Climb the steps at Ukiah City Hall, look up at the building’s exterior and what do we see? A filthy, grimy, mildew-stained surface that would probably take 10 minutes to power wash back to its…
Posts published in “Essays”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Donald J. Trump were born rich. They were born 64 years and 214.3 miles apart in very different times ─ FDR at the cusp of the last century, Trump in the…
Someone very special, my husband’s sister Connie Atkinson, died recently and she knew exactly what she wanted to have happen after her death. She had her funeral arrangements mapped out, but she also planned a…
Memory is a funny thing for people. Especially old people. Or not funny. It’s not at all funny for me, not that I’m old. But we hear people (I hear people, or at least voices)…
Since I submitted my Hop Flat explorations story last week, I have stumbled across some additions and corrections I would like to share with your readers. The most interesting of them was a coincidental consequence…
A PLAY IN ONE ACT Cast of Characters: DAVE EYSTER, Mendocino County District Attorney BUNNY, Dave’s invisible childhood friend BUNNY: Dave? Dave? Dave it’s me. Dave! Dave wake up! DAVE: Huh? Whaa? Dave’s not here.…
In America, everything is possible, even Mission Impossible. Especially Mission Impossible. The theme music proclaims it. Bursting out of a high tremolo like a fuse burning fast, the opening trombone-heavy groove is jaunty yet resolute.…
Is every town overrun with golfers the way Ukiah is? Is there any other group that seems to be everywhere all at once the way local golfers are? If there isn’t a weekend golf tournament…
Reflections on Thorne Dreyer’s Notes from the Underground (New Journalism Project, $27). Have you noticed? Sixties folk—organizers, activists, pacifists, feminists and liberationists of all stripes—can’t seem to get enough of the era when they made…