Recently I got together with a younger friend and she told me about the opinions some of her young, financially successful friends had about homeless people. She was upset and angry with her friends as they were blaming San Francisco’s homeless problem on the recently... Continue
Columnist
Chapter 40: 1947 • Larry’s diary (age 13) Aug 1 Got paid for morning route and paid off my $15 clothing bill at Baers Aug 2 Paid dad $5 and I still owe him $10 for my radio Aug 3 Went swimming nearly all day... Continue
The real labor day is on May 1, International Labor Day. All around the world unionists and socialists celebrate the venerated tradition of May Day, which started back in the late 19th century. The postwar American capitalist overlords were not about to have workers get... Continue
A close friend of mine told me recently that he feels his life has no purpose. “I’ve done what I wanted to do; now it feels like I’m just going through the motions,” he said, matter-of-factly. His remark prompted a conversation about life, specifically, does... Continue
Amid the hair-on-fire frenzy that climate change is dooming the planet are a number of Good News Clues overlooked or ignored by celebrity influencers that strongly suggest the climate will take care of itself, thank-you-very-much. Those distracted by the start of football season may have... Continue
So much about American life seems crazy right now, the gun fetish, the QAnon conspiracies, the rabid left and right, the science deniers. It seems like many people in this country have simply gone mad as an air of unreality has taken hold. What the... Continue
Chapter 39: 1947 • Larry’s diary (age 13) Jul 1 Going to work in dads store from now on regularly Jul 2 I was delivering papers on my morning route and a girl fell on courthouse spike fence and got a very deep cut on... Continue
The Biden Administration exceeded my deflated expectations by passing three significant pieces of legislation in the last month. As a democratic socialist, all of the bills are inadequate and not even close to what is needed for the actual historical task of developing a functional... Continue
Here’s my opinion: If you don’t get to the roots of the weed it just grows back. We can remove guns and make new laws, that goes a long way. But, until communities have affordable, competent mental health counselors and educators who help people learn... Continue
We live in a consumer society that underpins the world economy; money, it’s said, makes the world go ‘round. I could spend a entire column decrying this fact, how consumerism is gutting our planet, destroying habitat, driving species extinction and fueling climate change, but we... Continue