Public Health & Safety Redux
A couple of years ago, Fire Chief Andres Avila asked me if I would consider being his “boss.” I was startled by…
AV Land Trust Sues Peachland Family (Part 2 of 17)
There are many confusing aspects to the Anderson Valley Land Trust filing a lawsuit against me and my family. One of the…
Brecht in Berlin
One of Brecht’s best-loved and most-performed works, The Caucasian Chalk Circle was written in Los Angeles in 1944 while the playwright was still in exile. He returned to Germany in 1947…
Trans-Sallie
When I was a knock-kneed bobby-soxed fifth grader I remember the big deal that my teachers made about the equality of all…
The Year I Grew Up
To most adults who I interact with, I am “very young.” But for some reason, I feel like I’ve already lived a…
The Year Was 1878…
One doesn't run across references to streptococcus bacteria in news accounts of the 1870s very often. Nevertheless, in a July, 1878 edition…
How I Got Fired From KPFZ
Part 2: The Inquisition Now the dies were cast — I was out of the station and forever labeled a white supremacist/misogynist.…
Harm Reduction
If there is one thing that sticks in the collective conservative craw (and I assure you there are many and various such…
Cold War Casualty
We had blackout curtains on the window of our elementary school. They were supposed to protect us from the burns of the…
Mr. Rat: Rats & A Boy Who Loved One
I have rats, which I suppose is another way of saying that I have a place for rats to be, a fact…
Making Bricks in Mendocino County
Historians undertake to date a building's construction and sometimes they turn to the common brick used in it. Believe it or not…
Performance Anxiety
How did I get into this? As a kid that was the inevitable question of concert day. I still ask it now…