One tolerable, humid yet cloudless July morning in the late 60s, the apparent aim was to relocate a buttload of ugly, undistinguished rocks — are stones bigger? to call them “boulders” would be hyperbolic —…
Posts published in “Essays”
I have always loved a good sea story. It doesn't matter whether it's fighting a typhoon with Conrad, rounding the Horn with Chichester or kicking some nautical butt with Aubrey and Hornblower. If it's got…
Just three years shy of his 100th birthday, Oscar hoisted himself off his slab to stand at attention one more time this Sunday evening at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. He’ll try his best to…
My medical problem wasn't as grave as Bruce Anderson's (described in the AVA February 28), but I, too, have been impressed by and grateful for the care I received at UCSF's Mission Bay campus. My…
Rock ’n’ Roll is dead, buried, gone and no one even showed up to mourn at its graveside. Or attend the Celebration of Death. It was once promised that “Rock ’n’ Roll Will Never Die,”…
The way I see it is this: The Donald is in jail and he has also been elected president of the US. He’s the first president who is also a felon. The divisions in the…
I’m saying goodbye to books we won’t have room for in the beautiful wine country. (Brer Rabbit was jiving when he said, “Please don’t throw me in the briar patch,” but I sort of mean…
I think I will tell you of an early Anderson Valley wedding. This wedding was brought to mind by a recent mention of Grandpap McGimsey, Justice of the Peace, and Ex- Confederate soldier. This wedding…
A year ago on Valentine’s Day, my work-exchange tenant Dee moved back to Los Angeles to stay with an ailing friend, and my experience of living off-grid in the redwood forest in Philo changed. When…