Scrolling through social media since the Senate passed the 1.7 trillion-dollar omnibus spending bill, one sees a frequent talking point. It goes something like “Democrats are spending billions on Ukraine’s border and ignoring the crisis at our border!” After politicians or news personalities say some variation of this it quickly gets picked up and dutifullyContinue reading “A Tale of Two Borders (Two Different Stories)”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Transphobic Argument Against Student Loan Forgiveness
Transgender rights and student loan forgiveness are two entirely different topics. Yet, bigots and people with little worlds have managed to tie the two together. Yes, that’s right folks, apparently the small minded have managed to create an argument against student loan forgiveness from gender identity. Or is it an argument against transgender rights fromContinue reading “The Transphobic Argument Against Student Loan Forgiveness”
Virtue and Freedom of Speech (Don’t Be a Schmeck)
Just because you can do it, does not mean you should do it. This is a most basic moral principle of basic moral principles as can be. This is also wisdom. If I heard it once as a child from my parents, I heard it a thousand times over—there is a place and time forContinue reading “Virtue and Freedom of Speech (Don’t Be a Schmeck)”
Looking Back and Looking Ahead: Musings on 2021 and 2022
Betty White did not make it to 2022. That seems almost a crime. I remind myself that, given where she started, she got considerably further than most of us will. Still, Betty White not making it to 2022 and to her approaching 100th birthday, when she was in apparent good health, does make one sad.Continue reading “Looking Back and Looking Ahead: Musings on 2021 and 2022”
A Rainbow of Joy and Hope: Transgender StoryTime, Denton, TX November 20,2021
Yesterday, I was privileged to be present at an event that had been at risk of not happening (and that would have been a shame). Yet, the threat against it became a catalyst that caused it to grow from one small library program (among hundreds) to a festive community celebration this year that drew manyContinue reading “A Rainbow of Joy and Hope: Transgender StoryTime, Denton, TX November 20,2021”
Hope
What is the essence of hope? I will define hope as the conviction that what is not yet realized or possessed is possible. To lose hope is to give up on possibility. Hope is the belief that the current state of things is never permanent. Even if the current state of things happens to beContinue reading “Hope”
A Chance Conversation
I recently married just a few weeks ago. I am in my mid-50’s and my wife in her early 50’s. Getting married at this time of life is not like that first marriage in younger days when you set out to build a life. By this time, quite a bit of life has already beenContinue reading “A Chance Conversation”
Worlds that May Be…Thoughts About Books and Imagination
In the novel Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart, there is a small but subtly significant part about a bookshop called Underworld Books. In the story, the protagonist, a young man named Owen Hardy, comes upon the shop in the midst of his adventures far from home. In the window, he seesContinue reading “Worlds that May Be…Thoughts About Books and Imagination”
Time Well Spent
St. Augustine said that he knew perfectly well what time is…just so long as no one asked him what it was. I think we are much like Augustine. Until we have to think about it or give some kind of definition, we know what time is. But how to articulate what we seem to understandContinue reading “Time Well Spent”
“If I could wave my magic wand”…a remembrance of Neil Peart.
Neil Ellwood Peart passed from this existence one year ago today. When the news broke and I heard, I involuntarily got choked up. I have no pretensions to have felt anything approaching the grief felt by those who knew him. I am a fan, that is all. A Rush fan, though, is a little bitContinue reading ““If I could wave my magic wand”…a remembrance of Neil Peart.”
Discursive Dialectics 