In 1988, the World Health Organization resolved to eradicate poliomyelitis; polio for short. This followed the confirmation that the last case of smallpox was diagnosed in October 1977 and the WHO declared smallpox to be…
Posts published in “Essays”
Where is Ronald Reagan now that the Regents at the University of California need him? Long gone, of course, to the Republican Party Heaven, while veterans of People’s Park, including Stew Albert, who came up…
With this fiftieth reunion coming up I'm taking a look back at my elementary years at the K-12 Burris Laboratory School in Muncie, Indiana where we were all lab rats without knowing it—who can I…
Today I suggest a modest memorial to the modest man who lives both among us and within us. He is the quiet gentleman who defers, serves, assists, and waits. A dullish, solid small bronze statue…
It used to be that we changed and the movies we loved didn’t. When we revisited classic films we could rely on their immutability. If we remembered bits of dialogue and certain scenarios differently, it…
Last week’s ‘Stubblefield’ book review ended with Susan and her Murray family poised to depart from their Missouri home and migrate to California, “the land of gold,” as her husband Cleveland described it. It took…
From the Aug 22 New Yorker: “Sante has long been fascinated by infrastructure. (In an essay for a book accompanying a new show at the Met, she describes water towers photographed by Bernd and Hilla…
(Note: The following message was discovered three days ago, partially slipped under the edge of the rug where the dog’s bed used to be. It required a great deal of editing on my part because,…
Silver City, New Mexico — On Thursday, I was driving into town and spotted a Raven in the middle of the highway. As I got closer, I could see that it was hit by a…