Reading Time: 3 minutes The news is … not great. Let’s talk about the olds. Specifically, a story about a story that I covered in my days as a young freelance writer in Arizona. Is this the Arizona that conservatives want? As we approach the 2022 election, Arizona is decidedly a bellwether state. Will it (finally) flip blue? Or […]
Your World, Your Life
Posted inFiction
The truth about black cats and monsters
Reading Time: 2 minutes There’s a black stray that lives in my neighborhood. He came with the house. The previous owners abandoned him. But he had a cat door so he spent most of his time outside before they’d left anyway. It was kind of heartbreaking that I couldn’t let him in. I tried at first and he scratched […]
Posted inArts
Is the Pussy Riot ‘Punish’ music video calling out Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church?
Reading Time: 3 minutes I don’t typically write about music, but the Satantic references (along with some interesting commentary on Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church) in the latest Pussy Riot music video, definitely caught my attention. While it’s certainly not the first time a band has used its platform to spotlight current issues, whether social or political, and […]
Posted inPhilosophy
Pipes and pints, rabbit holes and warrens: An interview with Jonathan MS Pearce
Reading Time: 16 minutes “I don’t get out much. I could use the excuse of the pandemic. Or my multiple sclerosis. But the truth is, the beach is only just down the road and I’m lazy. No, not lazy…obsessed. Obsessive.” Jonathan MS Pearce, sporting his anachronistic and somewhat iconoclastic mutton chop sideburns, offers me into his suburban house just […]
Posted inYour World, Your Life
6 years of Satanism in Arizona
Reading Time: 4 minutes SatanCon is set to take place next weekend in Scottsdale, Arizona. Calls for prayer rallies are many. The local Catholic Diocese are all advising their flocks to come to church and pray there, but they’re still calling it “spiritual warfare”. Candidates for office, Megachurch wannabes, and Catholics oh my They can pray if they want […]
Posted inYour World, Your Life
Secular activism in Arizona: An interview with Tory Roberg
Reading Time: < 1 minute Last spring, I got to talk with Tory Roberg, the then Director of Government Affairs for Secular Arizona, about secular activism. The following is the interview that transpired. Secular activism at the state capitol in Arizona They need to hear from their constituents who are not Christian because we should be living in a government […]
Posted inCulture
The ‘Christian Love’ Flows for Deconstruction
Reading Time: 8 minutes This past year, toxic Christian leaders have finally come around to viewing deconstruction as a very serious threat to their power. (And it is.) They’ve been responding to that threat in the only way they know: with ‘Christian love,’ which as usual looks like cruelty, false accusations, and endless hateful screeching.
Posted inPsychology
Semantic paraphasia: The things we can’t help
Reading Time: 5 minutes I often mis-say specific words. I know the word I want and I’m thinking of the right thing at the time, but the wrong word consistently pops out. It turns out there’s a term for this situation: semantic paraphasia. Today, Lord Snow Presides over our brains — and the stuff we literally can’t help sometimes.
Posted inEthics
This Seventh-Day Adventist Pastor Told Us Who He Is
Reading Time: 6 minutes No way, no how did Burnett Robinson come by his opinion recently. No way, no how did he get any significant pushback for his views from anyone he counted as important — until now, at least. Instead, he was telling us exactly who he was, and exactly who he’s been for a long time. But he also told us a lot of other important stuff.
Posted inCulture
The Endtimes Just Ain’t What It Used To Be
Reading Time: 10 minutes It’s nice that he accepts the science around climate change — and about humans having brought our planet to the brink of utter ecological disaster. That’s definitely nice to see from a Christian. But he’s trying to use that potential future as a way to terrorize people into accepting his religious claims.