“Just pick any political meeting you wish, go to it, and write a short report,” ordered our high school “social studies” teacher, way back in the 1970s. This was in Orange County, California, named “America's…
Posts published in “Essays”
In May, 1999, two men who ran CHAMP, a cannabis dispensary in San Francisco's Castro district —Ken Hayes, then 33, and Mike Foley, 34— were arrested in Petaluma, along with Hayes's pregnant girlfriend, Cheryl Sequoia.…
To historians maps are a time trap—just ask the folks at the Kelley House Museum in Mendocino. A map inspection can turn from a quick glance to an hour or more, often with the assistance…
A number of the propositions on this ballot are there because the legislature doesn’t legislate the tough issues, especially those likely to offend their funders. Most props are easy to figure out simply by looking…
Back when Tom Allman was Sheriff, he would periodically appear at Board of Supervisors meetings and weigh in on the now officially certified failed Pot Ordinance. At different times he told the Supes that growers…
Before the daily pall of ash and dark skies in the afternoon from the forest fire cloud cover, seventy-five quarts or more of apple cider were ground down, pressed, pressure cooked in Mason jars and…
I got my dog Mellow Yellow from a lady in the Central Valley. Her bitch had a big litter. I took the best male. A cop took the best female. I thought I got the…
I’m not stupid but I am incompetent, though hardly more than the average person, which is worrisome. My problem is I don’t know anything about how the world works. A short list of things that…