There is a certain poetry to newswriting that’s not readily apparent to its readers — and perhaps not even to its practitioners. This derives in large part, I think, from the absurdity inherent in exchanging six to eight hours a…
Category: Living
Each moment is different. Here are some of mine.
First Week In
Three things: – My beats: fire, cops, breaking news, and meetings as needed.– I work with some freakishly smart, amazingly creative people; two of whom I have now dueled with a lightsaber.– The Game hasn’t changed much — get it…
And so, to work.
It was four-and-a-half months since I was laid off from the sasonal office-manager position at a local nursery, and longer still since I worked in my official profession, when I picked up the phone to call Sonoma Valley’s newest newspaper.…
Thump, Flutter, Gak
I looked up from the computer, wondering about the “thump.” Then I saw the robin on the patio — fluttering wings outspread, struggling to get up. Outside, through the gate, into the side-yard. “Are you okay?” I asked reflexively. She…
Exploring Mind
WHAT DIFFERENTIATES THE EXPLORER FROM other humans is his answer to the following question: “If you could experience something that no one else ever had, but the cost was your own life, would it be worth it?”
“I Seen It Too!”
WAITING FOR THE GRATEFUL DEAD with Sputnik at the Shoreline, c. 1989ish, one of us began the following conversation: “For example, that guy over there with the ‘I Climbed Lassen’ T-shirt.” “Yeah.” “Well, he obviously wants everyone to think that…
Pithyism #0
The future is an open hand; the past is a closed hand. What’s in between?
In the spirit…
… of its content, this might have been posted 12/28/6, the day I wrote and sent it to my coworkers. But it wasn’t: Friends, If you can imagine a universe-sized sponge made of galaxies surrounding bubble-like voids, congratulations: you’re hip…
Home Away
For me, there are five distinct stages involved in the building of our backyard sukkah: Denial: “Is it Sukkot again already?” Rage: “Where did I put the $#@! zip-screws?” Bargaining: “Please don’t make me go to the hardware store again…”…
… re-echo …
here’s what I wrote in a recent column… Screaming in the dark 2/14/03 By Neal Ross If you live among human beings, you must never mention how terribly, nakedly vulnerable we all are ? because we all spend a good…
eulogy
This is what I said about Jim at his funeral: When studying to be a rabbi, I learned a tradition that says one should begin every public discourse with a jest. So here?s Jim?s and my very favorite shared joke…
Two Towers, Two Tasks
FOR SOME REASON, THREE SIGNIFICANT dates fell out fairly close together recently: Sonoma’s first (?) 9/11 commemoration, Simchat Torah and the autumnal equinox. The first marks the end of American innocence; the second, the annual restarting of the synagogic Torah…