no, there isn’t

How many times have you heard this response to a tragedy, a disappointment, or even a minor annoyance: “Well, there’s a reason for everything.” Interestingly, when people say this, it usually means they don’t have a reason. A typical follow-up is, “I don’t know what the reason is, but…”
…the reason will become clear over [...]

civic duty

Caucus. This February will be my first time at a caucus. Though I’m an independent, I can attend the democratic caucus if I’m willing to sign something that says I’ll vote democratic. The primary caucus will be one shining moment when I can, for a few moments, support someone who I’d actually want to be [...]

scamming the scammers

There seems to be a growing interest in the pastime of scamming and otherwise toying with the people behind the venerable old Nigerian e-mail scam. Maggie directed me to this site in which someone kept a record of all his mails back and forth with the scammers.
Some of the e-mail is very, very funny–particularly when [...]

director loses gall bladder

OK, he didn’t exactly “lose” it. He knows who took it. Some people at a hospital.
Maggie and I were at the Scotapalooza show last night when John, the guy who’s producing the upcoming Valentine’s show and directing my play in it, stepped out of the sound and light booth. “I had my gall bladder [...]

stop it

Suppose I’m sitting at work. I sneeze, and someone says, “Bless you.” I’m supposed to say, “Thank you,” right? Instead I ignore the person because I don’t want to encourage more of the same. Am I rude? Why do I need to be blessed when I sneeze, anyway? It’s a weird superstition, isn’t it? Maybe [...]

Think about Iraq, the upcoming election, and how Martin Luther King would be labeled today for this kind of talk:
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

“Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best [...]

another myth shattered

The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, I saw that my older brother had made a sign in his bedroom that said, “He has risen.” I didn’t know if he thought MLK was a messiah or if he meant it in a more general, hopeful sense. I never asked him. Till now.
I e-mailed [...]

places to go while sitting on your buttocks

Go here, turn up the volume, and worship noodles for a while.
Wait for this Flash movie to load, and you’ll find an odd tale about the end of the world.