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The Lion and the Lamb

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In American culture, we have a tradition of equating power with heartlessness. We have grown to expect our leaders to have a no-nonsense, logical approach to solving problems without allowing their emotions or personal histories to influence them. The accepted theory is that it takes strength to make the hard decisions and that we can’t expect to be ruled by our emotions when making tough choices. Science, if you actually believe in such things as logic and hard truths, tells a different story...

It’s Not Our Party

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Many of us want to be good allies in the fight for racial equality, but we don’t always seem to have a good handle on how to do that. Black comedians have done a pretty good job of lampooning the white character, too eager to join in and be one of the good guys, all the while making everyone uncomfortable. We mean well, presumably, but our efforts are often a little tone-deaf, and sometimes even counterproductive. For instance, I’m not entirely sure, that as white people, we’re supposed to be...

All Uniquely The Same

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Here in America, where individualism is the true national religion, we demand the freedom to be different and then work tirelessly to get everyone to follow suit. We fight for our right to be uniquely homogenous, and fight legislation that allows anyone to be different than what we’ve collectively decided is the norm. We all want to be different, just like everyone else.  In my line of work, I’m constantly met with the promise that a new client’s project is entirely unique, expressly...

The Calculus of Cruelty

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I never understood the calculus of being cruel. Could never grasp the return on the investment of time and energy. It always seemed like you really had to go above and beyond what was worth one’s time. Had to go out of your way to be unjustifiably cruel.  Greed might be morally reprehensible, but you could at least understand the motivation. Selfishness is a perfectly normal animal trait. Make sure you get yours first. It’s a survival trait. Hoarding is more of a human trait, not typically...

An Eye For An Eye

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There is a long history of anti-semitism in America.  One particularly prevalent, and openly racist accusation, was that Jewish people were somehow questionably loyal to America (or wherever they lived) because of a presumed overriding loyalty to Israel. They weren’t “real” Americans, as their loyalty couldn’t be trusted. This has been going on since the establishment of Israel after World War II, when the Allied forces made a mess of large portions of the known world by dividing up...

firefly

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Firefly we were curious by naturestudents of the world around usconstantly wondering what this isor how that workswhere does the money come from?what will we be when we grow up?who is in charge?how do we get to Paris?until one daysometime in our late twentieswhen we have decided thatwe have learned all we need to knowas if the world has ceased tomystify us any longerfor we are obsessed withmaking a life we believe will make us happyonly to realizewell along in lifethat curiosity had been the...

Wrestling With Vikings

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A sordid tale of Cookery, villainy, deception, and opossums Part One I am not a Viking. I lack the taste for violence, the desire for blood and guts and sweat and tears, the drive necessary to subdue lesser men, to take what is theirs and make it your own, to use wealth and hardened steel to make peasants do your bidding. I am not a Viking, but I’ve wrestled with them and lived to tell the tale I’m about to tell. Being of European ancestry it’s likely that I have Viking blood coursing through...

Take A WalkOn The Wild Side

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Since I have been home during the pandemic, which is coming up on a year now, I listen to music for most of the day, on most days. I always listened to music, but on my long drive to the office, I more often listened to podcasts than music, meaning people talking rather than singing. While at work, there were too many distractions and a physical structure that wasn’t all that conducive to public listening, so even though I would at times listen to my headphones, I did not regularly. I have a...

It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me

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There was a comedian, it may have been Seinfeld, that had a bit about men hitting a style wall at some point in their lives. Some peak moment where they decide, this is as far as I’m going, this is the look I’m going with. Whatever it is. I find a lot of truth in that. For a time, we get drug along with whatever styles and trends come along, often because of availability more than choice, but there is some part of us that resists and prefers to wear what we thought was cool whenever we...

The Life Of Brian 2

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An ongoing series of things I would like to do, but most likely won’t, so I have decided that these would be good things to write about. 6. Produce A Play The stage setup would be fairly stark, a minimalistic expression of the world. It won’t really matter, because no one will remember much about the staging once the actors appear. Tom Waits, Sam Shepherd and Sam Elliot. Shepherd is dead and he’s irreplaceable so I’m going to substitute Nick Offerman. The gravitas of these three voices are...

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