September 14, 2004

The American Digest Reader: A Short Selection

FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS I'll be in the process of relocating from Laguna Beach, California to Seattle, Washington. In the interim, I'll be driving Highway 1 up the coastline of California, Oregon, and Washington and I don't plan to push it. One thousand miles of coastline is nothing to just zoom past if you've got the chance. (See Laguna Dawn for my observations on part of this route.)

UPDATE: The Getty, Cambria, the Sur, Berkeley, Mill Valley, Stinson Beach, Bolinas, .... currently in Mendocino. The road goes on forever.

During this period, my ability and desire to update this page is likely to be intermittent. In the meantime, I've made a little list of essays and items in various categories that may be of interest to the idle browser.


Spirit

  • On Advent: "We Are All Lying in the Mud, but Some of Us Are Looking at the Stars"
  • Things Invisible to See
  • The Passion of the Pope
  • The Wind In The Heights
  • The Arrival
  • Free Prayers at the Beach
  • Small Fires on the Deep
  • Sunday Meditation: The Star
  • Love Gone Missing
  • While You Were Out
  • The Wedding Vows
  • The Creche By The Side of the Road

    Myths and Texts

  • He Wasn't In His Right Mind
  • Mr. Wonderful's Bad Day
  • Both Sides Now
  • My Mother at Ninety
  • Never Happy
  • Delete "Hook." Insert "Heart"
  • Laguna Dawn

    The War

  • The Sacrifice and the Reckoning: Sleepwalking
  • The Sacrifice and the Reckoning: The Event
  • What It Would Take -- A Simple Scenario
  • OUT? MAYBE IN 20 YEARS: Our Military Bases in Iraq Are Essential
  • Notes Made on 11 September 2001
  • RULES? IN A KNIFE FIGHT?: Redrafting the Rules of Engagement in the First Terrorist War
  • Michael Yon: Iraq's Ernie Pyle
  • Nukes South of the Border Will Do, Thank You
  • Yes, Virginia, There WILL Be a Draft
  • Invitation to the Beheading of an American Jew
  • The War of Two Religions
  • Pieta for the 41st Photograph

    View from the Beach

  • The Name in the Stone
  • The One and the Many
  • The Penguin Movie for Guys
  • The Man Who Carried the Dark Lantern
  • The Man Who Loved Not Wisely But At Least Twice
  • Visit to an Old Friend
  • Thoughts Between Waking, Showering, Shaving and Sleeping
  • The Go-Bag
  • The Pumpkin
  • Tom Mandel: Ten Years Gone
  • The Daughter That Disappeared
  • The Day We Killed John Lennon
  • The Age of Miracles and Wonders and Bunless Whoppers
  • Pre-Owned Jeans
  • Landslide in Laguna: There Goes the Neighborhood
  • Love Gone Missing
  • Intelligence
  • The Magic of Childhood
  • The Fortune Teller in October 2000
  • Something to See
  • Thom Gunn 1929-2004

    America

  • Fear of Fritterware: The Nightmare Before Christmas
  • Rubber Knives to Gun Fights
  • The Hive and the Town
  • The Cowgirl and the Four Pound Steak
  • The Pleasures of Merely Circulating
  • The Brand Extension Blight
  • I'm Sorry
  • Kids Today
  • Coin of the PC Realm
  • On American Liberty and Destiny
  • Higher Education and the Holy Cookie
  • The "Not Insane" To-Do List
  • Road Tales: Where the Buffalo Roam
  • Mars: Man, You Gotta Go
  • Cruising Off Baja
  • School's Out
  • The Fun of Flying
  • The "Brights:" Smug, Self-satisfied and Stupid
  • The Most Innovative Novel by a Best-Selling American Author Is Not Available in English
  • The Origin and Spite of the Word-Using Species
  • The Red Hot Halo: Scoring a Copy of "2"
  • Bride of Frequently Answered Questions
  • The Greatest Show Off Earth
  • The Parent Trap
  • The Legacy of the Long Peace
  • The Democratic Candidate Cartoon Laws of Motion
  • God's Back and He's Not Pleased
  • On First Looking Out of NASA's Rover
  • The Deluge

    The Media (Old and in the Way, or Brand Spanking New and Confused)

