I just finished reading a very sad book, and it left me with some fairly pessimistic feelings about the future of our country. And now that I’ve finished the book, I’ll probably watch the movie. I doubt it will make me feel much better. “Nomadland” is the story of a phenomenon that goes far too …
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” This isn’t the most famous verse from the Bible, or even from the book of John, but John 15:13 says more about love and sacrifice than just about anything else. What’s the greatest possible form of heroism? Risking …
Back in 2002, I started seeing a therapist. We took a while to get into issues at were affecting my life at the time. In fact, I think we spent the first six sessions with me telling my life story and her listening. At the end of the story, she came out with one thought. …
If there is one thing relatively certain about Tuesday’s verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, it’s that many people will overreact to it. It certainly seems right that Chauvin was convicted on all three counts arising from the death of George Floyd last year. But saying it is some sort of turning point in our …
If there is one thing I would love to change about my childhood — and there are certainly many things — I wish I had been more interested in other people. I was probably at least a few steps on the good side of sociopathy, which is not a term I throw around lightly, I …
“There’s plenty good money to be made, supplyin’ the army with the tools of the trade …” When Country Joe McDonald, who may or may not have ever had a farm, first recorded “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die” in 1965, the song had nothing to do with Afghanistan. We might have been crazy …
Quite a few Democrats have been complaining about Senators Joe Manchin and Kyisten Sinema for their refusal to go along with eliminating the filibuster. They say the two senators might as well admit they’re Republicans and switch over. I have just one thing to say to these people. “Are you insane?” If either the senator …
Fifty years ago, I went through a poetry phase. Not a good poetry phase, although there were a few I liked. They were maybe step above “roses are red,” and half a step above “moon, June, croon.” Mostly they were anguished rhymes after my first two real relationships collapsed, on at the end of summer …
Again? We haven’t even finished the trial of the man who killed George Floyd, and another black man died at the hands of a police officer just 11 miles away. This one seems a little different. There’s at least a possibility that Daunte Wright’s death was an accident of sorts, but the result is the …
Nearly 20 years ago, I had one of the most satisfying achievements in my life. It had nothing to do with writing or my career and it had nothing to do with making money. It was something many people wouldn’t think was anything special, but for me it was trying something I had never tried …
