I have been thinking about a book I read and found insightful, Burying the Chains: How an Empire Freed Its Slaves.  It talked about the history of how the British banded around the popular cause of ending slavery and forced Parliment (with only one anti-slavery member to their name!) to end… Read full post »

My life has so many experiences that are bittersweet, like a first crush gone bad.  My religion as a child is painful to recall as was my relationship with my father.  But my literary imagination from childhood includes one person with whom it seems to be heartbreaking t… Read full post »

I have for years tried to discover what my position in the world even is.  And my "little hypocrisy" is that while I am basically a Democrat I never was really at home with the ideas of a lot of social liberals.  Well, I am and I'm not.  And it all… Read full post »

The bane of studying history is that you find yourself incredulous at the things that people believe.  This has always been true.  Much as I love it, the musical 1776 is rife with inaccuracies down to the fact that the Declaration of Independence was really signed by July 2, and some… Read full post »

The article Salon.com made regarding "Catapillar" recalled to me that I took Japanese in high school.  My ability to speak the language never got very good (although I did get an award for 'Most Improved Student' my freshman year).  Because I took the class, I did get good grades, and it… Read full post »

The most embarrassing moment in my life is when somebody asks me that momentous question, "So what do you do for a living?"

Work.  That thing that defines us.  What do I do for a living?  I've held only one paying job in my life, and it is a semester long stint… Read full post »