We’ve reached a point where even those who have lived through the 60s and 70s either don’t recall or weren’t paying attention to the promise of the era, it’s vision and hope. The promise echoed in every domain of the culture in the West, but it may most efficiently be…

We’re generally presented with three types of story structure diagrams. One is linear and abstract like Freytag’s Pyramid (rising action, falling action) or based on a three-act structure (beginning, middle, end) but in a highly abstracted way. All stories perhaps have rising and falling action, but rising and falling action…

Sometimes we’re wrong, even if we’re right. Anthony (“Tony”) Campolo is an American sociologist, Baptist pastor, and spiritual advisor to Bill Clinton. You may have seen him on The Colbert Report, Charlie Rose, or Larry King Live. He’s an evangelical who advocates decidedly progressive views on healthcare etc. In a…

Cell phones have become bloated, insecure adware that dominate our lives rather than facilitate our best intentions for ourselves. WASTED RESOURCES: To let a kid do full-on immersive gaming on the subway or watch Netflix movies on a portable entertainment device, we’ve acceded to phones with enormous unnecessary resources that…

Pick your level, from beginner to challenging to hard to impossible—only this is no video game, and the scoreboard is human lives. — Level One: Beginner — The Obvious Things To Worry About Right Out of the Gate While predicting exact time frames or worst-case climate change scenarios is challenging due to the complex and interconnected nature of climate systems and human societies, reputable sources have provided some estimates of potential impacts that are more than foreseeable. Note, wary traveler, this is a volatile environment, and the situation…

We have 2 theories of greatness. It’s easier than it looks or you’re born able to do it. Our myths about creativity and creative work feed a mythos we have about work in general. That mythology can be summarized by 2 prevalent delusions about playing the quintessential instrument of popular music—the guitar. Myth 1: You can play guitar with 3 (or some number of) chords. Heard in countless…

We Reject it Not Because its Policies Are Always Wrong, but BecaUse Empowered People Don’t Maintain A Victim Narrative It is my hope that the doctrine of deep personal disempowerment which has most recently emerged as Trumpism — its leader continually citing his victimization by institutions from the media to…

I Want the Best Parts of the Rural Right and Urban Left, Without the Worst. City + Education without Political Correctness; Land + Work without MAGA Parochialism. — Why must we choose the worst tendencies of each vs. the best each has to offer? I come from a mixed (blue-collar / white-collar) background. Fathers side: educators & engineering. Mother’s side: military & farmers. I speak both languages. …

It Seems I‘m Going to Die — Sooner Than Expected Our bodies start trying to murder us at some point. Eventually, they’ll succeed. If outside forces don’t get us first, the inside ones inevitably will. Mine has finally come for me, and my response is: “I’ve been waiting. What took you so long?” There’s this “mass” in an unwelcome area…