My Time

Today is a Sunday, which means I don't have to go to work. My only responsibility is to receive a delivery of food and supplies from Safeway about a half hour from now.

Yesterday my friend Tomoko stopped by to deliver me a new amulet. I do not know what this amulet actually means other than it supposedly keeps me safe and costs $34 a year. I'm to place it at the highest place possible in my living room. I also got my old car to start and reparked it on the Thursday side of the street, a major accomplishment.

I need to replace one of my security lamps out front but am not tall enough to do so. I'll wait on one of my sons to help me. These are motion-sensitive lamps that are meant to protect my security.

I long to get my time back. Having to work day after day is draining me. There is a television in my office so I can monitor the news.

The news is all bad. We have a President who is crazy. I find myself muting the signal rather than listening to him.

But I am a journalist. Tomorrow I am to deliver a talk about ethics to our incoming group of interns. I will start with a story. It's from a couple of years ago. My video producer, Adam, was re-investigating a crime that happened more than 40 years ago.

He was at the crime scene, a muddy creek in the East Bay. But it was surrounded by a chain-link fence. The sign said "No Trespassing." He called me when he spotted a hole in the fence.

I told him, "What is the question?"

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The Unspoken

These are photos of my youngest daughter's favorite book when she was a little girl. On the inside cover is probably the image of her very first signature.

I read it to her over and over, long before she could read herself. So many times, in fact, that eventually I would start a sentence and she would finish it.

For example, when I read "Using her new powers,.." my tiny daughter said "...Ursula grew monstrously huge."

These memories come to me as I contemplate my present circumstances, with no pity.

I have always felt the tension many parents feel between work and family. I've also always done the best I could.

These days, this has become increasingly difficult. My obligations to those I love are substantial, financially, but at KQED, it is obvious that they are trying to eliminate me. They've already gotten rid of other older editors and now I am next.

It isn't subtle and the risks are huge. The very best reporters have been coming to me and saying that I am the main reason they are staying there. They can see what is happening. They are asking me to fight.

What am I to do? Truth be told, I would love to retire and write a memoir. I would like to wake up every day and just tell the story of our lives, like the bit above. But I cannot afford to.

So i guess I have to put up with this bullshit, right? But that will freeze my voice.Those are my final options, I suppose.

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New Face of Political Change?

I rarely watch 60 Minutes but last night I tuned in to watch Anderson Cooper's interview with 29-year-old Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It is easy to see her emerging as a voice fpr Millennials in future years. She seems to be a rising political star.

This is a generation that badly needs a voice. Their concerns -- climate change, college loan debt and more -- are being largely ignored by the political establishment of both parties

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Hello From Spain

Julia and Lauren at the top of a castle in Alicante today.

Happy New Year!

Aidan & Kelsey in Napa.

Happy New Year all!

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Reprise and Memory

This is a photo I first posted here on March 10, 2007. It is of my youngest son, Dylan, at a meeting of The Nation editorial board meeting in New York. Dylan somehow ended up 'chairing' that meeting after meeting the great Norman Birnbaum, with whom he discussed their mutual love of history.

Today I learned Norman in gravely ill in a hospital in Washington DC. Dylan is scheduled to enroll in his 4th college in 5 years, SF State, next month, majoring in history.

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FAFSA Time

Over to Bernal today to help my youngest file her financial aid application. She does all the work; I just advise. It is an impressive thing to see her work on it as a 20-year-old.

She leaves for Spain and "study abroad" on Wednesday.

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