It’s Monday. The weekend is over; time to drag ourselves back to work. Or maybe not. A growing number of us get up full of energy on Monday morning, looking forward to whatever the week might bring and burning to get back to something we think is important and worth our time. Those are the […]
Courage, conventional thinking goes, is a quality of our character. We either have it or we don’t. There’s something to this thinking, after all. There are those whose natural courage far exceeds that of the rest of us. How else do we explain the deeds of Medal of Honor recipients, or the heroes of September […]
This woman’s bravery will inspire you. If you admire people who stand up for people who aren’t standing up for themselves. If you admire people who are just crazy enough to step in front of drunk people twice their size and tell them to stop. If you admire people who have the fortitude to take […]
New Statesman | Let’s call the Isla Vista killings what they were: misogynist extremism. When I tagged this link for posting a few days ago, I wrote myself a note: I don’t know what to do with this, but it scares me to think about writing about it. That probably means I should do something […]
I haven’t felt very courageous lately. My book didn’t make the quarterfinals, but that wasn’t entirely surprising. A Square Foot of Calfskin was a long shot, just like every other book that entered that contest. If you’re interested, you can find the list of quarter-finalists here. No, failing is part of the game when you […]
Uganda’s New Anti-Gay Law: Part of a Broader Trend in Africa. We are so afraid of those who are different from ourselves that we feel the need to outlaw their behavior. A useful stance if we’re protecting children from molestation, or keeping intoxicants out of the hands of people who might hurt others under their […]
These two women aren’t celebrities. Most of us didn’t know about them before last year. They aren’t heroes for seeking our attention, or seeking thrills, or seeking danger–they’re heroes because when their lives called for them to do something extraordinary, they didn’t shrink from it. Ordinary people who did something extraordinary, then went back to […]
This Research Proves Your Brain Just Wasn’t Built for Junk Food, Porn, or the Internet. It’s a long article. Bring popcorn. But it’s worth a read. Greg Ciotti doesn’t argue that we shouldn’t engage in any of these things–just that we should be aware of how they affect our brains, so we can make choices […]
Have you ever seen a drumline perform? Or a pipe-and-drum corps? Or a marching band? Mick Fleetwood or Neal Peart, maybe (am I dating myself with those names)? It can be deafening, even without amps or microphones. The potential noise production of three toddlers, with or without pots to bang on, is roughly equivalent to […]
It’s normal to want people’s attention. During the holidays, when pretty much everybody’s attention is focused on something other than us–cooking, the beautiful lights, the kids opening their presents, family we don’t get to see very often, or a hundred other things–it’s entirely understandable. But it’s not always healthy, for us or the people we […]