America on the Brink
Lottery
For once, I throw my lot in with the rest. At the bleak store that sells tobacco and liquor, two bucks buys me this slip that feels sinful and foolish in my hands...
America
24 posts
Be The Change
Meme-based Political Discourse is...Bad
The advent of the Internet in general, and tools like Google search in particular, heralded an age in which instant access to all the world's knowledge would enhance discourse, remove the traditional gatekeepers to information, and lead to greater human flourishing.
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The BRIGHT Solar Leasing Program Takes Flight!
The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act created unprecedented opportunities to reduce energy bills, improve air quality, and create good-paying jobs.
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Self-Care
"Surveillance capitalism unilaterally claims human experience as free raw material for translation into behavioral data.” - Shoshana Zuboff If n
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Paper Plane
Bad news blares from every stamen, every mouth, every passing car and leaf blower. I am coated in dust. It has been too long since I left this spot. How do trees do it? Do they too grow stiff and restless
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After Thanksgiving
So much death and pain today: slaughtered fowls, reminders of genocide and oppression, celebration of abundance denied to billions. Cousin, did you know 400,000 Ethiopians are suffering famine?
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The Unglamor of Good
If you're looking for glamor, doing the most good for people and the planet may not be the place to find it.
Be The Change
Correct Language Doesn't Correct Injustice
Changing the language we use when speaking about injustice does not, in and of itself, overturn the injustice.
poetry
Funeral Procession
On a drizzly morning walk I stopped to let a hearse go by, its pitch-black paint sweating polish, and as I waited for the procession I thought about who profits from tragedy, the business of loss, and who profits no matter what,
America on the Brink
A Love Sonnet Written on the Occasion of the Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
I want to touch what aches in us, the light we guard to stay alive. My dear, come quick. I hear a knock; I’m afraid. Is it you? I dare to open and let hope come through.
America on the Brink
Helium
The last thing he saw was the joy in her eyes. Back home the flowers have wilted and the balloon, twisting slowly in the now-stale air, sinks lower and lower to the ground.
America on the Brink
Manumission
I so want to be optimistic and airy, to write of our generous spirit, to wax poetic about moon landings and beach landings, entrepreneurship, sliced bread, the assembly line, the World Wide Web. It feels un-American