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Posts published in “Essays”

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,…

Creative Paradox

“To study music, we must learn the rules. To create music, we must break them.” — Nadia Boulanger During the four years in the early 1990’s when I ran the Creative Writing program for the…

Ten Small Green Groups That Make A Big Difference

It’s been a triumphant month for Big Oil. First, the Obama administration teamed with the Chinese delegation to scuttle the timid climate agenda at the Durban summit. Then recidivist offender British Petroleum won the rights…

Thud Of The Jackboot

Too bad Kim Jong-il kicked the bucket last weekend. If the divine hand that laid low the North Korean leader had held off for a week or so, Kim would have been sus­tained by the…

Farewell To C.H.

I can’t count the times, down the years, that after some new outrage friends would call me and ask, “What happened to Christopher Hitchens?” — the inquiry prem­ised on some supposed change in Hitchens, often…

Zorba & Kurt & Hermann

“As you walk, you cut open and create that riverbed into which the stream of your descendants shall enter and flow.” — Nikos Kazantzakis  In 1965, when I was 16 and deeply unhappy, I went…

HumCo Gets Conservative On Medical Pot

After almost two years of work, the county has taken a conservative approach to regulating medical marijuana, approving a restrictive indoor growing ordinance and a 45-day freeze on dispensary applications. The dispensary moratorium and a…

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