INSTANT DOGMA
Opinions, essays, blog posts, articles, op-eds, ruminations, soapbox rants, and much more
Next Pair of Dimes
The sign blinked insistently, making Fredd really anxious. Not that he needed any help — the whole stupid affair had him on serious edge already anyway. But that damn sign, over and over again: “Please insert 20 cents to continue the session.” Without this, the gate would close and the drones would arrive. He had
Therefore I Was
Cogent I think right now What really rends In the end Isn’t decay Or disease Or tragic events But more so A failure to See light ahead And a purpose To continue Against all logic A tenuous existence So beautiful and frail Horrible in its gravity Never knowing the truth Ergonomic Woke today From
Life Is Good
So at Least There’s That… I was listening to a recent podcast where the discussion was about how we value the support structures in our lives, as well as the obstacles put before us. Not surprisingly, the conclusion was that people tend to overstate the latter and underestimate the former. In other words, we tend
Bed-death and Beyond
The day the inevitable happened was, surprisingly, warm and sunny. I’d always pictured it as forebodingly dark with a torrential downpour of historical — nay, biblical — proportions. Since I knew it was of course coming at some point, I suppose it was comforting to think of it as somehow dramatic or noteworthy. But
By Grace
You think there’s always time To do the things you want to do To finish that abandoned project To get over to that faraway place To reach out to long lost friends To abandon reason for intuition To revel in awe of time and space To rediscover that dormant art To plant seeds before
Arc of the Pilgrimage
As we progress in years, holidays oftentimes can lose some of their luster. Things just don’t have the same spark anymore, the sense of magic and wonder ebbs a bit, and the latitude of a “day off” gets supplanted by a multitude of logistics and preparations. Still, some holidays resonate on a different level
In Case of Emergence
IN CASE OF EMERGENCE… Find the courage to live up to your vision. When the fear surges take another breath. If you’ve lost the narrative keep writing anyway. Build a foundation worthy of your failures. Remember where you’re from so you can get back. It’s all a cosmic movie being written on the fly. Your
Anthroleum
The pumps were working day and night, emitting a low (and not unpleasant) humming sound and the faint stench of rotting flesh. Since the discovery three years ago of the first large deposit, thousands were attracted here by the promise of steady work and maybe even a chance to become wealthy fast. For those
Climate Decade
The consensus of climate science has given us about a decade to turn things around. That’s not a literal deadline or doomsday prophecy; this isn’t Y2K or an exact-date apocalypse, but a political and scientific statement. It means that we have roughly a decade (at current projections) to make some hard and necessary changes
Queen Arthur
The Legend of QUEEN ARTHUR and her nights at the Round Table Sally Arthur — a 30-something single mother of three, server at a local restaurant, and artist in her spare time — could sling hash like nobody’s business. Not that she literally slung hash (which to her sounded like a euphemism for something unsavory),
Sleep Watching
we’re sleepwalking through the apocalypse building castles with sand from the hourglass catching rays from a sun gone supernova drinking manmade water from a dry well cheering for teams when the game is over buying all the lies when it’s time to sell making believe while refusing to grieve group thinking while the ship
Sleep Waking
Somehow in the process of building modern high-tech lives, we’ve lost sight of more basic human rhythms and forgotten how to sleep. Not entirely, of course — people still obviously do sleep — but as a cultural phenomenon we’re starting to see the accumulated effects of chronic sleep deprivation take hold. This may have
Come Again
Heading back “home” again always made Hayley feel both anxious and excited. They say the road can be cold and lonely, and a lot of the time it was. But it was also filled with grand adventures and wondrous sights. Still, none of it meant anything without those trips back home—with its warmth and
Thirty Past
THIRTY PAST It is all of value. The tedious is filled with mystery. Eyes have no end. Even brown walls are Zen. The present is a long-enough history. — NOTE: This was written in the early 1990s while on the move; it’s just a little snippet about being in the moment and appreciating every single
Hell(n)o world!
This is your last post. ‘Nuff said. Well, it’s actually the first, but as it falls down the queue it’ll be the last one you read, so I suppose this really is goodbye! Which seems like a fitting place to delve into a rant about technology and society, after all. Is there any other