Our society is obsessed with arguing. It didn’t always use to be this way – remember when we all agreed that Russia was our enemy and that polio vaccinations were a good thing?
Today we’re energized and consumed by confrontation wherever we find it.
Next time someone raises their voice in public, look around to see how many cell phone cameras are recording. Read More
The Craft Beer Snob is one of the most peculiar social animals to emerge during my lifetime. When I was born in 1980 there were only eight craft breweries in the United States. Today there are over six thousand and they’re all being propped up by beer snobs. Read More
I think about the future a lot, but also worry that it may be wasted effort since a tractor-trailer truck could sideswipe me out of existence at any moment.
Lately, I’ve been stuck on viewing my life through the traditional five-act structure that was commonly used in Shakespeare’s time:
(1) Introduction, (2) Rising Action, (3) Climax, (4) Falling Action, and (5) Resolution. Read More
We’re coming up on a big week for eves, the biggest of the year by far. I’m a big fan of eve-based holidays, especially since I’m something of a night owl.
The cruel irony is that when you’re a child, Christmas Eve is the hardest night of the year to fall asleep, while New Year’s Eve is the hardest night of the year to stay awake. Read More
A good holiday song lightens your mood and puts you in the Christmas spirit; a great holiday song turns you into a child again on Christmas morning. Read More
Nothing frustrates me quite like having to hand wash dishes next to a running dishwasher.
If the items are fragile or hand-wash only, that’s on me; I knew what I was getting into when I bought them.
But if the items are dishwasher-friendly and I’m only hand-washing them because I didn’t plan well enough – I’m both humbled and embarrassed. Read More
Until recently, the only options for sitting in my front living room have been three rocking chairs and a glider, at least one of which is old enough that I’ve been breastfed in it.
We arrange the four chairs in a squared circle producing a relaxed sitting-room atmosphere far preferential to parlors of old. My seat is front-right beside the window with sightlines on the driveway and yard. It’s the best seat in my house.
I sit here in the sunshine, like a cat, watching birds and squirrels while trying to make sense of the world. Read More
One of my favorite parts of transitioning into the holiday season is reintroducing my Christmas sweater into my wardrobe rotation. I’m excited to finally wear it again this week. Read More
When I was in my twenties, the night before Thanksgiving was the Dia de Los Muertos of High School social groups. The one night out of the year when long-abandoned social circles from high school reappeared, powered by a strange sense of nostalgia and greeted with great merriment.
A more accurate term would’ve been La Noche de Los Binge Drinkers. Read More
This, my 53rd consecutive weekly column, officially marks Uncommon Discourse’s one-year anniversary.
Thank you to the thousands of unique visitors who have visited the site and to the steadily increasing number of subscribers. Read More