Hoyt Axton

I'd have to consult my journals to recover the date, but I went to a concert in the early 70s to see Hoyt Axton perform this and other numbers.

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Happy Holidays!

Time spent with my three youngest kids On Christmas. That was great. Have spent the rest of the week ill, unfortunately, but that was the highlight of this holiday week for me.

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Holiday Parties

Last Friday night I went out with colleagues for an after-work party. Yesterday I went out to lunch on the the waterfront in SF at a great Chinese restaurant. Great times!

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Pre-holiday Cheer

Peter and Claire came by last night to exchange presents. They are headed to Seattle for Christmas this year.

Aidan and Julia came by KQED today and we had lunch in a nearby cafe. Wonderful to see my youngest after four months -- our longest time apart ever.

Meanwhile, last Friday on Newsroom we aired an interview with Rep. Jackie Speier, in which she said there was a "rumor on the Hill" that Trump intends to fire Special Counsel Mueller. That story has since gone viral, most recently airing two nights in a row on CNN.

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Sunday Fun

Wonderful family get together yesterday. Laila, Loic and kids came over as did Peter and Claire. In the middle of it all, my car wuldn't start. Laila and Peter helped me jump start it and I got it reparked on the other side of the street.

Thanks, guys!

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This Week's Guest

                                                                                 (Photo by Roger Chiang.)

The long-time CBS journalist Dan Rather came by KQED this week and appeared on our various shows and platforms. He was articulate, gracious and accommodating.

This is a photo of him, our Raul Ramirez Diversity intern, Audrey Garces, and yours truly, taken in Studio A.

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Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Aidan and I started out the day with a frustrating task -- updating is FAFSA profile now he is headed back to school in January (probably at San Francisco State). But he did the work, with my assistance. That is my rule these days -- to have the kids handle their own financial aid applications, with me by their side. As opposed to the old way, when I did it all for them.

Then he drove Dylan and me over to Peter and Claire's house, where we spent a lovely afternoon and evening with the extended family. Claire prepared two turkeys, flattened and with their spines removed, in a manner I was not previously familiar with. The entire meal was delicious -- Dylan was especially expressive about how much he liked it.

It looks like he will get into U-C, Santa Cruz, in January!

We spoke to Julia by phone. She is in Connecticut with her grandmother for the weekend, having taken the train up there from Baltimore.

The grandchildren were charming as ever, shyly hugging me one by one. I must be an odd, intimidating figure to them -- sold old, with long white hair and a strange history they can be only vaguely aware of.

Must of the past week was devoted to talking to people about the HBO documentary about Rolling Stone. I am one of the featured characters in the doc. That was a long, long time ago, but I am still proud of the work we did there -- Howard, Lowell and me.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend. I hope yours is healthy and relaxing.

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The First Amendment

Yesterday Tom Burke came to KQED to speak to our news staff about libel, privacy, surveillance and the many other legal issues we face as journalists. It was the first time I'd met him in person and we got to spend some time together chatting before and after his presentation.

He is our outside counsel on the many public records act requests we make, he teaches at the J-School at Berkeley, and is a partner at one of the leading firms in SF. It turns out he started his career as an intern at the law firm that represented both Rolling Stone and CIR in the years I worked at those places, and hsi first project was to work on the Bergman-Ramirez defense team.

The legal aspects of investigative reporting have long been a passion of mine, so this was an opportunity to get to know a leading expert.

When I introduced myself, he said, "You are a legend."

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Rainy Friday (Nice)

I'm taking today off; it's a company holiday.

Last night I watched the HBO documentary on Rolling Stone. It triggered memories, including who I was 40+ years ago. I'm one of the minor characters in the film. A whole bunch of colleagues at work had seen the film before I did and told me about it.

Meanwhile I missed the SPJ awards ceremony, where Adam, Alex and I won for The Trials of Marvin Mutch, our online documentary.

It is raining! the first one of the season...

