Am I wild? Am I a free spirit — a woman who runs with wolves? Or, is it all merely a metaphor, something that can never be realized — a fantasy that can never be…
Posts published in “Essays”
The problem with the Mendocino County marijuana industry is quality control. The growers have honed their skills over the last couple decades and now they’re just too good at what they do. The pot is…
Tell your California friends you’re going on vacation, and they’ll smile. Mention that it’s a family vacation, and that smile may falter for a moment. Tell them you’ve booked a trip to New York City,…
This yet mythical realm encompassing Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru is populated by nearly 50,000,000 citizens of their respective republics, 40% of whom (low end estimate) are deemed to be indigenous peoples, perhaps 20-30 million in…
It was early in the fall of 1951. There were three of us, in our late teens. We were foolishly trying to drive home in a battered, ready-to-die Chevrolet, all the way to San Francisco…
On May 26 the New York Times finally hitched up its pants, took a deep breath and issued an editorial declaration of moderate regret for its role in boosting the case for war on Iraq.…
Upon hearing of the beheading of Philadelphia "contractor" Nicolas Berg in Iraq by self-proclaimed al Qaeda operatives, I searched the internet for articles on the incident. I found over a hundred news reports, most of…
There is that old cliché of travel: that it allows the traveller another perspective on the place left behind, the one he may or may not return to. With the rise of the internet and…
The young American Marine is exultant. “It's a sniper's dream,' he tells a Los Angeles Times reporter on the outskirts of Fallujah. “You can go anywhere and there so many ways to fire at the…