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Posts published in “Essays”

Notes From A San Francisco Paramedic

December — It had been raining all day. I was working with a new medic, which always requires a little more energy. We were on…

All The President’s Promises

We the protesters who are currently on sit-in at Tahrir (liberation) square in Cairo since January 25, 2011 strongly condemn the brutal attack carried out…

Report From Indiana: Happy Valentine’s Day

“What's the matter with you?” they keep asking. “Why on earth would you come to Indiana from California in the middle of the winter?” The…

The Forgotten People

A computer engineer by profession, Salam Talib had moonlighted in Bagdad as a translator and driver for foreign progressive journalists during the early years of the US invasion and occupation.

Georgian Wine

They came to California by FedEx in September, two dozen grapevine specimens collected on a government fruit-collecting trip to the Republic of Georgia. They will…

First The Downers, Then The Uppers

Using music as medicine goes back to Antiquity and beyond. The Greeks were not alone in recognizing that music was powerful stuff, capable of not…

Dead Airplane Kerouac Caen

When my wife and I joined forces four years ago, she came equipped with the nicely aged Toyota pickup I’d always wanted and I came with a Toyota station wagon ideal for toting cellos, so we swapped.

Music For The Sickbed

Using music as medicine goes back to Antiquity and beyond. The Greeks were not alone in recognizing that music was powerful stuff, capable of not…

The God That’s Failing

Turn on the TV and you hear the predictable bray from predictable types like Mort Zuckerman, Zbigniev Brzezinski, John Bolton and the Israel Lobby passim…

Affinito Still Gouging Fort Bragg

Thanks to some excellent follow up work by Ukiah Daily Journal reporter Tiffany Revelle, we learned last week that the County is still paying an…

Change, changing places

I just got home from a week in Tampa, FL.  I had never been to Florida before.  What I can tell you is this: Gasparilla…

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