Roundup: Thirteen days of essays
Now a holiday tradition, the personal essays from our readers tell us more and more about those who call Sebastopol home, plus an upcoming film and panel on local journalism
Today, we wrapped up our series of personal essays by publishing the thirteenth and final essay.
Our essays were selected from over 50 submissions from our readers. We are grateful to read all these stories, each one very different from the others. We are happy to call it a tradition to publish these essays in the Sebastopol Times and for your enjoyment during the holiday season.
If we are to judge by the “likes” left by those who read the 13 essays, here are the five most popular:
You can find these and all of the other wonderful essays we published over the last two weeks in the Essays section on our website.
The response from readers, which has been nothing but generous and kind, is also wonderful to see. Here’s a sampling of some of the reader comments.
In the essay, Up on the rooftop, reindeers pause, out jumps good ol’ Santa Claus, Tom Meyskens described his family’s home-built Christmas Santa and Sleigh decorations dating back to 1974.
Cynthia Stefoni commented:
Love this story! I happen to have grown up in the house directly across the street from Peg and Tony Leone from the age of 4 1/2. My sister, a calligrapher, painted their name and number on the mailbox that still stands outside the house. I remember how exciting it was when their Christmas decorations went up every year. It meant Santa was coming really soon!! Thanks for the memories.
Steve Wax said:
I say we put this up for a Pulitzer Prize; it deserves it! My favorite line, “When Chandra and Phil broke up, he took off with the reindeer and Santa Claus, never to be seen again”
In her essay, Merry Yule, Scandinavian-style, Hanne Jensen talks about her struggle to maintain in America the Danish holiday traditions of her childhood. Reader Daniel De Kay commented:
What a great story, thanks for sharing it! And that marzipan pig, well..... what a beauty!
Recalling the days when a train chugged down Main Street, Dan Kerbein’s essay, The train is a fond memory, but I prefer the trails, generated some discussion about whether the train at that time was electric or diesel. Reader Sizzlewaggle remembered working in the powerhouse.
I worked for the engineers in the (now Hopmonk) old power station. Our secretary was married to one of the train engineers, and she’d go out on the loading dock at the back every day and wave to him when the train rolled through. Good memories, long ago!
And former County Supervisor Ernie Carpenter cleared up the question of its power source: “The train on Main was not electric but diesel. The old rail right-of-way, now the Rodota Trail, ran electric cars to Santa Rosa before this time.”
In the essay, The Last Date, Saba Khalid said that she was a “conflicted lover of two chaotic homelands: Karachi and Sebastopol.”
Max commented:
What a great way to end 2025, with the best thing I have ever read in the Sebastopol Times. Thanks for making me cry first thing on the last day. Amazing story, Saba! Thank you!
Linton Hale said:
Wonderful. Thank you for your honesty and loving, living perspectives. In my life I’ve also found that things are not always as they seem, with lessons around many corners! Best wishes to you and all your loved ones in both your places.
In The Pool, Lesa Tanner wrote about her appreciation of water aerobics. Gabrielle Disario commented:
I did water aerobics at that pool and had the same initial thoughts, but immediately understood why these women love this activity so much. As a person with no real sense of rhythm and no dominant side I am a terrible dancer. In the pool, I’m Baryshnakov! I truly admire these woman and was so happy to experience the joy they shared with me in the water.
Phill Carter said:
I love the vicarious feeling of knowing these community members' experiences, familiar and vulnerable in a way never spoken face to face.
Former Sebastopol resident and retired political science professor Gus DiZerega liked Bill Phillips’ essay, A black child ‘feels’ church, so much, he asked for permission to quote it in his upcoming book, The Great Forgetting.
Thanks to all of you who wrote essays and also thanks to so many of you who enjoyed reading them.
The essays have been a great way to end 2025 and to begin 2026. As Kent Jenkins wrote in a comment on Building Friendship by Dan Gurney:
It's a warming start to 2026, a recognition of the magical parts of joining a small town where we are all interconnected somehow.
Happy New Year to all—but especially to our paid subscribers whose support makes all this magic possible.
Concerned about the future of local journalism?
Readers of the Sebastopol Times and everyone concerned about the future of local journalism are invited to an event next Sunday, Jan. 11, about the future of local journalism in Sonoma County. The event consists of the showing of the documentary, “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink,” which tells the story of Alden Capital, a secretive hedge fund that is plundering America’s newspapers, and the journalists who are fighting back. You may recall that an Alden subsidiary recently purchased the Press Democrat.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with local journalists Laura Hagar Rush of the Sebastopol Times; Jennifer Sawhney of the soon-to-launch, nonprofit news site, Petaluma Voice; and Troy Niday, former chief operating officer of Sonoma Media Investments (formerly the corporate owner of The Press Democrat), who is working to establish a nonprofit newsroom for all of Sonoma County. The panel will be moderated by Carl Molesworth, who worked as a journalist for newspapers and magazines in Washington state for nearly 40 years.
DATE: Sunday, Jan. 11
TIME: 1:30 pm–4:30 pm
PLACE: Ner Shalom Synagogue, 85 La Plaza, Cotati.
Register for this event, which is by donation or free, at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/shalomevents/stripped-for-parts
Sebastopol Police Logs, December 22-28
The following are crimes excerpted from Sebastopol Police Department daily crime log entries and listed at the time the alleged violation was reported.
MONDAY
3:48 p.m. Battery on a person (misdemeanor) at Holly Court. Charges cleared by circumstances beyond police control.
TUESDAY
4:46 p.m. Driving while under the influence of alcohol, causing bodily injury (felony) and driving with a suspended license at Gravenstein Highway North. Suspect arrested.
WEDNESDAY
3:07 a.m. Failure to appear in court after promising in writing (misdemeanor) at Petaluma Avenue. Suspect arrested.
FRIDAY
11:25 a.m. Possession of unlawful paraphernalia (misdemeanor) at Sebastopol Avenue. Suspect arrested.
SUNDAY
9:39 p.m. Served a misdemeanor arrest warrant at Petaluma and Abbott avenues. Suspect arrested.
OTHER POLICE ACTION
The Sebastopol Police Department also recorded 121 events requiring police action during the period, such as lost animals, assisting citizens, parking violations, foot patrol, traffic hazards and reckless driving.