To start off the 12th annual 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony hosted by the San Ramon Valley Exchange Club, emcee and former Club president Karen Stepper, told the audience, “Every year I get asked, believe it or not, why are here each year, why are we still doing this?” She paused. “Because it means so much to our country that we do.” The event was held at Oak Hill Park to honor the first responders — firefighters,...

Background and Summary In response to recent widespread violence and divisive rhetoric, Women’s March Contra Costa County brought more than 800 people together, including local action groups, on Aug. 26 to create the human banner “END HATE!" The exclamation mark at the end was made up almost entirely of participants dressed in pink and red, many wearing the symbolic "pussy hats" that rapidly gained popularity during...

2,594,000 personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Of those who served, only approximately 850,000 veterans are still alive today. Of those who served, 97 percent were honorably discharged. Of those who served, 91 percent are proud to have served their country (Veterans of Foreign Wars Magazine). The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, the Resistance War Against America or simply...

(CAUTION: SPOILER ALERT!) “See, the truth isn’t always the most exciting version of things, or the best or the worst. It’s somewhere in between. But it deserves to be heard and remembered” (Asher). In Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why”, protagonist Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) sets out to tell the truth. Based on the book by Jay Asher, this 13-episode series revolves around Baker, who commits suicide in her junior y...

German electronic producer Gas’ fifth album “Narkopop” lives up to its name: this is narcotic pop music, hazy yet ecstatic, like a rave filtered through a dream. It’s the album to hear this spring. Gas is one of many monikers of German electronic maestro Wolfgang Voigt, whose legendary run of albums under the Gas name at the turn of the 21st century has slowly been enshrined as masterpieces of electronic music. His last a...