Probably my favorite Fourth of July memory is the afternoon in Arcata when I got drunk early and wandered over to the ballpark just as the Redwood City team was taking pregame infield. Their massive…
Posts published in “Essays”
If I were to sum up my personal philosophy in a single sentence, it would be this: Never try to encapsulate anything of import or complexity into a single sentence. Or perhaps: if your philosophy…
There was a striking man walking up and down 128 all weekend with a goat on a leash. At least he looked like a man, wearing some kind of goatskin-looking coat. The goat was real,…
Conservative writer P.J. O'Rourke, who used to butt heads with Molly Ivins on TV, came on the Tonight show once and explained right wing logic: "If you weren't a liberal when young, you had no…
When the twin towers fell on 911, at first it was thought that as many as 10,000 people might have been inside. A national call for blood donors went out in case there were many…
I have not owned a car since 1987 for both financial and earth-wise reasons. When I need to I will rent a car. What a pleasure, once I figure out all the buttons. No gears,…
Every once in a while I decide it's time for a fast. There is some evidence that fasting is good for one's health as well as the mind. The first fast I did was on…
We recently saw a French film made in 2008, Summer Hours, written and directed by Olivier Assayas and recommended to us by Louis Bedrock, the writer and translator. A beautifully made film set in present-day France, I immediately loved the sights and sounds, but found I was not connecting emotionally with the characters.
He’s the toughest of acts to follow. Moreover, no one will ever be as controversial as he has been. Indeed, during his decades-long tenure at Sonoma State University, President Ruben Armiñana, altered the face of…