  • Building the Perfect Beast: What Is to Be Done in the Blogosphere
  • The Dead Imagination of the New York Times
  • The Toolbar Times
  • "A New Birth of Freedom:" Why Bleats and Blogs Matter
  • Earth to Bloggers: Seek Professional Help
  • The Moose is Back at the New York Times
  • West Wing Dot Gov: The White House Blogger
  • Brain Jazz Across the Online Decades
  • Blogger's Head Explodes
  • The Fifth Estate's Agenda: No, We Don't Know There's A War On
  • The Koinonia of Blogdom
  • In Coldest Type: Crack Addiction in American Publishing
  • Fear of Instalinking
  • Make that "Goofy's Quarterly"
  • THE HORROR, THE HORROR
  • Behind the Scenes at New York Times Headline Meetings
  • No More Letters to the Editor
  • The Law of the Blogger
  • Pix and Fonts Newspapers Won't Make It
  • Hunter Thompson: What A Man! Yeah, Right.
  • Maureen Dowd: The Jimmy Olson of the New York Times
  • The Sunday New York Times Lite
  • Let Us Now Praise Remarkable Bloggers - 1
  • NYet Times Anonymous: The Twelve Steps
  • THE PLAGUE OF BIG MEDIA'S INCREASING ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER:

    Poetry

  • Last Light Above the Seine
  • Sunday Reflection
  • Into the Silence
  • The River Guide
  • The Silhouettes
  • Only By Fire is Fascism Finished
  • The Smoke
  • The Uptown Date
  • In the Town Hall's Graveyard
  • Hanukkah Candles on Christmas Eve
  • The Interface, for my father
  • The Wheat Field
  • Closing Time
  • Intelligent Design

    Politics

  • Patience Please: An American Empire Takes Time
  • On the Most Ancient Virus to Infect the Soul
  • Christians of Convenience
  • Improving the Pledge of Allegiance
  • How to Rebuild New Orleans in One Year, With Money Left Over
  • Radical Roots: Friendly Enemies from My Back Pages
  • The New Line of Choice: "Saying it's wrong makes it right."
  • ARNOLD:The Re-Makes
  • The Subconscious Yearning for American Defeat
  • Speaking of Using the Word "Traitor" as a Functional Part of the Conversation
  • Condition Orange Forever?
  • On Abortion in America
  • Killing Two of Your Three Triplets to Keep Your Lifestyle
  • Red Like Ward = Black Like Me
  • Liberalosis: A Disease Killing and Crippling Millions of Our Fellow Americans
  • Small Moves
  • I Am the Very Model of A Modern Kerry Democrat
  • How to Destroy the Democratic Party in One Brief Presidential Election
  • The Meeting
  • Why is the Patriotism of the Left Off the Table?
  • Small Moves, the Spirit of America, and Doing What You Can
  • AIN'T IT COOL?: A Tale of Two Cultures
  • CANADIAN ARMY FORTIFIES BORDER TO REPEL REFUGEE ONSLAUGHT FROM THE SOUTH
  • Bozo Speaks: Mouth. Foot. Maher.
  • Stop the Spaminsanity
  • "I will vote always for best, always:" Conversations with Paul
  • Yearning for the Mud: The Kerry-Heinz Ticket and the Psychotic Party
  • The Killing Father of Two
  • Fifty Reasons Why I'm Voting for Bush
  • The Naked and the Senile Dementia
  • The Political Art and the Art of Politics
  • Magic Moments in Domestic Policy
  • Speaking of Using the Word "Traitor" as a Functional Part of the Conversation
  • The Absolute Moral Degeneracy of Cindy Sheehan
  • Demo-Demento-Depression : Just Say "Medicate!"
  • Yes, Down My Pants. Oh, Like You Haven't?
  • They Hate the Church More Than They Hate Life Itself
  • The Degeneration of the Democratic Party

    Posted by Vanderleun at September 14, 2004 4:44 PM
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  • Comments:

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    "It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

    Good luck with the Discovery Institute.

    Posted by: ccron at September 14, 2005 7:20 PM

    Fair winds and calm seas, sir.

    Posted by: TmjUtah at September 14, 2005 8:23 PM

    We Lagunans will feel the loss.

    Enjoy the trip and the next episode in the serial that is your life.

    Posted by: Grumpy Old Man at September 14, 2005 9:32 PM

    Welcome to Seattle!

    Is it the city proper, or that small town you wrote about a couple of weeks ago?

    Posted by: Mumblix Grumph at September 14, 2005 10:08 PM

    Welcome to the Sunbreak City.

    Posted by: Doug at September 14, 2005 11:45 PM

    I know a fellow who's moving down to Southern California from the Seattle area. Is this part of a cultural exchange where we send them writers while they send us game designers?

    Posted by: Alan Kellogg at September 15, 2005 6:37 PM

    I always wanted to drive that coast .....

    Posted by: Yehudit at September 16, 2005 12:58 AM

    It's a good ride, man. I just returned to Oakland from a few weeks in Seattle and the gulf islands. My buddy Joe opened up an English pub in Seattle I think you would like. It's called the Whitehorse (1908 Post Alley) next to Kells. Happy travels and keep us posted!

    Posted by: d-rod at September 29, 2005 11:59 AM