***A slightly more personal rumination of a long running internal train of thought. Don’t worry, I’m fine. I just hope it helps somebody else.*** When Your Help and Hope Don’t Come Everyone knows Lazarus. Everyone knows the blind beggar. Everyone knows the man on the mat, lowered from the roof, whom Jesus told to pick…
On Feminism, Things, Virtue, and Power
“Is ______ a Feminist?” It seems to be a persistent question whether some prominent female celebrity can truly be considered a feminist: Ivanka Trump, Emma Watson, Beyonce, some Kardashian. I usually do not care about the answer to this question (for the most part), but I am very interested in why people ask it and how people…
Please Don’t Remove Confederate Monuments
Who Lives? Who Dies? Who Tells Your Story? Let me first divert to a non-controversial topic before I get to my main point. I love the musical Hamilton. As a history-loving, patriotic government-studying American, I love the subject matter. I love the unabashed nerdiness of cabinet rap battles. I love how it has given more…
Berkley’s Current Free Speech Problem
So, it seems that we now have a Free Speech case going before a federal court because Berkeley has refused to let Ann Coulter speak on the date she was scheduled due to security concerns. In my opinion, the student groups who brought it are going to win, and win big. And if they don’t,…
How Do You Know What You Know About Climate Change?
Yesterday, April 22nd, there was a “March for Science” in the District of Columbia and in 400 satellite locations across the world. Speakers included some usual suspects like Bill Nye and Dr. Michel E. Mann, but also some surprisingly not-very-usual suspects like… Questlove Gomez? Yep. Questlove Gomez. According to organizers, the Mission of the March for Science is…
On Late Night Comics and Smugness
I read a great story on The Atlantic. It is here. This is a common occurrence. The Atlantic is great. I thought I’d take this opportunity to share a poem that I wrote (yes, I know, I’m weird) on this same subject. Originally, I titled it “Against Satire,” but maybe I’ll change that to “Weakness if…
Of Bags and Bans: The Search for Freedom
Starting on March 28, 2017, Michigan’s ban on the local regulation of plastic bags will take effect. Introduced by Senator Jim Stamas, a Republican, and signed by a Republican governor, the rule prevents localities from regulating the use, disposition, or sale of bags; prevents them from imposing any fee or charge on bags or from…
Yes, The LGBT Movement is Coming For Your Church
While that might seem to be a click bait headline, I actually do not believe it is. Let show this sharing a story. Identifying a WikiPedia Problem I recently had to update the Wikipedia page for “public accommodation” to say that, no, churches are not public accommodations which are barred from discrimination based on the Civil…
Would You like to Read the Motions For And Against Summary Judgment in the Trump University Lawsuit – Trump v. Cohen?
So, Trump thinks he should have won his fraud case on summary judgment. He didn’t. He is mad that he didn’t. Because he didn’t, he has lobbed out some pretty racist attacks on the judge, saying he is disqualified because of his Mexican heritage, because he didn’t decide the motions in Trump’s favor. (More from me…
Rebuilding an Eroded Culture
Excuse me while I share what seemed, at the time, to be one of my greatest personal failures. I was completing my student teaching in a high school class in Louisiana. The subject was American History. I was lucky enough, I believed, to teach the unit on World War II. I tested on my lessons…
Against Trump
Friends Don’t Let Friends Stumble Into Fascism.
Have Mercy
What kind of a person has a baby that we find in a toilet? Perhaps it’s a person alone enough, poor enough, money-less enough, friendless enough, and helpless enough to have a baby on a toilet.
