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Because It’s December
Because It’s December As the calendar year comes to an end, Americans are inclined to think more than usual about money. Depending on one’s circumstances, thinking about money takes many forms. One of them, that includes so many of us, is Christmas spending, which imposes a different form of stress in every part of the…
Keep readingReally, Thank the Hippies
We’re having a revolution in America, although now it’s resistance and protection rather than joyous social change, like the ‘60s. In the last post I put up on this site, about the outrageous amount of corruption in San Francisco, I make the light-hearted suggestion that I need to find a partner for ArtHouse from the…
Keep readingThe Dead City
City Hall’s interior, strangely resembling a high-end mausoleum. I regret to say that I’ve given up on convincing San Francisco to save itself. For almost a decade, I’ve tried to restore the arts community that made this place so fascinating for more than a century, by creating co-op housing and venues for the creative people…
Keep readingSan Francisco: Will You Ever Learn the Lessons of History?
The city of San Francisco has concluded that if they’re going to unwind the doom loop, maybe they need to bring in some art to give Market Street visual appeal. Marco Cochrane’s 40-foot tall metal sculpture of a naked woman, R-Evolution, installed where Market meets the Embarcadero, was an excellent choice, aesthetically and symbolically. Flanked…
Keep readingUpzoning and the Death of Aesthetics
At this moment in San Francisco, we’re faced with questions argued by philosophers for centuries: what constitutes beauty, why is it important, and what is the danger of ignoring it? Our politicians, funded by—or in the same social circles as— ultra-rich developers could care less about such trivia. The soulless big boxes they can’t wait…
Keep readingWhy Are Things So Insane?
Looking at the state of the world in 2025, sanity is in short supply. In America, we have a government undoing as much good as possible without unleashing insurrection against their insurrection. Even the president is smart enough to know that cancelling Social Security payments would be the last straw, and his IQ is apparently…
Keep readingThe Microsoft Doom Loop
Somewhere in storage, 35 years of my writing in Microsoft Word lies dormant on floppy disks, CDs, and other tech improvements that have made access to a career’s worth of work virtually impossible. I’ve forgiven Microsoft for this war on writers because Word was a decent, reliable product I used every day—but this year, Copilot…
Keep readingThe Aftermath: Start Planning
Fascist dictatorships never last for very long. Because fascism is essentially sociopathic, sane people get tired of it quickly. People may have bought into a fascists’ campaign propaganda because it appeals on some level that’s not particularly mentally healthy, like a secretly held prejudice or anxiety. They get drawn into the fascist’s rhetoric without ever…
Keep readingRedefining Murder
This mural of “St. Luigi ” was projected onto the side of a building in New York’s Lower Manhattan. We have always had a cut-and-dried definition of murder: a person or persons kills another. It’s a serious crime and a capital offense that can warrant the death penalty, depending on the state. It’s occasionally mitigated…
Keep readingThe Sweet Power of Outrage
While America’s co-presidents are rapaciously dismantling the agencies and institutions that kept the country running smoothly, it’s hard to see a bright side of the current moment. Our executive branch has been inflicting abuse wherever their cruelty takes them, except on those who are as cruel as them, who get tax cuts. It’s hard not…
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Proust Said That 