The advertisement caught my attention because it was not one of the usual ads that play during every baseball game for the entire 162-game season. I listen to Giants games on a small silver radio that accompanies me to the garden for day games and stands nearby while I do dishes during night games. The ads rarely vary and the sponsors repeat their ads dozens of times per game: Chevron with Techron, Budweiser, Speedy Oil Change, Wells Fargo, Ford Motors, Bay Alarm, Dignity Health.
Posts published in “Essays”
A Bay Area drug educator urged Mendocino County parents to talk to their kids about the potential effects of regular marijuana use on children’s brains. “What scares me is that this weed today really, really…
Economics starts with two monkeys and three bananas
The final song on the Eagles' Hotel California album is called, “The Last Resort,” and Don Henley's closing line says, “You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye.” At the risk of invoking that truism,…
Years before the dawn of tweeting and texting, I ran a summer writing program for high school kids who wanted to become professional writers. The teachers I hired were accomplished, open-minded, inspiring writers who could clearly communicate their ideas about the craft of writing.
Once upon a time, members of my generation broke free and created what was labeled a “counter culture.” Because the surrounding culture was not living up to our young ideals, we began creating our own…
One of the ways this reporter has lived the Navarro River is visiting its swimming holes on those steamy hundred degree days in August when there's nowhere else in the Valley to be after 11…
The SF JAZZ Center opened its doors little more than a year ago in San Francisco’s once seedy Hayes Valley, a place now bustling with boutiques and restaurants. Come evening and concert time, there are…
Uh-oh; any time Gordon called me it tended to mean trouble brewing. He was a man-about town with "no identifiable means of support" who lived high on multiple hogs. People speculated he was a drug dealer,…