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Posts published in “Essays”

Mystery Inventions

Deeply moved by a concert of music by Martinû and Mozart, a man gives $50 to a street musician, a Venezuelan bass player whose musical inventions are reminiscent of Eric Satie and Bill Evans. The…

Arise, Students Of California!

Students of California, arise, you have nothing to lose but a crushing debt! The corporate state of California, ever ready to seize its ideological and commercial hour during a recession, has a chokehold on California’s…

Goodbye To 2011, Year Of The Rabbit

January 5 — Torture is now solidly installed in America’s repressive arsenal, not in the shadows where it has always lurked, but up front and central, vigorously applauded by prominent politicians. Rituals of coercion and…

A Teacher’s Memoir: Alotta Lipski

It was my very first sixth-grade faculty meeting at Little Lake Valley Middle School. There were just four of us, all men, but we were waiting for one more teacher before we could proceed. That…

Peanut Butter Crank & The Possumbaby

The possum baby slashed and jerked its way around Joanna’s uterus in a river of milky white mucus and blood. “Ya muthafuckin’ beast!” she wailed at it, her back grindin’ into the bed while she…

My Days As Justice Of The Peace

Before the Judicial Council was voted in by the people of the State in California, the local judge was a Justice of the Peace and was known to the people as a J.P. He would…

Faux Pas

The Turks were so patient for putting up with me this fall as I cycled around the western half of Turkey. I cringe now when I recall the many times, while in conversation with strangers,…

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