A Rational Take On An Increasingly Weird World
Congratulations, Mr. President. You’ve been waiting a long time to hear those words. I vaguely remember a campaign in my youth, in 1988, when a few questionable people pointed out a few questionable things in your speeches and it seemed to disqualify you, back when even a question of integrity problems were disqualifying for a …
They didn’t tell me in school that death smells like shit. I wonder if that would have made a difference. Would you have stayed away from heroin if you had known that your life was going to end with you detoxing in a coma, your bodily excretions pouring into a bag that hangs from your …
Dear Greta: I struggled with writing this to you. I’ll explain later, but that needs to be said. I want you to know that I admire you deeply. Your passion is astounding. Your grasp of the pertinent information is impressive. Your urgency is palpable, and your cause is noble. Your English is better than mine, …
There really is pain that extends beyond your own body. I promise. My baby brother was literally my best friend. He knew things about me that nobody else knew. Not even secret things, just the things you know about someone when you’ve lived your entire life in arms’ reach. We grew up in 1500 square …
Look, white people are racist. All of us. We can’t help it. It’s really not even our fault anymore. I certainly didn’t ask for five hundred years of colonialist schadenfreude to give me a head start and a shitty attitude toward anyone brown, but even though my parents were dedicated to teaching a belief in equality …
“See, the difference between us and them is that I don’t think they’re listening to our views. I would talk to them but they don’t want to hear what we have to say.” The man in the III%er shirt seemed reasonable enough, I suppose. Behind him, another man, this one a barrel-chested late-50s gammon with …
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No names mentioned here. The state of our union is such that the people who stand up for what’s right have to protect themselves from identification by those who would harass and even harm them for speaking. This is America, 2018. “I’ve been here five days, and nobody’s even said the name Trump,” he said, …
For all the furrowed brows and gnashing of teeth we experience in our youth, trying to make ourselves independent, unique people with a genuine, well-considered moral code and a consistent structure of beliefs and actions, the truth is that we mostly learn the important things from the people around us when we’re young. I often …
This article originally appeared as a contribution to Afrosapiophile.com on August 17, 2017. People, we gotta talk. Seriously. Sit down for a minute, and listen. Things are getting serious around here. There are Nazis marching in the streets. Actual Nazis. In 2017, in a Virginia town. There are white men marching as if they haven’t …