So stop looking — Disclaimer: I was Roman Catholic until I was excommunicated because I, out of love for my mother, looked forward to the day that church would become the church she thought it was. That will never happen. I now recognize that devotion as a kind of “pitiful hopefulness” on my part…

Are you crying yet? — NOTE: Within this text, wherever gender is not key to the explanation, I am using the Elverson ey/em construction of the Spivak Pronouns. There is something deeply sad about the ongoing Republican project to repeatedly rejuvenate a seemingly endless store of authoritarian dupes in support of their ongoing late-stage-capitalist welfare…

When should the curmudgeon give in? — NOTE: Within this text, wherever gender is not key to the explanation, I am using the Elverson ey/em construction of the Spivak Pronouns. I do not believe that I have ever said to my son or my daughter, “I’m proud of you.” That is not because I have found their…

Every fix is a feedback. — When I worked for Rosetta Stone, I was summoned to Virginia for a conclave. I was in my cramped airliner seat behind the front bulkhead between the window and a pleasant young woman who was alternating between dozing and reading a magazine. Suddenly, a flight attendant announced that there was…

Delusion or tragedy: you decide. — My spouse and I, one Saturday morning, were talking about the possibility of going to Boston and spending a few days there. We wondered at the cost of hotels in Boston, but neither of us picked up our phones or computers and did a search. We were relaxing, enjoying the…

Republicans set a trap for themselves. — NOTE: Within this text, wherever gender is not key to the explanation, I am using the Elverson ey/em construction of the Spivak Pronouns. In John Dean’s very personal analysis of the Republican transformation after Nixon, Conservatives Without a Conscience, the basic problem is expertly illuminated. He begins the book by…

Does merit apply to a person or an action? — NOTE: Within this text, wherever gender is not key to the explanation, I am using the Elverson ey/em construction of the Spivak Pronouns. My dear old dad, an Oklahoma entrepreneur, used to be emotionally attached to a story. He would tell me this story whenever he sought to differentiate “us”…

Brilliant master or useful idiot? — The term “AI” has been commodified to mean any clever machine. It is used to describe everything from your smart thermostat to the personal data mining program the company used to determine if you get the job. Today, in 2023, the unfortunate fact with which we must all contend is…

Only you can be free. — NOTE: Within this text, wherever gender is not key to the explanation, I am using the Elverson ey/em construction of the Spivak Pronouns. Who are you? Who am I? Liberal? Catholic? Teacher? Is there a word, or is that too restrictive? Could you answer in a sentence? What is your…