More Maya

UNITED STATES—I get a kick remembering when Maya turned to me with the Wooster, Massachusetts edge and the fleeing r’s in her voice and...

More Gas

UNITED STATES—“This was one of Kyle’s permanent molars, so we’re going to do our best to save it,” said the dentist. Meanwhile Allegra was...

Laughing Gas

UNITED STATES—Today was the day. Allegra Newton (nee Scruggs) had had enough of dental profiteering, and she was going to hold the dentist at...

Maya

UNITED STATES—On an October afternoon a poignant figure showed up on my doorstep at Manhattan Place, an accountant separating from his wife after 48...

Dog Days

UNITED STATES—One night in New York we went to the Angelica Theater in the Village and saw David Lynch’s ‘Wild at Heart.’ I got...

Endurance

UNITED STATES—I often have an itch to contact some who lived at Estrella Ave. But they have invariably fallen off the face of the...

Goodbye New York

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...

Just Say Om

UNITED STATES—Sergeant Carmichael was badass. Before I went into Runyon Canyon undercover, she sent me to the Yale School of Yogic Arts in Van...

New York

UNITED STATES—I caught the travel bug. Some friends were going to India, to Prague, to Bali. One had seen Pink Floyd perform the rock...

Breaking Out

UNITED STATES—On a Tuesday night in July 1990, I finally met with Larry Karaszewski, a screenwriter I knew from USC. We had a lot...