This is a story of two men who were condemned by the state of California. Both were war heroes. Both had a family history of insanity. Both turned to crime after leaving military service —…
Posts published by “Dick Meister”
Boy, did our friends envy us. We were headed off on a cross-country rail journey via Amtrak, whose shiny bright brochures promised a return to the thrilling days “when getting there was just as much…
It’s been eight years since his death, but I can still see him and hear him, a wiry, gray-haired, hawk-nosed man. I see him pacing restlessly back and forth behind the podium at union meetings,…
Is the hysteria over, finally? Can we talk sanely now about Princess Diana? Of course we should regret her death. But so should we regret that, whatever Diana’s good deeds, her life — and assuredly…
As many observers noted after the death of Allen Ginsberg on April 4, probably his greatest work was his first major poem, “Howl.” It was the battering ram that finally broke down the legal barriers…
It was in the heart of downtown Oakland, at 7am, on a rainy December day a half-century ago. Dozens of strikers, picket signs held high, were gathered outside the Kahn’s and Hastings department stores on…
Harry Bridges’ birthday was last July 29th — a time once again for ceremonies celebrating the labor leader’s extraordinary life that have been held in West Coast port cities every year since his death in…