Backstory: Confluence Vineyard was always George H. Bush’s preferred single vineyard Pinot from Goldeneye, and the year before I worked harvest there, the last thing the interns got paid to do was handbottle and wax…
Posts published in “Essays”
First off, I was raised in Humboldt County by tweakers in a town called Rio Dell. Not only were my parents tweakers but so were my aunts and uncles. So growing up I had a…
A column about Cal Fire's State Responsibility Area (SRA) fees seems to be an annual ritual, but this year there are new twists and turns as well as time-worn truths and avoidance thereof. The Albion/Little…
No, he didn’t hurt me or make me cry on purpose, or even know who I was or that I cried. He was just giving his usual morning news report from the KOZT studio in…
I pruned trees for a woman in Berkeley who always had her television on. Loud. She would invite me in after I was done with my work, serve me lemonade, and write me a check while soap opera actors on her gigantic television screen emoted and spoke to each other as no humans have ever spoken to each other except in soap operas and bad plays.
I had no idea that Nellie was an alcoholic. One night I woke up and noticed she wasn't in the bed; I went downstairs and found her in the kitchen with a cup in her…
I doubt that I'm the first person to wonder where it is they're coming from, when the cows come home; you don't see a lot of cows, not at home. If there's grazing to be…
Lee grew up here in the Ukiah Valley, attending grade school and high school, graduating in 1964 — then he went off to Napa Junior College for awhile. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Alma,…
“California Puts Mandatory Curbs on Water Use” reports the April 2 New York Times long article at the top of the front-page. “Steps to Confront Record-Setting Drought,” the sub-headline reads. The article describes Gov. Jerry Brown’s executive order—California’s first time restricting water use.