I hear a lot, from my therapist, other researchers, and articles, that many of us complain that we feel ‘different’ or ‘other’ in the context of our immediate communities of friends and families. Here I argue that, doesn’t feeling different unite us somehow? Also, that being different is the secret…
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S.U.C.K. in the U.S.A.
I know, the title may be a little harsh. And don’t tell me to move. I don’t really think the USA sucks in its’ entirety. But there are elements of my home country that seem to be changing. But, of course, I’m also changing. It’s hard to tease apart what…
Who Tells Your Story?
Eliza Schuyler finally tells her husband’s story in Lin Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton”. But we’ll never really know Hamilton’s story, because he isn’t around to tell it. And, really, did he even know his story? Do you know yours? Here I argue that it is an important goal of human life…
What Can We Learn from COVID?
COVID sucks. No doubt. But often discomfort is our best teacher and there is always something to learn from suffering. In the case of COVID we are being forced to reexamine how we shop, travel, work, and educate. We have focused hard on our needs and had to let slip…
Slavery
Here I argue that besides the common forms of slavery we are familiar with that all sorts of *slavery persist in human culture today. Gluttonous humans have just become sneakier at disguising it. (*there is probably a better term to describe the general concept of forced labor I discuss here,…
Old Beliefs
You know these things. They’re opinions and ideas that you have, but don’t really know where they came from. They tend to repeat themselves and ultimately contribute to what we call personality. We didn’t really learn them in the classic way. No one told us X and Y. Really what…
Goals, Accolades, and the Meaning of Life?
I struggle with getting praise for my accomplishments. Earning money, having a ‘good job’, winning trophies, making people like you, achieving, getting good grades – so much of life is tied to ‘chasing carrots’ to earn accolades. In my youth my accolades were mostly self-realized. I was such a loner…
Competition
I’m not a big fan of competition. I’m talking specifically about two types of competition we hear about often The first type of competition is within the construct of capitalism. People are constantly referring to how competition ‘regulates markets’ and ‘prevents monopolies’. I guess in this economic sense competition is…
Marketing and Solicitation
Aren’t you sick of advertising? Especially the ads that make no sense. How about when you can’t even tell what the product is? When I owned a brewery I saw a lot of ‘guerrilla’ advertising. Like bikini babes partying and drinking a certain beer. Wow, if I drink that beer…