When I moved to Texas back in 1981, the first thing that struck me about the state, after the stifling heat, humidity, and lack of any distinguishing natural features, was its pervasive and thoroughgoing lack…
Posts tagged as “essays”
For at least as long as people have talked about the weather, they have made music about it—from rain dances to pastoral symphonies, from the Paleolithic to Prince. Never mind that the ongoing destruction—and directly…
In a recent Letters column, a Mr. Tom Reier wrote in re: the linguistic impenetrability of Mr. Tone Dogg's tale of reggae and river shenanigans and bouncings around in some the region's finer detention facilities.…
Seated on psychedelic Rings of Saturn beneath an arena night sky strewn with planets, stars and galaxies, and herself kitted out in glittering silver wig with matching boots, gown, and guitar, Katy Perry hovered forty…
The Orange Angels as they are affectionately known to our readers who suggested the AVA give a great big shout-out of appreciation to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) inmates who volunteer to…
Amongst several other counter-culture proclivities, I have been anti-war, anti-weapons of war, anti-nuclear most of my life. In the mid- to late-1980s I started regularly going to the Nevada Nuclear Test Site to protest atomic…
There is a "curse" which is usually and almost certainly erroneously attributed to "ancient Chinese" sources that goes either, "May you live in interesting times," or, "May you lead an interesting life." It appears believably…