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Posts published in “Essays”

MLBlacklisting

Jack Newfield (1938-2004) wrote that growing up in Brooklyn, the great villains of his youth had been Adolf Hitler and Walter O’Malley (the owner of the Dodgers who arranged the team’s move from Bedford Avenue…

Creating Our Realities

A friend was telling me about a complicated land dispute he was in the middle of and I said, “Well, we all create our own realities.” He looked at me like he wasn't buying it…

And Earth’s Diameter Is 200 Miles

I’ve been skeptical of population estimates for a long time because it just seems there are far fewer people roaming around Planet Earth than statistics suggest.  Who hasn’t run into a friend from Ukiah at…

Belafonte In The Sun

After the first installment of my planned two-part tribute to Harry Belafonte, who died a month ago at the age of 96, two weeks of nonsense intervened. First came the coronation of Charles III—the pomp…

Strange Days At Junior High Music Class

The original “West Side Story” was on TV Sunday night, I hadn’t watched it in decades, and as often happens, the landmark musical film triggered an ancient flashback… At Lincoln Junior High in the bucolic…

First Causes

When archaeologists from some other planet sift through the bleached bones of our civilization, they may well conclude that our temples were dams. Imponderably massive, constructed with exquisite care, our dams will outlast anything else…

New Kid On Block Scolds His Neighbors

I’ve been in North Carolina for a year and figured when I learned how to spell “Chattanooga” I’d be enough of an expert to lecture locals on how to improve things for me. Being from…

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