Category Observances
Writer’s Indifference
My lack of output could be construed as the proverbial block often attributed to those who put words on paper. It’s actually a combination of not wanting to merely create content, but to write something meaningful, and ambivalence over the current state of affairs. I read a decent piece on Slate which criticized the online […]
Thoughts and Prayers
Language and the associated ability to communicate has long distinguished the modern human species from our animal cousins. Cultures develop their own versions of languages and within those cultural dialects, idioms, maxims, catch phrases and cliches inevitably form. In other words, sometimes there are just things we say in certain scenarios. Depending on which part […]
The Week in Review
It’s only Wednesday, but I don’t subscribe to popular culture’s idea of when a week ends. Actually, I just didn’t have a better title. Reeling from the Paris terrorist attacks, many tried to show solidarity with the Parisian people by overlaying the French flag on their Facebook profile, only to be shamed by those who […]
Believin’s got nothin to do with it
I’ve grown so weary of hearing or reading about what someone believes, most especially if that someone then goes on about how others must respect or acknowledge their beliefs, just because they believe them. There are over 7 billion humans on the planet currently, born throughout various generations and into countless cultures. It would likely […]
The Best Advice I’ve ever Gotten
It took 50 years before a generous, kindhearted, wickedly smart person gave me the one piece of advice that I’d not only never gotten, but of which I’d received the opposite end of the spectrum: […]
Romancing the Cancer
I’m guilty of a bit of nostalgic romanticizing about all manner of things. Easily influenced by culture, imagery and the passions of those I admire, I can easily pick up a stylistic twist or a favorite habit of another and take it for a spin. I typically regress to the mean until something else catches […]
Philosophy
Bernie Jay Harding was, and hopefully still is, a talented jazz pianist I met when I was just a young college student. I heard him play at a Holiday Inn lounge, was immediately impressed, and was then soon surprised to see him in the hallowed halls of higher learning, well Miami-Dade Community College anyway, where […]
There are no Square Circles
Every once in a while, I come across an essay or commentary that hits me across the cerebral cortex like a brick. This particular piece helped me give substance and structure to an argument I’ve always found frustrating: “Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.” Well sure they are, but does that mean we can all just […]
Christopher Hitchens
I am not fit to write an obituary or an epitaph for anyone, particularly someone as influential and widely known and admired (or disliked) as Christopher Hitchens. So I will write only a few words about what he meant to me, and will continue to mean as he has left behind a remarkable legacy—a body […]
JD Espinoza 