William Latson was until recently principal of Spanish River Community High School, a public school in tony Boca Raton, Florida. He appears to have been a real American success story: got his Bachelors degree in education at the University of Florida, rose his way up in academia starting out as a coach at a Catholic […]

I got an email yesterday, called Save the Persecuted Christians, that made me laugh out loud. (I couldnt find a web link for the email, so I cut and pasted it at the end of this post.) This email is comedy at its driest and wittiest. It claims that Christians are being persecuted simply because of their faith. They […]

The only reason Jeffrey Epsteins sex scandal is big national news is because of this longstanding ties to his old friend, Donald J. Trump, whose own sexual scandals are mounting. If not for Trump, Epstein would only be the latest rich white guy accused of sex trafficking and having sex with minors. The fact that […]

Did you hear about that incident over the weekend where a Tempe, Arizona Starbucks barista asked five cops to leave the store because a customer said he or she did not feel safe in their presence? A hashtag, #DumpStarbucks, immediately started trending on Twitter. I must admit to being stunned and offended by this story. […]

In October, 1940just 13 months after Germany invaded Poland and wiped it off the mapthe Nazi Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, issued orders to some of his most trusted aides, including his top assistant, Martin Bormann, and Hans Frank, whom Hitler had made dictator of Poland, about what to do with the conquered nation. (This information was […]

Peju Province Winery sent me their new releases for review, so here they are. Overall, I was struck by their high quality. Nothing below 90 points, with the 2016 The Experiment scoring a stunning 97 points. 2016 Piccolo (Napa Valley). At forty bucks, this is a pretty good value for a Napa wine this distinguished, […]

The chicken hawk, Trump, who as a young man thought that Americans who joined the military were suckers, managed to avoid the draft by getting a doctor to lie about him having bone spurs. This was back in the day when the U.S. had a draft. Trump and I are exactly the same age (born […]

On this fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising I share my experience with AIDS. In the early 1980s I was living in San Francisco, in the Castro District, which was one of the epicenters of the epidemic. The gay press (free newspapers like The Sentinel and the Bay Area Reporter) were reporting on some strange […]

My mother, who would be 104 years old if she still lived, was a native Oklahoman, born and bred. Her parents settled there before it was a state, when it was still Indian Territory, in the year 1907. Her father, my grandfather Harry, co-founded the first Jewish synagogue in the state. Mom lived long enough […]

Well, come on all of you, big strong men, Uncle Sam needs your help again. He's got himself in a terrible jam Way down yonder in Iran So put down your books and pick up a gun, We're gonna have a whole lotta fun. With apologies to Country Joe and the Fish, Ive changed one […]

People assume that politicians take stances based on their beliefs, but sometimes, where they stand on an issue is a matter of psychology, not rational analysis. There are two politicians in particular whom Ive watched for a long period of time, both of whom seem to have mental imbalances that force them to take extreme, […]

When I was California editor for Wine Enthusiast Magazine, I had the hardest time getting to sample the wines of Bryant Family Vineyard. I managed to, two or three times. My last tasting, in 2012, was only because Tim Mondavi obtained a bottle for me to include in my tasting of the wines of Pritchard […]

There are religions, and then there are religions; some are better than others. But the religious writer, Abiya Ahmed, a Muslim, isnt troubled by this obvious distinction. In her opinion piece, We mustnt forget value of religious people in society, which was published locally over the weekend, she argues that the great thing about religion […...

There are many things Im looking for in the Democratic candidate for president next year, but one of the most important is the ability to take the punches Trump will give, and to return those punches hard, fast and devastatingly. The candidates Ive seen so far that best stand up to Trumps insults and bullying […]

Ive reluctantly come to the conclusion that Nancy Pelosis constituents in San Francisco need to begin a petition drive to recall her from office. Madame Speaker has shown that shes utterly out of touch with the prevailing sentiment in the Democratic Party, of which she is the nations leading, most powerful representative. A recent CNN […]

Meet Ayla Ayla was not, of course, her real name. That was Bethany Tong. Shed chosen Ayla, or rather her pimp had chosen it for her, because hed thought it sounded exotic. The pimp was long gone; Ayla went solo, after shed built up a suitable client list that included Dr. Wu. She was, at […]

Dr. Wus Secrets Pile Up One night, a naked Dr. Wu found himself in a dungeon, his hands shackled behind him, his ankles bound with soft braided rope. Down on his knees on a cold concrete floor, he was being tortured by a fierce-looking Asian woman, scantily clad in leather. The womanAyla was her namealternately […]

Flamb Arrives in Cuernavaca Flamb finally raised enough money for the breast enhancement surgery: $11,550 in total, mainly from her GoFundMe account. With Nicks help (he was good at that sort of thing), she made her travel and other arrangements. The plan was to arrive at La Casa de Pechos and have her initial consultation, […]

