Left to my own devices

Two recent conversations -- one public, one private -- both about seemingly disparate topics, have ushered forth to my mind their conflation in one general regard: We tend to value most, the time of our life when we were young. Sometimes, the sense of nostalgia can be warm and fuzzy. Other times, melancholy. On certain other occasions, it can be crippling. But it all seems to center around the time of our lives when we were young. Consider a situation in my town where a few older houses might be torn down to make way for an expansion of one of the local high schools. The vote to approve this passed handily a year ago, however, a preservationist group has officially protested the demolition of the houses. It has created quite an interesting public conversation in the community about looking ahead, vs. what is worth saving from our past. The dialogue, thus far, has been both fascinating and frustrating. While we've learned more about our city's past, we've also seen t...

With the recent release (and surprising popularity) of Kenneth Branagh's version of Murder on the Orient Express , Agatha Christie -- the author of the novel upon which the movie is based -- is now back in the public eye. Having long been a fan of Christie's works, I thought it a good time to finally choose my Top 10 favorite works by her. It wasn't easy, as I familiar with so much of her output, but the following list is a good representation of why I've liked Agatha Christie so much, for so long. Here we go: 1.  Nemesis (1971) One of her later works (Christie died in 1976), this story nevertheless presents an old mystery with a new mystery, a garden bus tour, suspicious characters, and the deceptively sharp sleuth Miss Marple. Thoroughly enjoyable. 2. A Murder is Announced (1950) Another Miss Marple story, this time set in the English village of Chipping Cleghorn. After reading a notice in the local paper, people show up to someone's house...

Happy Black Friday. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Our latest Pic of the Week is actor Mahershala Ali, best known for his Oscar-winning role in the Moonlight , along with Hidden Figures , the Hunger Games movies, and True Detective (too name a few).

The first election I was able to vote in would have been the spring 1994 primary. The first election I actually voted in was autumn's general election of 2004. Ten years went by where my right to vote went unused. People had fought and died -- in wars and in the streets -- for my right to vote, and I'd case it aside with the usual excuses of, 'They're all crooked, anyway, so it doesn't matter,' or 'My right to vote is balanced with my right not to vote.' Meanwhile, elections came and went, policy was decided, and I'd had nary an input. Things changed in 2004, and the world (for better or worse) has George W. Bush to thank for me getting me off my keister and becoming politically involved. With the Bush administration, the two main sticking points (though there were others) were our handling of the Iraq War, and lack of seeing the LGBTQ community as equal citizens. Karl Rove's orchestration of the culture wars was in full swing, ...

I stand by most of what I write on this blog. Sometimes I will re-read old posts and nod my head in agreement. Other times I may shake my head and wonder what I was thinking. Such is the case with the  post from six years ago  where I talked about my Top 10 favorite scary films. Movies such as Aliens and Se7en made the list and, while those are really good in their own right, they are not really "scary" or Halloween-type horror films. The list needed revision, folks, and here it is (in alphabetical order):

Our latest Pic of the Week is actor Justin Long, known for (among other things) the Jeepers Creepers and Drag Me To Hell movies. Happy Halloween!

Who we are changes over time. Some may deny this, but they would be wrong. I was reminded of this recently when I came across an article that, on the surface, takes umbrage with the ancient philosophical phrase of "know thyself," but also manages to go deeper and talks about how people change, yet may not fully understand that they've done so. It also questions why we do the things we do. Is it because we truly want to do them, or because it's about who we think we are, or what people like us are supposed to do? I think it could possibly be all of the above. The following passage from the article particularly stands out: The problem is this: If we change while our self-image remains the same, then there will be a deep abyss between who we are and who we think we are. And this leads to conflict. Leaning into these ideas a bit more, I am reminded of the evolution of understanding I've come to over the years in, first, knowing myself and, also, knowi...