Former South Dakota Sen. George McGovern died this week at age 90. My first political memory is of the 1972 presidential election season. Democrat George McGovern challenged the Republican incumbent, President Richard Nixon. I was…
Posts published in “Essays”
October 24th marks the birthday of Sarah Josepha Hale 224 years ago. Practically every English speaker recognizes her eight line poem by its first five words: “Mary had a little lamb…” Sarah Josepha Hale was…
“The chief cause for the impending collapse of the world—the cause sufficient in and by itself—is the enormous growth of the human population: the human flood. The worst enemy of life is too much life:…
In 1998, novelist and journalist Jane Futcher and her partner, midwife Erin Carney, joined a Year to Live group in Marin. The impact was profound: based upon the writings of Stephen Levine, the meetings, during…
First, an apology: At the end of a heated exchange with California State Parks Foundation President, Elizabeth Goldstein, I said under my breath, “I’ll get you.” I should have realized that the phone connection was…
The SF Giants defeated the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 in the Divisional 5 game series last week. Interestingly, the Giants lost the first two games at home and then won all three games on the road.…
Trim, white-haired Tom Hayden gave a talk at the NORML conference in Los Angeles last week. NORML is the National Organization to Reform the Marijuana Laws. It was founded in 1970 by Keith Stroup, who…