Cindys Visit Home The first thing Cindy and Danny had to turn their attention to, when they arrived back home after their honeymoon, was the impending birth of their child. Cindy bought books on childbirth and rearing; she made Danny read them. They went out and bought a crib, a stroller, baby clothes, toys and […]

Rosey Learns Something About Devon Camber It was a warm Spring Sunday: baseball weather. Roseys plan was to catch the As, who were playing the Yankees, on T.V. Ceci, also an As fan, had bought the food: Buffalo wings, chips, cheese dip, beer. It had been a long week; all of Roseys weeks were long. […]

Flamb Discovers GoFundMe Nick and Danny werent particularly enamored of Flambs request for money to pay for bigger breasts. She asked Nick one night when the two of them were home watching Friends reruns on T.V. Wow, Flamb, you know Id do anything for you, Danny replied. But thats a lot of money. The best […]

Flamb Figures out a Breast Plan; Nick Gets a Crush If you Google sex reassignment surgery youll find nearly three million results, each with links within links. Flamb must have gone through them all; or so it seemed to her. Even afterespecially afterEsthers tutelage, Flambs brain was filled with questions. Supposing she could come up […]

Mrs. Wu and the Little Gun Mrs. Wu, who knew nothing of her husbands nocturnal proclivities, led a very social life, with her bridge games, volunteering and entertaining, but Gladys Wu was fundamentally a lonely woman. Like her own daughter, Cindy, shed been an only child. Fantasy and imagination were her playmates, not real children. […]

Dr. Wu's Secret Dr. Wus struggles with his anger reflected a deeper disorientation in his mental makeup. He had always been conservative in his thinkingConfucian, in the Chinese sense of a deep and profound respect for authority and obedience to long-held traditions that had evolved over thousands of yearstraditions, moreover, that worked, and ough...

Roseys Persons of Interest In Roseys long experience as a cop and detective, hed figured out that there are basically two types of people: Those are have committed crimes but havent been caught, and those who have committed crimes and have been caught. Everyone, in other words, in Roseys opinion was a criminal. This gave […]

A Wedding! Danny finally gave up and agreed to have the baby. Well, youre making good money, you have that nice little house, and Cindyll make a great mom, Nick told him encouragingly. Ill be 28 in a few weeks, Danny thought; although he was freaked out by the thought of marriage, he figured it […]

Lisa Perrotti-Brown surprised no one with her glowing defense of her greatest mentor, Robert M. Parker Jr., which she published the other day, on the occasion of Parkers immediate retirement from The Wine Advocate, the periodical he founded in 1978. That Parker was the most famous and influential wine critic of the last 35 years, […]

Rosey Zooms In On Devon Camber The morning dawned rainy, windy and cold. Flamb, who had a physical aversion to bad weather, hated the thought of having to walk her clients dogs on such a day. But it had to be done. Her biggest gripe about the rain and wind concerned her appearance. Flamb was […]

Roseys Investigation Expands Mrs. Wu was furious at her daughter, at her husband, at Danny, at everyone. She exploded at the bridge game she played every Wednesday with her lady friends; a minor bidding mistake by her partner sent her into a towering rage. She remained in poor health, with frequent headaches; Dr. Wu gave […]

The Detective and the Councilmember OPD Detective Roosevelt Wilson BrownRoseyand Oakland City Councilmember Devon Camber met for drinks at the Five10 bar, on Fifteenth Street, just a few blocks from City Hall. Rosey was not in a good mood: the Oakland Police Department was under fire from the citys liberalsagainfor an alleged instance of police [&#...

Flambs Education Continues. Danny Gets Drunk Again Esther had had her sex reassignment surgery in Mexico, in a clinic in Monterrey. The total cost, some $22,500, included the initial consultations and the actual cost of surgery and anesthesia, as well as ten days of post-operative nursing care, medications, and all ground transportation, as well as...

Flamb Learns About Vaginas from a New Friend Flamb wanted a vagina. She always hadthe thought of it, the vision, was never far from her mind. Until recently, shed been able to live without, a lacuna that always needed fulfillment, like hunger, but that was manageable. Yet for the last several weeks, she had become […]

To Abort, or Not to Abort Danny wanted Cindy to get an abortion. Hed been thinking it over for days, ever since shed told him she was pregnant. The issue of abortion had never been of particular interest to Danny. Sure, hed followed the national debate all his adult life, but at a distance, and […]

They Certainly Dont Deserve to Die Its a tragic case, but really fairly straightforward. Dr. Wu was riffling through Duquenes medical file, while Rosey listened and took the occasional note. A single gunshot wound, more or less right between the eyes. Instant death. What kind of health was he in? Rosie asked. I mean, besides […]

