Stories

Reverie   Years gone by and Wiley thinks often about his Mexican family and the hands across the border that brought their lives forward. He remembers the names of the barrio students who touched his life – Maria Gonzalez, Art Flores, Lily Butler, Felix Santillan, Otelia Campos, Miguel Aceves…

Outside of the schoolroom, Wiley tracked down Luis Santillo, Grego's dad and visited this drunk, impoverished and aged man, living in a flophouse apartment. When he gave him a letter from Grego, he provided a lifeline between blood kin, separated by borders, lost in time and broken dreams. Luis…

 On an invitation from Belinda, Wiley joined a session of the Psychosinthesis experience2 – a 24-hour psychedelic therapy session. He was the only gringo in a room of thirty tripping participants, where crude, multi-media depicted scenes of violence, sex, death and pornography were shown,…

  Fortunately, this psychodrama came to a merciful close. The love triangle between Grego and his amores (Belinda and Angelina) had been going on for years. This was just another episode of a Mexican soap opera, here in the neighborhood of Cerrada de Torreon. The evening melee was just a rite…

South of the Border, Down Mexico Way Fast forward a decade and Wiley, the Dharma Bum, sat with his guitar in a Tepic bus station, waiting for transportation to San Blas, beach heaven, on Mexico's Pacific coast. Like all good stories, this one begins with the blues. Waiting for his connection,…

Fender Benders It was a cold night in November '78 when the Bondo Bus died. From infancy, when the disabled 1967 Ford Econoline van hobbled into its stall for repair, through the engine rebuilding, paint stripping, interior transformation that made this junker into a mean machine. Across the…

Burglar Steals Shave Whisky and Cigarettes Parsing the local newspaper from '46 thru '69 on the derelicts of the Mirarmar town. Here's the tally - Hobo-2, Beatnik-10, Tramp-25, Hippy-20, Hippies-31, Bums-40. Studio Group Holds ‘Hobo’ Party at Cove Lifestyles and Culture Wars Psychedelic Cult…

$1 blue plate special at the Miramar Inn (home of the Shrimp Boat) and Celebrity gathering spot where photos adorn the walls Warren Beauty Reports Theft From Parked Car Stars Hang out at the Tiki Bar Tiki Bar Drink Menu – Singapore Sling, Planters Punch, Cobra’s Fang, Skull and Bones, Fog Cutter…

The mega-fire of the devastating Woolsey blaze drew back the curtains from the decades of Miramar growth and development. Smoke and mirrors, smoke and mirrors. An awakening for this dyslexic atheist insomniac who stayed awake all night wondering if there is a dog. A memory too weird for words (but…

A memoir by Tim, Fred, Wiley, Izzy, whatever. It really doesn’t matter because … You Won’t Remember My Name Prelude to Amuse-meant The Hero’s Journey, an archetypal human story, finds an ordinary person, gives (in this case him) a task he is not equal to and forces him to undertake it. In…