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An Unexpected Hero in the Boston Bombings
I'm running on the gym treadmill. I change the TV screen's channels until I come to Anderson Cooper, reporting the latest news about the Boston bombings. Three people are dead, including an...
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The First Item on My 'Do Not Do' List
A few months back, a cousin from North Carolina visited San Francisco on business. Nick and I had dinner with him and his business associates at an upscale restaurant in the city's North Beach...
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What Do Americans Want? More!
This tale begins and ends with biology.One afternoon, during my junior year in college, I sat in biology class, befuddled as usual. So I tuned out the teacher, flipped a page in my notebook, and wrote...
View ArticleMemo to the Wolf Blitzers of the World: Don't Assume Everyone Believes in God
On Tuesday, CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed a young mother who survived the deadly Oklahoma tornado. "You've gotta thank the Lord, right? Do you thank the Lord?," he asked.The young woman briefly...
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A First, and Last, Sip of Cheerwine
Shauna Gamble has been one of my dearest friends since 7th grade. We haven't seen each other in years. We don't call each other much. Time and geography have a way of creating such distances. But in...
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Father's Day in Photos: Carol W. Martin, Photographer
On this Father's Day, there are stories I'd like to share about my father, the late Carol W. Martin. I have one in particular--about the disastrous time I tried to cook him a steak. But I'll save the...
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Failure to Thrive? Not So Fast
This is a story I never thought I'd write: My mother is expected to be released from hospice care soon.Since hospice began caring for her in early March, Ruth Martin has gained 10 pounds. Though she...
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Confessions of a Southern-Fried Quasi Vegetarian
In the South, some restaurants still list french fries as a vegetable. This wonderfully creative view of vegetables should come in handy—as I flirt with vegetarianism.I can imagine the raised-eyebrow...
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My Father and the Mystery of the Doomed Orange Tree
Dear Dad,You'll remember this story well, but I feel the need to tell it again today.At the Stuckey's in Danville, Va., I spotted the miniature orange tree that I knew I must have. It was maybe six...
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Why Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine" Haunts Me
I'll never forget Blue Jasmine's final scene—no matter how hard I try.Woody Allen's latest film is partly set in San Francisco. I've been an enthusiastic Allen admirer since Annie Hall, and I'd been...
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3 Sure-Fire Solutions to the Government Shutdown
The federal government is still partially shut down. Late last week, CNN reported that both the Democrats and Republicans said they're winning the stalemate, which means everyone else is losing. What...
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The Main Thing 'The Sound of Music Live' Lacked, Thankfully
Thursday night's broadcast of The Sound of Music Live lacked something. And it may not be what you think. The great Rodgers & Hammerstein score wasn't lacking. Yes, the songs are kind of corny and...
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The Surprising Connection Between a Tape Recording and an Indiegogo Campaign
This is the story of an elderly woman's decades-old tape recording and a young woman's Indiegogo campaign.The story begins with Marie Alaimo, the elderly woman. At a Thanksgiving party about five years...
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Why Do You Ask So Many Questions?
It was a Christmas Eve, and I was being cross-examined.I was attending a holiday party at the home of Bob Wheeler and Kurt Kleespies, circa 2008. I was seated on the sofa next to Marie Alaimo, in her...
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Is San Francisco Really the 'New' New York?
San Francisco is undergoing a transformation. I've lived here since 1987, and I've never seen so many buildings under construction. It's as if every empty wedge of space, every former gas station lot...
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What We Can Learn From Leslie Jordan
Brace yourselves. I'm about to use a baseball metaphor.Last Sunday night, we delighted in seeing character actor Leslie Jordan performing Show Pony, a one-man performance about his recent Hollywood...
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Happy Mother's Day, and It's Off to the Hospital
Among their many, many chores, it seems that mothers are destined to take their kids to an emergency room at least once.My mother certainly did. In her own words, here's a recounting of Ruth Martin's...
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Why I Didn't Want to Visit My Mother
During a recent trip to my hometown of Greensboro, N.C., I considered not visiting my mother.I hadn’t had a good visit with her in more than two years. Why should I expect something different this...
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Living with The 'New Normal' of Wildfire Smoke
On a clear day you can see...Wait, remind me what a clear day is?View of Twin Peaks from Market and Noe on Nov. 15, 2018. AQI: 188.The Camp Fire that has devastated large areas of Butte County,...
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Two Bumbling Southerners with Big City Dreams
As many times as I’ve seen it, All About Eve never fails to take me back to my first trip with Edward, to New York City for New Year’s Eve, 1980-81. At the time, we were in our early 20s, terribly...
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The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, a Deadline, and "Beach Blanket Babylon"
We heard it before we felt it: a low, otherworldly moan. I looked around the fifth floor conference room, quickly searching the faces of the dozen or so people seated around the long table. I was...
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What Kind of Mind Would Paint a Cabbage?
Note: The events that follow occurred in June 2007, and I wrote about them later that year. This is the first time I’ve publicly shared this story. For years, I worried it would come across as critical...
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Municipal Anarchy: What it Was Like to Be Among San Francisco’s First...
Twenty years ago, my then-partner Nick and I participated in an act of “municipal anarchy.”In other words: We got married. For the first time but not, as it turned out, the last. On Friday morning,...
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The Real Legacy of Edward Norman
Dear Edward,Every morning, before I start my day, I wash my face. And I think of you. Every night, when I wash my face or, let’s be real, when I decide I’m too tired to wash my face, I think of you....
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