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Posts published by “Jonah Raskin”

‘The Power Of The Dog’

“The power of the dog is all those urges, all those deep, uncontrollable urges that can come and destroy us.” – Jane Campion, director, screenwriter What’s a “western”? Moviegoers and film critics have been asking…

A Review of Deborah Miranda’s Book, Bad Indians

American Indians are rebounding in California and all across the U.S.A., and they’re popularizing words like “indigeneity,” which is defined as originating in a specific place. White folks are also rebounding. Hasting Law School is…

Housing and the Homeless in Berkeley

When Osha Neumann sees people living on the streets of Berkeley and Oakland he doesn’t feel a sense of hopelessness or powerlessness. Nor does he turn away, or want the homeless to disappear, become invisible…

Boozy San Francisco

You’re in San Francisco on holiday and you want an alcoholic beverage: a cold beer, a glass of red wine or a cocktail. Where do you go in a city in which there are bars…

Rippin’ the Rio

Does Oaky Joe Munson care about anything besides his crop? You bet he does. He cares like crazy about his daughter, Millie, and his son, Milo, and about Norcal skateboarders who compete for prizes and…

Another Fiasco in Berkeley

The shit is hitting the fan in Berkeley, again. The city, which is notorious for not thinking clearly or honorably about People’s Park and its legacy, announced plans recently to install a public toilet on…

Two Days in Frisco

I moved to San Francisco from Santa Rosa in Sonoma County on May 15, and for the first two weeks I sat in my one-bedroom apartment and listened to the screeching sounds from the N-Judah…

Portrait of a Marijuana Widow

War makes women into widows. In fact, war is called "the widow maker." Football also makes some women into widows, especially during football season, which has started once again with a vengeance in high schools,…

Melville, Our Contemporary

I spent a good part of August 1, 2019, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Herman Melville, by doing what every red-blooded American ought to have done: I re-read “Moby-Dick,” that “staggering work of…

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