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101st

Yesterday would have been my Dad's 101st birthday. He didn't make it that far, but every year on my parents' birthdays, I think of them. Actually I think of them many other times as well. Recently they have been appearing in my dreams. They are the adults and I am one of the children.

Just as it was in the 50s and early 60s.

That makes me wonder about the essence of life -- and death. We seem to come and go, but after we are gone, our memory and our footprint remains.

Our stories are rich with memories of those who have preceded us in death. I'm not at all sure what our dreams represent.

***

This was a rough week at work. Many personnel issues to deal with -- people not getting along with other people. I've got several of these tough interpersonal relationships to manage. I took care of one yesterday. At least two others remain. One will prove to be a long-term project.

Most of us spend so much time at work that those relationships come to dominate our lives. Most of us have a partner at home, which is special. But that is not me, not my story.

My story is that I had two marriages, both of which lasted many years, and a few other relationships, none of which lasted many years at all.

Now at age 70.5+, I have been alone for a long time. And, for reasons obscure to me, my various IRAs are forcing me to withdraw money, which I suppose will be taxed as if it is income when in fact it is money I didn't spend but could have years ago.

This feels unfair and only one more sign of how America does not care for us as we age.

We are all left utterly on our own.

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The Problem and Promise of Aging

Today I woke up at 6 a.m. That is way too early for my day off from the stresses of work, but I think it happened because I am excited -- to have a day off. Now that I am 70.5 years old, my various IRAs are sending me checks, cashing out a portion of my savings, according to some rule or another. What is that about?

I'm just going to reinvest those checks in other IRAs, because I do not need the money.

Yesterday was my youngest's birthday. I thought of her all day long, living a continent away from me. When I texted her, she responded "Thanks Pops." She's never called me that before, but I kinda like it.

There is a new biography out of Jann Wenner. In that context, some have asked me about my attempt to write one and the piece in Salon that was the basis for that attempt.

Life goes on.

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Happy 19th, Julia!

Catchup

It was great to see an old friend, Van Jones, today as he came to KQED to promote his new book on Forum. I met Van when we both agreed to advise Julia Butterfly Hill years ago when she finally came down from her redwood tree.

In those years he was a community organizer in Oakland. Since becoming a major commentator for CNN he has emerged as one of the top voices in opposition to Trump.

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Brunch Today!

 With Aidan and Dylan!

Happy 6th!

 Party for Oliver at my house on Sunday...

Fire

This image doesn't even begin to capture the scene from my back door. Fire smoke has coated the Bay Area. The sun is actually bright red -- too bright for the camera in my cellphone to record. Smoke hangs heavily in the air.

This is an ongoing disaster. Many people have died and many more have lost their homes.

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Family Weekend

My youngest daughter Julia with her Aunt Carole, my youngest sister, at today's Goucher College "Family Weekend" -- thank you Carole!

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Weekender

Another relentless news week, which is wearing us all down. But today starts KQED's weekend news staffing -- now we are a seven-days-a-week operation. I am in the background, not on the weeknd staff officially, but the de facto copy editor in the background.

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Wednesday News

Aidan and Dylan drove me to brunch today, actually it was early afternoon. We went to the Moonlight Cafe on Bernal.

I am so blessed to have children who wish to spend time with me.

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Weekly Report

The accumulation of bad news lately has made me grow tired. Or maybe I am just old. But walking to and from work has become more of a burden lately -- it takes twice as long as it used to. On the other hand, I have been meeting and hiring more young people who want to be journalists. That is a very nice thing.

This is somewhat amazing, given how low paid we are and how many dangers lurk for those of us who try to practice this craft. Think about it -- lawsuits, death threats, insults, being called the 'enemies of the people' by he who purports to be our President. He who doesn't even know what play those words are lifted from. He is an uneducated idiot.

Yesterday I met John Yoo. the UC Berkeley professor who is best known for writing the memo justifying President George W. Bush's use of torture against Al-Qaeda suspects. It was a great pleasure talking with him, as he is one of the most thoughtful intellectuals I have met in a long time.

