Or more precisely, lower lower back.  My entire spine is shot.  The cervical region literally, of course. In fact there are still enough bullet fragments in my neck to have forced the cancellation of a recent MRI. I protested only mildly. Frankly, impersonating a torpedo is not my favorite activity. Instead, I have a CT scan showing orthopedic collapse up and down the bony column. Why? Don’t know, but years of sitting, combined with not only weak but uneven musculature, probably Read more [...]

Edward Lewis Wallant has not disappointed. In fact, his ”The Tenants of Moonbloom” has proven richly satisfying…in its depiction of a life on hold. Contrast this with the sort of video crap I watch in the morning while on the exercycle. Here it’s all action. Chase scenes, bullets flying, anything to get the adrenaline up and distract from watching the clock. Half an hour is all I can stand. And it’s exactly what I need. On this particular morning, I found it very difficult to sustain 30 Read more [...]

This mortal coil may be dwindling, but my wheelchair batteries are not. And thus one sets out on a Monday for that place which is Cup. Sam, the proprietor, greets me as always. And I roll outside to an awkward situation. The sidewalk features three of Sam’s tables, two adjacent, and one blocked by a sort of planter/partition. I elect to be on the right side of the latter, COVID-19 figuring prominently in my calculus. The problem is the man at the table on the other side of the partition. I don’t Read more [...]

Well, I must say that what a difference a day makes. This day dawned not quite so brightly as yesterday. Of course, I headed down the hill, the great downslope of life, toward that which lies below, vis-à-vis, mercantile San Francisco. Shopping. For most Americans, when there is no other social activity available, there is the need to buy. So armed with Jane’s list, off I went. The world should be full of promise at 8:30 AM. Why not? Things are opening, getting under way, hope springing eternal. Read more [...]

Do I dare to eat a peach? That, my friends is, and always has been, the essential question. And the answer, of course, is no. Don’t fucking do it. That way lies madness. It also lies downhill as all madness does, which is why I went wheelchairing down the lower slopes of Twin Peaks this very mid-day, ostensibly in search of groceries, but actually in search of life. As everyone knows, there simply isn’t enough about. Why this is remains unclear. But that’s the general lay of the COVID-19 land. Read more [...]

Once my morning physiotherapy was complete, that is to say, the weights, the exercycle, the walking along the terrace rail…I was ready to roll down the hill to Cup. There to interact with the ever affable Sam and his wife, whose name whose name I should know by now, but I simply can’t remember. And there I was with my usual. Cappuccino. And peanut butter and jam on Dave’s bread. And Dave, if you wanted to know, assuages the conscience of us liberals by being a guy who emerged from prison and Read more [...]