Zinnia’s Tribute

It was another beautiful autumn afternoon in 2007. The day was almost over, and I was at my final stop before going home. I always saved this nursing home for last when I was out in the field, because it was such a pleasant experience each time I visited. With an excellent staff and a […]

A Corner Turned

First year of college behind me, I was ready to head over the mountains to San Francisco, the promised land for someone who needed to kick valley home dust off her sandals. It was June, 1966, and I could not wait to escape the somnambulance of life in a place where Civil Rights, Cesar Chavez, and […]

Equality At The Sink

Standing at the kitchen sink tonight, I wondered how many dishes I have washed since my first sink full when I was six years old. That is sixty years of washing dirty dishes for a family; the thankless job no one likes, but still must be done by someone: the hapless kid whose turn it […]

Beyond My World

SOVIET FIRES EARTH SATELLITE INTO SPACE; IT IS CIRCLING THE GLOBE AT 18,000 M.P.H.; SPHERE TRACKED IN 4 CROSSINGS OVER U. S. Thus read the New York Times headline 56 years ago. On this day, October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched an artificial Earth Satellite into an elliptical low Earth orbit. Surprising everyone, it […]