1. According to Bob Dylan On Rough and Rowdy Ways, the album Dylan released on the eve of turning 80, there's a song called "My Own Version of You" in which he shows us Karl Marx…
Posts published in “Essays”
Paul Masson coined the slogan. Orson Welles repeated it dramatically in one of the most memorable ads ever in the world of viticulture: “We will sell no wine before its time.” No doubt about it,…
Mendocino County pioneers loved to share stories about interactions with bears. Here’s one from a little booklet called “Lore of the Coast: Fact or Fiction” published by the Mendocino County Historical Society about 50 years…
This story owes a great deal to an article George’s Fish Rock neighbor Steve Alden wrote for the Mendocino Grapevine in July, 1984. Steve’s recollections highlight much about the immigrant Zeni family’s roots and his Army career…
Like others or at least like oldie others, I had not purchased any new clothing, not even online in fifteen months. Living alone I wore the same shirt and jeans for a month. The only…
It might not be true that every family has one cool thing about it but at least I can say that my family does. Sixty-three years ago my father was teaching at Oswego State Teacher's…
The favorite books of one's youth can be dangerous stuff. One of the highest-risk authors for me turned out to be Ernest Hemingway. His writing almost killed me in at least in three ways. That…
Mount Nyiragongo’s eruption and earthquake, and the aftershocks that continue to shake the Democratic Republic of Congo remind one that the Christian God of that Christian country—brought to Africa by colonialism—has always been a meteorological,…
Graduation season is everywhere, and be happy if you needn’t sit through yawn-inducing ceremonies celebrating the most recent students bumped from the educational assembly line. School administrators permit speakers to address graduates only if they…