Category Archives: Personal

Loma Prieta—36th Anniversary

Posted on October 17, 2025 by Gabriella West
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Grappling with Change

Posted on June 1, 2025 by Gabriella West

I haven’t posted here in a long time, I realize this, and I’m still grappling with the new administration and the changes that have transpired since January. I’m horrified by some of the things that have happened, including the gutting … Continue reading →

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A Funeral in Tipperary

Posted on December 9, 2023 by Gabriella West

Little did I know when I picked up the second Pogues album, Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, on cassette in the mid-1980s in Dublin that I would one day be watching Shane MacGowan‘s funeral on a livestream from San Francisco … Continue reading →

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The Coronation Cometh…

Posted on May 5, 2023 by Gabriella West

I managed to download the emblem of Charles III’s coronation, which turns out to have been designed by Jony Ive, once head of design at Apple and now Sir Jony Ive 🙂 The emblem itself is very pretty. CNN may … Continue reading →

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After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: A Review of ‘Too Early to Know Who’s Winning’ by Karla Huebner

Posted on March 31, 2023 by Gabriella West

Karla Huebner’s latest book seems as if it’s the story of a friendship between two women during the harrowing Trump years. Superficially, it is, but it soon becomes clear that it’s a thinly veiled autobiographical novel about the anxieties of … Continue reading →

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Coming Full Circle

Posted on February 4, 2023 by Gabriella West

As promised, I’m posting a personal essay written in 2021 during lockdown, shortly after I got the vaccine, which seemed so, so significant at the time. I realize that it is about time, hope, and gratitude. [Image is of a … Continue reading →

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December Thoughts

Posted on December 8, 2022 by Gabriella West

The last month of 2022 is somehow upon us! The weather is so cold and dreary, I can’t get warm. However, I found a winter image I had never seen before, a Marc Chagall painting of a church in the … Continue reading →

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Just a Quick Note

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Gabriella West

To say Happy Fall! The birds were out on the backyard tree this morning as if they knew the season has changed, which they do, of course! Warblers, finches, a junco, and a hummingbird. I will be back soon to … Continue reading →

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Fall Bargains and Musings

Posted on October 10, 2021 by Gabriella West

I wanted to let folks know that a couple of my books are on sale now at Smashwords. You can get Once You Are Mine for 25% off; The Pull of Yesterday, book 2 in the Elsie Street trilogy is … Continue reading →

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A Tenuous Time (Two Unexpected Losses)

Posted on July 25, 2021 by Gabriella West

Seems like a weird time we’re in right now. The delta variant is upon us, and even in San Francisco, cases are rising robustly. I continue to wear my mask and am relieved that so many of my fellow SFers … Continue reading →

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