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Posts published in “Essays”

How Not To Grow Pot

"Oh crap," I thought to myself as my old pickup truck rattled to a stop in front of the barn, "This ain't good.” It was early morning on November 2nd, 2015, and the reason for…

The Road From Perdition

When I completed my first prison term here in California back in 2006, I was bound and determined never to repeat the process. It wasn't my first rodeo, but in an extension of the metaphor,…

Joltin’ Joe

On June 23, 1941 Joe DiMaggio didn't get a hit. No, his famed fifty-six game hitting streak didn't end there, he was just past half way at the time. It was an off day between…

Blue Uniforms & Yellow Jackets

I blame yellowjackets. If they hadn’t stung me two years ago this week I’d never have become an EMT, sitting long shifts every week in the Anderson Valley Ambulance Barn waiting for impermanence to flex…

Will Shortz Goes Long

Anyone who does crossword puzzles regularly has probably done the New York Times crossword, which is in most daily newspapers, and considered the crème de la crème of that puzzle genre. And perhaps the more…

How Would Hemingway’s ‘Robert Jordan’ Vote?

Written 76 years ago, For Whom The Bell Tolls is Senator John McCain’s favorite novel, also an “inspiration” to Obama. Toward the end of the Spanish civil war, up in the mountains looking over a…

Schwarzenegger Actually Tried

When Arnold Schwarzenegger became governor after Gray Davis was recalled in 2003, Schwarzenegger was the rare elected official who believed with some reason that he had nothing to lose and behaved accordingly. When presented with…

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