The events in Charlottesville, Virginia are still fresh in our minds and emotions are running high. A fear of rising escalation of anger, of steeper polarization seems to be taking hold. […]
Retorts: Wielding words as weapons
Retorts: It’s one year for the OC Tribune
“Journalism,” Matthew Arnold said, “is literature in a hurry.” I can remember in my youth scrambling to write articles to meet some impending daily deadline, peering desperately at increasingly obscure notes, feeling […]
Retorts: The two sides of gentrification
Here’s the good news. Get ready for your property values to rise. Here’s the not-quite-as-good news: your kids may have to move to East Overshoe in order to find an affordable house […]
Retorts: Stop, you’re killing me with jokes!
“What are you gonna do?” That’s a very common line from the now-venerable HBO series “The Sopranos,” about a mobster and his family, made unique by his visits to a psychiatrist. Marilyn […]
Retorts: Math requirements don’t add up
Let’s imagine a high school classroom, more than a few years ago. A group of students is working geometry problems. A pretty blonde in the front row turns to the boy behind […]
Retorts: Keep your pot to yourself, please
Don’t smoke that dope. At least not around me. That sort of summarizes my whole attitude about the legalization in California for medicinal and recreational use of marijuana, also known as cannabis. […]
Retorts: Trader Joe’s? Amazon? BevMo?
Of all the amenities that a community needs and wants, among the most important are shopping and dining opportunities. That may sound shallow, but these days shopping is a sport and eating […]
Retorts: Time of the rockets’ red scares
Have a heart. The July 4 season is just about on us, and what we see and hear is the proliferation of fireworks, both legal and illegal. For the next week or […]
Retorts: Wear your achievements proudly
Note: This is a classic Retorts column from 2011, originally published in the old Garden Grove Journal. History is full of the exploits of great leaders, warriors and scientists. Society rewards them […]
Retorts: New birth in the old home town
A decade or so ago, the city launched a public relations campaign for the Big Strawberry called “Renaissance Garden Grove.” It was well-intentioned but clunky, and never really got much traction. But […]
