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Posts published in “Essays”

Naked In Gualala

A week after my van broke down I had a nude modeling gig at a figure drawing class in Gualala. I was living on Signal…

Stogie & The Black Widow

Philo has a killer redwood that seems to reach out to swat errant drivers like a giant flyswatter. Every community in Mendocino County seems to…

Buster Posey & The Collision

How did we all start to ‘luv de guy’ so fast? Buster Posey was a “throwback” kind of guy. He was humble, earnest, and hard…

Canadian Panorama

Did you ever hear a folk song that stuck with you the rest of your life? A song full of beauty and wonder that spoke…

Brave New World/1984 — The Sequel

In the drugstore today I noticed a new (to me at least) product. I had to look twice, but the second look con-firmed what it…

Virtual Graffiti: You #%@#$&!!

Mindless yelling at one another is not new, nor is anti-intellectualism, but they do seem to be more ubiquitous nowadays.

Denial Ain’t Just A River

All a person really has to do is to listen closely to the lyrics to America the Beautiful, as my i-Pod lets me do here,…

What We Do

The first few times I finished writing a novel (each book representing two or three years work), I was gripped by the same terrible fear that I might die before I could make copies of the books and send them out into the world.

Memos Of The Week

Dear Deputy Walker: NOTICE OF LAYOFF — Due to continued funding problems, on May 24, 2011, the Board of Supervisors authorized the elimination of six…

A Memoir: The Fortunate Son, Part 5

The loss of my father was a shattering event. I wasn't yet 20 and my closest confidant and personal hero was gone before he would be 50. He had always provided a cloak of security and confidence, and my admiration for him was boundless.

Saturday in Potter Valley

It was rainy but we donned our boots and drove over anyway.  We met my niece and the little man climbed up on the bed…

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