Here is the way my week has gone: My students and I are developing a musical soundtrack for the novel we just read in class, The Tortilla Curtain, and in doing so, I selected Joni Mitchell’s “Coyote” as the best song to represent the book.  So, when I began reading of Joni’s career and songwriting background, I stumbled on her relationship with Sam Shepard.  “Coyote” was Sam Shepard.  Sam and Joni had developed a relationship/affair while touring together with Bob Dylan in the early Seventies.  That got me reading more about Sam.  He wrote one of the greatest screenplays of all time, Paris, Texas, but when it came time shoot the movie, he didn’t want to be around.  He would have felt bogged down.  I mean, he’s the “Coyote.”