just finished reading an excellent book by British historian Derek Wilson: A Brief History of Henry VIII, 386 pages of densely informative prose that is certainly not brief by American standards.
Posts published in “Essays”
One of the many dubious perks of living in Humboldt County — as it must be in places like New Orleans or Nome, Alaska — is that we regularly get to witness beautiful brute nature…
While it was happening, and for a long time afterward, there was no doubt in my mind that 1985 was the worst year of my life. I wandered through it like a wounded animal, in…
There will be an ocean salmon fishing season this year and for the first time in years, it will be close to normal. Three options for commercial and recreational fishing are being considered by the…
The war on Libya now being waged by the US, Britain and France must surely rank as one of the stupidest martial enterprises, smaller in scale to be sure, since Napoleon took it into his…
Lukas Nelson, who declined to play with Bob Dylan's band, demonstrates an inner composure and healthy self-assuredness that many Seekers of Truth would be wise to emulate.
After more than an hour reviewing a series of distasteful options involving major cuts to the county's library system, the Board of Supervisors finally voted at its March 22 meeting to put a 1/8th cent…
Taking in Charles Ferguson's excellent documentary, Inside Job, about the dark doings of Wall Street in our time, I confess I was awestruck all over again at the complete surrender of Obama to the very…
“More relative than this—the play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.” — William Shakespeare Yes, it will only be a staged reading in a tiny theater on the fringes of…