You may not realize this, but not everyone who joins the military does so to be patriotic. Most of the enlisted guys I knew only joined because they had nowhere else to go. That was my story too. Thirty-five years ago today I arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, for my basic training. I had just turned 18. Prior to leaving home, I was given some advice by the brother of a kid I knew who joined…
Thanks in part to a powerful Hollywood monster, the idea of respect for women is currently at the fore of America’s mindset. Finally. And yes, I choose to call it respect for women instead of rape culture. I’m a father to daughters, I’m a husband, I’m a man, and I don’t understand the idea of rape culture. I do understand the idea of respect for women, however. My daughters are beautiful, strong young women who were raised to believe that they have the…
The house next door is being renovated by people who live a few streets away. Our dogs always bark at them. (They’re not happy or nice people. Dogs know.) Anyway, more than once I’ve caught them yelling “Shut up!” at the dogs. Yeah, that never works. But you know what would work? If they took the time to get to know the dogs. To speak to them in a kind voice. Maybe got down on their level to appear less intimidating…
When an artist dies, it forces us to consider how their work influenced us. When it’s the unexpected death of an artist we like, it feels like a punch to the gut. When Jerry Garcia died, I remember WNEW asking everyone to tribute him by driving with their lights on in the daytime. For a week afterward cars everywhere drove with their lights on during the day. Whenever I’d pass another car doing this, we’d nod and smile a sad…
President Trump and Melania deplane Air Force One at McCarran International and are whisked away in a black bulletproof limo to a staging area at the Trump Hotel. The crowd cheers as he enters. He raises both hands and smiles. He is wearing the same outfit he wore at the Puerto Rico news conference. He shakes a few hands and sits at the center of a long table, flanked by his wife in dark sunglasses, the Governor of Nevada, the Las…
– Darkness creeps in on cat’s paws and roots in the hearts of the weak. There it accumulates and bides its time festering as indifference. “It’s ok, it’s just a little violence/lie/bullying/greed/rape,” it whispers, as it waits for a signal to lash out. We are all susceptible as these concepts swirl around us in popular culture. Be vigilant against consuming even the most innocuous forms of darkness. Identify it, name it, and wrap it in chains. That’s the only way we…
