For a couple of decades I’ve been a member of The Well, a system of forums that’s been around since the ’80s. It’s quieter these days than when I joined in 1993, with lots of folks having spun off to Facebook and Twitter and other social media spaces. But it still hosts some of the best online discussions in existence, and I still visit every day.

One person who’s been on The Well even longer than I have is Jon Carroll, for many years a columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle and co-host of The Well’s Media conference.

His columns at the Chronicle are unfortunately stuck behind a paywall, but some essays are included in his (now out-of-print but still available) book, Near-Life Experiences. The big news is that Jon recently parted ways with the Chronicle, and after some thought decided to start writing on his own. He now writes in a WordPress blog at Jon Carroll Prose.

My holiday gift to you is simply to point to his site. Bookmark it, add it to your blogroll, or follow the RSS feed. His work is always the best sort of reading, funny and insightful, easy to read but never simplistic, on a universe of subjects in no way bounded by San Francisco and California.