I think I just don’t like San Francisco. Shhhh this is a very unpopular opinion in Northern California. But when you think about it, what’s to like? I mean besides the culture, the food, the sights, the history, and Tartine Bakery on Guerrero Street. First of all, you can’t make a left-hand turn anywhere. And […]
Category: California
Since writers’ websites mostly just exist as a form of self-promotion, I’m going to tell you all one more time about my recent story in Undark … which also got picked up by The Atlantic and Popular Science. I’ve been trying to maintain my writerly cool, but you know, it’s hard. Anyway, gold mining has […]
Just want to share my second piece for Undark, published yesterday: The Gold Rush returns to California Demand for gold has risen in recent years. Not everyone is happy about that, especially some residents of Grass Valley.
ON THE OUTSKIRTS of the northern California town of Grass Valley, a massive concrete silo looms over the weeds and crumbling pavement. Nearby, unseen, a mine shaft drops 3,400 feet into the earth. These are the remains of Grass Valley’s Idaho-Maryland Mine, a relic from the town’s gold mining past. Numerous mines like this one once […]
I have been nowhere and done nothing since last October. For a start, it’s just too COVIDy out there right now. Also, it’s cold. I don’t even like to walk back and forth to my car when it’s this cold. Someone from the midwest is going to read this and go, “Haha California girl complaining […]
Most cliff faces are carved by nature over millions of years. Wind and water can cut through and tear down a landscape or a mountain, but it takes a very, very long time for the elements to create something like the Grand Canyon or the sandstone arches of Moab, Utah. Then humans come along and […]
Has your home been invaded by the children of Beelzebub? Let’s discuss. I don’t really mean “children of Beelzebub,” except that I sort of do. Colloquially, you probably know them as deer mice. Admittedly, they are adorable. They have large ears, lovely big eyes, and long, fuzzy tails. They are also harbingers of death. I […]
My kids hate hiking. Because I am a mean mom, I often take them hiking anyway. Over the years, I have become an expert at diverting all of their questions about where we’re going and what we’re doing and for some reason they haven’t caught on enough to just put their feet down and refuse […]
The travel season is over and I am sad. I know California really, really needs the rain and I’m grateful for it, but I’m also allowed to hate it. I hate the mud and I hate wet shopping carts. I hate being stuck indoors because it’s too wet to go exploring. Now that I have […]
You may have noticed I did not post anything last week. That is because I was off having a magical experience with my family. And I know it was magical, just based on the fact that I am now imagining that any of my three readers noticed I did not post anything last week. I […]
