Department Store Santy
The skinny old guy sitting in my office was saying, “I don’t have no family, so long hours on a holiday don’t bother me any. You can count on me, I been a Santy for [...]
Mimeo Memories
The magic of Christmas has been written about by far more interesting writers than I, but I had my own special experience with the season.Let’s talk Christmas presents. The best present I ever got from [...]
The Opioid Addict Next Door
The Opioid epidemic, which easily drifts from the public spotlight, continues to rage on.But as shameful and devastating as it is, it’s only one aspect of America’s drug woes.Of course, drug addiction has been around [...]
From the Other Side of the Glass
As I write this, a little bit of Meskimen family history is unfurling… I’m in the green room at Village Recording studios in Santa Monica, famous for many hits that were recorded here by Fleetwood [...]
A THANKSGIVING WISH FOR YOU
May the holidays provide you rest, peace, space for your own thoughts, hope where none has been able to thrive, enjoyment of people you love, a little exercise, delicious food, some insights, opportunities, and an [...]
FACE VALUE
In my youth, I believed that when I got to be a certain age, (such as the age I am now) I would have become “wise”. Silly me. That’s almost as silly as believing that [...]
Fiction: The Mulberry Tree
This is a story that flitted into my mind one morning a couple of weeks ago, and reminded me of stories I’ve read in The New Yorker magazine written by Japanese writers and translated into [...]
SHE RODE THE BIG NINE-OH
My mother, Marion Ross, to whom I owe so much, is celebrating her 90th birthday this month. She’s had such an inspiring and positive effect on my life and on the lives of my family, [...]
THE DOWNSIDE OF EMPATHY
As empathy is a part of the physical universe, it naturally has an evil twin. In my case, my empathy has helped me to master impressions and create performances, as well as paintings, illustrations, portraits, [...]
MY LIFE AS A BRITISH ART PROFESSOR
Back in 2009, I reinvented myself. Here’s how it began: Long ago, when I was a confused and rudderless art student at UC Santa Cruz, I took classes from a professor whose opinions I clung [...]