Stephen D. Gutierrez

Dec 22, 2016 11:18 AM EST

Thanks for this one, Steve. Needed it for this week of weeks. But I do demand proof of the tarzan costume, one day... Peace and love!

- zac walsh

Dec 22, 2016 12:05 PM EST

Keep 'em coming, big guy. Another lovely read. Yup. Work is work.

- Georgie

Dec 22, 2016 3:32 PM EST

Rich, Steve. I loved reading about your interactions with the old trash man and Wesley. Those little connections mean everything. It reminds me of the payoff of Carver’s “A Small Good Thing.” It reminds me of the Louis Armstrong line from “It’s A Wonderful World” — “I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you.” That’s why “small talk” means so much. Peace, brother!

- Jon Sindell

Dec 23, 2016 8:17 AM EST

Nice entry, Steve. Captures something we need this holiday season, that's for sure. Gratitude and friendship.

- Rob Davidson

Dec 23, 2016 5:41 PM EST

Thanks, Steve. Liked it, as I knew I would. Wonder what the trashman will think when the guys and gals he'd like to see get a break don't, in fact, get one when Trump's incoherence makes everything go spur.

- Jake

Dec 06, 2016 4:32 PM EST

You're the best, Steve. Just stay away from the news and you'll be fine. Pumpkin pie and love will conquer evil in all of its present and bizarre manifestations. No doubt about it.

Your pal,

- Mira

Dec 07, 2016 1:27 PM EST

You're a force of nature. You see the best in this mongrel country and I applaud you for it. If we all stay as alert and active as you, we'll weather hear next 4 and more! Love you, Steve.

- Sharon

Dec 11, 2016 8:32 PM EST

Always love reading your jazzy words full of soul. Bless you, Steve, and your huge heart.

- Jon Sindell

Dec 15, 2016 5:35 AM EST

Well, obviously, I'm glad you're okay! I just now read this, after having received it amongs the chaos of seven classes winding down with their requisite handful of whining students attempting to finagle a better grade after the classes ended (it's always those who submit intermittently that whine the loudest at the end, surprised and caught off guard of the reality of their grade actually reflecting the lack of work - the horror. ; )

Anyway, nice work. Favorite bits: "an unmolested janitor" who offers the "sight of shiny floors" (I am a cleaner by nature and have a deep appreciation of shiny floors LOL).

Love the descriptions of the people; their origins and accents - here in my relatively new neighborhood at Lake Merritt, I sit in front of Peets and watch a truly multi-cultural crowd mingle here on Lakeshore; a place that actually reflects the new America and embraces these people of all colors, unlike my years living in Berkeley where the insistent desperation of pretense of said multi-culturism revealed an utter contempt from Prius-driving, Birkenstock-wearing, kale-eating competitively liberal white supremacists with their Whirled Peas bumper stickers. I love Oakland.

Your friend's name is Hazard? Wow. Can't make up something that good.

Not sure if I can hop on board with the appreciation of Dixieland, however; having lived in various parts of the South - my family in Chapel Hill for 35 years, and living in Aiken, South Carolina for a spell, if I never ever go back, I'll be just fine. A discordant section of the country steeped in vicious contrasts of explicit and proud racism at both ends of the spectrum; from gun racks on pickups to stubbornly entitled southeners clinging to gentility. A jarring uncomfortable and sweaty corner of our country. Ugh. Well, except I do love southern barbecue and hush puppies...

I have bookmarked The Last Waltz! Never knew about this! Thanks.

I think we're all "fools for America" really; the problem, I think, is that they all see a different America. It's millions of blind people holding on to elephants, screaming in their righteousness. The America of your grandparents is no longer I fear, and hasn't been evident for a while now, not since, as Robert Reich reminds us nearly daily, the inequality of wealth expanded and erupted since the 90's. Now little people are thrown under the bus of corporate greed. But I applaud your sentiment; that our country "permits expression and requires it" - a new McCarthy era hinting on our heels, let's hope it's beaten back.

A good read with of course, with plenty of Steve-like syntactical percussive results. Your writing is like good jazz in that way - with just enough flow and rhythm spiced with discordant drum beats. Nice piece; I've passed it on if you don't mind.

Thanks for sharing!

- Georgie Ziff

Mar 07, 2017 7:51 AM EST

NO one is calling you crazy now Steve!

You called it... This administration is a complete embarrassment. Excuse my language... a real shit show!

Donny the Con man pulled off the greatest con job in the history of well history.

His followers know we are all f'd but will fly the party flag 'til the end just like the musicians on the Titanic. They knew the ship was sinking but kept on keeping on.

Sad state of affairs. What line in the sand must Donny cross for freedom loving Americans to finally take a stand. Disgusting!

- Miguel F. Ibarra, CSUH '97

Nov 13, 2016 5:21 AM EST

Love you, Steve. And we're terrified too.

- Sara

Nov 13, 2016 6:12 AM EST

I wish I had something cogent and witty to say in response to the election, but even after a week and a lot of alcohol all I can muster is either a gag reflex or an inarticulate splutter of outrage. A friend of twenty-odd years, an elderly woman who has been a Republican all her life and who voted for Trump, tells me his victory is an indication that a lot of people are unhappy with the way things are going in this country. I love her, but I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to demand--how dare you say that Trump is better than what we have now? What is WRONG with you? She's not a racist or a homophobe or a member of any other hateful group, but she's glad he won and I swear to God I DONT UNDERSTAND.

- Charla

Nov 14, 2016 7:23 AM EST

I was trying to think up a worthy response to such an important subject and such a meaningful reckoning you've written, but I have been in a fog of panic, paranoia, despair and then total shutdown since Tuesday. My initial reaction was to flee the US as fast as I could, but as I listen to the shared worry of my sisters and brothers like you, I think, I cannot abandon the ship. I have found a little comfort in the instinct to protect the less safe, less white. There aren't a lot of bright sides to this, but, like you said, solidarity is one. I have never felt closer to so many people. Also, there have been so many white people completely oblivious to racism here. Though I wish they had awakened by some other means, at last, there is no more room for denial. This is a wake-up call for me to step up my game, to think more of who I can help, rather than who I am inclined to fear or hate. Most of all I will pray and meditate and remember no matter what, we are in this together.

- Page

Nov 14, 2016 7:35 AM EST

Thank you for this. Nothing like holding my 9 year old daughter who is inconsolable because she will be a woman some day and the men in the whitehouse don't like women or treat them well

- Monica Michelle

Nov 15, 2016 2:01 PM EST

Bravo, Steve, for your bravery and honesty. A still small voice is all each one of us has got, but together we create a multitude, and a loud one at that.

- Sharon Dolin

Mar 02, 2016 6:44 AM EST

Wow. I think I need to drink about a gallon of espresso and read that story again, and then maybe I can keep up with it. I can't even watch the news lately, let alone write about it. Wow.

- Charla

Mar 02, 2016 9:42 PM EST

Thanks for sharing this. Appreciating the poetic swarma of your story, the humor, the irreverence, and re-reporting. The Holy Trinity and ISIS, those KMART chairs, everything is covered. How can we all keep with the Jones' (or Hildago's)?

- Ali