“Let your partner influence you,” advised some marriage manual I read in conjunction with some marriage. And, one must confess, it is excellent advice. Not always applicable. But handy to have around. And actually, I am beyond the influence state. I have accomplished the supreme Black Belt level marital state…of successfully divining the psychic condition of my partner. At times. Jane was full of generous offers this day after Thanksgiving. Most of them spurred by my requests. And it all Read more [...]

I have this problem. Tell me about the latest social ill, particularly one affecting me, and I will set out down a long road toward righting the wrong…. (Voice recognition uncannily misinterpreted “righting” as “writing.”) I tend to embark on writing projects, as though I am not disabled and will live forever. Trust me, there is substantial, verifiable information suggesting that mortality is a real thing and, yes, a bullet high in the spinal cord will, if it doesn't kill you, limit your Read more [...]

Jane and I had just emerged from Bulrusher, the enormously satisfying play currently on offer at the Berkeley Rep, and autumn was in the air, an amiable citizenry was upon the streets and, unbeknownst to us, a BART train was all but waiting at the station to take us home to Glen Park. The play deals with issues of race in a town where there were few issues, racial or otherwise, and at a time when the level of violence was lower in much of the land, including the land depicted on stage. Mendocino Read more [...]

It was wonderful to see Bello Coffee booming post-pandemic, and to see it where it is, Glen Park, San Francisco. And to see Jane sitting opposite me for once. She isn’t too much for going out these days, our Jane. When she isn’t boosting her biome, she is blasting away at things carbohydrate in an effort to stave off pre-diabetes. The latter being so utterly absurd as to force me into eye-rolling mode, even now, hours later.  Jane is as skinny as a rail, and a narrow gauge railway rail Read more [...]

Having just completed a class in “To the Lighthouse,” Virginia Wolf’s classic, I do understand why the lighthouse is always there, never goes away and eternally beckons. That’s what lighthouses do. And there’s a Jeffrey pine in my life that does exactly the same thing. Gentle Reader, you’ve heard it all before. How I never made it to the lighthouse, sorry, the pine. Not during my ambulatory life, that is. But the pine is looming still, even getting closer. Because after a modest Read more [...]

OK, Gentle Reader, I must stand corrected. Falling corrected would be more like it. Sitting corrected simply doesn’t work syntactically…so let’s get on with it and join the throngs thronging their way to Civic Center, San Francisco, United Nations Plaza, USA. But we have to join them theoretically because they just weren’t.  Never mind APEC, the global Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that has long been touted as mind blowing and traffic stopping and all the rest. No crowds Read more [...]