17 Nov
As you may be aware, dear reader, I’m a big fan of the kind of pop culture meta piece like this one from (surprise) Amanda Marcotte about what she perceives as the ascendance of mass-market mediocrity in modern American popular culture as being inherently more “worthy” than properties with more limited, niche appeal. I include […]
Posted in books, hobbies, nostalgia, political, stress by: chuck
Comments Off on I hope I’m not just channelling some lingering nerd resentment here, but…
08 Nov
Today, November 8, is election day in the United States. So go and vote. Yes, it’s an off-year election, which, if your ballot looked like mine when I absenteed it a couple of days ago (business travel this week), means lots of local races for school board and county board of supervisors and stuff. Just […]
Posted in life, political by: chuck
Comments Off on the usual plea to perform your civic duty
03 Oct
Whenever I see someone talking along the lines of the individual that slacktivist is talking about here, the whole business about how the founding fathers intended the United States to be a Christian nation, and the squinting at and bending of the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment to try and justify […]
Posted in bitching, political by: chuck
Comments Off on …does not mean what you think it means
27 Sep
I saw this piece, “Performing Motherhood”, over at slacktiverse, and well, it resonated. For many reasons. Go forth, and read it*. _____________________ *-Also, check out the comments, where someone talks about this anecdote, and eloquently describes what’s so creepy and wrong about the adulation heaped upon this (probably totally fabricated) piece of glurge.
Posted in bitching, family, political by: chuck
Comments Off on defy expectations
19 Sep
I don’t have a particular thesis for today. My mind is swimming with all kinds of random stuff, and none of it is coalescing into one coherent point. But, it still needs to get out, so I’m going to take the shotgun approach and try getting out some thoughts on a handful of things; and […]
Posted in bitching, life, movies and tv, political, stress by: chuck
Comments Off on couple of things
12 Sep
I kind of wanted to just leave yesterday be, but in the end, I figured that it was probably best to counter all of the blindly patriotic tackiness and/or resurgences of anger from so many other people with my little piece of ten years after. Where I was when things went down doesn’t really matter. […]
Posted in bitching, political by: chuck
Comments Off on kind of obligatory
30 Aug
I’ve seen several varieties of this sort of thing get passed around via email, but mercuryblue‘s recent essay at slacktiverse does a really good job of covering how political considerations are inextricably woven into every personal decision we make. Every choice we make (or don’t make) has an effect on the larger world, no matter […]
Posted in bitching, political, stress by: chuck
Comments Off on everything matters
11 Aug
From a historical perspective, it’s hard to discount the premise presented in This article regarding the demographics and positions of the “”modern”” Tea Party movement. Back in US History class in high school, we called this the “”Solid South.”” …But while there may be Tea Party sympathizers throughout the country, in the House of Representatives […]
Posted in political by: chuck
Comments Off on nothing new under the sun
11 Aug
It seems like the concept of nostalgia is something that is bubbling up quite a bit these days, here and elsewhere. For the last several weeks, I’ve been going back through my music collection and re-visiting the thoughts and feelings those fifteen and twenty year old records dredge up. I’ve written at least three pieces […]
Posted in music, nostalgia, political by: chuck
Comments Off on two different perspectives on nostalgia
Posted in bitching, political by: chuck
Comments Off on at least “it’s magic!” counts as an explanation…technically