Hard to say what is happening with me and Stanford University, for having been next-door neighbors, lo these many years, we should be friends. In truth, I rarely set wheel on the campus. But with my new wheels, the drive there has become almost routine. Public lectures, one after the next, have brought me from one end of the university to the other. Gun control. Dance in avant-garde cinema. And now the ethics of wealth. The latter, emanating from one of the richest universities anywhere, struck Read more [...]

Tomorrow and tomorrow. There is a reason I do my best to keep in shape. Or at least I think there is. But for this disabled body, 'shape' is a tall order. I do my damnedest to keep from the worst of crippledom, let us say. Attempts to keep up the stamina, balance, muscle strength and general pain control necessary to have a life. And when I say there is a reason, excluding general fear of death, what comes to mind? This is worth asking, in view of the gravity of the question. A wintry question. The Read more [...]

Having been traipsing around Dorset for some time with Thomas Hardy, I have to accept a central lesson from The Mayor of Casterbridge. That by the time we have acquired a gentle wisdom...or the wisdom of gentleness...we have generally lost the urgent drive to get much done. Or to reduce this glittering generality to a very prosaic fact of this morning's life.... By the time we have acquired the wisdom of letting a cat occupy one's lap while trying to write a blog, we have given up a high rate of Read more [...]

I'd give it 4 1/2 stars. Critics say "don't miss it if you can." And so on. It's been a good year. Yes, some imperfections. But I am a very lucky person. Let us count the ways. No, let's not. Let's just appreciate them. Splendid to more or less end the year at the Berkeley Repertory Theater. "The Pianist of Willesden Lane" hit so many notes...forget the pun...that I'm still pleasantly confused. But is it art? Something like this question occurs to me. Which is quickly superseded by another. Read more [...]

It's beginning to look a lot like...California should about this time of year. The crew installing new shrubs and lawns and decorative walls at the apartments up the street have stripped down to their undershirts. Yes, it's vest time. Although for Jane it's vestment time, with the services this Christmas eve, and again tomorrow morning, Christmas Day. Hard, intense work, and she is utterly into it. Meanwhile, my work here is completed. With two retail forays under my belt by 11 AM, really there was Read more [...]

Something good will come of this, I keep telling myself. But as in much of life, that 'something good' is often obscure...elusive...or, let us be frank, dubious. Technology made me employable. It's that simple. Yes, I am not remuneratively employed these days. Doesn't matter. Technology is more important than ever. Fortunately, in a general way, it gets better, technology does. Each version of my voice recognition system truly improves upon its predecessor. Which, like heroin, breeds users. Addicted Read more [...]