An ash and the emerald ash borer
I began to look at our ash tree not as trash, but as something that’s dead but doesn’t quite know it yet.
Earthview Media’s statement on racism
It all boils down to vitamin D.
Don’t wear a mask. This is about freedom.
Sure, I’ll wear a mask: when you put it on my too-warm, pneumonic body as you wheel me from the inpatient tower to the ICU for proning and intubation.
Coronavirus in the air: what we know; what can help
Just because it doesn’t look dirty doesn’t mean it’s clean. That’s always been true, of course. But the coronavirus pandemic is reinforcing this lesson in unspeakably tragic ways. A gleaming doorknob could well be coated with millions of...
Coronavirus is exponential math in human lungs
I have not rented space in a former Minuteman missile silo, nor have I stockpiled a cubic kilometer of toilet paper or a reservoir’s worth of PET water bottles. But Covid-19 is extremely serious, and it’s serious because of something Al Bartlett...
A chaperoning hellscape, courtesy of American Airlines
A buddy and I – two dads on either side of 50 – chaperoned a group of twenty 14- and 15-year-old girls from here in Denver to a soccer tournament in Phoenix (the Desert Classic) last weekend. I write this as a public service to share with the...
Death of democracy redux?
I’m always a bit laggard in my New Yorker reading and typically fall weeks or months behind — so it is when one’s New Yorker reading is done mainly while brushing one’s teeth and facilitating biological imperatives. In the...
A litmus test for parents of would-be pro athletes
I recently had dinner with a friend who’s plugged into professional sports. We got to talking about the across-the-board athleticism in pro sports. Take football: all the different sizes and body types mask the underlying reality that even...
One story, two stories: the fictions of Fox News
What you think depends on what you read or watch. This applies broadly: a romance reader will see the world somewhat differently than a lover of thrillers, both by instinct and through the influence of what feeds their brains. This becomes a...
How to justify spending three grand over four days
I sat at my desk in Denver on a recent October night faced with a question: does it make sense to spend three grand over four days? On the surface, it made no sense, given that we as a family generally run a slight but very real financial budget...
Impeach Trump: what’s the downside, really?
People who despise Trump will continue to despise Trump. People who somehow don’t despise Trump will continue to somehow not despise him.
What you can learn from Michael Avenatti
If she’s going to do the story with or without you, and you’re not going to look good either way, you’re better off talking to the reporter.