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Articles written by Sondra Ashton Local Columnist


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  • Looking Out My Backdoor: My lessons in living the Zen way - with panic

    Sondra Ashton Local columnist|Updated Nov 6, 2014

    My friend Kathy and I lounged on the beach, mindlessly watching the waves roll in. Tide was high so the waves were literally underfoot. We each had a book open but upended on our laps. “I love it the way my mind goes empty while I’m on the beach like this. It is so Zen,” said Kathy. I took 10 seconds to give her statement thought, an uncharacteristic move on my part, before I replied. “Umm hmm. Sun, surf and sand seem to have that effect. ‘Living in the moment.’ It is a state of mind we are supposed to strive to attain. It...

  • Looking Out My Backdoor: Wild women on their holiday - fun galore

    Sondra Ashton Local columnist|Updated Oct 23, 2014

    My friend Kathy from British Columbia flew in this week. For the next three weeks I will be with Kathy on holiday, staying up the street six blocks from where I have my apartment, at the El Cid Resort. Evelyn from Harlem in New York City will join us in a few days. The three of us have a propensity for getting in trouble. We don’t intend trouble. Trouble, like a heat seeking missile, finds us. As another friend says with a shrug, “It happens.” Although Evelyn, Kathy and I come from diverse backgrounds, we share a love of la...

  • Looking Out My Backdoor: When I grow up, what will I be

    Sondra Ashton Local columnist|Updated Sep 25, 2014

    In a note to a friend I mentioned that I have lived my life in chunks. The years on the ranch. Years raising my children. Years re-covering furniture. Years in theater. Years in city government. Those sorts of chunks. Some chunks overlap. Some chunks I have tried to bury far from memory. Others I treasure. All are part of what makes me, well, me. I wonder what will define this particular chunk of my life. Lord knows, it is different from all the others. Looking back, I can find clues to what led me to decisions I made. For...