Martin Levowitz

Much is made of this town’s sociability, and nowhere is it more evident than at the post office: a town center of sorts. You’re almost sure to meet someone you know. Before you’ve finished greeting him or her, another friend or two show up. It’s not uncommon for small groups to hang around, catching up […]

We here in the hinterlands have recently received two lovely theatrical gifts, proving that one need not live in Huachuca City, after all, to be culturally nourished. First came “The Vagina Monologues,” presented, traditionally, on V. (Valentine’s) Day, and, more recently, the stoner classic movie, “Tombstone,” with illuminating voice-over by local movie guru, Doc Misiorowski, […]

Let’s begin with the basics. To the extent that anything can be thought wrong, shooting other people is generally thought wrong. Circumstances vary, of course, but one of the less acceptable “reasons” for murdering others is that their culture differs from one’s own. Some religions use pictures and statues to inspire reverence. Others refuse to […]

My first wife, Judy Wolf, a.k.a. Fang, grew up in a wooded section of Bethany, Connecticut, the oldest of three kids. Her mother, Alice, had been at Smith College, one of the so-called Seven Sisters (prestigious eastern girls’ schools), and had withdrawn, pregnant, under suspicious circumstances. (Gamma rays were suspected.) Fang’s father, Ted, was the […]

Face it, when you’re young, balance sounds dull. You don’t find out till later how hard balance is to own.

Years ago, I worked on a remote cattle ranch near Sasabe, Arizona. One Sunday afternoon, after a couple of drinks, my boss/friend, Jake; his girlfriend, Gayle; and I walked out to the corral. One of their mares was in heat and was due to be bred. A young stud from another ranch had been brought […]

Don’t look now, Toto. We’re rotting. Does it bother anyone else out there that almost all of this season’s campaign ads, even those supporting relatively decent candidates, are petty and misleading? “Well, if you’re gonna call me a bad name, I’m gonna call you a bad name. Nyaa Nyaa Nyaa.” How undignified. What does it […]

In 1729, Jonathan Swift published a satire called A Modest Proposal, which has since become standard high school reading. He proposed that many socioeconomic problems could be solved if the rich would just start dining on the children of the poor. Some of his readers were miffed, not amused. They took him at his word […]