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Posts published in “Essays”

Deportation Nation

The United States is in an age of mass deportation. This may not be surprising, given how consistently President Trump has denigrated, demonized, and threatened immigrants. His administration has waged an assault on the entire…

The Guy

I have this Saturday ritual where I go to Redway, buy the New York Times, and then drive down to lower Redway to read some of it in the woods by the water plant. Recently…

The Most Modest of All Stars

Arky Vaughan might be the most famous Potter Valley resident ever, and he’s not famous at all. Ask the next hundred people you meet about Arky Vaughan and you’ll get a whole lot of blank…

Wap It Good

Don’t run, walk, or crawl towards the Apocalypse. Dance. This most curious form of human movement, unlimited in its variety and meanings, and instantly recognizable even by other species (our dog would go berserk when…

A Farm in the City

"My liaison to the medical marijuana community" is how District Attorney Terence Hallinan sometimes introduced me. "Public Information officer" was the job description, and I gave the City and County of San Francisco their money's…

Homer Listed as Missing Person

I am supposed to report that Homer was burned up in the recent wildfires, but I can’t bring myself to do it; no, not because I’m overwhelmed with grief, but because it isn’t true. Supposedly,…

My First Bay-to-Breakers, 1981

The worst part for me about running the 70th annual Bay-to-Breakers was not the 27,300 official registered runners, or even the 10,000 or so unregistered runners entering from the sidelines throughout the 7.6-mile course. No,…

Stimulation Tour

My $1200 stimulus check was burning a hole in my bank account. It was initially meant for a flight from Sacramento to Atlanta to lay eyes on the Mount Rushmore of the Confederacy at Stone…

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