Barack Obama: What My Mother Taught Me About Love
She sighed, running her hands through her hair. “We were so young, you know. I was younger than you are now. He was only a few years older than that…” … Continue reading
Marc Jampole: Spins, Lies, and Fake News
Fake news has been around since news has been around. What’s different now is the assertion that alternate truths exist. For a few months in the early 1980’s my job … Continue reading
Video: The Moth — Janna Levin “Life on a Möbius Strip”
In this performance from The Moth, a young astrophysicist tells a story about an improbable love affair and its parallels with her research into black holes and finite mathematics.
Paul Christensen: The Night Visitor
This morning, faced with having to brave the arctic morning air to get to my mailbox on the road below, there were tracks in the still lingering patina of snow … Continue reading
Greg Thielen: Trump and the Rapture
This holiday season, when the RNC sent out their most thoughtful Christmas message to the Christian contingency of our country, in which the party encouraged them to celebrate their “new … Continue reading
Michael Moore: 5 Things You Can Do Right Now About Donald J. Trump
It’s been seven weeks since Hillary beat Trump by nearly 3 million votes but lost the presidency to him. So if your head is still spinning from that mindf***, or … Continue reading
Doug Anderson: Operation Badger Tooth
Once a year, on December 25, a darkness comes up from the earth into my life. On December 24th, nineteen sixty-seven, a battalion landing team comprised of three infantry companies … Continue reading
Stephen Dobyns: Napatree Point
A mile from where I live is a beach where in winter I walk the dog, console myself with the ocean’s beauty and ponder the imponderables, like what to do … Continue reading
Jeff Oaks: My Father’s Feet
Among the things I was afraid of inheriting from my father, his snoring and his high-arched feet were the most frightening. At night, in moonlight, terrifying. His feet all his … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: All I Want For Christmas Is –
A society that respects all races and religions; A culture that honors its LGBTQ community; A woman’s right to choose what happens to her body; A near total ban on … Continue reading
Michael Simms: Two Thefts
When I was in college, I committed larceny twice. Forty years later, I still feel pleased by the first theft and ashamed of the second. I was living with a … Continue reading
Video: Elders
. After leaving India for the industrial north of England in the 1960’s, Karim and Kartari Chand never imagined they would end up being married longer than any other couple … Continue reading
George Yancy: I am a Dangerous Professor
Those familiar with George Orwell’s “1984” will recall that “Newspeak was designed not to extend but to diminish the range of thought.” I recently felt the weight of this Orwellian … Continue reading
John Samuel Tieman: A Civics Lesson
Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. — Benjamin Rush When I taught high school, I once caught a boy scribbling anti-Semitic graffiti on a desk. He … Continue reading
