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Posts published in “Essays”

Why I Have “Trump Derangement Syndrome”

The national election looms, like a tsunami of uncertainty. Right now it’s a prevailing source of anxiety, dread, hope and confusion. Predictions and polls are rampant and just add to the unrest. Understandably, many have…

What Remains Of Hetch Hetchy?

It’s not often I will travel hundreds of miles to see a place I’ve wanted to see for decades with sorrow in my heart. That’s what happened when I went to see Hetch Hetchy 20…

Boonville Beer vs. Bruce Bread — True History From Back In The Day

A simmering landlord-tenant dispute between the founding father of Boonville-brewed beer and the determined owner of Bruce Bread boiled over Wednesday afternoon at the landmark Farrer Building in downtown Boonville. Ken Allen of the Boonville…

Sun King Playlists

“To faint was a fault past hope of pardon,” wrote the Duke of Saint-Simon in his Memoirs of Louis XIV, an insider’s account of battlefield debacles, antechamber intrigues and bedroom assignations during the reign of…

My Dog’s Smarter Than My Dog

If you’re going to have a dog you might as well train it, and if you’re going to train it you might as well have someone else do it. I’d suggest your wife. This gives…

Big Lies & Little Truths

As an historian, history tells me that this presidential election about to go down on Nov. 5 is the worst offering of prospective White House occupants in history. That’s three references to history in a…

A 7.1 Exaggeration

Those who tend to apologize too much when they make a mistake have a lot to learn from the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle. It was the Chronicle that gave the world its false…

Dropping The Ball; Setting The Stage For Carmel Angelo

In the summer of 2007 the Mendocino County Grand Jury released an unusual and barely noticed report about the fiasco surrounding the Supervisors’ firing of former CEO John Ball. (No other local news outlets made…

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