This is Day 2 of a 21-day effort to see the good in what might, at first, look like an irredeemable drag. Its name comes from a classic bit of dialogue uttered by actor Kevin Bacon in the comedy classic of my generation, Animal House. One side effect of carrying around a few extra el-bees [...]
The Political Ones
I make no secret of my age. (46, and if you haven’t wished me a “happy” yet, feel free to!) I’m up front about my struggles to get organized, to get happy, to get my bowels in working order. So why, oh, why am I having such a problem letting my hair go gray? A [...]
Let’s get this over with right up front: I’m a believer in the apocalypse, at least the man-manufactured one that seems, barring a late-Act III entrance from some serious, ass-kicking deus ex machina, inevitable. Additionally, I must confess that I came to my knowledge/world view late in the game, getting turned on to Kunstler and [...]
It pains me to confess this, but for a slice of my misguided youth, I referred to myself as a humanist. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I love skeptics, literally. While I hew to the woo, myself, I’m extremely pro-atheist: they tend to be smart and open-minded, which makes them very, very good [...]
Illustration by former fellow New Yorker, Hugh MacLeod, used under a Creative Commons license.
the rolling blackouts have started and my building is dark or will be when the sun sets no power for the two old ladies who have lived there since it was built way, way back in ’59 not that they have A/C or insulation or even the magic of cross-ventilation (that’s not how they built [...]
I’m not a political creature. I don’t have the news-junky disease, and I find it effortful at times to keep up with current events. Most of it just makes me anxious and depressed, and I feel like most of the time, I’m serving the world more efficiently by going about the daily business of extracting [...]
After my recent stumping for the sisterhood, this is going to sound like a reversalist smackdown, but a story in this Sunday’s LA Times (I know, I know, but I like the ritual of fresh comics in bed) set me off. Big time. And I tried to ignore it, really, I did, but here I [...]
I was thin once. I mean, I’m thin now, But once, I was really really thin. Scary thin. As in, people stared. As in, I dressed in baggy clothes to try and keep them from doing it. As in, a total stranger walked up to me after a show and said, Wow, you really are [...]
I’ve already come out (ha ha) with my position on same-sex unions (pro), the unfairness of current marriage laws against unmarried domestic partners in general (very), and gay domestic partners in particular (off the charts). While it is mildly irksome to me that marriage, with its religious roots and baggage, is the only option for [...]
