Posts published in “Essays”

And now the news from Fort Bragg, where the women are patient, the men spend a lot of time at home, and the children are around here somewhere… It's officially summer and the marijuana is already as high as a Doberman's thigh. It's expected to be a bumper crop this year if you talk to Rollie Deschutes down at the Weed Feed 'n' Seed as some do, though I wouldn't recommend it, given the condition of his oral hygiene… Rollie's let himself "go to pot," so to speak, since that big disappointment with the VFW poetry contest in the early spring. Turned out the whole thing was a fever dream brought on by a surfeit of immature peyote buttons served to him in the guise of Brussel sprouts by his practical joking cousin Ephraim. Rollie's 5,000-word ode to jellybeans, written entirely in squid ink on discarded plywood sheets, will be on display at the back of the store until August.

Legal marijuana. I never thought I’d see it happen, not in my lifetime. Legalized medical marijuana is one thing, but now the states of Colorado and Washington have legal marijuana. I never thought. My life-time…

It’s long forgotten now, but prior to the start of fiscal year 1847 there were no postage stamps in use in the United States of America. Before July 1, 1847, the receiver of mail paid…

What I love(d) about living in the big city is the wealth of opportunity. I'm not talking about the potential for cultural enrichment or the multitude of career options, the accessibility of art or the…

Those thousands of articles about the coming consequences of global warming, over-population, and environmental pollution? Those consequences are here. Yes, things are going to get worse, but unprecedented climatic events are not coming sooner or later, they are here.

Driving to Boston from Ithaca to give a concert at the venerable early music festival there last week, I decided to listen to a book on tape rather than my usual fare of pastoral symphonies…