For centuries, we in America have thought of ourselves as a nation of law and order. Between the two, law has maintained dominance while order has remained subordinate. That hierarchy now appears to be flipping. Democracy’s weakness is itself, which in their wisdom our founding... Continue
Public Citizen
My last dream of the night, the early morning actually, is usually quite intense and often memorable. So it was recently. In my dream I found myself in a semi-industrial space chatting with two friendly fellows. I was drawn to their animated and boisterous energy... Continue
To many of us, witnessing the cruelty of people now in power is heartbreaking and discouraging, even to the point of serious depression and in some cases thoughts of suicide. Thoughtful people I know are asking themselves what to do. It’s never been easy to... Continue
Did you ever laugh so hard for so long that the next day your abs hurt? I have, and I miss it. Belly laughs seem to be in shorter supply these days. I don’t know if it’s the times or me that’s changed, but I’m... Continue
What is to become of us? Or rather, what is to become of those of us in modern civilization? This is an essential question, but it’s not being asked seriously as the rush into a world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) gathers increasing momentum. Some have... Continue
“The quality of mercy is not strained…it is twice blest. It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” — Portia in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice The subject of mercy is in the news lately, not the least of which because Episcopal Bishop Mariann... Continue
Fallen leaves, yellow and brown, cover the courtyard. High in the branches, a few green stragglers hang on stubbornly. Looking up, I feel like I’m watching myself hanging on, and then suddenly, I’m watching myself watching myself. Who am I, the watcher or the watched?... Continue
My wife and I recently went to see “A Complete Unknown” about Bob Dylan, and it prompted a night of remembrance and reflection on my life in the mid-sixties. Brought up in the middle-class suburbs of New York City, I enrolled at NYU’s Institute of... Continue
Some years ago I removed a stand of bamboo and replaced it with two 3’ x 8’ livestock troughs that I converted to raised garden beds. I’ve always been a gardening enthusiast, a self-confessed hortisexual who loves plants, but our home is shaded by big... Continue
After briefly attending Rhode Island School of Design in the mid-sixties, I moved to San Francisco. At nineteen years of age I managed to get a job working in the copy center at Golden Gate College. Located in the basement, the copy center had no... Continue