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Posts published in “Essays”

Another “Arkie” Mill Saga: Down at Buster Hollifield’s

When Hollifield came here and built his mill, everyone wanted to work for him… — Ken Hurst recollection, August, 2022 When I first moved to The Valley half a century ago, locals were still telling…

Interview With My Double

Q: You have a Double? A: I was tired of being a solitary white male. I wanted a shadow, a Double. Try one on for size. You might like one. Q: Are you related to…

Bivalent COVID Vaccine Now Available

On August 31st, the FDA amended its emergency use authorization for both the Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines to now include a second component targeted specifically at Omicron.  The vaccines will include the original component…

Getting To Yell, ‘Stop The Presses!’

At my first newspaper job after college I was on the night news desk, where your shift didn’t end until you checked the first copies of the next day’s paper as they came off the…

County Workers Continue To Not Flee

The notion county employees are underpaid is a joke, and that government workers are “public servants” is a lie. Are county workers threatening to strike? County Supervisors ought to smile, hold the doorways wide open,…

Lighting Up Your Life

Does anybody around here remember California Governor Gray Davis? You know, the guy who so hopefully set up extra card tables at the Capitol to battle energy monster Enron during the 2000-2001 Energy Crisis? Didn't…

Play It Again

“Play it again, Sam,” is not the actual line and it is not uttered by Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. Ingrid Bergman is the one who tells the piano player, “Play It, Sam.” The tune she’s…

The Hurst Family: Arkie Immigration to the Valley

Very old friend Kenny Hurst is a great story-teller and journalist too. I found that out right away almost fifty years ago when he wrote a flamboyant report for the “other” Anderson Valley newspaper I…

The Suppression of Collective Joy

Barbara Ehrenreich made a quick visit to San Francisco last week to promote her new book, “Dancing in the Streets.” Her noontime talk at the Commonwealth Club Jan. 18, excerpted below, was attended by about…

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