Personal Reflection
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Time + Tenacity = Hope
Story time! Time to visit my Really Not Finest Hour. There’s going to be a lunar eclipse on Saturday, July 4. As many of us know, the Moon’s phases run in roughly 19 year cycles. What that means is that 19 years ago, a full Moon with a lunar eclipse fell on the 4th of July. And 19 years before that, there was another: July 4, 1982. That 4th of July is a date I remember vividly. I saw the bloody Moon that night from the walled outdoor enclosure of a mental hospital called Oakcrest. I was twenty. Less than a month earlier, I had graduated as valedictorian of my…
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Settling for the Awesome Universe
Goddesses and gods. Fairies and ghosts. Magic spells and hexes. Dragons and griffons and mermaids. Epic. Mythic. Heroic. Awesome. Well of course they are. We are story-telling creatures, and who doesn’t love a good story? If these were pedestrian tales, and boring, why would we listen to them? Why would we long for them to be real? It’s all very human. I can’t blame someone for wanting to live in a world where such things are real. A childlike* world of magical beings and epic wonders. But… But. Reality is. We can imagine many things that are wondrous and beautiful and yet which do not exist. And fairies and hobbits…
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GUEST POST: By Helping Your Community, You’re Helping the World
By Meredith Jones The world is a truly unforgiving place, which is why we all need to band together, look out for each other, and help one another. Of course, there are those who need more help than others, and it’s for their benefit that we’ve created this list. The fact is that we all have the responsibility to hold up those who may be finding themselves at the bottom — a courtesy that we’d want extended our way if roles were reversed. It’s not even anything heroic, but rather, just basic human decency. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at who we can help and how. The…
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Confessions of an Obligate Psychonaut
I’m a psychedelic survivor. No, wait. I said that incorrectly. I have survived because of psychedelics. There, that’s better. Now, people have varying opinions about this class of drug…and all drugs which are used by some for fun and recreation. This is a big subject, and I hope to unpack it, but let me disclose my bias at the outset: Illegal psychedelic drugs saved my life. True story. I’ll get into that in a minute. Settle in: it’s a long one. The backstory of all of this, of course is Calvinism: the deep, inchoate Protestant fear that someone, somewhere is having a good time. Pleasure phobia is deeply baked into…
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Because I Cannot Be Silent
“George Floyd! George Floyd! George Floyd! SAY HIS NAME!”Protesters in my city, June 2, 2020 There is nothing I can say that has not been said, more articulately and with more authority. There is nothing I can add that doesn’t come through a filter of privilege. There is nothing I can do but fight for justice. But I have a forum, and I will not be silent on this. Police murder of black and brown unarmed civilians is a pandemic in the United States. It is a means that entire communities are kept under the sometimes literal boot of white privilege. It is the perpetuation of oppression dating back 400…
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In Which Straw Men Get Punched —More on Halstead/Green
This is getting silly, but more has to be said in this conversation. Here is a link to John’s latest response to my response to his response. Links to all the other pieces are listed in that one. I am frankly tired of John’s putting words in my mouth and then arguing with them. He’s an attorney, he knows about logical fallacies, and he should know better. Let’s just list them, shall we? I have never suggested that renewable energy will provide as much energy as industrial capitalism consumes now. I am not a “techno-optimist”, as he had it. I am a pragmatist who understands that energy consumption will conform…