He invited me to speak at his constitutional law class. I doubt I will do that because I have completely quit driving. But I enjoyed our talk.

Most people, I realize, do not know me, in the political sense of that term. They do know know I am not a liberal, conservative, nor a radical. They do not know that I am none of those things at all. They do not know the thing that I am.

The best news I got this week is that my sister Carole and her husband Tom will be able to visit my youngest, Julia, on 'family weekend' soon at Goucher College, just outside Baltimore.

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National Unity

NFL players and other athletes all over this country are protesting Trump's insulting comments Friday night about what "loyalty" is. Thank God for them.

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Country Music

All of my kids, but probably only a few of my friends, know that I have always loved country music. It doesn't seem consistent with what people think of me, but it is the truth. I can't tell you how many times people have told me they assume I am a "Berkeley liberal."

I've never lived in Berkeley and I've never considered myself a liberal. In fact, from the moment I arrived here, I couldn't stand the politically correct people I was forced to endure in the course of my work.

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a conservative or a liberal. I am some sort of combination of both. I see both sides. As for music, I love all kinds. Last night, in a nostalgic mood, I revisited some of my favorite country songs. I especially love those by George Jones  -- the sad sorrowful songs. I don't know why.

I guess I'm drawn to the blues.

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Sanibel

Tonight I am worrying about my favorite place on earth, Sanibel Island. I visited and lived there for over 20 years, wrote my books there, and watched my older kids grow up there.

It seems hurricane Irma has Ft. Myers in her sights. That city is right across the bay from Sanibel. A slender flat barrier island could easily be destroyed in the process.

Here are webcams.

I hope not.

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Happy Birthday Aidan!

Yesterday he turned 23 and we took him to dinner at Dosa on Valencia for some delicious spicy Indian food. He is such a fine young man, now single and working full-time.

At work we are tracking the hurricanes in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico; also the earthquake and hurricane hitting Mexico -- lots of news this weekend. And, of course, all the political news that never seems to stop coming.

I've been interviewing candidates for some new hires at work. We are going to seven-days-a-week news coverage!

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Today's News

In these difficult days, with the awful tragedy in Texas, it is best that we connect with each other and find moments of hope.

Today, Aidan and Dylan picked me up at KQED and we went to lunch at Toast on 24th Street.

It was a wonderful break from the news cycle

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If You're Coming to San Francisco...

It's a sunny day here here in the city by the Bay. Thousands of people are expected to fill the streets -- most of them marching against the hate groups that called rallies here. The hate groups have been sending mixed messages about whether they will go ahead with their plans or not.

At KQED News, we have a number of teams going out to various points to report on what goes on. My own sense is that if a very large number of counter-protesters -- tens of thousands -- come out, then *that* is the story.

We have a hate-inciting President, who has inspired these fringe groups to emerge from the shadows where they belong.

I'll spend the weekend coordinating our digital news coverage.

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First Days

52 years ago, I moved away from home and into my dorm and met my roommates in Ann Arbor. I was 18.

Today my youngest, Julia, moves into her dorm at Goucher in Maryland and meets her roommate. So my thoughts and hopes are with her. I hope she likes her room and even more that she likes her roommate.

The world is so different than it was when I went away to college. I was a conservative Republican. My roommates were from Detroit -- Philip (white) and Timothy (black). I quickly became very close with Timothy, so much so that I was eventually invited to join one of the black fraternities on campus.

I also became friends with Timothy's friends -- including a guy who was Stevie Wonder's best childhood friend and a guy who dated Diana Ross in high school.

The latter guy, sadly, had some emotional problems and later tried to commit suicide.

The whole experience, for me, was surreal. Here I was, a pretty naive white boy who had grown up in small towns -- Royal Oak and Bay City -- unsophisticated to the point that I did not even know how to leave a tip in a restaurant.

