In 1969, journalists Andrew Kopkind and James Ridgeway started a Washington-based biweekly newsletter called Mayday. They were soon enjoined by lawyers representing a publication of that name devoted to safe boating. (“M’aidez” in French means…
Posts published in “Essays”
The harsh gods of baseball have rained heavy blows upon me in recent years by stripping the name and emblem from a Cleveland team I’d been part of all my life. Next, Oakland’s owners are…
MSA is short for “moving stuff around.” MSA goes way back in my family. I’ve been MSA-ing for 50 years because my annual income has never hit $30,000. An MSA-er moves stuff him or herself…
Service Dogs are the Marine recruits of canines, fresh from drill camp, ready to take on the world. Service Dogs are single-minded, utterly devoted and unswerving in their duty and loyalty. Because of their rigorous…
We’re moving from the East Bay to the Wine Country, one carload at a time. I promised Rosie I would bring all her possessions and not try to distinguish between the useless stuff and the treasures.…
How is a mushroom like an apple? Both can be considered the “fruit” of a tree, but while all the branches of an apple tree are visible, nearly all parts of the tree that mushrooms…
If I had wanted to be more famous than I already was, I wouldn't have moved from Sonoma County, where I lived for 40 years, and settled in San Francisco where I was mostly unknown.…
Life is an incredible ride that is at times bumpy, uneven, grueling very much like the streets of Mendo, hahaha! Sometimes there is even a giant deep dark sinkhole, that you cannot manuever away from…
Carolyn Kiernat, a principal in the Page & Turnbull firm in SF, asked me to submit this opinion piece on her behalf. Page & Turnbull, a firm renowned as a California leader in preserving and…