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Posts published in “Essays”

To New York City and Back Again

Tell your friends you’re going on vacation and they smile.  Mention that it’s a family vacation and that smile may falter for a moment.  Tell them you’ve booked a trip to New York City and…

The Real Jihad

I'm an atheist.  There, I've said it. You want to make something of it? I know a guy who's a bit of a bible-thumper. He's accused me of being "militant" about my nonbelief. I disagree.…

In the Spirit of Dunkirk

Monday, 3:14pm — A friend calls to say that he is fed up with the stupidity and crassness of wage slaves happily voting to keep their wallets empty and their dreams stillborn. He invites me…

A Few Hundred Bucks Will Get Some Attention

Rest assured, nothing is going to be done about this, but the news is still worth some cogitation. The new figures are out, and they show that almost 44 million people are without health insurance.…

My First Day in Berlin Last Spring

I took the prescription sleeping pills before take-off but slept only in the thinnest intervals, perhaps one hour out of eight. This was to prove of some difficulty on my first day in Berlin, since…

Them Bums

Early in the 1947 baseball season; the season Jackie Robinson broke in; a sweet spring evening in New Jersey; I turned on our under the pillow radio and we found the Brooklyn Dodgers; Red Barber…

The Alaska Railroad

It was a late summer afternoon in Anchorage, Alaska. Dale and I were outside, in the backyard of the small house we rented. We lived in an older section of town called Spenard. A couple…

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