Film, Television, Sex, Music, Literature, Pop
“It’s not the same when we do it” On modern American race relations, I have come to realize I have been too innocent, linear and naïve. I always thought it was a straightforward reality: never judge an individual and certainly never discriminate against an individual based on their broader associations – race, religion, ethnic group,..
Easter, Roundabout In a few weeks, Lord willing, my wife and I will take a first class vacation across the country in celebration of being married thirty years. I look forward to this, inordinately, in much the same way I looked forward to school starting in the fifth grade, and the yearly ritual of new..
You can ask, I guess.. Against my better judgment, I engaged a young “walk-out” correspondent on Facebook. I couldn’t help noticing a striking similarity to a conversation I had with an “Occupy” couple a few years ago. In both cases, the young, earnest protesters were unapologetic for having no idea what they were talking about. ..
Startling Simplicity I tend to superficially over-think religious subjects. I say “superficially” because my attorney friend, Tom Eastmond, reminded me about David Hume’s “is-ought” problem, and when you get under the hood with the metaphysical uber-thinkers, it humbles you. You get that “nothing new under the sun” feeling. Someone has already seen this here thing…
Confusing Movie Dream Trailers.. Somber music. Winter. A man examines a cottage bedroom with an empty crib by the window. He sits on the bed, alone, and puts his head in his hands. Summer: he is running across a meadow with his wife, a child in his arms. Winter. Alone again, he looks down the..
Which Cable Gets you to Heaven? I spent my 58th birthday organizing my USB cables and engaging, half-heartedly, in a theological debate on Facebook. I wasn’t “all in,” because you get the sense, sometimes, that some fellow believers just don’t share the same assumptions, even remotely, about the faith, and so there is very little..
The Man of “Science” I took a call years ago from one of my father’s business friends. We had Stanford in common; he had graduated a few decades before and his daughter was on her way there at the time. I recognized, in his voice, a kind of nerdy, technical view of the world. I..
I try to start my day in an ancient text. I scold myself if my mind wanders, because I’m trying to treat it with at least the reverence I give Scottish shortbread. I’m trying to savor the stuff—even when the words feel dry and tasteless. The point isn’t just to read, but to think, and..
Wormwood Imagine you’re a small boy and two men from the government let your mother know your father has had an accident. He fell, or jumped, out of a 13th story hotel room in New York. It is 1953 and your father is a germ warfare scientist. Over the rest of your life, you will..
A brief inventory of human conflict I have witnessed, first or second hand, over the years: My father is preparing a ski boat for a sales/business trip down to Baja. He’s giving my mom a hard time about helping him out, barking orders. They have words, and when dad drives off, boat in tow, mom..
