Spirit and Soil: Part 3–Before the Tesla 3…was the Chevy Nova

It is hard to miss the enormous Tesla factory situated on I-880, between Oakland and San Jose.  Not only is the facility mammoth, the signage is matched to its facade: T-E-S-L-A.  But before Model 3s were being rolled out there, the plant belonged to GM and Toyota, in a joint venture known as NUMMI. The … Continue reading Spirit and Soil: Part 3–Before the Tesla 3…was the Chevy Nova

Spirit and Soil: Part 2–They Didn’t Tell Me the Doc would Do This When I Turned 40

In the beginning...it was months.  And then it was years.  And then it was grades. Grades turned into the number of people I could get to attend an event, which turned into how much I could put into my retirement account, which turned into a whole new set of numbers in my G.P.’s office.  Glucose.  … Continue reading Spirit and Soil: Part 2–They Didn’t Tell Me the Doc would Do This When I Turned 40

Spirit and Soil: Part 1–Don’t Worry, This Isn’t Close to a Thousand Words

1000 words aren’t worth what they used to be. It used to be that they were the given value for a well-taken picture.  But more and more we’d rather settle for the picture, no matter how meaningless or marginal or manipulated it is.  We take them.  We tweak them.  We scroll them.  We are saturated … Continue reading Spirit and Soil: Part 1–Don’t Worry, This Isn’t Close to a Thousand Words