I was waiting, weak but not in pain, through seven hours, with no foreseeable outcome. My symptoms had been puzzling: feeling hot when it was cold, cold when it was hot; lack of appetite; insomnia;…
Posts published in “Essays”
At last, the Super Bowl made it to Paradise. There, a glittering being appeared, ethereal, ever-loving. She could sing like an Angel because she was one. But she didn’t, not at this halftime. Like the…
Allen Ginsberg's “Howl” is perhaps the iconic poem of the past half century, but from the moment it was first published 68 years ago, it seems to have really upset some people. The epic cry…
The American household suffers from a lack of rules. The average family has only vague notions of improper behavior, and consequences are rarely defined. Rather than hazy misunderstandings about proper behavior, proper decor and proper…
Superbowl Invitation This is an outrage, this is a crime against nature: We have Carl here, a big sports fan who has humbly just listened on the radio to every 49ers game this year, watches…
The devil introduced himself to me one fine spring day in the American River canyon just below the town of Auburn. Back in the early 70s, engineers got to looking at that canyon and they…
You hear a lot of advice about health as you go through the years, some of it true. You also hear a lot of guff. There’s an army of nurses, nannies, physical therapists, medical advisors…
Well, that's a mistake I hope I never make again: I left a marking pen in a shirt pocket in the wash and now I have black ink stains on my clothes. What to do,…
Went to a funeral in Ukiah and most attendees were leaning heavily toward 80 years old. Don’t know how many made it back home from the services, but a lot of them looked due for…