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Posts published in “Essays”

When Mars Crashed Near Boonville

This story is dedicated to AVA reader Richard Hargreaves of Redding, who is pushing 90 years of age and has vivid history memories. It’s how one story can lead to another, then another. Several weeks…

Ferlinghetti, R.I.P.

It was a cold early Summer night in 1963, when I first set foot in City Lights, the now legendary bookstore.  Much has been made since of how unusual City Lights, then ten yers old,…

Wannabe Stormtroopers

It was the virus that undid Trump. Without Covid-19 and the misery, devastation and economic shock it brought with it, he would have almost certainly have won the 2020 presidential election, perhaps by a wide…

Signal Ridge, Or Cold Springs Mountain: A Little History

Thanks to “Abhorrent in Albion” for the inspiration for this article (what a moniker, maybe not hiding your identity would be better than labeling yourself as abhorrent?). I often struggle to find topics to write…

Praetorius 400

February 15th marked the 400th anniversary of Michael Praetorius’s death. It passed without fanfare or flourish, though this musical titan was a master of both. His gifts served the devotional, but, from the intimate to…

The Mendocino County DA’s Office, a History (Part 1)

UKIAH - During the first half of the 1890's, JAMES EMMONS PEMBERTON served as Mendocino County District Attorney.  The terms in office at that time were two years and he served two terms (1891-1892, and…

The Villain Leshner

I don't know which chemicals are released in which parts of the brain, but there's a pleasurable rush when you find yourself in agreement with someone who has been observing the same scene from a…

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