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Posts published in “Essays”

Ramblin’ On

Not so long ago, many American kids dreamed of becoming cowboys - but of course few really did. Teenager Elliot Charles Adnopoz of 1940s Brooklyn, however, made his dream come true, running away from home…

Mendocino Talking: Els Cooperrider

I was born during the last part of World War II, in a town called Oostvoorne, The Netherlands on the North Sea along the English Channel in 1944 during the Allied invasion and bombings of Germany. The anti-aircraft guns and German bunkers were set up on our shore to shoot down Allied planes, and we lived right there. A Canadian pilot was shot down over the town and got hung up in a tree, and before the Germans could get to him, Dutch people who lived nearby rescued him and brought him to my father and asked to hide him.

LWOP & Other Sentences

Your Off-The-Record dated July 30th, 2014 mentioned the percentage of guys incarcerated without any possibility of release at right around 20%. There are those whose release from prison would always be some sort of a…

Big Vision, Small Town

Holly Madrigal made a decision in 2000 that would change her life. She headed home to Willits after college instead of moving to Silicon Valley, where many of her fellow economics majors at the University…

The Little River Logging Fiasco

A couple of weeks back I went on a walk with some of the people who are opposed to the proposed logging plan on Mendocino County's Little River Airport property. I have mixed feelings about…

Uncle Leonard and Fat Man

Whenever the first days of August arrive I think of Uncle Leonard. Actually, Leonard Roy Ward was my great uncle, Mother’s side. He was born at the dawn of the twentieth century and by the time Pearl Harbor brought the US into World War II, Leonard had lived several lifetimes full of adventure as a gambler and rodeo cowboy.

We Are Not Alone (?)

Maitreya is coming to save us. Maitreya? In a word, God; the new god, the god running the UFOs and drawing crop circles and doing a lot of other stuff that modern science has not…

I Almost Bought It

I must admit, I was a fair bit convinced. The preacher had miracles and apostles. His miracles were not indisputable, but they were photographed: images of crop circles and weird-looking things in the sky, videos…

4-H

Soon after I began writing these vignettes of my time in Anderson Valley from the late 1950s to the late 1980s I discovered the Anderson Valley 4-H Club no longer existed. I was surprised, but…

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