“It has always seemed strange to me…the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed,…
Posts published in “Essays”
Seth MacFarlane claimed in his opening monologue that this year’s Oscars adopted for the first time ever a theme — “the wedding of film and music” as he put it. The spectacle that followed the…
Two emails came in this morning, forwarded material from people trying to “spread the word.” The topic of both was guns, one rabidly pro andone timidly con. This is perfectly predictable and typical. The pro-gun…
Here we go again. A sudden surge in the price of gasoline and heating oil is followed by reported expressions of frustrated despair by hard-pressed consumers in the midst of silence from the oil companies…
There were upsides to growing up in Willits in the 1980s — an enduring appreciation for Mötley Crüe’s first album, all the free shade leaf you could smoke — but there were downsides, too. I’ve been thinking about one of those downsides this week, what with the news and the commentary and all.
With fifteen major league baseball teams training in the Phoenix area, you would think that a baseball fan would be in heaven, racing from ballfield to ballfield collecting autographs and taking in the atmosphere. On…
When the money ran out, we packed up and headed back to the states. I confess I was a little sad to leave Paris and the relative safety of the situation. The gang had insulated…
It’s long past time to end the insanity of making industrial hemp cultivation illegal in the US. It’s hurting our already faltering economy. Making industrial hemp a legal crop could rapidly create millions of well…
Last week’s AVA contained a letter to the editor from a spokesperson for a group that calls itself “Friends of Enchanted Meadow (FOEM).” FOEM presently seeks $15,000 in donations for a matching grant to preserve…