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Thanksgiving Means Homemade Ravioli

For Thanksgiving, the Digitale clan shows how we prepare a dish that has become as much a mainstay of our annual holiday dinners as the turkey. Robert's grandfather, John Digitale, one of the main characters of this blog's "American Risotto" vignettes, made ravioli. And now, so do his great-grandchildren.

By | November 21st, 2012|2 Comments

Book Review on “The Hunger Games,” Now a Major Motion Picture

Shirah Madsen McDonald, a journalism student at Santa Rosa Junior College, writes about Suzanne Collins’ novel “The Hunger Games," the first book in a trilogy.

By | March 19th, 2012|0 Comments

Christmas Special: What So Great about “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

Nolan Burns is a graduate of Montgomery High and Simpson University. Read his post while a communications student at Simpson on this classic Jimmy Stewart film about a man who gets to see what his small town would have been like if he had never been born.

By | December 13th, 2011|0 Comments

A Software Developer, Then a Teacher: Bernadette Calhoun

Bernadette Calhoun worked 14 years in the software industry, including seven years at Apple. Now she teaches math at Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa.

By | November 15th, 2011|5 Comments

What About A White Girl? “American Risotto” No. 1

The high school still stands in Sacramento, in dawn's shadow of the Sierras, a valley town that grew up beside two rivers. I attended classes there nearly four decades ago. It was there that the storm clouds were forming above me, and I didn't want to look up. (photo from the C.K. McClatchy yearbook of 1974.)

By | August 12th, 2011|0 Comments

The Indian on Old Cub: A story of Joseph Pike. “American Risotto” No. 2

"In the desert west of Salt Lake City, the Indians stole two of my horses. Members of our wagon company set out to retrieve them." While his wife stayed behind to care for their children and farm, Joseph Pike struck out for the California gold fields in April 1850.

By | August 12th, 2011|0 Comments

To Seek Out a Woman: A story of Franklin Fongson. American Risotto No. 3

Franklin Fongson picked his own name and ignored relatives who tried to get to him marry before he was ready. When it was time, he sought a wife in his own way.

By | August 12th, 2011|0 Comments

Teach A Boy To Ride: A Story Of John Digitale. “American Risotto” No. 4

All my life I wanted my own horse. I wanted to be a cowboy. But once I bought a small, coal-brown mare for $300, I found myself in trouble fast. What would Grandpa do?

By | August 12th, 2011|2 Comments

Classic Film Review: “Duck Soup”

Could "Duck Soup" be the greatest war movie ever made? Consider what Maria Carrillo High's Kenny Kasper has to say. His review was first published in the school's Puma Prensa.

By | July 27th, 2011|3 Comments

World Turning Upside Down: A Story of Ng Sau Ping/Elaine Fongson. “American Risotto” No. 5

Ng Sau Ping lives near China's gateway to America. So it isn't surprising when men from "Gold Mountain" come to her province seeking wives. But then she is summoned home to meet such a man.

By | July 15th, 2011|0 Comments