• I am not a Patriot

    I’ve never really subscribed to the term “patriotism,” but recent events have prompted a more careful consideration of this idea. During the terrorist attacks of the past few years (here in the U.S., across the globe, and in India, the land of my birth) I have felt strangely unmoved by sentiments of nationalism. Not once…

  • The Mommy Lobby

    The so-called Mommy Lobby is outraged at some Victoria Secret ad that uses young women selling underwear and swimwear, etc., and at how this objectifies women, contributing to the moral decrepitude of our society! I’ve heard this argument for decades now, holier-than-thou self-styled custodians of our moral standards inveighing against commercialization and sexual mores and social attitudes! …

  • Kill Him, Rodney!

    I once asked a friend whose son was playing football in the 7th grade what he felt when he saw his child getting hit and knocked to the ground.  His reply shocked me: “I love it,” he said, staring me straight in the eye, daring me to be surprised!  “It means,” he continued, “that he’s…

  • Just Wondering About Christmas…

    I was sitting around the other day, twiddling my thumbs, in a general state of procrastination over something or other (which is par for the course of my life), contemplating the year gone by, and wondering as we head into this holiday season why we do the things we do.  For instance, when we go…

  • A Wet Blanket

    In the blinding euphoria of the recent election, before we endow them with messianic auras, let’s remember they’re just politicians—all of them.  Decent human beings who care about family, country, etc?  Yes.  But all of them, in every country on the globe, are enmeshed in a system (created by their political forebears and promulgated by…

  • Baseball

    In 1985, when I was living in Bahrain I watched all seven games of the World Series between the Cardinals and the Royals without knowing anything about baseball. I still don’t know why or how I made it through the series, for I watched it alone, without Google, and without knowing the difference between a ball…

  • Striking Teachers!

    Another ingredient has been pitched into the toxic pre-election political cauldron as teachers find themselves in a stand-off with the mayor of Chicago, a situation that is being watched with interest around the country as the inevitable questions surrounding education and money take center stage.  As with most things these days the case has been…

  • Jogging in Central Park

    The blood-eyes blank in the ski-mask slits, A fistful of hair beneath her. The knife on top, its tip at her tits, Stilled even the faintest shudder.   Beyond the hedged-in grassy glade, The birds oblivious winging, Still on her ears her iPod played, Her favorite song kept singing.   His smell osmosed into her…

  • Nine-Eleven

    I was in our living room in Bombay on September 11, 2001, having arrived 4 days earlier from the UK after two weeks of traipsing around Wales and Snowdonia and parts of Northern France and Belgium with my cousin in her cabriolet with the top down (the cabriolet not the cousin), for it was mostly…

  • “We Give Birth Astride a Grave”

    I’ve been fortunate never to have experienced the crippling effects of chronic  depression, although I know many people who have; of course I’ve had my share of despair where the world seemed to spin out of control and even sleep, if it could be had, offered no respite.   We’ve all spent late nights sprawled on…