Author Archives: didofoot
The Folk of the Air
I remember once, in high school — it was just after French class, not that that matters — I got in a conversation with two or three other girls who were earnestly trying to convince me that the female orgasm couldn’t have been invented until the Renaissance. No way, they said, were ladies having a … Continue reading
Black tie and a fuckup
Last night I went to an anniversary event for a local charity. I get assigned a lot of these stories (profile pieces, human interest), so I mostly knew what to expect. Or so I thought. The event started at 7:00, so I showed up at 7:20, having learned from experience that if you get to … Continue reading
Blue Latitudes
I just finished reading Blue Latitudes, Tony Horwitz’s nonfiction best seller about Captain Cook. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Horwitz presents a ton of information about Cook, from his globe-encompassing routes to small details about the man (Cook was tall, and did not seem to understand the point of religion). He also travels to many of Cook’s … Continue reading
Fear and Joking in Dolores Park
I’m writing an article about the SFPD’s K-9 unit, which means Wednesday found me standing in Dolores Park taking pictures of a couple of cops and three dogs that are trained to kill me where I stand. I don’t know whether you’ve spent a lot of time around cops. I haven’t myself, and frankly they … Continue reading
FAA-gettabout it
I just checked the FAA website to see whether I’m allowed to put nail scissors in my carry-on when I fly to San Diego today. That’s where we’re at now: nail scissors might be on the list of evil items. It turns out you CAN carry nail scissors on now, though this is a new … Continue reading
Eclipse
Before I lost the book, I was reading Michele’s copy of Eclipse, the third in a series of vampire/werewolf/teen novels by Stephanie Meyer that we both enjoy. (The first two were Twilight and New Moon.) The above description (vampire/werewolf/teen) is intentional: in these books, teenage girls really are the third monster. The books chronicle the … Continue reading
My first recalcitrant source!
I called an unnamed large university today in search of a quote about a pending lawsuit against them. When the PR guy heard the subject of my call, he…hung up on me. He kind of snorted first. Now, I might have expected such scorn after he heard the name of the paper I work for, … Continue reading
Stay tuned for the sequel: Hondas and Geckos
As anyone who has spent time at our house knows, Gene and I own all the video games. By “all,” I mean most arcade, NES, SNES, N64, Sega and Atari games, as well as some of the XBox games and a few other systems. We don’t have those fancy-pants new systems like Wii, but we … Continue reading
Fuck with me and I will wallpaper your bathroom.
I’ve been applying for more gigs recently, seeking to fill those lonely hours that are currently filled with teaching Link how to fish in the Nintendo 64 Zelda. (That is the lamest puzzle, closely followed by the one where you have to capture all the escaped chickens in the village to get your lousy heart … Continue reading
Bank
I recently tried to open a new account with a local credit union, but somehow my thousand dollar check has gotten kind of misplaced. The girl I talked to on the phone put me on hold for a long time while she talked to the mail room guy, but no one’s seen it so far. … Continue reading