“The individual’s decision to end their own life, based on how they personally define quality of life and a meaningful existence eludes any evaluation on the basis of general values, religious dogmas, societal norms for dealing with life and death, or consideration of objective rationality.” -The highest court in Germany rules on an individual’s right toContinue reading “Suicide In Germany”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Proverbs
“I have been bad, but not as bad as that fellow” is something that fellow says all the time.
Resolve To Quit Social Media In 2021
My latest for CiRCE offers nine reasons why quitting social media will make your life better. Use the centrifugal force of a new calendar to help you do so.
A Tautology
“Organized religion” is redundant. Religion is organized by definition. If it’s not organized, it’s something other than religion. Art, perhaps. Or play acting.
What Pleasure Thou Canst Give Me
Mark Kozalek Sings Christmas Carols is a real piece of work. The former Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon singer performs a bunch of hymns and a handful of pop tunes, but the hymns carry it away. While Kozalek is not a Christian, he seems to have chosen the oldest possible carol texts toContinue reading “What Pleasure Thou Canst Give Me”
December 31, 2019
Revelers gather in Times Square on December 31, 2019. They welcome 2020, sure to be a year of prosperity, hope, and joyous new beginnings.
It Is My Fault
Over the last twenty years, it has become fashionable for young men to blame all the problems of the world on “the church,” by which I mean saying things like “Poverty and racism wouldn’t be a problem if the church would just be the church” with an authoritative, I-know-what-the-word-“liturgy”-means kind of tone. My latest forContinue reading “It Is My Fault”
Top 5 Songs of 2020
5. It Just Doesn’t Happen, Destroyer 4. Starfall, Salem 3. Texas Sun, Khurangbin & Leon Bridges 2. Inspirit, Julianna Barwick 1.Carousels, Doves
Top 10 Albums of 2020
10. 1995, Kruder & Dorfmeister 9. Black Swallow, by Chihei Hatakeyama 8. Green (reissue), Hiroshi Yoshimura 7. 76:14 (box set reissue), Global Communication 6. Another Flower, Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie 5. Una Presencia En La Brisa, Rafael Anton Irisarri & Leandro Fresco 4. Mixing Colours, Roger and Brian Eno 3. Healing Is A Miracle,Continue reading “Top 10 Albums of 2020”
O, Christmas Tree
“Simply put, a tradition is the past.” My latest for CiRCE is about Christmas trees in particular and traditions in general. It is a delicate point I try to make in this essay. I have attempted it a few times before, but find it endlessly refinable: there is some sense in which knowing the originContinue reading “O, Christmas Tree”
There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. 