Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Essays”

Cemetery Do-Do

I will probably not live forever, so it is time to make some plans for my passing. Last month I called Eversole Mortuary and inquired about a nice headstone to be placed in my Grandfather’s…

Death by Secret Subcommittee

On a Wednesday afternoon, Town Hall was empty except for the seven members of the City Council-appointed ad hoc California Voting Rights Act Committee. And one guy in the chairs who had no plans for…

Hugo on Stone & Cathedrals

"From the beginning of things down to the fifteenth century of the Christian era inclusive, architecture was the great book of humanity, the chief expression of man in his various stages of development, whether as…

On Potential

A fellow I got clean with years back — he stayed, I strayed — at the old Ford Street Project

Governor’s First Ladies in History

While praise and glory has been heaped on California governors and biographies written about them, standing behind almost every one of them was a First Lady supporting that man.  I picked up a self-published book…

Biloxi Days: Mr. Trent

In the late 60s and early 70s the Civil Rights Movement burned hot and fierce, fighting its fight into every area of American life, including the military where, as many Americans don't know, the first…

The Essential Fech

David Fechheimer, San Francisco's premier private investigator, died April 2 after open-heart surgery. We'd been friends for 44 years, minus two. David is Stephen Best in this piece the AVA ran in January, 1990. The…

As the Gentle Rain from Heaven

“The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 'Tis mightiest in…

Joe to Jail, Atsuko to Japan (Part 13)

Atsuko and I were on a superbike traveling fast over the Golden Gate Bridge. I was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol. A cop pulled me over and busted me

-