I try not to write about gun violence. The gun violence won’t let me though. In the three years I’ve hosted this blog, I’ve written 200 essays, give or take. 11 of […]
Thoughts and Prayers
The Gap
There’s a space between what I once was and what I am now. When I ask others to travel it with me, they can’t. It’s not their fault. It’s just too far. About […]
Agency
A few days ago, I started to write the Harvey Weinstein opinion that’s already been written a hundred times by a hundred people. It was a story about how many hands were […]
The American Man
Honest and vulnerable.
The Hard Truth
I’ve done the work on guns. I own one. I’ve fired just about every kind. I’ve packed them up in containers and hauled them around the world and spent hours lining them […]
Why?
When they knelt, what did you feel? Did you feel anger? Or was it pride? Or nothing at all. Here’s a different question: How far down on the list of emotions was […]
In God’s Country
Larry Mullen’s snare drum rips a hole in the darkness and silence with that iconic march. The unmistakable metallic, rattling scream of The Edge crashes off the walls of the stadium and […]
The Weak State Myth
Dunbar’s Number is 150. That’s the number of people anthropologist Robin Dunbar claims we humans can maintain social relationships with based on our cognitive limits. Dunbar calculated that number from the ratio […]
Why We Served
A few weeks ago, a reader posted a question in the comments section of an essay I wrote on the topic of Confederate monuments. I’ve said just about all that I think […]
The Rule of Law
America is eiight regional cultures. At least that’s what historian Colin Woodard says in his extremely relevant book American Nations: A History of Eleven Rival Regional Cultures in North America. Each culture was […]
