Critics still argue about which book might qualify as the greatest American novel. Moby-Dick, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and numerous others have been put forth as candidates. The “just-the-facts-ma'am” answer lies in Philip Roth's 1973…
Posts published in “Essays”
On their way to a matinee of the San Francisco Ballet, Roger and Susan must stand for the entire journey in a crowded subway car. They are wearing heavy coats on this chilly November day,…
To protect my identity, I am going to call myself Bonnie. To give you some history, I was in a relationship that broke up and I was devastated. I thought online dating would be fun,…
In a way, the Not-So-Simple Living Fair reminds me of Lao Tzu… the Chinese sage whose mother was pregnant with him for 80 years until finally, he was born an old man. Even though the Not-So-Simple Living Fair is only five years old, the idea was conceived a long time ago.
We are deep into 2014 and the drought ain’t about to quit. Already, we’ve had some barn-burners this summer — you can fry a bass on the side of Ukiah most days. Reservoirs are low,…
Revenge is an airborne disease in prison, one that seeps beneath the skin and pervades the atmosphere like a deadly fog. An inmate’s honor, once impugned, seems to require action, and the most common method…
“U.S. food prices are on the rise, raising a sensitive question: When the cost of a hamburger patty soars, does it count as inflation?” — Ben Leubsdorf and Jon Kilsenrath The sentence above opens a…
The mouse sniffed its way through the dark. Rejecting the wild pea vines, it scurried past the oak barrels full of strawberry plants. Been there, snipped that, tucked away in its nest. The mouse knew…
That last tour with Charlie Musselwhite was pretty brutal. Sharon and I wanted to have kids, and this is where we wanted to have them, so we moved back home to Ukiah in 1974. I…