Reading Time: 3 minutes A few weeks ago I played with an octopus. It was not in some water park or controlled aquarium. It was in the wild. It was in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii. It was quite a moment. I’m all about the moments, because I feel like that’s really all we have. You […]
Your World, Your Life
Posted inTrue Story
When dissent meets disproportionate consequences
Reading Time: 6 minutes It was June 10th, 2022. My plane had just touched down in Los Angeles. The long travel day from Glasgow was finally over. I wasn’t thinking about dissent; I was thinking about a bed to sleep in. Scotland had given me a rough time. I had broken my leg in two places and was now struggling […]
Posted inClimate Crisis
Climate change: Is it really that bad?
Reading Time: 4 minutes “The environment is so important but when I listen to the news about climate change it all sounds, well, scary. I mean – is it really that bad?” Perhaps you’ve heard this question (or variations on them) at a cookout or cocktail party. Perhaps you were the one asking. As a clean energy consultant who […]
Posted inYour World, Your Life
The local Arizona news story that haunts my career
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 […]
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.