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Posts published in “Essays”

$1500 Pig’s Feet

My wife and I are both great supporters of the Junior Livestock Auctions held at local fairs. Recently we attended the pig auction at the Sonoma County Fair.  4-H, FFA and independent junior members purchase…

The Subprime of Ms. Jane Brody

We are coming up on the 25th anniversary of the Election Day on which California voters legalized marijuana for medical use. Expect a wave of self-congratulation from the activists who went on to legalize the…

Ravens Join the Healing Parade

Two swallowtail butterflies are again fluttering in my backyard, bringing me cheer for about the 20th year in a row. It remains a mystery whether the same pair of butterflies, now deep into old age,…

The Vanishing Legacy of Barack Obama

On the road from stirring symbol of hope and change to the Fat Elvis of neoliberalism, birthday-partying Barack Obama sold us all out  It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.…

The Good, The Bad & The Horrific

Marijuana was the surprise ingredient in the economy of the backwoods in the mid-seventies and made a lot of twenty-something dirty hippies, slackers, and university-educated back-to-the-landers rich overnight when awareness of sinsemilla arrived. (The high…

Reflections of a Northern Californian on Afghanistan

Who didn’t see it coming? The Taliban take-over of Afghanistan. Maybe not as fast and as dramatic as it happened. But anyone without blinders had to have seen it coming from a long way off.…

Let’s Rodeo

Before we get started let’s learn how to correctly say rodeo, it’s  ro-dee-o, not ro-day-o. I never participated in a big-time rodeo venue. One time I entered a junior rodeo at the Cow Palace. The…

Mendocino Outlaws: Bloody Vengeance

In the same week as a judge handed down a death sentence for Dr. John Wheeler, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors voted to allow the following claims for those who took part in the…

The Manson Gang In Mendo

On a hunch I decided to look in the coast newspapers to see if there was any mention on Charlie Manson. I was not disappointed. A guy by the name of Don Burleson had a…

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