Underground Good: Marv Ellis
“I just genuinely want to leave the world a better place."
Opinion
We always clearly label Opinion Columns to ensure they won’t be mistaken for news. Our Op-Ed writers apply their professional expertise to our community’s unique challenges to promote innovative thought and encourage healthy discourse.
Latest in Opinion
Inside Public Service: How Finding Meaning Helps Find a Way to Give Back
In this Opinion column, Salter coaches Taylor, a local education leader (not her real name), who is looking for a volunteer role to match her passions and strengths. Taylor learns about the Japanese concept of ikigai as she identifies a purpose statement for her volunteer work and names more of the meaning of her life.
Underground Good: Melinda Kashuba
“Whiskeytown Environmental School has been in existence since 1970. It’s actually the second oldest environmental education center within the National Park Service. (The WES staff) are a small but mighty group of dedicated people who believe very deeply in the importance of introducing children to nature and outdoor science.”
Opinion: Nothing About Us, Without Us
Alissa Johnson is an accomplished cellist and recurring columnist. She's also homeless. In this article she discusses what she sees as a central dysfunction in how local leaders are responding to homelessness: decision-making processes that leave out the voices of those with lived experience.
Underground Good: Sandi Thompson
"I've always been a doer. I'm just a very active person, and I've never been one to say, ‘Well, why don't they do this?’ I see it and if it has to be done, I do it. I'm not a complainer. If I can do it, I'm going to do it."
Underground Good: Dr. Doug Craig
I often urge my clients to see beyond good and bad to what “works.” What works is to love. It doesn’t work to hate. What works is to care for one another, and seek to understand one another and find common ground. It doesn’t work to hate one another and hurt one another.
Inside Public Service: A Step Up
In this Opinion column, Salter allows us to follow along as CalTrans Planner Christina Prosperi sorts through a wealth of professional experience to apply for a new job. Here's how Christina learned to master her narrative as she navigated the job search process.
Underground Good: Patrick Moriarty
"People with severe limitations and obstacles in their lives, with hardships and pain, have as much to teach and to give the world as people with signs of success. In some ways, the people who persevere in those kinds of circumstances teach us the most important things about, love, perseverance, and courage. There are no prerequisites to being a loving person."
Inside Public Service: From Playing It Small To Learning To Play Big
In this Opinion column, neuroscientist Dr. Irene Salter gives us a glimpse of the inner world of an anonymous public servant who feels like her days are often wasted on a million unimportant tasks. Salter coaches her to trade in day-to-day control for greater peace of mind in a process that will shift her systems and identity to allow her to stop playing small and start playing big.
Underground Good: Monique Welin
"At the heart of why I do what I do is my mom. She was 14 when she had me and she got no services. She tried to ask for help, but she was underserved and later got arrested for stealing food. She was put in a juvenile detention center and then she had me. I would say for the first 10 years of my life, we slept on couches. I remember falling asleep in my mom's VW Bug and counting all the little holes in the fabric of the roof, just like I was counting sheep. I was cold, I was hungry, and it was hard on my mother to hear her children cry."
Inside Public Service: How Finding Meaning Helps Find a Way to Give Back
In this Opinion column, Salter coaches Taylor, a local education leader (not her real name), who is looking for a volunteer role to match her passions and strengths. Taylor learns about the Japanese concept of ikigai as she identifies a purpose statement for her volunteer work and names more of the meaning of her life.
Underground Good: Melinda Kashuba
“Whiskeytown Environmental School has been in existence since 1970. It’s actually the second oldest environmental education center within the National Park Service. (The WES staff) are a small but mighty group of dedicated people who believe very deeply in the importance of introducing children to nature and outdoor science.”
Opinion: Nothing About Us, Without Us
Alissa Johnson is an accomplished cellist and recurring columnist. She's also homeless. In this article she discusses what she sees as a central dysfunction in how local leaders are responding to homelessness: decision-making processes that leave out the voices of those with lived experience.
Underground Good: Sandi Thompson
"I've always been a doer. I'm just a very active person, and I've never been one to say, ‘Well, why don't they do this?’ I see it and if it has to be done, I do it. I'm not a complainer. If I can do it, I'm going to do it."
Underground Good: Dr. Doug Craig
I often urge my clients to see beyond good and bad to what “works.” What works is to love. It doesn’t work to hate. What works is to care for one another, and seek to understand one another and find common ground. It doesn’t work to hate one another and hurt one another.
Inside Public Service: A Step Up
In this Opinion column, Salter allows us to follow along as CalTrans Planner Christina Prosperi sorts through a wealth of professional experience to apply for a new job. Here's how Christina learned to master her narrative as she navigated the job search process.
Underground Good: Patrick Moriarty
"People with severe limitations and obstacles in their lives, with hardships and pain, have as much to teach and to give the world as people with signs of success. In some ways, the people who persevere in those kinds of circumstances teach us the most important things about, love, perseverance, and courage. There are no prerequisites to being a loving person."
Inside Public Service: From Playing It Small To Learning To Play Big
In this Opinion column, neuroscientist Dr. Irene Salter gives us a glimpse of the inner world of an anonymous public servant who feels like her days are often wasted on a million unimportant tasks. Salter coaches her to trade in day-to-day control for greater peace of mind in a process that will shift her systems and identity to allow her to stop playing small and start playing big.
Underground Good: Monique Welin
"At the heart of why I do what I do is my mom. She was 14 when she had me and she got no services. She tried to ask for help, but she was underserved and later got arrested for stealing food. She was put in a juvenile detention center and then she had me. I would say for the first 10 years of my life, we slept on couches. I remember falling asleep in my mom's VW Bug and counting all the little holes in the fabric of the roof, just like I was counting sheep. I was cold, I was hungry, and it was hard on my mother to hear her children cry."