Sixteen years after I retired as senior editor, I’m back as a regular J. columnist. It’s a homecoming of sorts, and I know all too well what it’s like to be away from journalism. In 1992, the year I turned 50, the Oakland Tribune, where I was a longtime features writer, went belly-up and was…
Read More
Seniors
Bay Area
Coronavirus outbreak grows at S.F. Jewish senior home
The San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living continues to experience a widespread outbreak of coronavirus just days before vaccines are to be administered…
Seniors
East Bay artist celebrates her ‘Charmed Life’
Don’t call her a survivor. She doesn’t like the term. Yet it certainly applies. Many times over. She says instead that she was “lucky.” That she’s lived…
Health
Heavy drinker? Try to put a cork in it – for your health’s sake
I recently treated a middle-aged man who was discharged from the hospital after he had a stroke. He also had hypertension and kidney failure, and I…
Bay Area
Staff at SF Jewish senior home get first Covid vaccines
UPDATED Dec. 22, 10:45 p.m. The San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living, one of the largest senior facilities in the Bay Area, administered 195 doses of…
Family Matters
How to combat dad’s extra loneliness this holiday season
Dear Rita: My 82-year-old father lives alone. His birthday and other holiday celebrations are coming up. I don’t want him to be alone, but I also don’t…
Bay Area
Covid outbreak reported at San Francisco Jewish senior home
UPDATED Dec. 16, 1:00 p.m. A “significant outbreak” of coronavirus cases has been reported by the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living, one of the…
First Person
Thanks to the pandemic, I'm learning to live with my gray hair
Our back lawn is sprouting clouds of gray, remnants of our Covid-19 haircuts safely executed outdoors. My husband had salt-and-pepper hair when he…
Culture
‘I choose to live’: ‘Irmi’ tells story of triumph out of tragedy
Cogent words from an elder who has lived long and well and triumphed over adversity always serve the young. But it has been a while since wise exemplars…