I took the day off yesterday. I wasn't physically ill and wasn't on vacation. I didn't have other plans. I specifically took time to reflect on the state of my country, my government and my society in light of the first anniversary of an event that I consider to be the single most vile and …
Tag: society
Conjuring a Theme for the New Year
Happy New Year, dear readers! I'm not gonna lie; we all thought 2020 was bad and 2021 would be better, but at this point, it honestly feels like we've just been through one huge, horrible, double-length year of anguish and uncertainty. After all that, the holidays and typical year end frivolity just didn't feal right, …
A Holiday Gift for All
Holiday gifts are a source of real stress for me. I'm a natural gift-giver, but my generosity REALLY fights against the pressure cooker that is our American capitalist version of Christmas. (I speak of Christmas over other holidays not due to any type of intentional preference, but due to my family's individual history, which has …
Time ≠ Money
Just coming off a 4-day holiday weekend, I wanted to muse a bit about time, how it can be spent and our options for how to use it. Time is fungible, as in, it is something that can change into other things, which makes it just a little bit magical. Time passes, whether we want …
It’s Thanksgiving Again
Well, it has been a full year since I wrote about what I was thankful for and, having just reread my post from 2020, I can say I should definitely avoid making predictions for the future. Many of the items I noted are still valid this year, but a lot has changed too. As far …
Capitalism, in its Current Form, is an Addiction
America is truly a land of addictions. You need look no further than the latest statistics about the opioid epidemic to see. One hundred-thousand people died in the last year from opioid overdose, mostly from illegal fentanyl, a synthetic version of heroin. This is the same drug that took the lives of Prince, Tom Petty, …
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The Great Resignation
Everyone else is writing on this topic, so why not me too? What do people want to work for? Based on our pre-Covid economic model, it would seem people worked out of necessity, for their survival, to keep a roof over their heads and food on their tables. It was barely working. Many people do …
What is the Real Difference Between Competence and the Appearance of Competence?
From all outside observation, most people would say I was very good at school. I got good grades and generally followed the rules. I have years of report cards and transcripts that show how capable I was, how much I learned. My final high school GPA was about 3.6 on a 4.0 scale. The problem …
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The Power of “We”
America is an "I" country. I did this, I'm good at that. Me, me, ME! Everyone wants to talk about what they know, and oneself is the limit to what one can ever know, really. And how many of us REALLY know ourselves? Very few, I would say. So how helpful is this self-focus, anyway? …
Compartmentalization, or Why the Labor Economy is Broken
We are on the precipice of a whole new paradigm when it comes to who works where, how, and for how long. There may be many people who fear such upheaval and would rather just sit tight with the system we have because they had been able to hang on by the skin of their …
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