Thing is, when it works, it works well. I can insert myself into areas of San Francisco with almost surgical precision, vis-à-vis public transit. In fact I could see it, the target area, more or less clear in my mind. The touristy garlic restaurant, Stinking Rose, making its bold kitschy Italian-esque statement on Columbus Avenue. For, yes, I'd seen it, and felt that the very novelty of it was worth a try. After all, how can one go wrong with garlic? But as for the transport, everything went precisely Read more [...]

I am urging Laurel toward the train station. She's an old friend, currently visiting from near Sacramento, and she doesn't know our suburban foot routes, their length or duration. And it is important, today's regular visit to the dermatologist. Fateful, one might say. But damned if we aren't making good time, Laurel and I. Unbeknownst to me, this is the carless era. Oh, I know it in a way. But this particular epoch has lasted so long that it does not feel like a phase. Yes, there may come a time Read more [...]

Mine was a late arrival at the Sunday morning market. A farmers' market, in these our United States. It will be decades before this idea of a regular outdoor gathering of itinerant vendors gets fully established in this country. So farmers' market it is, unless it happens to be a flea market, another misnomer. Because, let us be blunt, farmers are pretty thin on the ground on Sundays in Menlo Park. There are a few vendors who grow, or are close to people who grow, their own food. But not many. And Read more [...]

In this our modern world, to wake up and find something awry with one's email is like discovering that the sire's fields have been sown with salt, the cattle are gasping and carbuncular or the river is burning. Not good. Repeated requests for my password produce nothing. Nothing but more requests and more empty screen space. Communiqués? They are no more. But I am, and I am more than concerned. Or am I? This is the strange part, that I roll out the door for San Francisco and really don't think Read more [...]

Such strange feelings in advance of the event. And actually, they are emotions I have experienced before. But on this occasion they added up to, let us say, a general sense of intensification of ritual space. More precisely, I decided to let them sum themselves in this particular fashion. Meaning, that I was open to the possibility. Ready for it. And in the end what was there to say but 'Happy New Year.' Thus, Rosh Hashanah 2013. A.k.a., 5774. And trust me, I had to look up the latter. Okay, it Read more [...]

Hailed as Woody Allen's best film in years, I can only add to the general praise – and muse a bit. First, I entered the cinema with no precise expectations. The Guardian in the UK and given it a stunning review, of which I deliberately only read the first few lines. Why know more? I like Woody Allen's film. When he's hot, he's hot. And although a few years older, he is more or less of my generation. Or his fans, like me, are of a certain generation. And to hear that he has a good film out, well, Read more [...]