Writer, editor, researcher
Economists tally the price of war because it’s a language that American markets and voters understand, and because it’s a way to quantify war’s amorphous and sprawling harms and horrors. But the worst negative economic impacts of war cannot be summed up on a ledger. War transforms the economy in a way that incentivizes more war. It robs society of other opportunities. It narrows policymakers’…
A mere three years ago, every headline about California from the Times to Buzzfeed was screaming about the droughtpocalypse. Then we had a semi-normal precipitation year, in 2015-16. We learned to use a little less water. And after that, a historically wet winter (2016-17) changed us from worrying about empty reservoirs to scrambling to stop Continue reading Dry lands: Wrapping our heads around…
In Alan Lomax s The Land Where the Blues Began, he spends a great deal of time talking about the fife and drum music of the northern Mississippi hill country, a genre I was completely unfamiliar with. He makes a big deal about how African the music is, but his prose alone didn t quite convince me. (How does Continue reading The triumph of Africa in America
This is the hammer that killed John Henry But it won t kill me, But it won t kill me, But it won t kill me Take this hammer and carry it to my captain Tell him I m gone, Won t you tell him I m gone Won t you tell him I m gone So go the Spike Driver Blues as Continue reading Roots music break: Spike Driver Blues
The Lunatic Express got its name from its notorious expense and the high death rates of the largely South Asian workforce that built it at the turn of the last century. But the main thing that was insane about the railway when I rode it in 2010 and I suspect little has changed is the absurdly Continue reading A look back at my trip on the Lunatic Express
I ve been waiting for a deeply reported article like today s Times piece, In Cramped and Costly Bay Area, Cries to Build, Baby, Build. No, not everyone who supports building lots of market-rate housing in San Francisco, asap, is a Reagonomics-spouting spoiled Libertarian who doesn t understand the values of community and diversity. And not everyone who opposes lots Continue reading The Times…
I have no information on this performance besides that in the video description. What presence and skill she plays with! Happy Friday.
Just a quick reminder that, no matter how much El Niño drenches us this year (or doesn’t—we’re actually behind the curve on rainfall), California is still kind of up dirt creek in the long run. I think that’s worth remembering as we gaze longingly to the skies, parse the intricacies of meteorological models, and discuss their Continue reading It really doesn’t matter how much it rains in…
This week we found out that ISIS has blown up the Temple of Bel in Palmyra, the millennia-old Syrian UNESCO World Heritage site. It s one of many destructions of ancient Syrian structures that carry special sadness for me. I lived in Syria for two years, and had the good fortune to visit Palmyra s spectacular ruins on a Continue reading Palmyra: A time of loss
This can t be good: NASA tells us that the Central Valley is dropping 2 inches a month because of groundwater pumping. It s a process that has been going on for a century or more, but with the extreme drought the pace has picked up significantly. Per the Sacramento Bee: A report earlier this week by UC Continue reading California is literally sinking