Not in the Manual

Typically, when you’re in your teenage years and you endure your first break-up–especially if you’re the one who’s been jettisoned–it’s injurious to your entire being. It’s sufficient, and still real enough, to make you overuse variations of the word “you” just remembering it years later. A first break-up, especially for the eighty-sixed, is systemically catastrophic […]

Persistence Wins the Day

The legality of Tulare’s City Council extending a $9 million line of credit to Tulare Regional Medical Center in a 2-0 vote may–or may not ever–be adjudicated. I’m not sure it matters anymore. Last week the hospital drew $4,861,885 on its line and is looking, this week, to take on a further $1,138,115. It is […]

A Slow-mo lobotomy

Sometimes, things come together. Sometimes the stars align serendipitously, and sometimes the alignment is by process. For the past 11 years we have been awash in serendipity. True, we’ve lost a son–and people can’t be replaced–but everything else we’ve lost has, spookily, been restored. Quickly, and without effort. When the house we were in before […]

Say Hello to Alice

It seems our esteemed leader might be poised to declare a national emergency along our southern border because it lacks a continuous wall. But that’s not where the crisis looms. Our national emergency is within the Oval Office. The president, undeniably, owns our current government shutdown, the longest in our nation’s history. “…I will take […]

What am I missing here?

On January 22 a two-week long evidentiary hearing will commence during which Dr. Benny Benzeevi, CEO of Healthcare Conglomerate Associates (HCCA) and former chief of Tulare Regional Medical Center, will attempt to recover property and bank accounts seized by the Tulare County District Attorney. The Valley Voice has been granted permission to photograph the proceedings, […]

Rowing An Aircraft Carrier

Our youngest son and his friend, Simon, are visiting us this Christmas season. With our son’s return strains of original music are again wafting throughout the house. He and Simon are composing on their computers. It may be a return to fresh music, but everything is different now. In many ways there’s no return at […]

Tis The Season

It’s that accursed time of year again–Christmas. Other holidays come and go but are not really accorded their own season. Traditions, yes, but not an entire campaign, a full-court press of decorating and cooking, movies, shows and music. And it all begins before the Thanksgiving dinner is fully digested. This year, somehow, everything but making […]