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Posts published in “Essays”

AIDS & Medical Marijuana

Dennis Peron is the Rosa Parks of the medical marijuana movement, the one who would not move to the back of the bus. Dennis refused to accept that anybody — any cop or DA or…

Small Thoughts At Large (June 27, 1967)

A distinguished magazine asked me to write about San Francisco's irresistible attraction for hippies and beatniks. I declined the offer for two middling good reasons. First, in the manner of the most distinguished magazines, the…

The Sound of Skyscrapers

The attacks of September 11, 2001 reinstated for more than a decade the Empire State Building as the highest structure in New York City, a distinction it had held from its completion in 1931 until…

Letter to a Wife-Beater

Break the cycle—Does anyone wonder how I became some sort of authority on the behavior patterns of the gutless wonders to smack women around when they get a tank on? What if I were a…

Outstanding Trainee

Cassidy went on sick call that morning, talked like he had laryngitis, so Prado had to take the platoon. Prado had been waiting for a day like this. He knew exactly what he needed to…

Barbara Howe Speaks

There comes a point in nearly every hot, irrational blow-up when those involved must surely, in a moment of clarity, set aside their rage and wonder how in the world things got so bad.  In…

The Cow in the Driveway

Rancho Navarro is a subdivision of 135 ten-acre lots nestled in the woods northwest of the Navarro General Store. Most properties lack permanent dwellings, giving the steep terrain a parklike atmosphere. Hidden behind hills and…

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