About a year after we got married, my husband’s job moved us to Phoenix. We had both spent most of our lives in Washington state, enjoying four distinct seasons and loving it. Phoenix has only two seasons: warmish-hot and surface-of-the-sun. …
I don’t vote like my life depends on it, because it doesn’t. But somebody’s does.
Despite caring deeply about issues facing society, I’ve never been particularly into “politics.” I have a deep pool of thoughts on the pitfalls of our defacto two-party system that I’ll share sometime, but I suffice it to say I do …
Pandemic conspiracy theories are spreading like a virus. It may help to know why.
The pandemic conspiracy theories are out of control, y’all. I keep seeing more and more of them, and more and more people I thought were reasonably smart and discerning keep sharing them. Seeing rationality fly out the window always freaks …
I’m fine. I’m just drowning in empathy.
I’m fine. It seems weird to say during a global pandemic, but it’s true. I’m fine. I’m healthy, my family’s healthy, my immediate community is healthy. No one close to me has died or had serious complications from the virus. …
One way the young and healthy can help our elderly and immunocompromised neighbors
We’re all a bit freaked right now, and understandably so. It’s not like we’ve ever been through a pandemic that shuts down entire nations before. But those who are at high risk of poor outcomes if they get infected are …
The reason “everything is racist these days” is because we’re finally having the right conversations
I see so many people whining about how “everything is racist these days” and “people blame white supremacy for everything.” Yeah. That’s because racism and white supremacy are infused into everything in our country—we’re just starting to acknowledge it. And …
Andy Grammer’s ‘Wish You Pain’ is the parenting anthem we didn’t know we needed
As parents, our first instinct is to protect our children. It’s a biological imperative, that visceral and primal urge to keep our children away from things that could hurt them. But sometimes, that instinct can do more harm than good. …
A Refresher on What ‘Free Speech’ Actually Means
Every so often, a story in the news prompts people to cry “Free speech!” while frantically waving around the First Amendment of the Constitution and fuming about fascism. Such stories are usually about someone saying something heinous and facing some …