by Jeffrey Brock | May 1, 1999 | Writing
AUTHOR ALEX GARLAND first witnessed the intersection of pop culture and native lifestyles during a six-month visit to the Philippines at age 18. The idea of “culture” struck him as something increasingly cosmetic then, and the attitude has stuck with him...
by Jeffrey Brock | Feb 1, 1999 | Writing
FIFTEEN STORIES UP in the air, 25-year-old Julia Butterfly Hill is connecting with a living thing that is 1,000 years old. Amid the branches of the 200-foot-tall tree Luna – the largest remaining redwood on a steep slope that’s been clear-cut by loggers – Hill...
by Jeffrey Brock | Oct 1, 1998 | Writing
WHEN YOU’RE A FROZEN corpse awaiting revival in the distant future, you never have to suffer disillusionment that Jerry Springer tops the daytime ratings. You never pull yourself from bed for the annoying late night shuffle to the bathroom. Presidents and...
by Jeffrey Brock | Sep 1, 1998 | Writing
WITH SEVEN STUDENTS stationed behind a half-octagon classroom bar, Ralph Verrone is pouring shots of wisdom as easily as he’s dispensed countless ounces of liquor in his 30 years as a professional bartender. One morning at San Francisco’s 10-year-old...
by Jeffrey Brock | Feb 1, 1998 | Writing
WITH A SHUFFLE of a curtain, Stan Shaff emerges from a hexagonal portal that looks like a prop from the original Star Trek series. The composer leads his audience through a shadowy, gurgling labyrinth into the round inner sanctum of Audium, a theater of...
by Jeffrey Brock | Apr 1, 1995 | Writing
SOME WILLOW GLEN residents are crying foul because a temporary homeless shelter will be opening next month at the Willow Vale Free Methodist Church. It’s a refrain heard in other parts of this normally tranquil San Jose bedroom community during the last two...
