Monopolies and Corporate Consolidation are Neither Natural nor Inevitable

October 29, 2023

Photo by Suzy Hazlewood Happy Sunday, This week’s newsletter is a continuation of our conversation from last week about the causes of the diminishing...

Consolidation and Near Monopolies Are Making Everything Terrible

October 22, 2023

Andy Rooney was a national treasure. We need truth tellers like him for the busted moment we’re all trapped in. This may be the edition of the newsletter...

Armenia: An Ancient People with a History Marked by Tragedy

October 17, 2023

The Goshavank Monastery in Gosh – Photo by Hope Barev dzez (Hello in Armenian), This week’s newsletter is coming on Tuesday because I was in transit back...

An AI in Every Email, DM, and Groupchat—Zuckerberg's Vision for the Future of the Internet

October 8, 2023

Subscribe now Today's newsletter is my attempt to triangulate two points of view articulated by people with very different takes about the future of the...

The Trial of the Tacoma Police Officers who Murdered Manuel Ellis

October 1, 2023

Happy Sunday, Over on the podcast this week, we have a conversation with Brian Lettinga from Search Associates. He’s a recruiter/matchmaker for educators...

When Schools Grieve

September 24, 2023

Subscribe now The typical American high school is the size of a small town. My old school, Lincoln, floated between 1500 and 1800 students in my decade...

There’s a Wave of Hacks Coming, Thanks to LastPass

September 17, 2023

Photo by Franck on Unsplash Today we are touching on a topic I wrote about in March, online security. There’s been some developments this week that warrant a...

Losing Friends: Reader Mailbag Edition

September 10, 2023

Someone put this sign on my door at work this week. Oh, y’all got jokes. I felt seen this week. In last week’s newsletter, I opined about what it feels like...

Losing People to Nuttery and Conspiracies

September 3, 2023

The emotional labor of caring for other adults is real and taxing | Photo: Pexels Hey folks, A warm welcome to new subscribers. This week’s edition is a...

Finding Time and Balance, Far from Home

August 27, 2023

Hope and I served as emcees for the schools Spirit Night last week, a giant grade-level scavenger hunt throughout the campus (Photo: Tony Murray) Friday...

AI is Democratizing and Democracy is Famously Messy

August 20, 2023

This is an AI image I created using Night Cafe, depicting people working in a call center. Subscribe now I am not going to pretend to be an expert in...

Signal vs Noise, American Serial Outrage, and the Law of Large Numbers

August 13, 2023

Hey folks, thanks for making July our most popular month since we started the newsletter. We had more readers and more new subscribers last month than ever...

There and Back Again - A Final 2023 World Cup Dispatch

August 6, 2023

Our view of the tournament opener in Auckland, where the host Football Ferns upset Norway I really hate when I am right when I wish I was wrong. I ended last...

These Sheep Ain't Gon' Shear Themselves - A 2023 World Cup Dispatch

July 29, 2023

The Running of the Sheep I bring you greetings from a rented farmhouse in the sheep shearing capital of the world, Te Kuiti, New Zealand. Te Kuiti used to be...

You Owe it to Yourself to Watch Women's Soccer and the World Cup

July 20, 2023

Trinity Rodman is a player to keep your eye on this tournament Jet lag is real. At some point yesterday, I looked at Hope and realized I had no idea what day...

The Myth of the Great Wealth Transfer

July 5, 2023

“Succession” was four seasons of prestige television about four terrible people seeking to inherit their father’s empire - Photo: Warner Bros Pressroom...

The Able-ism of Our Aging Infrastructure

June 24, 2023

They see us rollin', they hatin' In the summer of 2018, I nearly came to blows with a TSA agent. My dad was a disabled Vietnam veteran. He had lupus and the...

The Case for Banning Phones in School

June 17, 2023

This week’s newsletter will be brief because your boy has a flight to catch. If you’re a Tacoma based reader, you may see me around town for the next few...

Taking Notes on Criminal Crypto Conspiracy

June 11, 2023

Stringer’s sage advice to “never take notes on a criminal conspiracy” is worth heeding, especially if you’re knowingly running an unlicensed securities...

The Lack of Housing is a Generational Crisis

June 4, 2023

The US spent the last forty years building less housing than the prior forty years and the consequences are predictable and dire I've been baffled by the...

Sorry, Wrong Number: the Lowdown on Pig Butchering Scams

May 28, 2023

The most prominent form of SMS text spam is Pig Butchering, a social engineering con targeting the 55+ crowd Off the top, I want to welcome aboard folks that...

For My Friends in Media: How Not to Cover Hate Groups

May 21, 2023

Richard Spencer and his followers celebrate the election of Donald Trump on election nigh while shouting “hail victory” which translates to “sieg heil” and...

Fighting the Klan in the Ozarks and Teacher Bias in Grading

May 14, 2023

I spent some of my favorite summers as a kid here in Camden, Arkansas Happy Mother’s Day, If you’re not a mother, I hope you handled your business for the...

Why the Left Can’t Win: Mailbag Edition

May 7, 2023

Sanders Rally in Portland, OR | Photo by Benjamin Kerensa Happy Sunday, Off the top, just know that today’s newsletter is different. We’re doing a reader...

