Blog
Last week, I wrote about a San Francisco police officer named Morgan (not the officer’s real name). Morgan’s observations were too numerous and important to share in a single post. Here in part two, Morgan relates challenges with which police deal every day. This may shed a new light on the childhood game of cops…
Protests continue against police killing unarmed black men. Now we’re faced with the murders of police officers—two in Brooklyn and one in Tarpon Springs, Florida. We hear a lot about those killed by police. And we should. But what is it like to be a police officer? I spoke with a member of the San…
Last Saturday, a ruckus took place on Fillmore Street. Emerging from a café with friends, I heard screaming on the east side of Fillmore near California. Crossing the street, I saw two or three police officers attempting to restrain a young man. He was black. The man was on the ground screaming and cursing. He…
Last Saturday morning I saw a man and a woman lying face down on the sidewalk. My first thought was, “Are they dead?” But I saw no blood. Moreover, they had a pad beneath them. A sleeping bag covered the woman. The man’s leg twitched. Homeless, they perhaps preferred the sidewalk to the damp of…
How long does it take to write a novel? Flight of the Spumonis, coming out this spring, took 34 years. That includes 30 years of my original manuscript sitting in a box awaiting reworking. The Boy Walker took three years. But the process can go faster. Claudia H. Long, a lawyer in Lafayette, wrote The…
An open letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Bibi, times remain challenging. As an ardent supporter of Israel, let me respectfully offer a few comments. Because while you’re correct that a significant segment of Palestinians promotes the destruction of Israel, the best strategy Israel can adopt is that of a peace seeker. Before you…
After lunch downtown last Tuesday, I took the 1-California bus home. A man across the aisle, seemingly in his mid-thirties muttered, “How was your Veteran’s Day?” I thought he was talking to me, and he looked like a straight-up guy, so I answered, “The usual.” “Sorry,” he said. “I was talking to myself, I guess.…
I watched with delight Wednesday evening as the Giants won their third World Series in five years. The championship brings everyone associated with the team pride, money and celebrity. Giants’ fans may share in the pride, but we’ll have to take a pass on everything else. But I don’t care. I just found out that…