Right Down the Street

I live on 10th Avenue, near Geary Blvd in San Francisco. Geary is one of the major traffic arteries in the city—in this area, it's two traffic lanes plus a dedicated bus lane in each direction. I generally avoid walking on that street, primarily because I don't like being near that much traffic, but walking …

Rich Men North of Richmond

Two wildly different sources have sent a link to the YouTube video of this song into my inbox in the last day. The first source, Braver Angels, used it as a springboard to their usual pitch: that we all can find common ground by listening and talking to each other instead of shouting from our …

Turning Toward The Light

If we make the right choices, history will see this time as the turning point... giving generations to come an increasingly balanced natural environment. 

Predictions Failed Again (10 November, 2022)

To the editors (New York Times):On October 19, you ran a story with the headline, "Democrats’ Feared Red October Has Arrived." The story explained why the Democrats would lose badly in the midterm election, which was still nearly three weeks away. On October 25, you published a similar story under the headline, "Democrats, on Defense in …

Welcome Back (2021)

Prelude In early Summer of 2021, my wife & I took a fabulous camping trip to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park.  It was our first travel since pre-pandemic lockdown, 15+ months earlier.  We had both crossed our “fully vaccinated” threshold date recently; city life was starting to reopen but an outdoor getaway was both long overdue—everything felt long …

And Yet… (9 June, 2022)

I've had a tremendous run of good times recently. It's almost as if life as we once assumed was normal is here again, and is coming around to bringing new opportunities in place of the menu of challenge that has been in front of us for the last couple years. Almost. After something like 20 …

From Silence and Darkness (10 March, 2022)

I recently spent time camping in the desert—lucky me! In Death Valley and Joshua Tree, we got a glimpse of a time scale we rarely think about, the v-e-r-y l-o-n-g view. The phrase "you can see forever" takes on new meaning. All distances are huge. Exposed rock reveals layers billions of years old. Glimpse is …

Both And (17 February 2022)

I recently heard, in a discussion about the US economy, an articulation of the concept of the coexistence of contradictory extremes. It struck me as true, and not only for the current economic puzzle that few seem to have a thorough grip on, but across many situations we now face. In fact, it may be …

Modern Rabbit Holes (10 February 2022)

The acceleration of the digital age has brought us to a point where any bump on a path can divert us so completely that instead of reaching the destination we intend, we find ourselves completely entangled in a potentially endless loop of verifications, confirmations, providing whatever is required, without any clues as to how long …

Now Playing–In My Head (27 January 2022)

There is a private school directly behind my house. Playground noise is almost constant--it's very noticeable when it is quiet back there. One of the many oddities of 2020 was being able to spend quiet time, any day, any time, in our back yard.At the start of every school day, the kids gather in the …