How, technically, did Emperor Jones take control of Tulare? He wasn’t elected mayor; in fact, he’s claimed the office is purely ceremonial. But that’s not how he behaves. He holds court. He hosts private forums. “This isn’t a public event,” Jones said of his May 31 “town hall” meeting. “This is money that I took […]
Like some malarial recrudescence, the election season is back in our collective bloodstream. For these midterms, voting by mail–starting 7 May–will continue through the 29th. The big day itself, of course, is 5 June. I can’t think of June without thinking of Barbara Billingsley as Mrs. Cleaver–famously, the Beav’s mom. And I can’t think of […]
It took us three flights and 24 hours to travel 12 time zones—halfway around the world. But we managed our sleep in transit and were able to rise with the sun over the Caspian Sea on the morning of our first day. After an improvised brew of coffee through a tea maker, taken on our […]
I plopped down in my easy chair and turned on Channel 3 A manager called Salty Joe was a chasin’ Chief Hensley He trapped him in paid admin and said with an awful thrill, “Now, I’m not allowed to say anything, But I can fire you at will!” And then he was told to (and […]
When the Ritual ended, and all of our friends went home, all of our friends remained in the room. We had some drinking to do while all of our friends came home from Korea. We hoped they’d each complete their journey, and that a capricious writer wouldn’t somehow jettison one of them into the sea, […]
Another school shooting. After Sandy Hook–after the mass murder of first-graders–I thought that at long last something, anything, might be attempted by our esteemed Congress to stem the epidemic of gun violence. It turns out I’m a babe in the woods. And the wolf in the woods? You’re probably voting for him. It would be […]
Yesterday the Chief and I were in court yet again–this time to legally finalize our poisoned inheritance, the estate of our late son, Alex. Given the behavior of the Chief’s family, I can’t–at the time of writing this–predict with any confidence the outcome of the hearing. Over the past four years they have revealed themselves […]
On January 18 the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence voted to publish the transcripts of testimony provided to the committee by Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson. Congressman Devin Nunes’ Communications Director, Jack Langer, emailed the transcript to the Valley Voice that afternoon. Simpson’s firm, Fusion GPS, was the outfit that contracted former British spy […]
Not just anyone can be an athlete. You have to be agile. Athletic.Similarly, not just anyone can be an intellectual. You have to be intelligent. You have to qualify for most things in life. But anyone can be a politician. Take Tulare Mayor Carlton Jones. Please. It doesn’t get much more comical or petty than […]
A few years back the Chief commanded me to harbor Hope in my heart. I’m not sure I’ve been able to comply, even if it might remain a matter of semantics. What I harbor is a sense of Trust that things can only improve. I have, admittedly, been skunked in this regard going on five […]