Bill Honig likes to tell one story, perhaps apocyphal, of the somewhat unorthodox settings for discussions about ‘Ramparts’ magazine’s finances. This particular time, he imagined that he felt some unmistakable pressure on him to consider…
Posts published in “Essays”
If you retain sentimental notions of local government being responsive to local citizens, and if you believe your voice and opinions are taken seriously by Ukiah’s leaders, I want to smile and pat you on…
Sooo, didja hear I’ll probably be taking off early? Friday, maybe around 10? Or might be even earlier because we’ve got a long drive down to Drixel. It’s not too far from Bakersfield if you…
Just think of all the nervous energy coursing through all those kiddies lined up for this Sunday afternoon’s piano recital. And then think of all the victims of this ritual that came before and of…
It’s been a year since the mighty AVA shut down the print edition and reverted to digital only, here’s how my interaction with it has changed as a reader and writer. My M O for…
“The idea that we’re the greatest people in the world because we have the most money in the world is ridiculous. Wait until this wave of prosperity is over! Wait ten or fifteen years! Wait…
Today a casual traveler driving east from the Comptche Store would never imagine the busy logging scene along the valley floor that went one 140 years ago. The headwaters of the Albion River in our…
Mushrooming population, developers’ zeal, pressure for more housing, agricultural subsidies, pesticides, and other forms of pollution only partially explain the persistence of environmentally destructive water practices. The entire body of water law itself has been—and…