• 109 Miles

    109 Miles

    When my health dictated I resign from Technicolor and retire, I had many options.  I had spent all of my life up to that point around Hollywood and Burbank because I worked there, and before that I grew up near there.  But now I could go anywhere, literally, and at 41, depending on how I…

  • Mexico

    Mexico

    Oh, MexicoIt sounds so sweet with the sun sinking lowThe moon’s so bright like to light up the nightMake everything all right James Taylor, “Mexico,” 1975, from the album Gorilla Watching the coverage of the protests in Los Angeles, one thing stands out.  It is Mexico’s green, white, and red flag that has become a…

  • So much for progress

    So much for progress

    For most of my life, at least since I developed a mind of my own and thought about such things, I had two unshakeable beliefs.  One was that everything will be okay.  And I believed that because of the second one – that things are getting better.  Progress may not be dramatic or even perceivable,…

  • Oh. My. God.

    Oh. My. God.

    I had a post all written and ready to go for today. I was just polishing it and fact checking a few assertions I had made. It was a fun one for my “curiosity” category about etiquette and how the concept of what is appropriate or proper has changed over time. For example, you’re on…

  • We are all sons of Verdugo!

    We are all sons of Verdugo!

    We call her the Jewel City of the Verdugos.  Because of geography and terrain, we can see the skyline of downtown LA just over the hills of Elysian Park where Dodger stadium sits.  We are the backdoor to LA’s “urban wilderness” – Griffith Park.  We bridge the southland’s two great valleys, the San Gabriel and…

  • Conspiracy Theories

    Conspiracy Theories

    President Donald Trump has promoted one of the most outlandish and unhinged conspiracy theories I have ever heard to his 10 million followers on Truth Social: former president Joe Biden was “executed in 2020” and replaced by robotic clones. Stop and think about that for a moment.  Just that. Forget everything else you know about…

  • In My Life

    In My Life

    There are places I’ll rememberAll my life, though some have changed.Some forever, not for better;Some have gone and some remain. “In My Life” – The Beatles I hope you will indulge me, thoughtful reader.  Because I would like to share a very personal moment, a milestone with you.  I said goodbye to Glendale, and my…

  • The Warrior Ethos?

    The Warrior Ethos?

    I… um… the… it’s… but… there are no words.  I’ll try though. I thought it was hilarious – ignorant, stupid, childish, petty, but hilarious – last March when Newsweek reported that pictures of “Enola Gay,” the aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan during WWII, were flagged for removal from the…

  • 1,112 and Counting

    1,112 and Counting

    It is June 1st.  That may not mean anything to you other than “oh yeah… summer’s here.”  But to 13.9 million (13,942,200) adults in the US (number reported by the UCLA School of Law – Williams Institute, December 2023) who identify as LGBTQ+ it marks the beginning of a very significant month:  the month we…

  • Portmanteau

    Portmanteau

    As a boy, I thought Star Trek was real.  And by that I mean the original series.  Not “The Next Generation” with young Wesley Crusher, upon whom I had a crush. Crusher-crush. Nah, too easy! Before you call me a dirty old man, or something worse, remember, when we first meet Wesley, in the pilot…