California Dreaming
I walked out onto a rocky pier and sat watching the surfers. They reminded me of seals, bobbing up and down, carried by the relentless rush of the ocean. Then the right wave came in, and they gracefully rose up on their boards and glided along until it ended. I thought that it must be […]
A Fan Letter to Alex Cockburn
I first corresponded with Alex Cockburn in 1986. An article of mine titled, “South Africa, Anti-communism, and Value-Free Science” had appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education and created a stir. One of the irate letter writers was Sidney Hook, the philosopher and former Marxist turned ardent right-winger. Among other things, Hook said that he […]