Daily Blues & Views

 I think I'll sell my cowboy boots.  They are lightly used and a damn good pair.  Originally priced at $300, I'd take $20 for them.  Someone who wears a size 10 and likes a solid black leather boot will be very pleased.  These boots have a story.  They come from one of the best boot makers in the country (Texas) and represent a victory in the Kentucky Derby that a friend of mine enjoyed and passed along to me. Here's what happened.  Frankie befriended me when he saw me reading a copy of Bloodhorse magazine in our local Bay Area coffeehouse.   "Pardon me," he said,  "Do you think I could take a look at that, for a minute when you are done?"  Of course, he could.  I said something like, "be sure to read the article I wrote too."  Thus began our unlikely friendship. Frankie worked with his hands; I worked with my head.  He was a recovering alcoholic, I never drank more than two beers or two glasses of wine at a time...ev...

 I imagine you      Thinking of me, Across a bridge of decades,      I was alone With a way forward,      Cleared to live in the moment, People always find me when I appear lost,       Wandering a grocery store, Some idle checker will offer...      But what I seek is not on a shelf, Sitting on a stoop, I have met saviors,      As they chanced to pass, Eyes looking upward,      Our time together was brief But powerful, Years do not diminish your memory,      Or is it my memory? I am buried by these bridges,      But no longer in need, Just the thought of your face,      As it was, As it might be now,      Is enough.     

  "Those who see gian ts are still looking at the world through the eyes of a child."                                                                                                        -Anais Nin I love this quote by Anais Nin.  The reasons for my admiration will be forthcoming, but for now, let's consider Ms. Nin, herself.  There was a time back in the early 1970s when it seemed as if there was hardly a young woman who wasn't reading one or more books of The Diary of Anais Nin.  Her personal journals were both fascinating and informative.  he was known as a writer and friend and confidant of some fairly famous folks in the literary circles of her time.  But, it took years of writing erotica under ...

It is fascinating to watch people who have strong feelings about something they know nothing about.  I'm talking about all the fuss about "critical race theory" being taught in schools.  Most who think they oppose this idea don't seem to know what it is much less that it isn't being "taught,"  By way of definition, critical race theory refers to the practice of viewing history through the lens of race.  Imagine teaching the history of this country any other way.  Since its inception, race and the social pyramid that sees one race on top of the power structure and others below has been the state of play.  If you support changing that narrative, then you support both a skewed view of history and a dishonest one.   My decades in public education tell me that there is no way any person or body, public or private can prevent a dedicated teacher from suppressing the truth.   When the door closes and the discussion begins it's only the students...