The goal of baroque composers was to trigger the emotions. Yet many moderns enjoy this music because they hear it is unthreatening. To them, the sounds of cantatas, concertos, and suites are merely pleasing. There…
Posts published in “Essays”
My wife was kinda short and pudgy, with an egg-shaped face. She was cute as could be, gorgeous to me, but an uncommon combination of height, weight, and build. If she was walking toward me,…
It is an amazing, humbling thing to be alive in our time and in our place. It is almost beyond comprehension. It borders on magical. I speak of many things: the awesome miracle of your…
Now that the brief visit of the Dynamo football team has come to an end, it is possible to say publicly what many thinking people were saying privately before the Dynamos ever arrived. That is,…
CNN News Team: Keep up the good work, go Team! Outside of a couple of troublemakers (unfortunately too popular to fire outright), you have each faithfully followed CNN’s updated guidelines for reporting on the Israel…
Mews Flat, London. Semi-deserted Hostel, Belle-Isle, France. Environmentally “correct” B & B, Vermont. Converted Castle, Vallo de Nera, Italy. Hillside room, Molyvos, Greece. Small apartment, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Hotel room, Ceuta, Morocco. I can…
Frank grew up in Chicago and came from a (surprisingly common) wacky family full of big success and big hypocrisy and personal failure. His grandfather was a Chicago tycoon who made vast amounts of money…
Like no other people before us, we live with the songs of the dead. In the car or at home, walking or e-biking, in the airplane or hospital waiting room, lying in bed or on…
Being a fun-loving San Franciscan (redundant) I play a lot of games in this hallowed space—self cancelling phrases (working press). Namepheraks (Fran and Bill Flesher own a nudist resort near San Berdoo) commute firm names…