- blogWed, 18 Oct 2017
From Szczecin to DC, a Curtain of Ignorance and...
When I tell people where my fiancé is from, I proudly recall that Churchill mentioned her hometown in his famous Iron Curtain Speech. Her town of birth, Szczecin, was once a part of Germany—and the northern end of Churchill’s Iron Curtain. If you wander through its streets you’ll see German buildings and,... more...
- blogThu, 21 Sep 2017
Slavery in the 21st Century and the 13th...
When my fiancé and I arrived in Aruba, my only knowledge of the island was a missing white girl from a few years back. Well, that and the resorts for which I had come. The first few days we spent there we did the typical bourgeois things such as sit on the beach and swim and cool off in the cafes. And, if only to highlight from... more...
- blogMon, 26 Jun 2017
The Long Hand of the Pigeon
As a child I used to believe in just wars, trusting my elders and being able to isolate evil people in the world. All part of my miseducation, I suppose. I’ve come a long way and now look back at this time as an odd dream. I think back in anger at all that was fed to me through school and elsewhere. This is not to say that I am... more...
- blogMon, 19 Jun 2017
The Veteran and Pit-bull-itus
We were picking up a friend when I saw a man pushing down a woman. I walked over and managed to pull him off of her. Of course, he wouldn’t leave her alone, a little too much alcohol on board. I told another bystander to call the cops, after asking if she wanted them. I asked because it was Seattle, they were minorities, and... more...
- blogMon, 5 Jun 2017
Aging in the Time of Endless War
When I visited the Brooks Range north of the Arctic Circle many summers ago, I was hit with a curtain of ice that cut down much of my hiking. I was short on food at this point: oatmeal, cliff bars, and a block of emergency rations meant for shipwrecked souls. Perhaps I was shipwrecked, philosophically speaking, but I managed to take in... more...
- blogMon, 29 May 2017
Writing As A Veteran
There is much talk about the veteran civilian divide. Indeed, there is plenty separating those from Sparta and those from Babylon—to butcher a pair of historical metaphors—but as a writer, I know there’s plenty they have in common, and one thing in particular: their reaction to writers, negative, as it were. And more... more...
- blogMon, 15 May 2017
My Hiking Soul
My better half thinks my aversion to taking hikes is a little odd. I try not to say much, but for the most part being amongst the splendid silence of nature does nothing for me and even less for my soul—assuming I have one. This isn’t just a function of my relationship with my significant other. Many others have recommended... more...
- blogMon, 20 Mar 2017
Thank You For Your Service
When I was a grunt in the military, I remember our reaction to the now still ubiquitous “Thank you for your service” (TYFYS). It speaks to the element of Sparta that I was a part of that few people around me were not against the war and in the particular unit I was in, to include myself, many were for it. I won’t bother... more...