As I was sitting by the woodstove last night—this November much colder than last—scribbling away on my latest something, I was struck by how little connection I feel to the books and stories and plays I’ve written over the last forty years, or even to the book I finished writing earlier this year.
Posts published in “Essays”
I always find it curious when moderns harp on the of problem opera’s verisimilitude. Theorists of the genre began to grapple with such objections as soon as the genre was hatched as a rebirth of…
Feliz Creek today, where it passes beneath highway 101 at Hopland is, in the summer, a parched expanse of dry streambed that is barely discernible as a watercourse. Only when it comes alive in the…
In the last 20 years there has been a proliferation of psychiatric drugs prescribed in the United States, not only by psychiatrists but by general practitioners. Anti-depressants, specifically SSRI's (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) like Prozac have become commonplace, and anti-anxiety medications are also popular. Not to be excluded are anti-psychotics used mostly for psychosis and schizophrenia.
We can all agree on some basic facts: Eureka is a seaside town, rundown in some places, charming in others, dotted here and there with the stately form of some impressive architecture. There’s often fog.…
It’s not unusual, however unfair, for people to look askance at outsiders who dress, talk, or act differently, especially if they come in groups. One such group, commonly known as Gypsies, have been maligned, even…
Propaganda. The motivation for this book is obviously Ms. Lee's desire to ameliorate the national media clamor against the southern states brought on by the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. A…