I’m working on a response to Wednesday’s attack. But this is Courage Counts, not Mediocrity is Adequate, so it may take a while. It’s already the longest post I’ve made here, and by the time it’s finished it will probably be two or three times as long. Thank you for your patience, and I’m sorry in advance for how long it’s going to be. Frankly, this may be a trend for this space; I can’t pretend I can address the issues we’re facing in 500-word chunks any more. We’ll see how it goes.

In the meantime, you might want to check out a couple of sites I’m enjoying these days:

• Tim Urban, the undisputed heavyweight champion of long-form blogging, makes his digital home at Wait But Why. His series on how we got here, The Story of Us, is worth a read. Pack a lunch.
• Braver Angels is bringing people with differing views together to get us talking again. Their podcast is a great way to get a feel for how both sides can discuss an issue without shouting over each other.

Now, go do something that scares you.