The New Academic Scribblers

 When I studied economics (a lifetime ago), I actually read The General Theory of Employment,...

Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.

- William Blake

Behind the Locked Door
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Appreciating Oaxaca With Saul Bellow and Italo Calvino

Appreciating Oaxaca With Saul Bellow and Italo Calvino

[Pictures of Mitla courtesy of Rene Cabrerra, Las Bugambilias B&B Tours, Nikhol Esteras Photographer] “Spicy foods were [considered] stimulants. They were classified as stimulants, so they were on that same continuum along with caffeine and alcohol all the way up...

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In Oaxaca

In Oaxaca

The day changes somewhere over L.A. on the red eye from San Francisco to Mexico City.  I notice the first changes to my body when I arrive at dawn.  Subtle changes.  I’m tired but happy, relaxed.  An ancient past begins to tug at my sleeve, pulls me away from where...

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Mezcal Brings Out Cow Hollow Eatery’s Oaxacan Roots

Mezcal Brings Out Cow Hollow Eatery’s Oaxacan Roots

Delarosa, the immensely popular bar and food hangout on Chestnut Street in the Cow Hollow District of San Francisco, has pulled off one of the greatest food heists of all time.  Styling themselves as an Italian bistro with pizzas, salads, skewered protein, Panini...

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JP’s Books

JP’s Books

UPDATE:  And now, there is this fascinating fact:  New Study Links Reading More Books To Longer Lifespan I have a friend.  Let’s just call him JP.  He’s a little older than I am and much smarter.  He’s cleaning house, disposing of the books he’s kept for years,...

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I Am a Computer Simulation

I Am a Computer Simulation

I woke up this morning in a fright, woke up from a long dream in which I imagined I was a computer simulation.  And now, and now I’m not sure if I’m dreaming this that I’m writing and if the dream was reality or the other way around. I’m not crazy.  Please do not...

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Cow Hollow Bartender Assaults Seniors

Cow Hollow Bartender Assaults Seniors

DORIAN bartender Jacob Ring, “Torito” to his friends, was up to his usual tricks Saturday night.  The youthful looking thirty-eight year old was once again serving drinks to senior citizens as if they were normal people.  No matter the four unsuspecting seniors were...

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L’Osteria

L’Osteria

I don’t do restaurant reviews.  This is an exception.  I expect there will be more.  San Francisco is a special place for me.  I remember as a young boy first visiting San Francisco with my father sixty years ago.  He was the owner of a restaurant and hotel in the...

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Reading Oaxaca

Reading Oaxaca

“In northern Mexico they work; in central Mexico they think; in southern Mexico they rest.” She was travelling to Oaxaca for a two-year olds birthday party, the daughter of her friend.  Chocolate cupcakes and a wrapped present were in the carry on.  Her eyes laughed...

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A Few Comments About The Old Sea Gull Cellar Bar

A Few Comments About The Old Sea Gull Cellar Bar

The old Sea Gull Cellar Bar really was a cellar, a hole in the ground carved out below the dining room and accessed via a spiral staircase from inside the restaurant upstairs.  That staircase was the bane of many waitresses and waiters who ran up and down to retrieve...

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The Mendocino Shuffle

The Mendocino Shuffle

A few patrons and some of the staff referred to the Sea Gull Cellar Bar as The Meat Market or The Butcher Shop. This was a variant of the Mendocino Shuffle itself “a pun on the rather open sex life of many free-love folks at the time” and the inspiration for at least...

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Daniel Bolelli, Thomas Paine, and St. John of the Cross

Daniel Bolelli, Thomas Paine, and St. John of the Cross

As our Independence Day fades into the unsavory miasma of what proves to be an entertaining but disappointing Presidential election season, I find myself unable to let go of one of my all-time heroes, Tom Paine.  Googling about in a fit of nostalgia for the “good ole...

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Alebrijes Make Me Happy

Alebrijes Make Me Happy

A small child is taken to the zoo for the first time. This child may be any one of us or, to put it another way, we have been this child and have forgotten about it. In these grounds - these terrible grounds - the child sees living animals he has never before...

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