I’ve often wondered about whether or not it’s possible to start over after being in prison for a long time. If someone comes out of prison with no money, few job prospects, and no one to turn to except people associated with the previous life of crime, what kind of chance does that person have [...]
I’m sitting at an IHOP restaurant, and I hear a harmonica. What a fabulous sound to hear in public in the middle of the day! It’s not a “good” player; it’s just someone having fun blowing on the instrument. I look around for the source of the joyous sound, and I spot the little boy [...]
Starting today, I’m going to do a week-or-so long experiment of eating only food. If you’re not already familiar with Michael Pollan, you might wonder what I mean by eating only food. What else would one eat? Let me explain.
The Western Diet
While Americans may not think of themselves as having a specific cuisine, there are [...]
I’ve been following the Daniel Hauser situation, with a lot of conflicting thoughts in my mind. When is it appropriate to legally intervene when someone’s beliefs conflict with ours?
Here’s the overview (read here for more info):
Daniel Hauser is a thirteen year old boy from Minnesota with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He had one round of chemotherapy and [...]
This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Realizing Racism“Do you know your daughter’s fucking a nigger?”
“We’re going to rape you ’cause you’ve been giving to the nigger what belongs to us.”
When I think about race from my childhood, these are the two phrases that repeat loudly in my head. I was white, [...]
Some links for your Sunday reading:
I wrote earlier this week about mass messages of fear. Here’s a story about how fear affects how we raise our children. Check out the whole blog for lots of good tidbits about raising kids without fear.
Another person dead who shouldn’t be - at the hands of a cop. (Via)
Schick [...]
I have spent an inordinate amount of my adult life pondering how much I weigh, worrying about how much I weigh, and trying to weigh less in one way or another. I have a BMI of around 38. I know that I’m “supposed” to be smaller. I frequently imagine other people to be thinking negatively [...]
“Question Authority” makes a great bumper sticker, but how do you do it? What’s the nitty-gritty of questioning authority? Is it limited to cussing at your parents and cheating on your taxes? There are an infinite number of ways to question authority. Here are my top five:
Question Monogamy - Monogamy is definitely the authority when [...]
Reading about different cultures is often interesting to me, and while the Amish are right here in the United States, they definitely qualify as a different culture. When I have escapist fantasies (tropical-island, alone-in-the-mountains) sometimes I imagine myself running away to be an Amish person (assuming that would even be possible). The truth is that [...]
If you’re cynical about the world, as I am, how do you describe the masses around you when you’re ranting about the ills of the world? Which ills do you rant about? How about a lack of communication and community? Addiction to legal pills designed to cure this and that? Energy and environmental concerns? People [...]
