What are we supposed to do with Halloween? I do not ask this question in anything but the most sincere terms. And, just in case you want to provide a history lesson e.g., All Hallows Eve, forget it. The human attraction to spookiness is always there. Death. Mystery of the Grim Reaper, etc. Cyrus McCormick came up with a much cheerier version of the reaper, but look what happened to him.  Where was I? The answer is Los Angeles. Downey, to be exact. The name used to sound richly ironic. Read more [...]

Human energy is a funny thing. What is it, after all? Energy. We’re not talking E=MC2. Or are we? If we are, it’s way beyond my pay grade, so forget that. Energy. Best described as vitality. Which if you are navigating the earth’s surface with diminished neuromusculature…not a word, I know…well, you want as much as you can get, right? And in any case, on any day, you do want a certain amount for Muni. And I’m not complaining. The redoubtable transit agency is very much at the center Read more [...]

At 8:30 AM this Sunday morning I was up on my feet and being walked, by Jane, to and fro on the redwood deck. In an ad from the 1960s, or maybe the 1970s, a cartoon figure laments that his get up and go got up and went. Very funny. Timelessly funny if one is terribly frank. Because that’s exactly the way I felt this morning. And, no, not timeless in any good sense of the word. More of the running out of time sense of the word. Certainly running out of the energy. And somehow trying to do it, make Read more [...]

There was an outside world, and that was itself a refreshing and reassuring bit of news. I parked up the hill, just 100 m or so, turned my wheelchair downhill and waited for the redoubtable 36 Muni. It was not so much the existence, as the worthwhileness of the outside world that vanished along about 3:30 AM when I awoke to being shot. Nothing like a little nocturnal stroll down memory lane. Somehow, I had convinced myself that getting back to sleep was possible. And I really tried to believe this Read more [...]

In this month’s Sun Magazine the main article (always a feature interview) focuses on a guy at the UC Berkeley Psych Department who focuses on awe. As an awesome. And all the attendant emotions, such as enchantment, bedazzlement, curiosity and humility. Who can argue with the theme, right? And since these are the Days of Awe, Yom Kippur being the last of them, it’s damned appropriate, right? And I was thinking this, of course, on the 49 Muni bus headed to services this very morning. And, Read more [...]

Just in case you’re wondering about yesterday’s POTUS matinee at the Berkeley Rep, well aren’t you in luck. First of all, I came in peace. More than that, in the spirit of generous and shared enjoyment. Because, Gentle Reader, it really was a delight to see the house full, the attendees eager, laughter bursting on all sides and, doubtless for most in attendance, not a dry seat in the house. And I did share in the laughter. Not as frequently as almost everyone else. But frequently enough. Selina Read more [...]