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Posts published in “Essays”

Giving Back: A Family’s Legacy

The Gowan name is known throughout our region for wonderful local apples and produce, so it does not come as a surprise that the history of Cecil and Alice (nee Studebaker) Gowan's family in Mendocino County is deep and rich. Both sets of Alice's grandparents moved to the Anderson Valley in the 1860's. Notably one of her grandfathers traded sixteen horses for his initial home property in Philo. Cecil's family moved to the Anderson Valley from Shelter Cove in 1902 when Cecil was 13.

Allman For Prez

I have always liked the "well-oiled machine" comparison, evoking as it does images of briskly humming gears, cogs, cams, and belts efficently spinning away and…

Bach & Taxes

I was born on tax day. But it was only on my 40th birthday (13 years ago) that my quick-witted friend David Borden—pioneering electronic music…

A Sanctuary City For The Irish Too

A starkly political film from the north of Ireland was an unusual choice for this year's annual San Francisco Independent Film Festival, "Indie Fest"- held…

The Laytonville Dump

The headwaters of the South Fork of the Eel River have been continuously tainted by polluted seepage from the Laytonville landfill for 50 years. Preliminary…

To Shoot Or Not To Shoot

So: guns. Quite the prevailing topic of conversation these days. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the subject, no one is shy about expressing…

DSQ: Those Danish Men of Feeling

The most famous string quartets of the present age take their names from diverse sources:  the Emerson from an American transcendentalist whose first name is…

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