The obviously pseudonomynous author of "Marijuana Girl," N.R. DeMexico, "was identified by folklorist and erotica historian Gershon Legman as Robert Campbell Bragg, a Greenwich Village bohemian and novelist, and one of the people who, along…
Posts published in “Essays”
Checking to see what time the Rose Bowl would be on today (Oregon vs Ohio State), I was amazed by the proliferation of bowl games. I obviously haven’t been paying attention. Since December 14, 2024,…
I hurt my back last week. No, wait. That’s not right. I meant to say “My back hurt me last week” and hasn’t stopped. I might need a tourniquet. Backs go out and seem to…
It wasn’t Abbie Hoffman’s finest moment. But it was one of them. It was a critical moment in 1987 when he and the daughter of a president protested against the presence of the CIA and…
Dictators – whether in Spain, South Africa, Romania or Syria — retain power for decades. They can seem impregnable and invulnerable. But they always fall, and when they do fall the world acts surprised. It…
I came here from Wyoming, like Fremont, in moccasins. And like Fremont I met some Native Americans along the way. I remember one laconic old warrior in particular. He gave me a ride on his…
The history of Mendocino County is told in fits and starts, in family memoirs, old timer interviews and in whispered references to long-ago scandals only hinted at by the newspapers of the time. “The Nelson…
Watching the high school kids tottering up the hiking trail under ridiculous burdens I was reminded of the studies of GIs who jumped into the surf in the Normandy landings with 80 pound packs on…