The cultural bind of the uplifting movie
This weekend my husband watched the 1970s Charles Bronson movie Death Wish. I sat through about five minutes of it, but my husband reported it was a “slog.”...
Vending the future
As the class war reaches what I hope is its apotheosis (lest we find ourselves living in an actual Atwood novel), I’m interested, as always, in the...
I don't want Taylor Swift's life
Every job I have provides its own challenges and its own lessons. The job I held last year for a now-dissolved startup was, in retrospect, the best job I...
An email fit for forwarding
I wrote this email to some friends and family today, but I wanted to share with you folks. I have another email coming this week so! Double email week! Hi...
George W. Bush's America
I searched very hard for religion throughout my childhood and into my early twenties. I searched so desperately for a faith to find relief from my own...
There's nowhere to run
On Monday, my husband turned to me and said, “As long as we can stay together and in this apartment, I think we can get through anything.” We live in a rent-...
Humanity isn't guaranteed
We swim in a sea of eugenics. There is no bigger indication of this than how we treat those without homes. I live in Los Angeles in California, a state known...
Without a manager's say-so
I have been thinking a lot recently. I’ve been thinking about thinking, the easiest gift to give myself. As a child, I loved to Think, an activity in its own...
Political for the holidays
Over a year ago now, I got in a fight with a billionaire. (I am generally hyperbolic, but I know our conversation was more tense than casual as I was...
Jokes, explained
I am too online. I am terminally online. The minute I logged on via dial-up modem in 1999, you could not get me offline. My family can attest to how I...
You can fool all of the people all of the time
Jokes are one of the foundations of language and understanding. You can tell, for example, that you are getting good at a language if you can make or...
Me & the carnivores
I’ve been thinking a lot about food, about conservatives, about myself. Conservatives practice a politics of opposition, as we know. If you like it, they...
Art in a time of crisis
I started writing a manifesto, much to the chagrin of my husband. (This is not the manifesto.) But, despite his fears for my overall mental health, I think...
Gladiator II
It has been a big year for old men making no-subtext, all-text movies where Rome stands as an analogue to the U.S. First there was Coppola’s Megalopolis (or...
A letter to myself
When Trump was elected in 2016, I leaned into writing newsletters. My newsletter kept people up to date with the news (a lot of the proven Russiagate stuff,...
Tactical thinking, please!
The Republicans are evil, vile ghouls who all deserve to have their noses fall off due to a curse from a witch. And, yet, they continue to win in our...
Unstructured thoughts as I look towards hope
The Ferguson Uprisings of 2014 were a clarion call and, 10 years later, they are never far from my mind. I lived in the Midwest at the time, but proximity...