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Posts published in “Essays”

Brotherly Love

As an adult, the smartest thing my mentally ill and drug-addicted brother did was to move to the City and County of San Francisco. I was there the day it happened. I had just picked…

Old Town’s Not The Same

That’s the name of a song which reminds me of Ukiah. I needed to visit an appliance store on the north end of town. When we finished leaving a cooler for repair and turned south,…

Local Angles

Last week Willits made the front page of the AVA and the obituary section of the New York Times, where the death of Sally Miller Gearhart  was acknowledged. The farewell by Annabelle Williams described Gearhart as “a feminist, lesbian…

Dr. Wheeler Cheats The Hangman?

On May 13, 1880, a visiting Sonoma County judge sentenced Dr. John F. Wheeler to death by hanging for his role in the ambush slaying of two Mendocino City men in October, 1879. Deputies returned…

My Brother’s Keeper

Mental illness, with all its many ripples as it winds its destructive way through our families and communities, is a regular and growing topic in Mendocino County, including within the pages of this newspaper. Less…

Learning to Love GMOs

That was the title of the NY Times Sunday Magazine’s cover story July 25 —an unrestrained endorsement of genetically modified foods. Jennifer Kahn, the writer, will never want for employment as long as the corporate…

The Intruder

I opened my door and saw a huddled form working on a project in my back yard. He was shaving a rock and had dragged a small pile of asphalt into the yard. Oh no,…

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