Blog
Notes from the Plague
It started as a far-off speck in a faraway land. Reports of coronavirus started trickling in from Wuhan, China by November of 2019. By December it was clear a pandemic had taken hold. How bad would it be? Some made the case it would be the worst in 100 years, but we still won’t know […]
Gangster Politics has Come to America
Trump is a populist demagogue in the spirit of Latin American caudillos of the past. But the future he points to is darker and nihilistic, one that can be found in its later stages in the gangster state of Putin’s Russia. The period immediately leading up to and following the 2020 elections is defined by […]
An Inflection Point in American History
A Fitting Coda to a Year Like No Other Occasionally we seem to bear witness to something important. It’s the unsettling feeling of looking into the void of unwritten history and the weight of uncertainty bearing down. It makes life seem interesting. And ominous. I was too young to remember 9/11, only the barely concealed awkwardness […]
Moonlight in the Hills
The night danced away
With us around the fire pit
African Immigrants in a Small Texas Town
Diversity can be found in some unlikely places I grew up on a ranch north of the “small” town of Corsicana, Texas. The town was the county seat of Navarro County and the center of a regional economy supported by ranching and agriculture. Corsicana is what you might expect from a small town on the dividing […]
Battery Technology is the Key to Stopping Climate Change
It will make capitalism the environment’s best friend A wind farm in West Texas Battery technology has been what has limited the scaling of renewable energy sources. Energy demand varies greatly throughout the day, and with the seasons. This variation is one of the primary advantages of carbon-based energy sources over renewable sources: we can precisely […]
Light the Way
I turned in the dark and there was no light in the distance beyond my own. And I saw nothing that I did not perceive as all the images came from within from within the center of my light, That showed a path beyond the distance. The dark was an obstacle to my sight, a […]
Do These 5 Things Daily to Enhance Your Routine and Improve Mental Health
Routine and discipline are two of the keys to staying centered and maintaining your mental health. But different people need different routines, and some routines are more effective than others, so it can be difficult to know what to include. Below are five things that should improve anyone’s routine, and help you build a well-balanced […]
President Trump’s Coronavirus Executive Orders Signal a Huge Change in American Government
Last week, our system of government changed fundamentally. Last week, the President usurped the power to control taxes and spending without the input of Congress.
Profiles in Courage and Leadership — Or Things the President is Not
Real leaders are capable of humility. The posers must show strength at all times, because they are still trying to convince themselves.
It All Starts with You: Don’t Let Self-Improvement Become Self-Loathing
Its a fine line. The desire for self-improvement often seems to be noble on the surface. But before adopting it as a mantra, we should look beneath the surface to what truly motivates us to pursue that course. Are we being noble, or are we comparing ourselves to others? When you see someone else violating […]
The Trump Myth has Been Busted
They threw their tantrum and let out their rage, and the consequence was division, destruction, and disaster.
What the Art of War can Teach us About Building a Successful Team
Its the same for any group of people pursuing a common purpose.
The Electoral College is Too Democratic: A Counterpoint
The Electoral College was an elitist institution designed to keep populist buffoons out of the Presidency.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson — Racism and Criminal Justice in the South
This memoir gives us the hope that if just one man can make such a large difference, maybe the next generation working together can dismantle race-based inequality in legal, social, and economic systems and banish one source of injustice from the earth.
My Day off the Grid: An Experiment in Mindfulness
Mastery of life starts with mastery of the self. And mastery of the self requires an alternation of detachment from and engagement with the world.
On Coffee Shops and Ennui
No amount of coffee shop jazz or gentrified rap songs played on a device manufactured in a Malaysian sweat shop could assuage by bad feelings.
Book Review — Normal People by Sally Rooney
It treats a casual shared cup of coffee or a deep conversation on a road trip as earth shattering, life shaping events, as we ourselves often experience them.
Icon to Legend
I remember 20 years ago saying his name. I remember talking about his exploits with the other children at the table. I remember talking about wanting to meet him, how he was the greatest of his generation at his craft. We all loved basketball. We imagined being NBA players, being seven feet tall, jumping like […]
The Inhumanity of War
On the afternoon of March 22, 1943, a convoy of Nazi soldiers encircled the village of Khatyn in modern-day Belarus. The convoy had just survived an ambush by a group of Soviet partisans and wanted to exact revenge and use the little village as an example. The convoy entered the village and drove most of the inhabitants from […]
Ken Briggs 