Researching for a novel about my Irish priest great grandfather, I’ve come face-to-face with the real St. Patrick. Two tales make him less caricature, more saintly. Every Irish child knows the first story: Patrick ascended Clough Patrick (the Irish Mount … Read More
les bon temps
The clock strikes midnight. Fat Tuesday melts away. From two thousand miles I visualize a distant time when Columbia’s Most Raucous and Rollus Krewe held court, transforming our town’s most storied Cajun/Creole cafe into a Bourbon-soaked Carnival, slinging oysters and … Read More
Want fries with that?
Damn…this traffic jam, From Cardiff by the Sea to Palm Desert we glided for the most part in the carpool lanes because most Californians drive a car like they ride a horse: alone. Nowhere is more backed up than the … Read More
Skull Rock
We heard about Skull Rock, and we set out to find it, among some elephantine boulders in a legendary spiritual preserve bigger than the Bootheel, where two great American ecosystems bump into each other in Southern California. The highland Mojave … Read More
Turquoise, Green Chiles and the U.S. Treasury
Gallup, New Mexico. Stopped at Jerry’s Cafe for the chiles, specifically New Mexico hatch chiles rellenos. We slid into a cozy two-top booth across the aisle from a spittin’ image for Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin. No shit. Doppelganger. I didn’t … Read More
Sitting with the Bard
The one-two punch of Santa Fe’s rarified air (7200 ft elevation) and Canyon Road shopping kicked my ass. I spied a bench, only partially occupied by an old friend from back home. Tipped my cap to this bronzed bard. He … Read More
Canyons of the mind
The sign startled me, on this bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge. The river cuts a deep canyon through the high plain, and attracts many visitors, mostly sightseers, a few on a mission. We watched a family release balloons to … Read More
Evading the Body Snatchers, Part 3
While most Missourians didn’t steal bodies, some Missourians owned them. Along the Missouri River, several old plantation houses still stand in the fields. Some of these plantations apparently engaged in the export of human flesh. They were slaves, raised and … Read More
Evading the Body Snatchers, Part 2
When Europeans came to Missouri, it didn’t take long for Moses to play a pivotal role. Like the man for whom he was named, this Moses was a leader, and the grandfather of a modern day version of the promised … Read More
Evading the Body Snatchers, Part 1
Thomas Jefferson’s original grave marker can’t sit still. More than a century ago, it migrated from Monticello to Mizzou. Since then it has moved a couple of times on the campus quadrangle. I suspect Tom wouldn’t mind this movement, … Read More