When the rain let up and the sun went down, it started to get cold out. The soggy skies had kept it somewhat milder and sleeping out in the park was OK. Not great, but…
Posts published by “Steve Heilig”
The “Torture Report” is finally public, at least much of it, and it's been front-page news, and it is horrible, disgusting, shameful and embarrassing. Other nations not known for their respect for human rights such…
The Marley estate plans to use Bob Marley's name or image on a vast array of products, from Marley coffee (the slogan: 'Stir it Up') to soccer balls, bedsheets, and a Grand Theft Auto-ish video…
It’s now over three and a half years since the earthquake-triggered nuclear disaster in Japan, and concerns regarding the impacts continue. In Japan itself, the impacts have been huge and disastrous indeed, depending on location…
For almost a quarter century, Dennis McNally held a job that could be considered an ultimate dream or nightmare, depending on one’s perspective — he was the official publicist for the Grateful Dead. And while…
The Albion was on 16th Street in the Mission district, on the corner of an alley called, yes, Albion Street. This was when the Mission was a largely Latino, relatively inexpensive, hip (as opposed to "hipster", which is the opposite), and sometimes dangerous part of town. But it was really only risky if you were a jerk to some local vatos or tried to walk home or to your car drunk at 2am closing time, when the predators did come out for easy prey. Otherwise, it was just a cool neighborhood for almost every kind of person with the best food options in town, even if quite dirty in places.
Recently, there was a reunion of my high school class, a recurrent traditional all-American event I'd always ignored, but for whatever reasons the peer pressure to attend this time came on strong and at the last minute, against my intuition and convictions, I succumbed, bought a plane ticket south, and went. I half-expected frightening reminders of collective aging, puerile nostalgia, embarrassing alcohol-enabled displays of long-repressed urges, ego-fueled career one-upsmanship, excruciating "sharing" of family pictures, and a general outburst of collective regret and confusion.