I certainly did not know anything about girls, which Timothy urged me to rectify. When his Dad dropped him off he had left a bunch of condoms, and he offered to introduce me to any number of girls.

Wandering around campus one night I came upon a small circle of activists sitting and chanting anti-war and civil rights slogans and songs. Taunting them were a number of jocks.

Instantly, I knew which side I was on and I began an intensive self-eductional mission on the civil rights and anti-war movements.

I transformed myself into a left-wing activist and advocate. I knew most of the major black leaders on campus to the point where they trusted me with information about their future actions, which included chaining themselves to the front of buildings to prevent business as usual.

Within months, I changed again, turning myself into a journalist in order to cover these events. In those days we didn't draw a line between actively participating and writing about participating, but gradually, as I became educated, I realized I couldn't do both.

I chose to become an observer and to record what I witnessed.

Many years later, my perspective changed again, and I started becoming more conservative again, with libertarian tendencies. I fell in love with free markets and free trade.

Now, at age 70, I shun all labels. I hope, most of all, that I am a humanist, with sympathy for all others. And most of all today, I hope my 18-year-old daughter, as the wonderful, brilliant, beautiful person she is, starts on some sort of adventure like my life has brought me.

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This Week's News

The most important story in my world is that Julia flew back to Maryland yesterday to start her college years.

On the professional side: Today we had Rep. Adam Schiff on our TV show. I spent some time with him off-camera, partly because I sense he is going somewhere politically in the future. We talked about how exhausting this endless news cycle is for all of us -- congress members and journalists and members of the public.

I found him thoughtful, polite and articulate.

It is the privilege of being a journalist that I get to meet these people. Today I made sure I had a chance to connect with someone who I suspect will in the future be a senator, governor or even president.

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Terrible National Crisis

Trump is a racist, anti-semitic hater who is inciting race war in this country. This is the most dangerous moment for the future of America in my lifetime.

Trump is also a deranged would-be dictator. He must be stopped.

I simply cannot believe anyone I know or love would have voted for Trump, but if you did, it is time for you to apologize -- to all of us.

Look at the kids at Charlottesville singing inspirational songs tonight! This is what America is actually about, not the violent shit-heads of the white supremacist movement.

What a shameful moment. I am ashamed of everyone who brought this horrible person to the Presidency.

Go back, think of your real values, and join the movement that will soon be developing to impeach this horrible son-of-a-bitch, this traitor.

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Off to College!

I hosted Julia's going away to college party last night and toasted her. I couldn't help it but I broke down as I did so. I will miss her, as she is going so far away.

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Week in Review

The peak day for me was Wednesday. The younger kids got back from their trip to Montana, including Glacier National Park, and Aidan and Dylan came over to pick up Jax.

That evening, Peter came over and we had dinner -- Chinese food from Alice's. Claire is due back today from her trip to Poland and this is their first anniversary! A year ago we were all in Seattle celebrating with them.

At work the hot news cycle continues to drive us crazy. Trump looks likely to be impeached more than ever before. He acts like a guilty man. Best guess is his team did in fact collude with the Russians in trying to steal the election from Clinton. There is just too much evidence to believe otherwise.

Plus he has a real prosecutor on his tail in Mueller, which clearly scares him. For the first time in his life, this bully is learning what most of the rest of us know -- we cannot just do whatever we want to do, we have to play by the rules.

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House Guest

The other night when I was sleeping Jax figured out how to turn on the TV by playing with the remote. Or maybe he just pressed the right button while playing with the device. Either way, when I woke up the TV was on.

I've placed a stool by the front window so he can look out. He gets pretty excited when anyone walks by and especially when my upstairs neighbors come and go, because they have young children and he obviously likes kids.

We've been trying to recover from the hack at KQED but it has been seven weeks and we are still not back to form. Our next big investigative piece will come out this coming week -- a look at how undocumented immigrants are treated when they are detained in county jails on behalf of ICE.

