandhi launched a new way of waging conflict. Non-violence as a strategy for conflict resolution was not new. But Gandhi was the first to apply its power to wide-ranging social change. For the first time in history a... read more… In Sonoma, "new" need not equate with "lonely" 1-30-09The first time I stepped foot on Sonoma soil, it was to enter the home of someone I’d never met to be her live-in caregiver. Nor had I met this woman’s daughter, who had phoned me at my rented room in Washington, D.C. to offer me this pos... read more… A hurricane in my wake 10-02-08This summer, while visiting sons Tom, Bob, Chuck and Andy on a continuous journey, I gathered newspaper stories for you. With Tom and Kim and their three children in Oklahoma, I read in the Tulsa World of Tulsa County’s Mental Health Court ... read more… Overlapping journeys: home safe and sound 1-24-08A night grasping for moments of sleep on the floor at JFK airport in New York and a five-hour wait for a ride in the lobby of a Boston hospital were not the highlights of my six-week journey early this summer, though they did give me stories to tell.... read more… Case for a less-commercial Halloween 10-19-06Last Halloween I was in for a lovely surprise. Visiting friends in their Wisconsin home beside beautiful Lake Pewaukee, I’d been asked to be home early for dinner on Oct. 31. Except for the oldest daughter who was away at college, all the famil... read more… Celebration - just joan is two years old 9-07-06It’s time to celebrate! In September of 2004, my occasional commentary in The Sun became a weekly feature; “just joan” came into being. On this second anniversary I give thanks and celebrate my editor and publisher for having faith ... read more… You never know how much bird counting can count 5-11-06Sonoma’s second official bird count takes place Saturday and I can only urge you to go to sonomabirding.org to get involved because you just never know what an interest in birding can lead to.Take, for example, my son Bob. He’s a daddy, a... read more… |
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