Essays by Larry Barnett
Today I unpacked the last remaining box of my late wife Norma’s books. The two-car garage at the condo was completely filled when we moved in just over four months ago, and now it’s almost empty. Between what’s been thrown away, donated, and brought inside, my life is now firmly established in my new home,… Read the rest
I first sat on my wicker sofa in diapers as a toddler, 75 years ago. It was located on our screened-in porch on the western side of our house in the suburbs of New York. Given summer’s mosquitos, a screened-in porch was not not a luxury, but a necessity.
The sofa spent many years in my mother’s apartment in … Read the rest
Kaiser Hospital recently announced it is laying off nurses at two of its clinics in the North Bay. Those of us who have regular encounters with healthcare providers know that nurses provide the human touch to a profession that’s increasingly impersonal. Although technology like Zoom provides new… Read the rest
The progression of technology has been relentless and has hastened the acceleration of its own progress. Whether or not artificial machine intelligence (AI) becomes technology’s ultimate expression, humanity already faces an unprecedented challenge. The intersection of politics and technology… Read the rest
Grieving for my wife is a mix of sadness and reflection, including some survivor’s guilt. I always figured that with my history of heart disease I’d be the first to go, but life turned out otherwise, as it so often does.
In the two months since my wife of fifty years, Norma, passed away suddenly, I’ve repeatedly… Read the rest
We live in troubled times. Global warming, wars of conquest, social upheaval, political unrest, environmental damage, the list goes on. It’s easy to get swept up in all that’s happening, and to feel overwhelmed and discouraged.
I get it. And I have my moments of anguish. Overall, however, I don’t spend… Read the rest
My youngest granddaughter is eleven. She recently stayed over for a few days, which for me was a non-stop, high-energy, why walk when you can run, goof-around, back-and forth word-play episode of exuberant joy.
Being a senior adult, I’m mostly surrounded by other seniors, many of whom I love dearly,… Read the rest
Having moved two months ago from the home my wife and I lived in for nearly 30 years, I’ve been going through boxes, many of which were packed years ago and stored. Among them are boxes of material passed down to me by my father: family photo albums, framed WW2 Army photos, and various documents.
Among the… Read the rest
Some things about death are final, most significantly that once gone a loved one will never be seen again. This departure can feel quite unreal, and I keep half expecting my late wife to pop in the front door and once again say “Hi Honey. I’m home.” It won’t happen, but that doesn’t stop my imagination from… Read the rest
When my late wife and I moved across town, I cancelled our AT&T internet and DirectTV accounts. A month and a half later, a letter from AT&T arrived telling me we were entitled to a refund, and a debit card was included. The amount of the refund was not indicated.
The process of sending a debit card… Read the rest
Giving up is something all animals do. Our pursuit of a particular outcome is always weighed against the required energy and exertion; when the output exceeds the potential benefit, animals give up and move on. Thus a woodpecker will doggedly ram its beak into a tree trunk in pursuit of a beetle grub, … Read the rest
I grew up in an affectionate household. Both my mother and my father hugged and kissed me right up to the days of their deaths. As a little boy, I would sit on my father’s lap while we watched TV, and when we took walks he held my hand. I remember crawling into my mother’s bed during thunderstorms where she would… Read the rest
Crypto this, crypto that. It seems like a new cryptocurrency is introduced every week. But what, exactly, is the cryptocurrency mania about? Essentially, it’s the privatization of currency, yet another fragmenting of society facilitated by digital technology.
The underlying basis of all currencies… Read the rest
Norma, my dear departed wife of fifty years and I owned and lived in four homes. We bought our first home in 1984, a dilapidated house near the southern border of Piedmont, CA, just a block from Oakland’s Grand Avenue. We lived there for five years, fixed it up, sold it, moved to Sonoma in 1990 and bought a … Read the rest
Democracy’s an idea that’s been kicking around for thousands of years, an attempt to bring a particular form of order to a chaotic world. criticism of democracy goes all the way back to Plato’s Republic in Ancient Greece of 380 B.C., his thoughts on how to create a good society. Suffice to say, Plato was… Read the rest
Being alive is a risky business; we live in a predatory world, a living system where life feeds on life. As such, risk and the threat of injury and/or death is always present. This is true for the smallest and the largest of living things.
As human beings, the nature of risk depends upon one’s place in the … Read the rest
The analysis, commentary, and complaints about American politics are prolific. Certain themes are repeatedly explored, such as voters’ educational levels, identity, and economic status, but all these are basically subordinate to the one factor nobody really talks about: the psychology of politics.… Read the rest
What’s going on in the world is so outlandish that it would be rejected by Hollywood as implausible, too unlikely and unbelievable. Do you find yourself asking, “Who writes this stuff?” And yet, the plot goes on.
Here’s a pitch: A coddled Rich Kid from Queens New York becomes a gifted but unscrupulous … Read the rest
Sorting out truth from fiction has never been easy, and today it’s harder than ever. The proliferation of disinformation, political propaganda, shameless self-promotion, and outright deception makes it very difficult to know what’s true. Lies are often more interesting, too. But what is truth,… Read the rest
As the current administration in Washington continues to run roughshod over the constitution, congress and the courts, it’s worthwhile asking how it is that America’s autocrats learned to behave the way they do. The answer is stunningly obvious: America’s workplace.
In their wisdom, our founding… Read the rest