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Posts published in “Essays”

The Journey Of The White Bird

Max and Maureen sailed White Bird, a sleek 42-foot trimaran, across the Pacific from Lahaina to the San Francisco Bay, where Max would oversee some refurbishing, purchase new sails and rigging, and get the vessel…

River Views

I spent several days in mid-December in the Sierra. Most of the time was occupied with backpacking from the Donner Summit area north by northwest to the Peter Grubb Hut. It was constructed in the…

Father Christmas

“It is a wise father that knows his own child.” — William Shakespeare My father was extremely neurotic. A psychiatrist by profession, one of his more pronounced neuroses was the inability to complete anything, which…

May Auspiciousness Be Upon You

Getting to the balloon festival was quite a trial. The traffic jam rivaled anything I've endured in LA. It even tried the patience of the stalwart May Maung Tun. But the general mood was festive…

Reasons To Be Cheerful

Alexander Cockburn, who died of cancer at the age of 71 on July 21, 2012, was a prose powerhouse who left an admirable body of great columns about all manner of matters political and cultural.…

Two Weeks In Myanmar

The Buddhas are big and small, cement, stone, brick and mortar, plastic, maybe wood; they nestle against each other under pendulous stalactites of lime­stone. Some of the smaller chambers are claustrophobic, some of the passages so narrow that I and my backpack can barely squeeze through.

Irrevocable Momentum

Tony Serra was a fascinating individual and I liked him right away. He was highly principled and his repu­tation as a fierce opponent in the courtroom was widely held. He was eager to defend the underdog and those subject to racial injustice.

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