• Philosophy - Politics/Culture

    “Character Is Destiny”—Or Is It? Unpacking Donald Trump’s Extraordinary Hold on His Followers

    October 25, 2024 - By 

    Some 2,500 years ago, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus penned a line, “Ethos anthropoi daimon,” which most translators and the popular world of pithy, poetic phrasemakers have settled on meaning, “Character is destiny.” It’s a compact framing of what may be the most important truism applied to human beings and the struggles they endure to lead a meaningful and worthy life. To wit: Above all and in the end, a person’s character will hold sway in how they conduct themselves and how they affect other people through the course of their lives. Recently it occurred to me that the phrase…

  • Film/TV

    “Will & Harper” & the Long Road of “Transitioning” To a True Self

    October 19, 2024 - By 

    We Americans are suckers for buddy road trips. Two young-ish guys, a guy and a gal, two gals, it matters not. Fill up a suitcase, an ice chest and the gas tank, take the top down if you can, plop into the car, and tool on down the highway, stopping where and when you please, keeping the trigger finger in your brain always cocked for adventure. It’s a vast and gorgeous country, after all, and most of the people in it are right nice when you get out and meet them face to face. Road trips are a fine way…

  • Politics/Culture

    Money Is Ruining Our Politics

    October 13, 2024 - By 

    A note from “Kamala Harris for President” among my emails this morning, under the subject line: “Is there ANYTHING we can say?” “We are writing to ask—humbly—if there is anything at all we can say to convince you to make one more contribution to Kamala Harris’s campaign before our final FEC deadline ends. Please give us a chance to try: What if we told you that as you read this, we are getting outspent and attacked in several key battleground states? What if we told you that if we were able to increase our budget by just a bit, we’d…

  • Music

    Brilliant Songs #49: Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”

    October 4, 2024 - By 

    I don’t remember the exact moment I discovered Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” but I do remember just wearing that record out after landing upon it in my early 20s. I then kept the album it was on close by my turntable through that tumultuous decade of struggles and thrashings for identity, vocation, love, the meaning of life and my place in the world. Kristofferson died this week at a much older age (88) than he had anticipated reaching in his younger years. He was a gifted man in multiple ways—artistic, intellectual, physical—but none of those gifts allowed for…