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Posts published in “Essays”

On Indian Land

In 1992, the family group that I had been living with in the ridges of Cazadero, CA. Which consisted of the woman who was my partner, her friend who was the single mother of my…

Andy Johnson Meets Jim Jones

I was remiss in not mentioning what Vern Piver did for our baseball team at Fort Bragg High School. When Cob Berger took over as varsity coach, he knew little about baseball but was a…

Expert Advice Re: Experts

You can take the loftiest and most confident predictions made by experts over the past few years, crumple them up, stuff them in a thimble, toss them into Lake Mendocino and not lose a square…

Rammellzzee, Come Home!

We saw her hanging from lamp posts all over Paris—one of those women from a 19th-century Japanese woodcut, her hair pinned up in a two-tiered bun, her kimono adorned with prints of branches bearing buds…

Remembering Vern Piver

I knew Vern Piver very well. The Editor mentioned him several times and commented on John DeSilva too. When I moved back to Fort Bragg from Redwood Valley, I got a call from a lady…

Rocky Mountain Higher (Part 2)

Breckenridge, Colorado is a gold rush town. Fortune hunters came first in 1859 for gold and then again in 1879 for silver and lead. Like all “rush” towns people were in a hurry to get…

Wasted Talent

August, 1990. One morning, towards the end of May, Dave came over to my desk and said, “Well, here’s the scoop of the year: I’ve got AIDS. I’ve given them three months’ notice.” Within a…

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