Oct 19, 20247 min read
Fragments Related to Christian Nationalism (since the perfect is the enemy of the good)
For months I've been starting, not finishing, re-starting, still not finishing, pieces on Christian Nationalism (CN)- or, more precisely,...
Dec 23, 20234 min read
Never Again for Anyone. Cease-Fire Now.
What should this blog say about the ongoing slaughter in Gaza? So much is already being written that adding my voice may be redundant,...
Dec 22, 20215 min read
Out Here in the Middle
While talking with my friend Ron as he drove through Nebraska, I quoted him a James McMurtry song: “Out here in the middle where the...
Jan 17, 20213 min read
Dog! How F*cked Up Is You?: Trump and His "Stans"
This is to share and make a smallish comment about a jaw-droppingly powerful image that I've just seen, disseminated to my newsfeed by...
Jan 15, 20212 min read
Other Things for Republicans to Acknowledge Besides Trump Losing
Reading my news feed today, two things somewhat related to this and this recent posts struck me as worth noting. There is now...
Jan 13, 20214 min read
Trying to Reason with a Swing State Republican
Counting my home in East Tennessee and a small summer cabin in Wisconsin in an old pasture where my Mom grew up, I have four Senators and...
Jan 5, 20218 min read
"I Got So High That I Saw Jesus" and the Complexities of Irony in Country Music
Little by little, I have come to a realization that (as someone I read on youtube articulated it) “Holy shit, I think I’m a Miley Cyrus...
Dec 12, 20205 min read
A Lament for How We Live Now
Recently I asked my dentist—with whom I have chatted about teeth and sports for years—how long he thought it would take his office to get...
Sep 14, 20206 min read
Hegemonic Half-Truths: Why 9/11 Didn't Really Strengthen the Religious Right in the Long Run
This post is cross-published here on Narrative Paths Journal I fielded a query from a University of Tennessee campus newspaper about...
Sep 1, 20202 min read
Why Can a Cop Shoot Someone in the Back Seven Times If I Could Be Fired Just for Losing My Temper?
I went to my local farmer’s market here in the north woods of Wisconsin, feeling happy for the beautiful day and the chance to be support...
Apr 21, 20205 min read
The Death of My Old Hometown: Sucking Out the Wealth, Filling the Gap with Fecal Pollution
Last summer, on a road trip from Minneapolis to Kansas City, I passed through a town in Iowa where I lived from age two to five. Here is...
Apr 19, 20205 min read
Coronavirus, the Shock Doctrine, and Four Questions About Where We Go From Here
Without strong Democratic leadership, without mass protest, and with the economy so disrupted that I become confused as to how strikes...
Apr 12, 20202 min read
Hard Truths and the Hope of Passably Fair Elections
I don’t often recirculate comments from others here, but sometimes I make an exception, and I'm doing do so for this interview with Noam...
Apr 10, 20203 min read
"Prayer as a Toxin": Joel Osteen on COVID and Positive Thinking
Imagine that a shark has a fish literally inside its jaws, but cannot bite down. Prayer is like that. It is like a “toxin” that makes you...
Jan 2, 202013 min read
The Melting of a Glacier Matters Even If It's Still Very Cold: Evangelicals and Trump
NOTE: I am publishing tomorrow, in October 2024, a note to link back to this article which has continuing relevance even though it first...
Dec 31, 20197 min read
I Watched Kanye’s Christmas Pageant So You Don’t Have To...
…Or… if you want to watch, or already did—if you are into that sort of thing—let’s compare notes. The production was fascinating in...
Dec 22, 20198 min read
Cracks in the Wall of Evangelical Trumpism
People have asked me about the news du jour —that the flagship evangelical magazine Christianity Today (CT) called for impeaching Mr....
Oct 13, 20195 min read
The “Least Resistant Personality Profile” and Factory Farms
While studying rural communities that face poverty, shocking rates of cancer, and poisoned fishing waters from industrial pollution,...
Aug 31, 20194 min read
Remembering: Terrible Jobs, Race, and Generational Changes
My aunt Carolyn retired from a college teaching career and moved into our family’s historic farmhouse in northern Wisconsin. When the St....
Aug 27, 20194 min read
Remembering Trauma with Pentecostal Trumpers, Left-Wing Rappers, and Others
What do we remember? How do we remember? What good does it do? I started this post while the media's weekly dose of infotainment was...