Shipwrecked & Comatose

On every patriotic holiday my social media feeds say the same thing.  I must thank a veteran or military member for my freedom.  I must remember the men and women who died for my freedom.  I wouldn't have my freedom without war and death and fighting. I admit I don't know what Americans are talking about when they talk about "freedom" anymore .  It seems freedom is defined differently by differing political groups.  I try to define freedom in my own way.  Regardless of how one defines it, I am skeptical of the idea that freedom hinges on the acts of only one group of people. Before you attack me as a military-hating, evil, liberal scum, I am not writing this piece to disrespect the military.  I know I am a liberal peacenik.  I do wish we lived in a world where countries didn't need enormous, expensive, fighting forces to exist.  I am also a realist.  I know we don't live in that kind of world (or I understand the US can't be that kind of...

I sometimes feel as if I am in a perpetual war against clutter.  Kevin and I have lived in the same 980SF condo for the past twenty years.  In that time we have acquired far more stuff than we have disposed of.  We acquired standard possessions like housewares, clothing, books, art, and all manner of bric-a-brac.  Some it is purchased and some of it our friends and family gifted to us.  Paperwork accompanies everything, and so do boxes. Speaking of paper, there is always a steady flow of incoming catalogs and magazine subscriptions.   Some of it is useful.  Some of it is sentimental.  Some of it is stuff we believe will be useful at some unspecified time in the future. Thanks to this massive pileup, we have outgrown the space in our home to the point where I have to rent a storage locker to handle the overspill.  Still I can't fight the piles.  All I can do is try to organize the piles in a way that doesn't look too messy and hope n...

For the first half of my life I never dreamed I would spend my career working in the energy industry. I would have considered the idea laughable.  Liberal tree-huggers like me don't work in businesses that support the mustache-twirling, money-grubbing, planet-killing oil companies of the world. I was supposed to work in some kind of hippie cooperative or non-profit. My fate was sealed twenty-two years ago when I was working the front desk in a job I hated.  A headhunter called and asked to speak to our legal team.  When nobody was answering in that department, the woman came back to me and asked if I knew of anyone looking for a job.  I said I was unhappy in my position and was seeking employment elsewhere.  What kinds of positions was she looking to fill (other than legal ones)?  She mentioned a consulting firm to the oil and gas industry that had a couple of entry-level positions open.  She said they were a great company to work for and offered to se...

It's hard to be on social media when you're an extrovert.   All your friends constantly talk about how much they hate people and don't want to be around people, and how cool and smart introverts are.  In fact, those friends are all saying how much they like the pandemic because it means they don't have to interact with live people anymore.  Meanwhile, I'm over here, waving my arms screaming, " Over here.  Talk to me!  I can't wait to see you in person again and hug you.  I miss you.  I need company.  I'm going to hug you so hard when I see you.  This pandemic needs to end now ."  I want company, but my friends are all saying they never want to see me again.   You know what?  I don't even need coffee or alcohol to tolerate seeing you!  I just want to see people in person again.  It's not easy being an extrovert! Women wear shirts.  They wear blouses.  They wear sweaters.  But in general, they w...

Hello Boys and Girls! Today we are going to learn all about logical fallacies.  What is a logical fallacy?  A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning.  It is an argument without any evidence to support one's claim.  It relies on faulty bridges between ideas.  Today we are going to talk about the logical fallacy known as False Equivalence. In False Equivalence, the person presenting an argument tries to give two sides equal weight when they are almost unrelated.  The argument states that if both sides of the argument have any characteristics in common, then they must be equally wrong or right.  This is because the argument in question is oversimplified, lacking in context, and ignores additional factors.  In order to better illustrate what a False Equivalence fallacy looks like, I will give an example. If you think it's wrong for US citizens to be required to have Voter ID, then it's also wrong to request a proof of COVID-19 vaccination for enteri...

In the past two election cycles I heard every day about how divided this country is.   The divide is between elitists and populists, between urban and rural, between the coasts and Middle America, between the Christians and the "Nones", between the working class and the white collar class. As a liberal living in New York, I get a lot of flack for being "coastal elite" and supposedly looking down on the people in "flyover territory".  If only I would listen to the other side, if only I would care about their needs, this country would finally heal.  I am the one who doesn't understand what the other side goes through.  I need to be more open-minded.  I need to stop being so snobby.  Nothing will heal this country until I, and people like me, get off our high horses and start understanding the other side. Well, you know what? I am tired of this being all on me. I'm tired of being told I don't understand or relate to the other side.  I'm tired ...

I cover many controversial topics on this blog, but here is one I never covered before.   In the past week I have been receiving robocalls from "SAM".  I thought when I picked up the phone it was some clever way of hiding the word "spam" but it turns out SAM stands for "Smart Approaches to Marijuana."  I was intrigued as the call began.  What was this about? I decided to listen for a while. The bubbly recorded voice told me that the state was trying to ram through legislation to legalize next week.  I had no idea.  I wasn't sure if the call was meant to be for legalization or against it.  The voice went on to say that we can't let the big corporations win.  At this point I was all ears.  What was she getting at?  She said we can't create another Big Tobacco.  We have to stop legalization in New York. Now I must make an admission.  I have no dog in this fight.  I don't smoke (or otherwise ingest) pot and (yes, I am adm...