ALEC. The American Legislative Exchange Council. Been in business for four decades as the “national clearinghouse for pre-written right-wing bills that include fighting climate change bills, busting unions, repealing taxes on the rich, and ending minimum wage laws.” (Thank you, Gawker, for your very nice summation.) I wasn't sure I was ...
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It is another hot, hot day. The fifty-second day of scorching, hellish heat. Half of the trees in the woods on my thirteen beautiful acres are dead or dying. It looks like autumn out there. But I am cool in my little housie. I put some water and dogfood out for ...
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It is a bright Sunday morning, about a year ago. I am having hotcakes and bacon at my brother’s house. The house is full of the smell of “home.” The bacon is flat and straight and perfectly fried and in layers between paper towels on a large platter on the ...
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Geography is Destiny I saw The Descendants on Christmas Day. It’s set in Hawaii. I realized how deeply geography has affected me. I’m from Hawaii. It’s a huge factor. Not many people I am around grew up there. I find myself to be an oddball. Place. Setting. Geography is destiny. Water If geography is ...
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“Come a little bit closer. Hear what I have to say,” Neil Young sings. I am in heaven. The day moves gently. It is perfect. The sounds – birds, leaves rustling, Neil singing – caress me. The world outside this house is Eden. Glowing green, pulsing yellow, a flash of red, purple peeks ...
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PROLOGUE (By Commie Mom, For David Gregory, who asked.) I wrote this story five years ago. It is about pouring the concrete foundation for my little environmental steel and glass house here on thirteen beautiful acres in Oklahoma. I designed the house. It's a simple rectangle (the best environmental shape, it turns out) ...
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When I decided to move to Oklahoma's countryside it was because I was faced with not being able to afford to live in California. I built the first house I have ever owned with $48,000 from my California State Teachers Retirement fund. I built it with every environmental trick in ...
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This is a cautionary tale, a tale of hubris and foolhardiness. It is a tale which illustrates the old maxim, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” This is what happened: I was walking through my house. It's one big room because I have always loved loft spaces and their open floor ...
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As you probably already know by now, I live in Oklahoma, in the country, in a house I built, living on my retirement check and the lovely monthly check I get for writing these stories. I am not rolling in dough. But then, again, I am not starving, either. I am ...
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