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Posts published in “Essays”

Myth & History

Historical facts. Hmm. When I was attending UC Santa Cruz in the late 1960’s (and I really did do that) Norman O. Brown came to teach at our newborn college. His course Myth & History was open to undergrads, so I signed up to hear what the famous man had to say.

Will Commercial Catch Shares Sink Local Fleets?

A lawsuit filed by local commercial fishermen may not stop what plaintiffs see as a corporate scheme to privatize the ocean and eliminate small-boat fishermen from the water. On Jan. 13, a new fishery management…

How To Win In Wisconsin

My heroes have always been union organizers. Mom and Dad were labor organizers, as were my cousins, Bernie (printing trades), Charlie (shipbuilders) and Joe (auto workers). If we had a religion, it was One Big…

Lessons Of The Oscars

Think back all of a week or less — an eternity as measured by the ADHD chronometers of pop culture — to the conclusion of the Oscar pageant in the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood last…

Twenty Years Old, Grange Variety Show The Best Ever

Jews harps, kazoos, and accordions. The county’s big­gest oak dance floor and the world’s smallest cow. A Medicare-eligible woman hanging upside down from the ceiling and pre-pubescent divas with broken hearts. Bearded ballerinas. A show…

Budget Crisis Notes

The Health and Human Services Department, the County’s largest department, still has a $600k deficit for CalWorks, a $170k deficit for In-Home Supportive Services and a $1.3 mil shortfall in Mental Health — almost all…

The Rumble of the People: Mad As Hell In Madison

The large demonstrations at the state Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin are driven by a middle class awakening to the specter of its destruction by the corporate reactionaries and their toady Governor Scott Walker. For years…

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