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[...] I believe the spirit of the people resides in the word—majuscule or not—as long as it is used wisely, considerately, and with care. If my reader fails to recognize themselves or to comprehend my usage in what follows, it will mean I have failed at some deeper level than any orthographic alter…

When I moved here, I imagined some kind of consensus that we were all players on the same “good team.” After all, each of us wakes up each morning to see the most beautiful mountains and somehow-­still-­blue water as we listen to the public radio report on the state’s governor signing one bill afte…

I’m first-­ generation, nothing special; I know people whose roots stretch much deeper. But I still see newcomers as an invading force—here to colonize, pillage, vanquish. The gold rush all but obliterated the Ohlone. Hippies displaced Black families from the Haight. The gay liberation crowd took o…

Rookie agreed. “That never happens!” he exclaimed happily. “But watch out for sneaker waves.”

“What’s a sneaker wave?”

“That’s a sneaker wave.” He pointed behind me at the sudden wall of water coming our way and quickly paddled out and over the rising swell. Contrary to my usual risk-­avers…

In my choice to let go of that apartment, there’s guilt that I still carry, if I choose to examine it. It’s guilt that I didn’t cherish that San Francisco while I still could, or even appreciate my dad while he was still scribbling in his notebooks at Café Flore, which is now gone, like so many oth…