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Love Is The Answer

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In the movie A Beautiful Mind, John Nash gives his Noble Prize speech and explains that despite all his mathematical searching, and throughout his struggle mental illness, it was love that made life worth living. Love was the answer to the question.   “I’ve always believed in numbers,” he says, “and the equations and logics that lead to reason. But after a lifetime of such pursuits, I ask, ‘What truly is logic? Who decides reason?’ My quest has taken me through the physical, the...

Going Flat Out

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Journal 12.26.20 People are said to have talents, by which we mean something you are gifted with at birth and which you did not earn. Whereas a skill is something you hone over time, through hard work and determination. Aptitude might be considered the possibility that your talent, if honed, could become a skill.  A talent is not always all that impressive. Sometimes it’s more like a party trick, like being able to whistle and hum at the same time, the type of thing you might do at a party...

Teach Your Children Well

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The problem I have with the elf on your shelf is that it is a blatant attempt to teach children to be good, when I think the central message of Christianity, and therefore presumably the message of Christmas, is to be kind. Be kind. That’s the message of love that Christianity proclaims it instills, and not the idea of being beholden to the Law. The Old Testament and the Judaic tradition of living under the law, was supposedly altered permanently with the birth and death of Jesus Christ, the...

New Year’s Allocutions

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I have never been all that enthusiastic on traditional New Year’s resolutions, by which I mean I have never once in my life resolved to do anything particularly new or different just because the calendar flipped from one year to the next. I do not like being told what to do, and am especially resistant to being told when to do it, so coming up with a list of things I will or will not do in the coming year, on the eve of said year, seems fundamentally absurd and pointless and entirely against my...

Where The Shadows Play

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Journal 12.18.20 I’ve always enjoyed Anne Lamott—ever since that summer day when I discovered her in a tiny, gay bookstore in Cape May, New Jersey and then sat in the park, on a bench, and read these little stories, and laughed and cried and wondered at life, while waiting for my girlfriend to get off work. She was sitting on a shelf, Anne not my girlfriend, just a trade paperback of the sort I used to read a lot of at that time, and I picked it up, read the back and maybe a few pages before...

What’s The Frequency Kenneth?

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JOURNAL : 12.16.20 The late, great Louis CK (he’s not dead yet, but I don’t know if we’re allowed to talk about him yet after he admitted to masturbating in front of people that were apparently not into this social abnormality). Anyway, Louis had this bit about how unappreciative we are concerning how amazing all the technology is.  He told a story about being on an airplane when WiFi access on planes was first launched and the flight attendant explained to everyone that they had free Wifi...

The Prince’s Bad Day

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JOURNAL : 12.15.20 The great thing about the English language is its ability to adapt and evolve over time, incorporating all manner of words and phrases, whether invented or borrowed, and even changing definitions, spelling, uses and meaning over time to fit the culture. People get upset by this, but that’s the entire point. The language doesn’t exist on its own, but is merely a means by which to communicate the culture. As the culture changes, so must our ability to communicate, so therefore...

You Can Call Me Al

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JOURNAL : 12.14.20 It’s time to stop pretending like the person married to the President of the United States is a de facto housewife in charge of place settings, guest lists and curtains, or a woman of leisure in need of a hobby. Let’s do it while the President’s spouse is still a woman, and break with this ridiculously arcane tradition. Maybe the Republican women will continue to need something to do, but the Democrats are just as qualified for the job as their husbands, some maybe more so...

The Idea Of THings

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JOURNAL : 12.13.20 What do we do when we lose interest in the thrill of tomorrow? When we can’t think of anything else to do to keep ourselves from going mad? Some people live for tomorrow. Their happiness almost entirely wrapped up in what promise the future holds. Others are content to live in the now and appreciate the thing that is happening. Or so I’m told.  I’m not a real big tomorrow guy, but I am a romantic who believes that the fantasy is always better than the reality. Maybe my...

I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Culture War

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As America remains hopelessly polarized in its endless culture war, it has become abundantly clear that there is little personal advantage in taking sides, as there is nothing to win here. There was a time when mankind believed wars could be won. Two armies would meet on a battlefield, and proceed to kill each other in an organized fashion until one side or the other determined that they’d suffered more than they had initially hoped and withdrew from the fight. Whoever was left standing was the...

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