Category Archives: Personal

Now that we’re into the second month of the new presidency, I find myself feeling a mixture of emotions. Exhausted, first of all, as the pace of everything has speeded up. Enraged at wretched cabinet picks like DeVos–that’s a given. … Continue reading →

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Gabriella West | Leave a comment

Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2016 by Gabriella West

Christmas is here, a time of year when I feel inexplicably content and happy much of the time. As I’ve gotten older Christmas has become less about “getting stuff” and feasting, and more about memories. Somehow it all adds up … Continue reading →

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A Hell of a Year

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Gabriella West

2016 has been a hell of a year. It feels too soon to do a retrospective, but it’s been the kind of year where I uploaded a picture of a Facebook friend’s beautiful young dog running through some snowy woods … Continue reading →

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About last night…

Posted on November 9, 2016 by Gabriella West

Wow. A mixture of feelings here, but one predominates. After watching the increasingly grim CNN election footage for a number of hours and realizing that Hillary Clinton was not going to win, I went on Facebook and wrote, “I personally … Continue reading →

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Summer in California: Fire and Fog

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Gabriella West

  It’s what used to be called high summer, but here in San Francisco we are socked in by heavy fog. The pattern of terrible California wildfires also continues. Here is a photo by Mike Blake of an emu running … Continue reading →

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A Happy Fourth…

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Gabriella West

I wanted to wish everyone out there in the US a happy Fourth of July! The weather is always chilly and foggy here in San Francisco. At night in our neighborhood, the air is filled with the sound of homemade rockets … Continue reading →

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The Year of the Sheep Starts Today…

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Gabriella West

Did you know that Chinese New Year starts today? It’s  the Year of the Sheep (also called ram, or goat). Happens to be my own astrological sign, as well. I like it that creative, sensitive, and not-particularly-good-with-money people have their … Continue reading →

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This Writing Life: Two Opinion Pieces

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Gabriella West

I was listening to the radio in the kitchen the other day, and the NPR announcer was talking about the search for the bones of the great Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. Cervantes is very famous … Continue reading →

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Ebola…Now a Global Crisis

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Gabriella West

I’ve been following the course of the Ebola outbreak with increasing dread. The Ebola virus was discovered in 1976 but never spread outside remote African villages till the latest outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, where the disease is … Continue reading →

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Singing a Happy iTune

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Gabriella West

Technology is a funny thing. I’ve always been one to be way behind the curve, and although I have always used Macs at home for working and writing, they are never the fresh and new models but reliable old workhorses. … Continue reading →

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