In my able-bodied youth, an era I no longer fully recall, the very thought of being in a wheelchair must have seemed horrifying. In fact, any bodily affliction would have frightened me. The sense of being constrained, trapped, reduced...none of this fit with the jumpy youth that I was. Suffice it to say that to me there was such a thing as being "trapped in a wheelchair." More than that, and I can almost recall this, anyone who lived with a serious and obvious physical disability seemed to be forever Read more [...]

Let me make it clear.... I had a hard time finding it. In fact, everyone did. One thing I learned from years as a Silicon Valley copywriter - avoid ambiguity. And the location was fraught with just that. Yes, it was just beyond the San Francisco Giants stadium. Yes it was more or less associated with Pier 40. But none of this information was particularly useful. Even describing it as the former home of the San Francisco Harbor Master...well, that was particularly silly. Although it does say something Read more [...]

For years I have worked, that is to say volunteered, with a local civic organization. Our leader – let us call her Christine – has always been volatile. On the other hand, she has accomplished a fair amount, has my general support. And, this is the other thing, I am used to her. We have been colleagues for many years, our shoulders to the same wheel, our eyes on the same results. And yet she occasionally goes off the rails. Such as just the other night when she began, well, railing. The group Read more [...]

Funny how if you just listen, life supplies its own soundtrack. Outside my suburban apartment Fred, one of the loudest human beings I know, is holding forth on the topic of Highway 17. The surface is graded for drainage, he tells one of his construction minions. And why does this observation matter in any way to the feature film itself, that is to say, my own biographical story? Because if you listen, everything converges. Somehow, we have been discussing this matter of Highway 17, Jane and I. Read more [...]