This is the word that comes to mind on hearing/seeing Hillary speak on the hustings. The raw, hoarse sound of her voice. The nasty finger jabbing. She, in her vast public career, obviously has had many role models and influences as to a speaking/campaigning style. With this, I contend we are seeing beyond merely smug to the "real" Hillary. She gives me the creeps.
Posts published in “Essays”
New York, New York. The big city. We're your grandmother's Russian/Jewish cooking is readily available. It's called Kaplan's Delicatessen on 58th? How about chicken soup with stewed chicken feet? It could happen, but if not,…
Listening to the Giants bombard the Dodgers last week, I decided to pay a couple bills. This year, so far, for the first time since I was a kid listening to Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges doing the radio broadcasts, the boys are winning games with strong hitting rather than great pitching. Mays, McCovey, Cepeda, and Alou were a scary battery for any pitcher to face in the 1960s, and today we’ve got Panik, Posey, Pence, Belt, Duffy and Crawford smacking the ball around the park, not to mention our ace Madison Bumgarner taking the loathsome Clayton Kershaw deep in their first meeting of the year.
Charles Dudley Warner, the nineteenth-century American writer and Mark Twain’s pal, coined two memorable quips: “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it; and “Politics makes strange bedfellows.” Indeed, campaigns, causes, elections…
Approaching the eighth decade of his life, former pro football player, Will Smith, fits seamlessly into the serene rustic atmosphere of a Mendocino lifestyle. Tall and fit, humble and soft spoken, Smith was one of…
On April 20, 1611 Shakespeare's Scottish play was first performed in London's Globe Theater. Of course, we are not referring to the lead character by name because of the curse placed on Shakespeare and company 405 years ago when they stole a cauldron from an actual coven to enact the three witches scene. The real witches retaliated by placing an everlasting curse on the play and the utterance of its title.
On the violence spectrum — being a propensity for, attraction to, or likelihood of erupting in same — 0 being Gandhi-like peacefulness and 6 being raging, bloodthirsty berserker — I would say I clock in at…
The elephant’s not even in the room, which is why the 2016 election campaign is such a soap opera. The elephant outside the room is named Discontinuity. That’s perhaps an intimidating word, but it is…
(Excerpts from the book "Then and Now: An Anderson Valley Journey" by Wes Smoot & Steve Sparks. Available at local stores. All proceeds go to the AV Museum and Historical Society.) The photo below, taken in…