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Posts published in “Essays”

More Toys Would Only Make Things Worse

Remember those bumper stickers years ago that read “He Who Dies With the Most Toys Wins”? It was a catchy, relatable sentiment that appealed to the acquisitive, competitive beast within us all, especially at a…

Spaced Out

A Review of “Bewilderment,” By Richard Powers. (WW Norton 278 pp. $27.95.) Movie screens are often tinged with it these days. Fiction and non-Fiction authors seem intrigued by it, when not immersed in the genre.…

Hopping the Grey Rabbit

As with many mistakes in life and a few smart moves, this story starts with a girl. Shari was her name, or it might have been Sharri. All my life has happened since then, so…

RIP Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)

He loved the sounds and the heft of words, though the first words he heard were not English words. Mais non. They were joual, the dialect of working class French Canadians spoken by his parents…

Danube Blues

On the one-year anniversary of the storming of the U.S. Capitol many were the dire assessments of the state of the American republic. Nor were watchdogs of democracy cheered by the situation across the Atlantic.…

This Is for All the Lonely People

Splitting kindling under a dwindling sun Leaves on the ground beneath the trees Delicious–golden and red Leaves damp brown Redwood and fir snags Spires on the southern sky Line after line reminds me of you…

Who Gave Us This ‘Legalization’?

Dale Gieringer and Ellen Komp of California NORML and Dale Sky Jones of Oaksterdam University are pro-Cannabis activists based in the Bay Area. In 2015 they sought input from allies and “stakeholders,” hired a lawyer,…

My Favorite Audit

There’s been an interesting mini-discussion about audits and auditing in the comment section of our website, since some readers seem to think they wouldn’t vote for a new library sales tax unless an audit of…

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