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Posts published in “Essays”

Rugged Days Of Yore

“Life is cheap up here on the Canadian,” is a line from Lonesome Dove that has stuck with me. When something goes even moderately wrong at the ranch I sometimes say, “Life sure is rough…

The Musical Tastes of Spring

All traces of snow are at last gone from the picturesque nineteenth-century cemetery in Ithaca, New York. Down below in the nearby the Cascadilla Gorge the creek gathers momentum from late-arriving spring’s rain. Just beyond…

Coast Hospital: Bad Investment

At the April 26th Mendocino Coast District Hospital (MCDH) Board of Directors meeting, the District's legal counsel was directed to draft a resolution that would remove Dr. Lucas Campos from his seat on the board.…

Here It Comes

We have always loved our City Council. We know they are flawed but they have always been a big part of what makes life gracious in our little city — the freedom to build our…

Vacation

Having just completed a well-deserved and long-deferred vacation, I am now questioning the wisdom and efficacy of that course of action, weighing the relief of stress against the loss of momentum and comforting allure of…

Did Mozart Kill Stalin?

Mozart’s music is for everybody, from diaper-clad babies to mass-murdering dictators. That chilling truth launches the brutal slapstick satire—or do I mean hyper-realist romp?—of Armando Iannuci’s delightful and disturbing film, Death of Stalin. What we…

Just In From Fort Bragg

Politically in Fort Bragg, the proverbial rubber is meeting a hot tar road. The big boxes are coming to Hare Creek. Georgia Pacific is running hard to disengage from the mill site cleanup. The Planning…

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