[Jane–see image accompanying this story; I think it would go well in the print version too] By Gates (Pam) Johnson I have been asked this question about eight million times in the last, I’m going to guess, three decades. Not sure why it is such an interesting topic. Is “Gates” that odd a name that…

By Michael Shook Last month, we had a brief look at the history of human efforts to live communally, and how those did, or did not, work out. This month, we assess some of the life and work of the man perhaps most associated with modern Communism, Karl Marx. Marx was a man of prodigious…

By Dave B. I almost hit a deer the other day. The deer was in a pothole. All I saw were antlers as I slammed on my brakes just in time. Luckily for me (and the deer), the pothole was deep and saved its life.  After the deer got out with great effort, I had…

By Seán Malone and John Sweetman  Seán and I grew up on the beach and spent a lot of days just wandering aimlessly looking for edible or merely interesting sealife and valuable beach treasures, which our moms generally classified as “junk.”  We had other diversions beside combing the beach. One was riding our bikes to…

By Daniel Hooker Recently a friend/acquaintance passed, Country Joe MacDonald, a Navy veteran honorably discharged who served from 1959-1962. Joe’s service to his countrymen/women continues through his gift called music. It has been documented in a film called “Woodstock” where between 400,000-600,000 “hippies / peacenicks” gathered to celebrate life, liberty, and not just the pursuit…

Part of a memoir By Suzanna Leigh Illustration by Suzanna Leigh It all came crashing down in early February. There was magic, living in the chicken coop on Maury Island. There were still a few cabbages in the big garden in December, when five year-old James and I moved in with Davey, Phil, and Phil’s…