Pumpkin Spice Is Ruining Autumn

I live in a project. Not a low-income housing project—not that kind. A different sort of project. One that never seems to be finished and is always at some stage of birth, disrepair or demise. A never-ending experiment in coaxing something out of nothing. An early 18th century home in constant need of something, full of seedlings, homemade salad dressing, mismatched furniture, rigged setups and...

“Judge not, lest ye be judged.” —Matthew 7:1 “Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of another. There are just some kind of men who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.”Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird We are in a strange moment in...

Possibly the most disappointed I’ve been with President Biden since he took office was yesterday, when in response to questions concerning Sha’Carri Richardson’s ban from competing in the Olympics for marijuana use, he answered “the rules are the rules.” Sigh. Deep breath.  Citing “the rules” reveals an astounding ignorance of power, wealth and privilege—who has it and who doesn’t, who makes...

One of the more bizarre side effects of life on social media, specifically on Facebook, is how it’s allowed us to track our lives over the course of time. We are constantly reminded about what we thought or said in years past, how we looked, what we wore, what upset us, and what made us laugh. I have long been unnerved by the sheep-like quality of so many Americans when it comes to the myth of...