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Visitor

This Jackson, Aidan's cat, who is one year old. He is staying me the next week as the kids travel to Montana, including Glacier National Park.

Tonight, when I got home I discovered he had gotten into an open package of seaweed, which I suppose makes sense because cats like fish and the smell of the seaweed must have attracted him.

He is a very curious kitten and has been exploring every corner of the flat he can get to.

Julia, Dylan and Aidan are staying here tonight before their flights to Missoula tomorrow morning. Julia just ordered us Chinese food.

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Brunch This Morning

Aidan and Julia took me to Toast on 24th Street, a place we discovered some years ago that is very close to Noe Valley Bakery, where Julia works as the checkout clerk.

Aidan's breakup with Zaira looks to be permanent and he seems to be doing fine. He also is set to quit U-Montana, move back home, and apply to SF State.

Dylan is still hoping to attend U-C Santa Cruz but he has yet to get word on whether he can after getting a low grade in a required statistics course.

Since Aidan and Zaira had two cats, she is keeping Mika and Aidan is keeping Jax, the one-year-old kitten.

My fantasy baseball team is in 3rd place. Due to a big differential in pitching innings I am effectively in second place, but 200+ points behind the leader.

It is warm and sunny here today.

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Russia-Gate

Until this week, I did not know what to think about how far the scandals surrounding Trump would go. Now I do. We are headed straight to impeachment, perhaps not until after the next Congressional elections next year, but ultimately that is the only way this can end up.

Why? Because what we know to date is far from everything. There is a slow drip, drip, drip of intelligence leaking out of the White House and the intelligence agencies.

So, as a long-time investigative reporter, my sense is that there is much, much more evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Putin. I have no idea which smoking gun will sink the administration or when but there will be one.

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The Next Generation

Grandson Luca pitching today in Santa Cruz. (Photo by Aunt Sarah.)

Peter's birthday was Friday (36).

Work is slowly returning to a new normal following the June 15th hack. Our operations have been badly disrupted and my staff is exhausted.

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Lunch

Nice time at El Matate with Aidan and Dylan, both of whom have a lot of changes going on their lives. Looks like they both may be moving back to San Fransisco.

More on that soon.

Happy 4th of july!

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Plums

Our backyard plum tree, which yields dark large plums this time of year, didn't produce many this time around, probably due to the bizarre weather we've been experiencing all year. My neighbor brought me a bowl of them tonight.

They are delicious and it was kind of him to bring them to me.

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Father's Day

First, sorry this photo is blurry. My camera is failing and I'll have to remember to switch to my iPhone from now on to get good photos.

It was a very nice gathering for my 41st Father's Day, with Peter and Claire, Sarah and her three boys, Aidan and Julia all here.

Aidan has returned from Missoula and will now spend the summer here, working at the same market as Dylan, who had to work on Sunday. Aidan is particularly good with his nephews, who are energetic and physical. Laila and her family spent the day at China Camp, a great Bay Area location.

At KQED we were hacked last Thursday with a virus planted in most of our systems. Working has been challenging over the past week, but we on the online team have been pretty consistent since we use Macs and the hack involved PCs.

I'm working from home today, as I do most Wednesdays now. Trying to reduce the stress of the workweek.

The news is difficult when it comes to our national situation. There are many moments I fear for our country, its Constitution and our freedoms.

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Updates

My two youngest came over yesterday mid-day and we had lunch from a local cafe. They both have full-time jobs and are working hard to save money for the fall semester, etc.

Busy week with the Comey hearings and all the news out of D.C.

I had intended to try and go to my oldest child's birthday party today but woke up with a bad cold so will not be able to do that.

Taking care of errands around the house, watching TV and doing a little work.

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Premiere

Peter and Claire drove me over to the Oakland Museum, for the first public showing of The Trials of Marvin Mutch. We met Laila there.

Traffic was so bad we did not get there in time for the reception or the first half of the film. But it was clear the event was a big success.

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Graduation Day!

Congratulations, Julia!