Way back when I was an undergrad student at UC Santa Barbara, a fair number of Vietnamese refugees had been and were being relocated to the “student ghetto” of Isla Vista. Some of them even…
Posts published by “Steve Heilig”
The national election looms, like a tsunami of uncertainty. Right now it’s a prevailing source of anxiety, dread, hope and confusion. Predictions and polls are rampant and just add to the unrest. Understandably, many have…
Once upon a time I was an international drug smuggler. But please let me explain. One foggy afternoon in the late 1980s I was sitting in the dungeon-like old medical library at UCSF medical center,…
“Are you going to watch the debate?” Yes, I replied, I feel I have to. It’s probably going to be a big deal. But I have such trepidation about it, even dread. I don’t think…
I was down on an almost human-free Ocean Beach in San Francisco with only a little dog, a big salmon sandwich from the closest small cafe, and a small stack of newspapers, including three weeks…
Allen Ginsberg's “Howl” is perhaps the iconic poem of the past half century, but from the moment it was first published 68 years ago, it seems to have really upset some people. The epic cry…
Way back at the start of senior year at our coastal Southern California high school, one of my very best friends Tom said to me “My big brother is living at a small commune up…
Almost everybody seems to agree that the Mendocino/Sonoma coast is some of the most beautiful landscape on the planet, and many of us who feel that way covet real estate there. I’m generally immune to…
Saturday, July 8 — It was “Hello Kitty” day at the bayfront ballpark. The meaning of that seemed unclear to most attendees other than some very cute little kids with cat ears on. It was a…