Naked Lunch in Manila
I was 18 years old in 1962. I had dropped out of college, and had started to work full-time as a copywriter at J. Walter Thompson Company. Being young, energetic and ambitious, I was also free-lancing in my spare time with various Manila newspapers. I frequently wrote and sold “human interest” stories, and I also…
Naked Lunch in Lawrence, Part One
“Party Time in Academe.” Reprinted from The Wayward Professor by Joel J. Gold. Lawrence: The University Press of Kansas, 1989. Pp. 119-121. The piece appeared originally in the Chronicle of Higher Education. ”…One of our most dashing graduate students, who had earlier rented a Chinese restaurant and ordered a special dinner for about half of…
Naked Lunch in Lawrence, Part Two
I was riding high in 1977, coming off, as it were, from the “success” of my first play, Conpersonas. Marshall Fine, the Arts Editor of the Lawrence Journal-World, had somehow convinced the editor that the local paper should cover the invitational performance of the K.U. production of the play at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. …
26 June 2009: MSNBC
These days, on television, I mostly watch only MSNBC because, as per their slogan, it’s “The Place for Politics.” But, since noon of yesterday, the station has been featuring Michael Jackson non-stop. His many fans should be thrilled that, somewhere from the great beyond, Michael’s countenance has now morphed into “The Face for Politics.”
25 June 2009: People Power
As the whole world watches what’s going on in the streets of Iran after their election, the talking heads on TV keep referencing the bloody Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 in China. No one seems to remember the peaceful People Power Revolution of 1986 in Manila, which toppled the regime of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.
Remembering Imelda
Imelda is a he, not a she. The first thing the puppy did in the house was to chew up my Italian shoes, and so I decided to name him after Imelda Marcos. He figures prominently in my play FIGURES IN CLAY. Here are three excerpts from the play. DAVID: I bought a dog today.…