Curious Queries

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Of monsoons and mountains

Whoo! Back from a 1840 mile, 12 day solo driving trip home to Tucson. What a bittersweet trip, one of tears and mortality and also of life-affirming friendship and beauty and nature. The universe really came together on this one… Continue Reading →

My political journey, part 3: Choosing civil rights overstates’ rights

When I said in Part I that this wasn’t a story about opening my heart, that wasn’t entirely true. There is one place my heart lacked compassion: the criminal justice system. My last bastion of conservatism was the belief that… Continue Reading →

My political journey, part 2: We’re off to see the Grand Wizard

When I was growing up, Tucson seemed small and conservative to me. Then college took me to Bible-belt Indiana and I discovered what small and conservative truly is. In hindsight, I’d have been hard pressed to pick a worse fit… Continue Reading →

My political journey, part 1: Confessions of a teenage Republican

I relish telling the story of how I used to be a registered Republican. It’s good for shock value, considering that today I’m a flaming California liberal! Even better, I was a Teen Age Republican (TAR) in Arizona, a state… Continue Reading →

No, we can’t agree to disagree

There was a time when I had friends with very different political beliefs. Of course! It would be narrow-minded and dogmatic to exclude people simply because we vote differently. Right? And this worked because, in theory, we all wanted people… Continue Reading →

Human gargoyles

As anyone who has traveled with me knows, I am fascinated by creatures on buildings — or, in this case, humans on buildings! Dotted all around this green terra cotta façade are male figures that could be either friend or… Continue Reading →

The comfort of ritual

I first visited Tadich as a child on my first family trip to San Francisco. Over the decades we have returned there time after time for local classics like cioppino, hangtown fry, and petrale sole. Tadich is a San Francisco… Continue Reading →

Desert Calm

I have always found the desert Southwest immensely calming. Originally I assumed it was simply the comfortable feeling of being back in my childhood home — it never felt right when I lived in states without mountains — but on… Continue Reading →

Earthquake mashups

This photo mashup series by Shawn Clover that merges images from the 1906 earthquake and San Francisco today is a fantastic concept, with stunning execution. “To put these photos together, I first create a catalog of historical photos that look… Continue Reading →

Art is anything you can get away with

Acceptance and gratitude

Recently I stumbled on a forgotten family gem, personal histories from WWII written by two of my grandfather’s brothers. It was an opportunity to learn about uncles I barely knew and get personal insights into a defining event of the… Continue Reading →

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