FROM THE PUBLISHER: As it is with all catastrophes, there’s plenty of blame to go around. I guess this can be a useful exercise at some point, but it won’t rebuild people’s homes, restore their most valued possessions or, most importantly, stop this from becoming an annual, recurring heartbreak. We need to ask and answer some obvious questions.

This past summer, my daughter graduated from UC Berkeley and my son from high school. Before she entered the job market and he went off to university, I decided to take them on one more epic adventure.

My relationship to finances is like many people are with visiting the dentist: I turn into a ball of stress and dread that is, at minimum, embarrassing, and can actually be self-sabotaging. Here’s what helped.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: I’m an optimist by nature — and these days, an optimist who realizes that when this country wants change, all we have to do is demand nothing less.

It may seem unlikely that a middle-aged woman would sprout an all-out obsession with a famous dead guitarist, leading to a love affair with a city some 2,000 miles away. But this “Austin thing” has been one of the most meaningful chapters of my six decades on the planet — and it ain’t over yet.

Hushed hybrid is the latest trend that could impede a successful return-to-the-office strategy. What is hushed hybrid (or hushed remote)? It’s when managers overrule, dismiss or choose to not enforce the company’s return-to-office policies. 

FROM THE PUBLISHER: When I heard the news about the Sacramento Republic FC ownership change — with Wilton Rancheria, a federally recognized Miwok tribe in Sacramento County, becoming majority owner (while Kevin Nagle maintains his managing partner role) — I joined the entire Capital Region in celebrating what this would mean for Major League Soccer, as well as for the continuing (and delightful) growth of professional sports here.

We live in a world that can be quick to glom onto surface-level information. Me, I prefer the stories that live below the surface, that take time to discover and fully understand.

The landscape of modern work is changing, particularly for technology workers. As the world emerges from the pandemic, a new breed of tech professionals is redefining the norms of employment, driven by a desire for flexibility, continuous learning and meaningful projects. Likewise, tech workers and employers may struggle to navigate a tectonic shift in productivity fueled by AI.

“A dinner party, to me, is putting people around a table and feeding them and nourishing them and having great conversations and lingering over the table and connecting,” Peg Tomlinson-Poswall says. “Food is universal. It’s what connects all of us, no matter what country you go to, once you sit at the table.”