It is like a giving a wrecking ball to your five-year-old. That is the current modus operandi of America's Republican Congress. My British-born wife keeps asking me to explain life in the nuthouse, but I can't. Few people can. Still, the explanations come fast and furious, almost with the swiftness of those behind the wrecking ball. Much of the populace is uneducated. Too many people are watching too many screens. Or conversely, too few people bother to talk to each other face-to-face. Honestly, Read more [...]

Reading about my driving experiences can even bore me. So feel free to skip this latest chapter. Which begins with the rain. We have had a lot this year. Which is a wonderful thing if you are a farmer or a delta smelt. Or even just a Californian. Actually it's splendid. But for those of us of the spinal-cord-Injury persuasion rain is, of course, mixed. Nevermind getting soaked because yet another elevator is broken in the subway system. Driving anxiety only gets worse. And it's bad enough already. And Read more [...]

We seem such a feeble effort, the small crowd that gathers near the subway station in San Francisco's Mission District. There appear to be almost as many television reporters as demonstrators. Whatever. This is us, the Wednesday interfaith demonstration for immigrants' rights. There is the usual slightly maddening wait. Then some music, which turns out to be rather good. Then an introduction of the principals from the various religious groups, one of them my wife. And the San Francisco police, it Read more [...]

Call it a malaise, but the most pervasive feeling these days is one of fragility. From another perspective, vulnerability. Am I simply feeling my age? And if so, what about my age? Or am I, like virtually all of us, feeling at the mercy of a new brand of Dr. Strangelove without the humor…. In any case, I am not feeling robust. Overwhelmed, comes much closer. This is particularly true of any gesture at movement. Leaving the house seems risky. Driving my car to my doctor tomorrow seems challenging. Read more [...]

Blame it on the dodgy lift at Sha’ar Zahav or the torrent of Hebrew at Chabad, but on this Saturday the animating force or higher power is public transport. And today it will do. Today's being the morning of all mornings. After protracted California rains, there is this, blueness of sky, clarity of light, and even the 35 Eureka bus. I have misgivings about catching it. With the rains, I have been driving little, and my rustiness shows. Do I dare to eat a peach? Do I dare to park in a space? But Read more [...]

Simultaneous with the nation's crisis, is California's water crisis. Pundits currently argue about whether or not it is over. This alone marks a milestone. San Francisco is well ahead of normal rainfall. Even I will admit that a few dry days would be welcome. And a few dry days are all that we can expect in the current forecast. Meteorology has given us one less thing to worry about. Now we can shift to the others. For months the media has been arguing about the national divide. What are the faultlines? Read more [...]