Monthly Archives: December 2019

Of course poverty isn’t something to be ashamed of, but it is hard to look at. ~ Remco Campert The city of Berkeley and San Francisco are more tolerant of the homeless than the surrounding communities but that also means … Continue reading →

Christmas Anno 2019 For years I have been trying to parody the smug Look what we did/where we traveled last year-Xmas letter, to show the world that we shouldn’t take ourselves so seriously, but this year, I have a special … Continue reading →

De maatschappij is als een dierentuin: de apen hebben er altijd het meeste succes. Society is like a zoo: the monkeys are always a success. ~ Paul Rodenko Chapter Ten: What is Success? Although Oscar Wilde once noted that people … Continue reading →

Sometimes I feel I picked the wrong profession. As an academic at Cal (Note: I have since become a failed academic and underachieving writer), I felt at times like a social worker. I don’t quite know what it is about … Continue reading →

From a 21st-century point of view, our “success” in the seventeenth century is hardly glorious or worth repeating when one thinks of all the bloodshed and unsavory topics such as the Dutch slave trade and colonial greed. Even apartheid is … Continue reading →