Cover: Funky Monks
Tibetan sand artists return to the Sonoma Museum of Visual Art.

News: Cash Cow
Arizona dairymen make a moo-ve on California milk market.

The Scoop: British nobles get the royal shaft.

Cyber Furby: Nuke a furball in virtual space.

Up to the Task?: See how your kids' school did in the state Standardized Testing and Reporting program.

Climbing Up on Capitol Hill: Check up on the your Congressional Representatives and U.S. Senators--where they stand, how they voted.

Gift Options: Our tips for pleasing those hard-to-please loved ones.

Holiday Hell: Surviving the last-minute shopping frenzy.

Echo & the Music Machine: The Horrible Smiths treated their son like one of their wrecking yard projects--until a bit of silvery magic came into Echo's life. An original Christmas story by David Templeton.

Southern Man: Alt-rocker Vic Chesnutt's latest CD lets light shine on dark lyrics.

Rolling on the River: New Smithsonian/Folkways CD anthology is a River of Song.

They've Got Issues: The Offspring veer to the puritanical and cautionary on new album, Americana.

Audiofile: Reviews of the latest CDs by True to Form, Chris Cain and Tiger Okoshi.

Talking Pictures: Cyber-sexpert Deb Levine chats up You've Got Mail.

'Evil' Ways: Orson Welles' 1958 film classic Touch of Evil gets redeemed.

Best Brews: Taste testers sample seasonal suds.

Heard It Through the Grapevine: Get to the root of all things wine.

Tap Tap Tap Dogs: It's not easy being a novelist, says Frederick Busch in A Dangerous Profession, his new look at writers' lives and hard times.