You Too Can Buy a Voice in our Democracy I must admit I have grown weary of folks whining about the inefficacies of government and bemoaning their own personal inability to manifest meaningful positive change. I empathize with their perspective that making progress in government at this point seems a Sisyphean task, with the added […]
Shut the Hell Up: An English Teacher’s Guide to Overused Words
Shut the Hell Up: An English Teacher’s Guide to Overused Words This confession should come as no surprise to anyone: I have a tendency to use too many words. When I was in graduate school earning my M.A. in English, my Swiss-born professor of literary theory remarked […]
Like Lazarus, David Bowie Shall Rise From the Dead
Like Lazarus, David Bowie Shall Rise from the Dead I woke this morning to the news and didn’t want to believe it, wanted to crawl back into bed and pull the sheets over my head so that I could deny that it was true. A legend had died. An artist who transcended medium and genre […]
My Son Is a Green Bay Packers Fan
My Son is a Green Bay Packers Fan Alas, it is true. My son is a Green Bay Packers fan. Don’t ask me how it happened. I woke up one day, and like the father who finds out his kid has been addicted to crack for months, discovered the cold, hard truth. Except that we […]
Swimming in an Ocean of Plastic Crap
Swimming in an Ocean of Plastic Crap Have you checked out your post-holiday recycling bin recently? It’s overflowing like the fountain of verbal vomit spewing from the mouth of Donald Trump being asked his candid feelings on Mexican/American relations. Have you looked down the street and seen the piles of refuse that your neighbors have […]
What the World Could Live Without
What the World Could Live Without New Year’s is a time for resolutions, usually resolutions that will be hastily discarded like strip club pamphlets on the Vegas strip before those brand-spanking new 2016 calendars even get turned to February. So let’s not fool ourselves. Let’s just take a meaningful glance forward and consider how the […]
Nirvana is Overrated: The Official List of Best Grunge Bands
Nirvana is Overrated: The Official List of Best Grunge Bands This time of year, everybody has a list. Top news stories of the year. Best films of the year. Top sex toys for 2016. Yes, everybody has a list, especially the big guy in the red suit. Not wanting to be left out, I felt […]
Sharing is Caring…for some
Sharing is Caring….for some Like many parents, I teach my kids to share. It seems like a basic tenant of decent living, does it not? Well, not so for all folks. If you’ve ever read the classic Bel Kaufman short story, “Sunday in the Park”, and most of my former students out there sure as […]
Santa is a Pinko Commie Fascist
Santa is A Pinko Commie Fascist One of my favorite holiday traditions is sitting back on the couch with my kids and watching the disgustingly bad yet oh so saccharinely sweet animated holiday specials from my own precious childhood. The production quality may be something you would expect in a B-rate horror film, but I […]
Getting Your Bell Rung
Getting Your Bell Rung FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, SAVE THE CHILDREN!!!! Well, I guess only some children. In particular, my children. In fact, let’s just save my children and screw the rest of anybody else’s. Gosh,do we ever lie to ourselves as a society! We project some sanctimonious, morally pious view on all around us only […]