Author Archives: hereontheedge

We all knew it was coming. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the man who made City Lights Bookstore and Allen Ginsberg famous, has died at the age of 101, just a month short of his 102nd birthday. If you’re reading this, you probably … Continue reading →

Charles E. Davis, Jr. February 4, 1923 – July 1, 2020 When Here On the Edge first made its way into the world, I gave talks up and down the West Coast, sharing this incredible story with all who cared … Continue reading →

Seventy-five years ago this week, Bill Everson sat down and wrote out the following message and published it in a mimeographed newsletter called The Untide. He was sitting in a cabin on the Oregon Coast, at a work camp for … Continue reading →

Imagine if this were taught in schools as part of the regular curriculum… More Than Just a Holiday A Register-Guard editorial, Sept. 4, 2017 “What does labor want? . . . We want more school houses and less jails; more … Continue reading →

This message from Ursula Le Guin succinctly articulates the difference between a life driven by war, and a life guided by peace. Because that’s what it’s about, isn’t it. War between ourselves, or peace among ourselves. War against, or peace … Continue reading →

I’ve been lying low this political season, watching from a safe distance. But, after hearing the office of president referred to time and again as our “commander in chief,” I finally had to speak out. Here is my piece published … Continue reading →

Christmas, 1942. War raged across Europe and the Pacific, with no indication of when it might end. At an isolated work camp on the Oregon Coast, a small group of conscientious objectors dared to make perhaps the most subversive statement … Continue reading →

On September 16, 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act, which constituted the first peacetime draft in United States history. It required all American males between the ages of 21 and 36 to register for … Continue reading →

Seventy years ago today, World War II officially ended with the formal signing of surrender documents by Japanese officials on board the USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. The toll of the war was horrendous worldwide, and you would’ve had … Continue reading →

Almost exactly seventy years ago, Bill Shank, an 18-year-old from New Jersey, took up the printer’s stick and set some type, then fired up the Challenge Gordon press in the Fine Arts work room and printed out a special Christmas … Continue reading →

A nice feature by Randi Bjornstad in the Eugene Register-Guard Sunday edition. She captures the story very well, and even reveals a little of the writer’s own history. (Yes, he really did study architecture and botany before picking up a pen to … Continue reading →