Brooks Kolb
Brooks Kolb is a Seattle writer, artist, and landscape architect.
COMMENTARY
Ten Arthur’s Round Table
In this fourth installment of passages that I cut from my memoir, LANDSCAPE IN LAVENDER, my unofficial college advisor, the highly esteemed Dr. Paul J.
Spearfish, North Dakota
Three little windshield wipers rattled back and forth while Rich’s white MGB convertible barreled down the freeway in the rain with the top up. Rich
High-Rise South
Following is the second excerpt which I cut from my forthcoming memoir, LANDSCAPE IN LAVENDER “Howdy!” said my new roommate Scott, when I opened the
Summer in France
Author’s note: in revising my forthcoming memoir, tentatively titled LANDSCAPE IN LAVENDER, I naturally needed to make some cuts, but it occurred to me that
Invisible Dragons
Growing up in Seattle in the 1950s and ‘60s, I had no word for “gay.” My father was a distinguished professor of architecture, and in
THE ENDURING APPEAL OF MALCOLM X
“The Autobiography of Malcolm X” is one of the most engrossing, thought-provoking books I have ever read. Part of its power is that when you
SELLING DAD’S HOUSE
SELLING DAD’S HOUSE One morning in the spring of 2015, my father fell and broke his hip. Fortunately, he was in the master bathroom, so
MALCOLM X AND RELIGION
written on the 58th anniversary of Malcolm X’s assassination (February 21, 1965) Just in time for Black History Month, I woke up one morning realizing
THUMBNAIL BOOK REVIEW: “THE GREAT PRETENDERS” BY LAURA KALPAKIAN
December 17, 2022 In this masterpiece of a novel set in the Hollywood of the mid nineteen-fifties, the travails of black-listed screenwriters are deftly juxtaposed
AMBITION VERSUS RETIREMENT
January 15, 2023 I used to be ambitious. As a child encouraged to draw and paint by my parents and grandparents, I assumed that I
THE BOHEMIAN ENIGMA
January 7, 2023 Fifteen years after the “Summer of Love,” I lived briefly in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. The hippie era was decidedly over, but
WHAT MAKES A GREAT HIT?
January 5, 2023 TikTok. Spotify. YouTube. Pandora. Playlists. Sirius XM. Amazon Alexa. How is a newly-minted senior citizen supposed to know where to find today’s
YOUNG SENIORS AND OLD SENIORS
January 5, 2023 We like to speak of senior citizens as a class, but in fact they come in two types: young seniors and old
LOVE AS A FRENCH INVENTION
January 2, 2023 Years ago, I read a wonderful book called “How the French Invented Love.” The author, Marilyn Yallom, traces nine hundred years of
REFLECTIONS ON APPRENTICESHIP
January 2, 2023 In the November 21, 2022 issue of The New Yorker, my eyes were drawn to an article called “Deadwood – An American’s
ON OBJECTIFICATION
January 2, 2023 One cannot be sexually attracted to another person without objectifying them, at least a little. As in: ‘Get a load of those
FROM TAIL FINS TO STEEL ORIGAMI – TRENDS IN CAR STYLING
December 20, 2022 Bristling with tail fins, chrome, two-tone paint, and white sidewall tires, the American cars of the 1950s were works of art in
Book Review: World Change-Maker by Ann McLaughlin
Check your privilege at the door. If you don’t, you will not succeed at helping people. If you’ve traveled to a village in Africa or
On America’s Celebrity Culture
Date: December 17, 2022 Not a day goes by that I don’t ask the question, does my life have value given that I’m not a
