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Posts published in “Essays”

Mendocino Theatre Company Presents: Visiting Mr. Green

It was the opening night of a new season for Mendocino Theatre Company’s Visiting Mr. Green, by playwright Jeff Baron, directed by Ricci Dedola, the first theatre gathering since the Cemetery Club Gala in March…

QAnon at the Border

The photo was inked so dark in the print edition it was easy to miss the slogan emblazoned on a flag off to the right. One’s eye was drawn to the center — the back of…

Tom Robbins’ Graduation Speech

When I was the editor of the newspaper in Oak Harbor nearly 40 years ago, I was given a copy of a commencement address by author Tom Robbins that was delivered to a handful of…

Rough Justice

Though there’s not much agreement between rednecks and libs these days, there’s one foundational issue that nearly everyone seems to agree on: U.S. Senate confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominees have devolved into meaningless…

The Health Center Story, Part 2: Finding Its Own Home

It was an enjoyable excursion down memory lane sitting with Mark Apfel in his Greenwood Ridge home backyard garden on a serious spring afternoon last week.  Mark is a compelling story-teller, quite good with facts…

Crumpled Pages Near A Wastebasket

An elderly gent in a tuxedo and neatly trimmed white beard stands at center stage. A raven sits upon his right shoulder. The man speaks quietly but seriously: “Earlier, after the previous unpleasantries were forgotten,…

Balls

For years the marketing experts of Major League Baseball (MLB, the owners' consortium) have been tinkering with the manufacturing specifications. For a while they assumed that fans wanted above all to see home runs, so…

Please Make Payment In Full

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr tosses occasional and minimal scraps to ordinary people, but as US President his real job is to serve the needs and desires of the moneyed class. That's why forgiveness of student…

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