Happy New Year! It may be obvious, but I’m a fan of books and reading. I arrived at first grade able to read on day one – largely because my parents read to me regularly, and because I lived in a house with a lot of books. I was encouraged to read, and even 12 […]
Read MoreThis week, besides being my birthday week, is also National Banned Books week. It’s a week when we “celebrate” banned books, as a reminder that the rights we hold dear in the United States are easily abridged or outright removed by determined people with agendas. Looking over any of the lists of banned books, you’ll […]
Read MoreOriginal television programming was one the sole purview of the big three – later big four — networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and later, Fox. They were the only ones with the budget and the facilities to produce episodic programs for consumer viewing. That strangle hold has all but disappeared now, challenged beginning in the 1980s […]
Read MoreWe’ve probably all heard by now about how Mark Zuckerberg, founder and head of Facebook, admitted to a US Congressional committee that Facebook will not fact-check political ads, opening the floodgates for smear campaigns that will stagger the imagination. It is a decision born of greed, and – dare I say it? – evil. Couple […]
Read MoreI was looking over the list of things I wanted to experience: films, books, TV series — all of it. It turns out that there’s more I want to see, read, and do than the time that exists to do it in! I can’t keep up with all the films I want to see. We […]
Read MoreI was at the Henry Vilas Zoo recently, and before that the Indianapolis Zoo during GenCon weekend. I enjoy visiting zoos because I love animals — even reptiles, bugs, and fish. They don’t have to be cuddly for me to find them fascinating — though if they aren’t cuddly mammals, odds are good that I […]
Read MoreSeveral months ago, I came across PBS’s “Great American Read” quiz, encouraging visitors to see how many of these “Great American Reads” they themselves had read. I have to admit I was puzzled by this list: it contained an awful lot of the dusty old classics of yore — things our English Lit. instructors insisted […]
Read MoreAs if the title weren’t obvious enough, this post contains harsh language and depressing themes. Be warned. ***** It occurs to me that, more and more, Americans (and possibly the world) revel in being complete jerks to other people. Cries of “He speaks his mind.” or “She tells it like it is!” seem to be […]
Read MoreWith the recent reveal that Facebook user data was compiled in such a way to sway voters in the United States, many have called for a boycott — or outright abandonment — of Facebook as a social media platform. I completely understand these concerns, but I’d like to share a bit of wisdom I heard […]
Read MoreAfter last week’s events, the post I was going to put up will wait for another week or two. I was going to write about an experience going target shooting with a friend of mine, but right now I can’t stomach even seeming to sympathize — in ANY way — with the psychotic horror show […]
Read More