Stinging nettles have been the enemy for as long as I can remember. Nettles grow lush and huge here in Deadwood, Oregon. When I was a child they were an impediment, tall sentinels blocking the path to the creek. A sting raises a cluster of pink welts like spider bites, which… Read full post »

Nazis, muckrakers, and yellow journalism: Why it's wrong for Congress to eliminate NPR funding

_{The rival pulpiteers /}… Read full post »

 "Good God, what is that? It's huge..." I said suspiciously, as my mother removed the book from one of her voluminous duffel bags. My mother doesn't like anything to go to waste, so she's always convincing me that I need this or that. She'd just brought me a mountain of stuff… Read full post »

 _{This post is the second installment in The Deadwood Diaries, a series about my move back to the woods after 17 years of living in urban areas.}

 I have amazing friends who make shopping lists and stick to them. These people actually buy what they need for one meal, and… Read full post »

 Adding vegetables such as carrots and celery twice during… Read full post »

Digging for Gold: Mushroom Hunting in Oregon's Coast Range

"Do you want to go mushroom hunting today?" Kmart asks. Of course I do. I've already scheduled my day: writing, editing, and cleaning the house. But mushroom hunting it is. I'm not passing up this golden opportunity. And hey,… Read full post »

 

_{Rebalsito residents with their care packages. Photo by Dobie Dolphin. Used with permission.}

The pickup makes slow progress as it slogs down the main drag of Rebalsito, which is fast becoming a muddy river in the torrential tropical rain. The driver, Dobie, is an American expatriate an… Read full post »

 

 

Robin Leventhal is charming in person. Much more charming than you might suspect from watching season six of Top Chef, where she is grossly misrepresented as a nag.  In person, she's a dynamo. Her feisty smile and bright, dark eyes convey her mischievous sense of… Read full post »

I once had the pleasure of spending the night by a campfire, drinking mescal on the roof of an abandoned hotel in Chamela, on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico. The rooms below were spectral, caked with bat shit, crumbling. Chunks of cement littered the stairway, and traversing it was… Read full post »

 

 

Food is life: sustenance and communion gleaned from the vitality of dirt, water, and sunlight. But food is also the other aspect of life: culture, stories, history. Each dish we eat contains the stories, biological, familial, and historical, of our species… Read full post »

 

Restaurant "La Mosca" is gone, destroyed by the state police . The open air restaurant, with its sand floor and thatched pavilion, sat overlooking Tenacatita bay, on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico. The portly owner, Adrian, nicknamed "La Mosca" (the fly) for the… Read full post »

 

 

 

_{Messalina Returning by Aubrey Beardsley}

Sure, there are greater sluts to be found in our historical annals and arguably greater leaders, but if you're going for slutty and accomplished, you can't beat these guys. A… Read full post »

In winter, I'll happily spend an afternoon in the kitchen fussing over a beef stew or a spaghetti sauce, but sweltering summer weather calls for  recipes that don't require hours slaving over the proverbial hot stove. Happily, quick recipes also capitalize on the fresh flavors of summer'…

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_{photo by Alice Wheeler}

"It's exploitative," Rich says with authority, both hands on the wheel of our battered '93 Honda. We are driving on Interstate 5, in the no-man's-land between Tacoma and Seattle, strip malls  interspersed with thickets of deciduous trees and undergrowth that make… Read full post »

Early Americans and pirates drank rum because it was ubiquitous, effective, and, in contrast to the available drinking water, unlikely to cause dysentery. Club girls and tourists drink rum because it's typically served in sweet, fruity concoctions that represent the sweet freedom of a vacat… Read full post »

 

The venerable garage band Dead Moon has a song called "Don't Speak Ill of the Dead". The last verse opens strong: "Some of my friends are gone forever/Paled into the light/Things I wish I could have said/As they passed into the night". But that's not the part that… Read full post »

The idea makes sense: if you want to raise a kid with broad horizons and good writing skills, encourage said kid to read books that offer diverse perspectives, explore deeper themes, and resonate with excellent prose. Which might mean sometimes encouraging your kid to read books intended for adults.… Read full post »

This list of summer reads focuses on classic (yet not completely ubiquitous books) that capture the sensibility of childhood while offering captivating, richly imagined worlds.

1. Half Magic by Edward Eager

Half Magic draws kids in with a familiar scene: four squabbling children walking home from… Read full post »