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Posts published in “Essays”

Journal of the Plague Year (#10)

Berkeley, CA May 25, 2020 — Let’s look at history. At 11 a.m. on November 13, 1941, three weeks before the Japanese attack on the U.S. Navy’s ships at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor, the entire New…

Meat: To Eat or Not To Eat?

Meat is the enemy! That’s the mantra I hear these days from nearly all sides of the political spectrum. In The New York Times author, Jonathan Safran Foer, recently wrote, “We cannot protect our environment while continuing…

When Giants Fall

It was only a few decades ago that Walmart entered the pantheon of American icons, joining motherhood, apple pie, and baseball on the highest tier of the altar. The people were entranced by this behemoth…

Laugh, Damn You, Laugh

Incognito as a gay though/ but not actually that way a/ pseudo homo phony. Not the usual stirring, elevating, meaningful, pithy nuggets you see italicized and spattered about the pages of this rag, is it?…

Rodeo & Cotton

My first rodeo was in Willits on the 4th of July sometime in the late 1940’s. My grandfather took the family to see the Willits Frontier Days Parade and Rodeo. So, before we get too…

Shemia, Yuki Warrior

Shemia, a Yuki warrior, died in February, 1885. He was probably in his forties or early fifties at the time of his demise. His death occurred as a result of a violent attack by another…

The Knife Fight

I directed the actor Slim Pickens in a TV spot for the Forest Service one time. He was an actual cowboy in his early years and then got into acting. His most famous role was…

Rope-a-Doping the Army

There is an unsung hero in the Presidio mutiny saga — an honest journalist named Barry Farrell — and an unremarked turning point. In February 1969 the first three court-martials had resulted in sentences of…

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