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6 days ago | 
davisenterprise.com | Marion Franck
I am retiring from writing in this space. The decision was not easy or quick because my column has been a big part of my life for nearly 30 years. It’s not my third child exactly — but close. I’ve struggled with it, I’ve loved it, I’ve watched it grow. My column began in 1996 when I was a 49-year-old youngster and the former editor-in-chief of the Davis Enterprise, Debbie Davis, said she was willing to give me a try.
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1 month ago | 
davisenterprise.com | Marion Franck
On my desk this week is a card that says, “With the compliments of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany.” It has a lovely hand-written signature, which might be that of the office secretary or someone with a fancier job, perhaps the friendly deputy consul who answered my recent emails. Either way, I can’t bring myself to throw the card away. It looks pretty and — far more important — it feels meaningful.
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2 months ago | 
davisenterprise.com | Marion Franck
Davis is full of people like me, who currently face a mountain-sized dilemma. In the second era of Trump, what should we do about watching or reading the news? In the months since the election, I have had conversations with practically every friend I’ve seen about how closely to follow current events. Today’s news is a boogeyman: big, ugly, scary. How much of it do we want to let into our lives?
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Feb 16, 2025 | 
davisenterprise.com | Marion Franck
* Editor’s note: Marion is rerunning this column, slightly revised from 2009, because she finds herself thinking again about the topic. I might be ready to write about prayer. I’ve traveled a long way with it, a journey that’s been full of doubt, resistance, surprise, and more recently, a new patience. As with my other travels, I feel an urge to write about this trip. From age 4 to 13, I accompanied my mother to Protestant churches, first Lutheran, then Methodist.
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Jan 11, 2025 | 
davisenterprise.com | Marion Franck
This was just a bleep in a non-major news story about an attorney named Aaron Siri. He is, apparently, an associate of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and is helping him choose new staff for the Department of Health and Human Services. The New York Times reported that in 2022 Siri challenged the safety of the currently used polio vaccine on behalf of a client. He is also involved in many other vaccine-doubting cases.
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Nov 3, 2024 | 
davisenterprise.com | Marion Franck
I receive a text from a graduate-school friend I’ll call Julie who lives in Southern California. She wants to ask a travel question. “Could you call me?” she writes. “I also want to talk to you about something else.”That sentence, of course, seizes my attention and makes me very curious. Julie and I have known each other since we were first-year grad students living in a grad-only dorm. Although we don’t see each other often, we’ve kept in touch through marriage, motherhood and retirement.
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Jun 7, 2024 | 
davisenterprise.com | Marion Franck
In this time of youthful protest, I went to hear a talk by a protestor from long ago. I was aware of his activities in the 1970s, but I had not kept track of him since. Mark Dubois, 75, was an early rafting guide and river advocate in Northern California. A few weeks ago, he came to a river camp in Lotus to speak to young river guides about protecting rivers now and in the future. A bunch of older river-lovers, like me, also attended.
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May 24, 2024 | 
davisenterprise.com | Marion Franck
Recently a friend I’ll call Margaret asked about joining my exercise class and I told her it meets on Zoom. “Oh,” she said. “That won’t work for me. I got rid of my computer.”Her decision, I confess, shocked me. After a rough period adapting to my first computer (1980s), the next models became my companions, and the latest model is practically my spouse. We’re close. I wouldn’t be a columnist today if I were still writing long-hand or on a typewriter. So, no, I’ll never give up computers.
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May 10, 2024 | 
davisenterprise.com | Marion Franck
The news that columnist Bob Dunning was let go by the Davis Enterprise after 55 years shocked me. I admire his work and always say to people with awe in my voice, “He writes a column every day!”I have written a column weekly and every two weeks but I could never, absolutely never, write one a day. Hats off to you, Bob. What did he write about?
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Apr 25, 2024 | 
davisenterprise.com | Marion Franck
My husband and I arrive in Cambria, near our tourist destination of Hearst Castle, and sit down for dinner at a restaurant. The waitress has a great smile and an odd tattoo. It’s all I can do to keep myself from leaning forward to look closely, because I see the bit of “art” that peeks out above her scooped neckline, but I don’t know what it is. A bat maybe? Perhaps because I’m on vacation and in good spirits, I blurt out my question. “What is your tattoo?” I ask.
