Americans are obsessed with having voted for the person who happened to win. It’s bizarre, and I’ve discussed it before, and it’s a large part of what never gets fixed about politics in this country and why we re-elect 99.9%…
Tag: But the Past Isn’t Done with Us
It’s 2015 and You are Alive
There’s a lot going on. There always is. Despite the efforts of various media outlets, phone applications, and the narrative brain to confine your existence to a narrow set of coherent and perfectly tailored activities/perceptions, reality is a cacophony of…
Independence Day
“There was an exodus of birds in the trees because they didn’t know we were only pretending. And the people all looked up and looked pleased and the birds flew around like the whole world was ending. And I, I…
Baltimore and American Exceptionalism
It was trendy there for a few weeks of Internet time to write snide little stories on how American news events would be reported on by American news if they weren’t American news events at all. How would Ferguson look…
Nationals Eve
It’s like Christmas Eve for me tonight. Or, more fittingly, since Christmas Eve is really my holiday, it’s like Christmas Eve Eve. The night of the 23rd, when the roof lumis are done and all the rest are waiting in…
The Promise of Spring
(or: Today, It’s Next Year)
It’s fitting that baseball begins in spring. I’m not much of a spring person myself, having a penchant for difficult times in April and May. I was always with TS Eliot on the whole April question and I probably offer…
My Life with Yoga
“When I talk to people about sadness and depression, as I often do, one of my suggested strategies is really internalizing and absorbing good days and ‘banking’ them as antidotes against future storms of sadness. Not because they will make…
The Invisible Power of Shame
When people ask me what I want to replace violence as the main motivating force to behave in our society, I instantly reply “shame”. I think a lot of people believe that I’m kidding when I say this. I am…
Senior Retreat and the Infinite Sadness
My image of God isn’t really an image at all. I think we’re all to an extent overly influenced by religious, Biblical, and societal depictions of the divine as a white-haired bearded father sitting on a cloud and looking vaguely…
Ted Cruz and the Elaborate Troll Hypothesis
People simply cannot get enough Ted Cruz these days. The Senator, one of two representing the state of Texas, perennial hotbed of Presidential candidates successful and otherwise, recently became the first official candidate to take the office of the Presidency…