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Posts published in “Essays”

Keeping It Simple

Thirty-odd years ago, the Simple Living Workshop made its debut at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds - a weekend-long event which had its origins at the Ukiah Community Center. Buddy Eller, Cathy Monroe, Neill Bell, Judy…

Ann Menebroker

I moved to Sacramento in 1980. I was 31 and experiencing a bit of success with my writing. I bought a piano and an old house in a quiet neighborhood and thus began my fifteen-year residency in that river town. I still own the piano and play her every day.

Hellward In A Handbasket

It was one of those days. No, not one of those. Those are spoken of, and occur, often enough that we may as well just refer to them as “days.” I may have even mentioned…

Namedrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head*

Mischievous Hendrik Hertzberg emailed, “Have you seen my friend Clara Bingham’s oral history of 1969-70? Jane Fonda talks about you in it. Curious about your reaction.” It was too bad, he added, that Bingham hadn’t…

Running The Resource Room at PS 30

There was no way I was qualified to take over the position of Bilingual Resource Room teacher. I had no training in special education. None. However, I was sick of my incompetent ESL supervisor, Mrs.…

A Dark Prospect

I was in the streets of Chicago in 1968 during the Democratic Convention. It was only a few months after Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were shot to death. The “establishment,” as we called…

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