A Southerner in San Francisco

On a clear day you can see...Wait, remind me what a clear day is?
View of Twin Peaks from Market and Noe on Nov. 15, 2018. AQI: 188.
The Camp Fire that has devastated large areas of Butte County, California, continues to pump dangerous smoke into the San Francisco Bay Area and much of Northern California—as deadly wildfires continue to blaze in Southern California....

During a recent trip to my hometown of Greensboro, N.C., I considered not visiting my mother.
I hadn’t had a good visit with her in more than two years. Why should I expect something different this time? During those visits, ‘Moop’ (as we call her) had been dead asleep. Or if awake, she was ornery. On one occasion, she was downright mean. I’d...

Among their many, many chores, it seems that mothers are destined to take their kids to an emergency room at least once.
My mother certainly did. In her own words, here's a recounting of Ruth Martin's quick-get-a-doctor moments with my four sisters and me. (I'm quoting from my mother's chapter in a collective family history book published in 1992.)...

Brace yourselves. I'm about to use a baseball metaphor.
Last Sunday night, we delighted in seeing character actor Leslie Jordan performing Show Pony, a one-man performance about his recent Hollywood adventures. When I wasn't laughing out loud at his breathlessly recounted stories, I couldn't help but admire...