Why the Left Can’t Win and the Joy of Football in England

April 30, 2023

Happy Sunday Fam Bam, It’s been a fortnight but I’m back. This week we have some unanswered questions from my Comparative Government class, some insights...

Being Choosy About Online Spaces (or a Takes & Typos State of the Union)

April 16, 2023

Photo by Daniel Herron on Unsplash Over the last few years I have grappled with the size and scope of my digital footprint. I had more than a few “Nate,...

How the Culture of the WWE Took Over US Politics

April 10, 2023

Happy Easter and Ramadan Mubarak to those celebrating/observing either. You'll note the newsletter is coming out on Monday because of the holiday. I hope you...

A Nation of Accidents

April 2, 2023

Photo by John-Mark Smith Subscribe now Happy Sunday from Chiang Mai, I am in the final stages of revision for a piece to be published later this week by...

Beloved, Use a Password Locker but Make Sure it's Not LastPass

March 26, 2023

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash Happy Sunday T & Ters, In a recent newsletter, I wrote about online security and password lockers. Password lockers...

The Already Forgotten War

March 19, 2023

An estimated 200,000 Iraqis, 4500 US soldiers, and an additional 3000 military contractors lost their lives in Iraq Happy Sunday T&T Readers, I don’t talk...

Cormac McCarthy and SA Cosby Are Masters of their Craft

March 12, 2023

Blood Meridian is a book about the worst people possible, doing the worst things possible, along what we now call the US/Mexico border | Photo by Lisa Yount...

Demanding a Seat at the Table

March 5, 2023

You’ll never get what you don’t ask for | Photo by Kane Reinholdtsen on Unsplash When I started the newsletter, I jokingly called it Takes & Typos: A...

The Feds Were Asleep at the Switch for Crypto, AI Could Be Much Worse

February 26, 2023

Police in Dallas used a robot, armed with a brick of C4 to kill a barricaded shooter ending a standoff in 2016—the department later fought the release of...

Three Nights in the Land of Fire - A Travelogue

February 19, 2023

The Flame Towers and the Old City from Maiden Tower Happy Sunday, This week’s newsletter is another travelogue. Hope and I (joined by some friends) ventured...

The Canaries are Dead and No One Wants to Go into the Mine

February 12, 2023

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash Happy Sunday, This week I reflected on the teacher shortage in the US. It’s not really a shortage and I should probably use...

No, Michael—Your Book Actually Didn’t Need THAT Scene

February 5, 2023

Dear Reader, Just a quick note that this week’s newsletter contains a conversation about sexual assault in works of fiction. There are no descriptions of...

A Three Year Trip from Shanghai to the Netherlands

January 28, 2023

The delegates of General Assembly 3 in King Alexander Hall Hey Everyone! This week’s newsletter is a bit of a travelogue. Sunday morning, I hit the...

Another Take on that Silly Chat Bot (or Death to the High School Essay)

January 22, 2023

I’m not opposed to new technology. Hell, I love a new gadget as much as the next guy. But we need to pump the brakes and have some collective conversations...

In Defense of Gatekeepers and Screaming Loudly at Bigots

January 14, 2023

The next time someone complains to me about free speech, I’m just gonna yell “Stop!” In this week’s newsletter I’m riffing on grifting influencers, media...

Missing Home, Dreading Home

January 7, 2023

The east facing view from our flat apartment in Abu Dhabi Hey everyone, This week I am back in the desert and reflecting on a long conversation I had with a...

To the Year Ahead and Year Behind

December 31, 2022

Turning the page from December to January into 2023 Happy New Year! I hope you’re staying warm and making it through the holidays. The time between Christmas...

Back in Tacoma for the Holidays

December 25, 2022

You're a mean one, Mr. GrinchYou really are a heel,You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch. In my pre-teaching life, I spent...

It Was Capitalism All Along - #6

December 18, 2022

Photo by Andrew Ling on Unsplash Happy Sunday, Friday began my eighteenth winter break as an educator (whew!) and we’ll be flying back to the States for...

Newsletter #5 - Giving People their Flowers

December 11, 2022

Photo by Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov on Unsplash Happy Sunday, This week’s missive is an appreciation for really awesome people who have either inspired me or made...

Newsletter #4 - Dune Hits Different When You Live In Arrakis

December 4, 2022

A scorn of camels in the Liwa Desert in UAE - Photo by Yer Boi Happy Sunday, Yes, I too am mourning the US exit from the World Cup in Qatar. If the team...

Newsletter #3 - Leaning Into the Silence

November 25, 2022

Photo by Semyon Borisov on Unsplash Happy Thanksgiving, US vs England Day, and Stay Home & Chill Friday, Welcome to this week’s newsletter. Today I am...

Newsletter #2 - When Censorship Backfires And The Toll Of Opiates

November 19, 2022

Greetings and Happy Sunday Friends! This is Newsletter #2—you may have noted the migration from Tinyletter to Substack. Let’s just say I had a bad customer...

Coming soon

November 19, 2022

This is Takes & Typos: A Weekly Newsletter, a newsletter about Musings, takes, and culture from my life in UAE. Subscribe now