Of Orchards, Smudge Pots, And Friends

If you lived near fruit groves in California or Florida way back when, you probably remember smudge pots and smudging. I believe the practice fell out of favor in the 1970s, but for any of us who grew up around orchards in the 50s, smudging was a part of our cold weather experience. It was […]

Life In The Time Of Cruising

December days in California’s San Joaquin Valley are cold, overcast, and often foggy. Tule fog, foggy. That is the fog where visibility can go from 600 feet to zero feet with little or no warning; there just is no way of knowing where it is going to be at its worst, and danger is the […]

Later On We’ll Perspire, As We Sit By The Fire…No That’s Not Right

There is a Taco Bell commercial on TV that causes me to chuckle every time it plays. The commercial is pretty lame as it advertises a new rolled chicken taco. Lame aside, as many times as it has run, I laugh, because I hear them say, “Road chicken taco.” And thanks to Taco Bell, we […]

Scourge Of The 50’s; Unseen Monster At The Door

As a child who grew up in the San Joaquin Valley of central California, I knew all about summer sizzle. We lived with triple digit heat day after day, and never dreamed there was cooler weather in other places. Well, there was the coast, but that was special, and just for two weeks vacation each […]

To Desegregate Our Souls

For days, I have been mulling over a landmark Supreme Court decision, and thinking about how far we, as a nation, have come since May 17, 1954. Brown v. Board of Education. Sixty years to get it right; and I am not sure we are there, yet. To be specific, Oliver Brown, et al. v. […]

Si, Se Puede

Today is Cesar Chavez Day, a state holiday, if you live in California, Colorado, or Texas. It is Cesar Chavez’ birthday, and he would have been 87 years old. His dedication, as a nonviolent civil rights activist, to the lives and labors of farm workers changed forever their working and living conditions. Wages, housing, toilet facilities in the […]