Miller Time

The New Cities UNITED STATES—First I came for the dream. The dream was the thing, and for the dream I could afford anything. I could sleep on a wooden sidewalk –a sign of civilization then. Somebody one night offered me a blanket. After that I slept with a blanket and the crook of my elbow was a pillow while the blanket...

UNITED STATES—Six floors up at a high bar table al fresco, on top of a luxury department store in Calao, the legendary city's trendiest neighborhood. Here we travelers from America were among beautiful people, chatting, drinking beer and looking at other beautiful people as the dusking sun turned the skyline from gray to silver. I was worry free as I...

UNITED STATES—Katy is the neighbor with the junky porch and lots of cats. Lotte was the 96-year-old German neighbor with incontinence and an aversion toward bathing that manifest near the end of a long rich life. The foul scent of Lotte’s dried urine and unbathed body was sharp, I might even say tangy. The smell reached out all the way...

UNITED STATES—No sooner had the Fiji fungus been retarded than a new plant threat emerged. It was as if creation itself in this bounteous hemisphere along the banana axis could not afford to sit still. It infected the earth, it started with the roots and then went up the elephant stem. All the canopy of elephant ear leaves above...

UNITED STATES—They are a breed apart. Certainly the classical DJ cannot be made but is born, the mixture of low-key charm and effortless erudition. No wonder bad-boy actor Alec Baldwin said he wished to be reincarnated as a classical DJ. The classical DJ has an inexhaustible store of good cheer and a steady supply of musical anecdotes. Most admirable...

UNITED STATES—The subtitle to these Los Angeles memoirs (1989-90), in that little silly white brain of mine, was going to be “How I Almost Got to Be A Racist,” in view of current events involving the law and black people I will acknowledge this subtitle rather than hide it. Kind of like opening up the bandage over the wound...

UNITED STATES—In the jungle pervaded a smell of coconut oil. There were plenty of morenos, many black as starless night. The train, followed by a plume of black smoke. Sometimes there’d be like raindrops from the sky or a hot cinder thrown off from the train’s forward advance. Antonio had seen a man blinded that way. He still had...

UNITED STATES—So Lee goes to this house in Silver Lake by Micheltorena before going bowling with his friend Joe. Lee's friend has invited him to bring Prince Deveraux, since their new roommate has contributed something new to their household, a poodle. The dogs can keep each other company while Joe's sister keeps an eye on them. When Lee arrives with...

UNITED STATES—Peet Boggs: So Nita stays behind to accompany Benjamin, the refugee with a heart condition? Jules Kaminsky: The film is about a hopelessly naïve artist/intellectual/philosopher caught in the jaws of cataclysmic events totally unequipped to deal with them. He still has one tool: his crystal-clear reason. That first night he planted himself in the clearing and wouldn’t budge, he...

UNITED STATES—"What are you doing?" Davy asks Karen. "Prolonging the inevitable, that's what. "I can take over if you want." "She's getting to the point with Grandma. No more food and Ensure." Willow walks in and addresses Doris in the other bed. "Time for your rehab, darling." She swings her legs over the edge of the bed, she scowls and protests, then raises herself to...