Opinion

The Buck Stops Here

I think a lot about what I can do to help this troubled world from my small place on this planet; the perspective is so different from inside the Topanga bubble. Here…

Heart and Seoul

I love the Olympics. When the games came to Los Angeles in 1984, my children and I hung out every day with the athletes at the Olympic Village in Westwood. The spirit…

Bricks

Did you know that bricks have been in use for about 9,000 years? The earliest known bricks were discovered near Damascus, Syria. The Romans used bricks for the construction of archways and…

Journalism’s Historic Moment

As I have every year for the past two decades, I recently began teaching my Winter Quarter UCLA Extension course in opinion writing, which at UCLA’s request I rebranded a few years…

I Shall Be Released

To approach the place can cloak me in gloom; a sunny day makes it even worse.   All those promises of the carefree Santa Monica lifestyle, skateboarders, yoga-ites, galleries, surfers, electric scooters,…

Memphis Meats: A World Without Slaughter

Linda McCartney said, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.” My great shame is a love of a good, rare steak. What do you expect from a kid out…

What’s in a Name?

When Ms. Knight first submitted this column in 2016 for publication in the Topanga Messenger, we rejected it as content not appropriate for a small community. As a result, she shopped the…

Life is Grand

This year, as a treat for myself, I planned a birthday trip to the Grand Canyon. I wanted to gift myself a Lifetime National Parks Pass, which I became eligible for this…

Consumer Electronics Show 2018—Rebooting the Future

Ben Franklin, I wish I could resurrect you for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES ) in Vegas. Ever since you put that key on the kite, electronics inventors have gone crazy…

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

At the time of this writing there are little more then a scant 24 hours remaining of the year 2017 (good riddance). Time is running out or down or whatever it is…