I think I’m having a midlife crisis. And I’m loving it. Here are a few signs signs: I have redyed my hair with purple streaks. I have started going out a lot. I have developed appetites that could be described … Continue reading
In the 1990s, Cibo Matto (“crazy food” in Italian) were an alternative band formed by two friends from Japan who met in New York. They made the kind of eccentric, catchy music that left you tapping your feet and scratching … Continue reading
Who says you can’t be an anarchist and a capitalist? Visiting Camden markets the other day I met 15-year-old Rory Ballard, who, as you can see by this lovely sample, will let you take a photo with him for the … Continue reading
Her picture and by-line appear on the back page of the San Francisco Chronicle every Friday. In cafes around the city, thoughtful San Franciscans will turn the pages with buttery fingers, masticating on their bagels and cream cheese and forming … Continue reading
For one week each year, two-hundred-and-some word lovers converge on the stunning Reed College campus in Portland, Oregon, for the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop. This year I was one of them. In the romantic setting of red-brick Harry Potter … Continue reading
The shot glass I picked up at the airport said Keep Portland Weird. And that lovingly expresses everything that is different about Portland, Oregon. This is a place where a bookstore – Powell’s, the largest in the world – beats … Continue reading
The Alameda County Fair was not on my to-do list, but with rides, strange and wonderful deep-fried foods on sticks and a free concert by Weird Al Yankovic, well, who could say no? The County Fair, located somewhere in the … Continue reading