As The Santa Fe Review inches slowly toward blogdom, I am almost tempted to turn on the Comments feature. I received some wonderful responses to my last post. I’ll mention just a few. One reader remembered a night around 1970 when he lived on Hillside Street and the temperature dropped to 26 below. Gas pipes […]
At about 8:45 p.m. I looked at the thermometer I’d placed outside the window and saw that it was 12 degrees below zero. Such an extraordinary event shouldn’t go unexperienced so I put on my long johns and walked for a mile. I hadn’t worn them since the last time I went cross-country skiing at […]
Dear readers of The Santa Fe Review, I have decided to take the plunge with a new blog (I still wince at that word) about my current project: “The Cancer Chronicles: Notes for a Book in Progress.” I hope you will tune in. santafereview.com/chronicle/ George Johnson http://talaya.net
Today on the cover of the weekly science section of the New York Times, I have a story, Unearthing Prehistoric Tumors, about the antiquity of cancer, which has probably existed since the first multicellular creatures slithered on earth. Several people have asked what I have been doing while away from The Santa Fe Review. The […]
You might have thought from the flashing red and blue lights on the police cruisers cordoning off Canyon Road that there had been a toxic chemical spill. There must be a less obnoxious way to keep cars out of the neighborhood for the annual Christmas Eve farolito walk. “Union Pro-tec-teeva — what’s that?” said a […]
Around sundown on December 24th, I was walking down Camino Don Miguel toward Acequia Madre hoping that when I rounded the corner I wouldn’t see the usual police cruiser parked catty-corner from Union Protectiva with its red and blue revolving lights wiping out the glow of the farolitos. I got my wish. To block off […]
With September rushing to a close, it has become clear that, for reasons both personal and professional, I will not be able to keep up the schedule I established a year ago of monthly editions of The Santa Fe Review. I’m beginning a new book, probably the most difficult one I’ve attempted, which is tentatively […]
Nine years ago today I was sitting in my office wondering why I couldn’t reach the New York Times website when my wife came upstairs and told me the news. We turned on the television in time to see the second plane crash into the World Trade Center. For the next few hours it seemed […]
Late last month Lyle Lovett performed what was billed as the last concert at the Paolo Soleri with no word on whether the All Indian Pueblo Council will agree to spare this architectural landmark if Senators Udall and Bingaman make good on their offer to find federal money for preservation. It would be the perfect […]
This morning I heard from Wendy Blackwell of the city Land Use Department, who immediately dispatched an inspector to investigate the mysterious glare from the Davis Mansion. (She apologized for not receiving my earlier emails, which apparently became stuck in City Hall’s spam filter.) The source of the light, she has confirmed, is indeed a […]