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Posts published in “Essays”

The Rebel

When I was 18 years old a bookseller in Valencia clandestinely offered me, under the counter, a red-covered copy of Camus’s book Summer, which had been printed in Argentina. It came wrapped in brown paper and I read it in a hammock surrounded by the sound of cicadas and the odor of pine needles, sweltering in the summer heat.

Pete Seeger Dies

Tributes have poured in honoring American troubadour, folk music singer and activist Pete Seeger, who has died in New York aged 94. Musicians, fans, campaigners and activists paid tribute to the singer of Where Have All The Flowers Gone and Turn, Turn, Turn, honouring his dedication to fighting for environmental and anti-capitalist issues.

El Undécimo Mandamiento

All six girls at the place were young and attractive, but Samantha was my favorite. She was lanky, but not homely; she was long-legged, had long dark blonde hair and beautiful greenish brown eyes. Although her English was very good, we spoke in Spanish and I understood every word she said.

The Other Bach

After last year’s globe-spanning celebrations marking the bicentenaries of the births of Wagner and Verdi, the field of composers-to-be-commemorated may look rather sparse as we…

The Source

Every now and again I will come across an article or a documentary or a book about an artist no one ever heard of until that artist died and it was discovered she left behind paintings or drawings or sculptures or musical compositions or novels or poems or mathematical equations or architectural designs hailed by some authority or another as works of towering genius.

Medical Price Gouging

An epidemic of sky-rocketing medical costs has afflicted our country and grown to obscene proportions. Medical bills are bloated with waste, redundancy, profiteering, fraud and…

Embracing Failure

“I’ve killed more plants than anyone I’ve ever known,” he says with a smile. He learns a lot from failure. But usually the experiments fall somewhere between success and failure and this is much harder.

Football & Other Luxuries

The 49ers were outcoached against Seattle. Just like we were outcoached in the Super Bowl against the Ravens (e.g., first and goal on the five with time running out and what happened?). And just like we were outcoached against the New York Giants two years ago in the conference championship at home (e.g., letting the shaky Kyle Williams return punts even after the dinged-up Williams was diving all over the place. What happened?

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