Oakland Police Begin Their Search for the Killer No official informed the public about the first body, Duquenes. Nor did the police, District Attorney or Mayors office inform them of the second, third, fourth or fifth bodies. They all had names: Duncan Ailsworth, Robert Massey, Charles Wilkinson, Antwan Finch. There were however a few old […]

In the Age of Trump, Dr. Wu Wanders the Streets Danny was feeling justifiably annoyed. His life had sucked lately. First there was the mugging, from the effects of which he still occasionally had dizzy spells and headaches. Then there was the incident with the tent and the theft of his and Cindys belongings. At […]

Devon Wins On Tuesday, Nov. 8, Devon Camber was overwhelmingly elected to the City Council from Oaklands District 4. There was a big party that night at his campaign headquarters. Rainbow-colored balloons dropped. Music blared: Beyonc, local favorite Babyloaf, old Motown. Liquor flowed freely. Five hundred people munched on pizza, sushi, egg rolls,...

Cindy Has Shocking News For Danny Meanwhile, Danny and Cindy were back to their original problem: finding a place to live. Cindy couldnt, or wouldnt, go back home to her parents. Nor was there room for her to move in with Danny into Nicks Perkins Street flat; the one night they spent there proved that. […]

Flamb and Devon Settle In, as Election Day Nears Flamb felt desired. She lay on her side in Devons big bed. He was spooning her, asleep, his arm thrown loosely across her ribs. It was early, before dawn; the streets were mostly empty, although the first garbage and recycling trucks were beginning the days noisy […]

Mrs. Wu Tries to Reason with Danny Mrs. Wus emotional and physical health continued to deteriorate, even after she was discharged from the hospital. Her daughter was now gone; Mrs. Wus phone calls to her went unanswered. Dr. Wu, on Cindys sudden leaving home, retreated even further into his normally stolid shell. The house felt […]

Devon Tells Flamb How It Has to Be Youll be working closely with me, the candidate told Flamb over miso soup and California rolls. But were going to have to be careful about being seen together. Why? FranklinFlamblook. Its not like the old days. Im a public figure now. People are watching me, looking for […]

Nicks and Flambs Worlds Cross Through Devon Nick arrived in the Bay Area in 2002, after being admitted to Cal. Hed grown up with his hippie parents in a kind of commune in the Mendocino Highlands, a vast, mountainous region of Redwood forests, marijuana plantations, vineyards and wilderness, where mountain lions, black bears and elk […]

Cindy and Danny move into a tent Cindy continued to see Danny as summer slipped into fall. Her parents continued to resent it and harass her for it. Cindy took shelter in secrecy: she would not tell Dr. and Mrs. Wu where she had been when she came home at night. She never mentioned Danny […]

Danny and Cindy Try to Work Things Out Do you love him? Cindys mother had asked. The question bewildered her. Cindy wasnt sure she even believed in love. She understood simpler things, like respect, admiration, obedience, affection and loyalty; indeed, her mother displayed those qualities towards Dr. Wu and he, to a lesser extent, towards […]

Devon's Ambition Devon knew exactly what he wanted to be: The next Barack Obama. Young, gifted and Black, he saw the world around him, and the endless possibilities it contained, and believed he could obtain them through sheer determination and talent. People had always been drawn to him. He had that effect, and knew it. […]

Devon Comes Back Into Flambs Life Flambs dog walking business turned out to be a big success. Oakland seemed to have hundreds of dogs on each block. Their owners worked all day and didnt want to keep Poochie confined in their apartments until they finally made it home, via congested freeways or packed BART trains, […]

CINDY AND HER PARENTS HAVE A LITTLE CHAT Dr. Wus attitude towards Danny had changed when Danny went from being his patient to his daughters apparent boyfriend. He and Mrs. WuLucillecame from old-fashioned, conservative people, ethnic Han. Both had assumed their only child, Cindy, would marry a pure Chinese man and have pure-blood babies. Now, [R...

Franklin Becomes Flamb Moira led Franklin into the Promised Land. Where Devon had been his John the Baptist, Moira was his Savior. Slowly, expertly, she coaxed out the woman in him. He would consciously practice how he walked, the way he held his hands, the square of his shoulders or the arch of an eyebrow. […]

Flamb's Story, So Far FlambFranklin Bernard Wilkersonwho was born in 1984, grew up in public housing in San Franciscos Western Addition. His mom, JoAnne, was a housecleaner, and supplemented her income with a modest SSI stipend of $100 a month, to which she was entitled because of a blind left eye. There was no father, […]

Danny Ends Up in the Hospital Sometime after midnight on a Tuesday night in October, a five-story building development under construction on 27th Street, slated to be a mix of residential condos and retail, went up in flames. The neighborhood was shaken out of its sleep by the wailing sirens of fire engines and police […]