I had seen him watching me for several days. The driveway leading out of Havana’s Hotel Nacional might have been 50 yards or more, and he seemed to be standing there at the end of it every day.
Making Demons of Those We Fear (September 1998)
Does anyone remember “Dog Town?” That’s the unflattering name police in Oakland sometimes used to describe the mostly African American neighborhood near the Nimitz Freeway. When the Nimitz pancaked during the Loma Prieta earthquake in October, 1989, 30 people were killed. Dozens more had to be rescued. Residents of the West Oakland neighborhood rushed to […]
Andrea Ford: A Remembrance (August 1999)
The last time I saw her is the way I want to remember her. She was happier than I had ever seen her in the nearly 10 years we had known one another. And she could laugh out loud when her friends at the Times kidded her unmercifully, saying she was leaving the paper and […]
Finding the Spirit at West Angeles
Sure, they wanted to go to Venice Beach, Hollywood, the Santa Monica Promenade, Century City and downtown. But at the top of their list was 7 a.m. ‘‘mass’’ at West Angeles Church of God in Christ.
The Origin of Hip
George Robinson, approaching his 80s, was helping his wife with her boots one recent winter.
For some reason, she was uncomfortable, and putting them on became a challenge. Finally, after some struggle, the boots were in place. Robinson, a resident of Detroit, then looked up at her and said: ”There, honey. I’ve got you hipped and booted.”
Clever
One of the smartest guys I knew in the blue-collar, predominantly black neighborhood where I grew up in Detroit was a voracious reader and an all-city basketball player.
He read so much and was knowledgeable on so many subjects that guys in the neighborhood began calling him Clever. We were all intellectually curious and outstanding students, and during summer vacations, we would sit late into the evening on someone’s porch, holding forth on subjects ranging from Mao’s Long March in China to Napoleon’s campaign in Russia.