For The California Academy of Sciences

Its shells, its discards, for John McClosker and Belva Davis, for Richard Ellis, two headed albino things, for alligators floating beneath Doric columns, for the unsmelling carpet in the fish rotunda, for the inglorious Salvation Army band in the bandshell looking out over well-trimmed mulberries resembling huge knuckled bones of an extinct giant raven, for matrons and children and expatriates, for the park, which seemed, with its giant ferns and fire pines, like the last bastion of dinosaurs with maces for tails, no dead leaves among the Cypress, for Tales of the City on KQED, for the resumption of ferry service, 1989, for the Embarcadero Freeway and its shadows on the now-too-bright Ferry Building, for our babysitter’s uncle, a Welsh paraplegic who lived in the Sunset, that treeless place the dinosaurs escaped, and sailed alone to Hawaii, for the curious orange-yellow plastic window that mimicked old time windows made of beer bottles, somehow everywhere in those days, for apartment life and banana trees in atriums, like Basho’s, unproductive, elephant’s ears, for the Purple Onion when Tom in the sailor’s suit ran it, he slept on plywood suspended between sawhorses on the dancefloor – once we woke him up, and he played Jesus and Mary Chain 45s on a Fisher-Price portable record player; most of all, for Jon Moritsugu. It might be something physical, in every age and every nation, the redwood wars, the requiem shark, representing forces we just don’t understand. Tell me about it.

-Jared

My Head, on the front page of the Merced Sun Star

Bike enthusiasts gather at the UC Merced Joseph E. Gallo Recreation and Wellness Center on Saturday morning for tips on riding and maintaining their bikes. The clinic was put on by the UC Merced Cycling Alliance and Merced Bike Coalition, which aim to raise interest in the benefits of cycling, including its positive impact on the environment.

That's my head and also body, bent over, second from left. blue jersey, black cap. To my left, my former student Elliot Block, who's started the student cycling club. We're working on the brakes of Amelia Herrera's bike, also another former student. Superstars, these kidz.

ah, yes, this is the way it's done

Nephew of Merced County district attorney accused of stabbing attack

Merced police say Matthew Morse slashed man with knife; investigators also find 37-inch knife with 25-inch blade

By VICTOR A. PATTON
vpatton@mercedsun-star.com

A 22-year-old man who is the nephew of District Attorney Larry Morse II was arrested Friday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

Matthew Edward Morse was arrested by Merced police after he was accused of slashing a 28-year-old man in the arm with a knife. The stabbing was reported in the parking lot of Save Mart at 180 W. Olive Ave., according to Cmdr. Floyd Higdon of the Merced Police Department.

Because the suspect in the case is his nephew, Morse said an attorney from the state Attorney General's Office will handle the case. Morse called the arrest of his nephew heartbreaking. "I love him, but he's going to have to account for the full consequences of his actions like anyone else," Morse said.

Larry Morse said the suspect is the son of his brother, Brian Morse.

Police responded to the scene after they received a call that a man wearing a toga had stabbed the victim, leaving the area in a silver SUV-type vehicle, Higdon said.

The victim, who was sitting in the parking lot when police arrived, had two 1-inch deep slices in his left arm, Higdon said.

The victim reported that the stabbing happened after the suspect had verbally insulted his wife and circled the couple in his car, eventually coming to a stop, Higdon said.

The victim then approached the suspect, who was sitting in his car, asking him, "What's up?" The man in the SUV, according to the victim, then slashed him with the knife. After being cut, the victim said, he punched the man in the mouth. The suspect then left the scene.

Matthew Morse was later identified as a suspect after the victim picked him out of a photo lineup. He was found at a toga party in the 3000 block of Park Avenue and taken into custody, Higdon said.

The victim, who received 30 stitches in his arm to close both wounds, also reported that there was a passenger seated in the car with Matthew Morse. Higdon said that person was not involved in the altercation.

Police also recovered a 37-inch-long knife with a 25-inch blade, which was hidden in bushes at the Park Avenue location, Higdon said.

Matthew Morse gave no statement to police, Higdon said. He remains at the John Latorraca Correctional Center in lieu of $30,000 bail.

Eh! Be Pissed! But Don't Worry!

Hey Peeps!

Don't blink - The Obama campaign's a little tired, but, as Gail Collins says in her column in the Times yesterday, over here on the coast we don't see all the work that happening. So don't stress, and don't blink - don't let the bulllies steal your lunch money! 

Opening the Opening

Ha Ha! 

The "Poets on Paper" opening was pretty fantastic. My class ended at 3:50pm, in Merced (123 mi from SF) - I rode my bicycle 7mi from campus to my house, sweating profusely as it was somewhere about 101 fahreneheit - packed a couple of last minute things, got in the car and set out on HWY 99, cruise control set on 65mph, and ac set on 2.

The opening was set to begin at 6:30, and I left Mercytown at 4. after a lil traffic in Castro Valley, I finally crossed the Bay Bridge right as the introductory movie treacle for Cindy McCain began. Oh, very terrible! So I switched to KALX, the UC Berkeley radio station. The gentlemen dj began talking about how the music would get all the 'playa dust' out of listeners' skin (playa, as in Burning Man, as in, the most hippie thing I've heard on KALX in at least a decade). 

Rolled up to the gallery, Canessa, which is in North Beach, apparently once on the edge of Yerba Buena Cove. I missed some people I'd like to have seen. Clayton Banes, for example. He's such a nice guy. So, I got in there, got to chatting with w/Brent C. and a fella that I recognize from Moe's Books. He had a nice Blue Oyster Cult t-shirt, and I asked him whether he was a fan. Sadly, no. I didn't think I could properly describe why BOC is essential. and important listening for the poet, thought I wanted to. If you're out there, email Mrs Maybe and let's chat about it.

Scott did a great job hanging our Typewriter Drawings - they looked real good. Also, a few of the panels (as you can see from the photo) have asterisks which are hard to see from a distance, and it was real great to see people get real close to the work. It made the work make even more sense in the gallery, fortuitously enough. 

Had a nice chat with Earle and Sandra, about riding the train through the Central Valley. A nice chat w/Brent about pragmatism and utopian drawing and architecture, and w/Megan about a writers' retreat at my house, and the word "upthrusty."

Afterward, Scott and I drove home, listenting to that Slavoj Zizek on the radio. Pretty interesting, and has that ol' E. Euro Intellectual voice that makes 'em slobber in the Bay Area. 

We had burritos and talked about how much San Francisco has changed since the 80s/90s. Makes my writing pretty much always in the grief zone.

So, funny to be doing visual art. I'm so glad Scott goaded me into it, and sort of surprised that it's not exactly horrible.

-Jared