Enough, Never Again, and MARCH FOR OUR LIVES

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It’s been five months since my last post about guns. It’s been five weeks since seventeen people were shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It’s been three days since a gunman opened fire at a high school in Maryland. One of his two victims was taken off life support this afternoon. Today, nearly one hundred more Americans will die as a result of gun violence. Tomorrow, I’ll march. Because you see, this is urgent. But why did it take a bunch of … [Read more...]

Youth, Sports, and the Missing Adults

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My girls started playing soccer when they were five years old. My only goal for them was to have some easy fun. As the years flew by, volleyball and basketball were thrown into the mix. The purpose of their participation in sports expanded. It involved lessons in commitment, triumph over adversity, experience in losing gracefully and winning humbly. They improved their skills, knowing that the team depended on them playing their best. At no time then or now did I think a lesson learned … [Read more...]

Grow up. Pink pussy hats are just an accessory.

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  The shut down was smart. The shut down was stupid. DACA is dead. Long live CHIP! #MeToo will fix everything. Aziz Ansari. Bob Mueller will save us all. Ugh. There is much to appreciate about getting older but only if wisdom accumulates, the eyes from which you see the world are open and clear, and the reactive mind expands. Take a breath and grow up. Without maturity, without understanding subtlety, compromise, and shades of grey, we’re in a pickle (but not … [Read more...]

Weinstein and gun control: we can talk about both

Horrible, spineless. Vote him out of office.

I think we set a record after Vegas. We stopped talking collectively about gun control after 3.5 days. Time to revisit: In the past year, two men from our community in the east San Fernando Valley killed themselves. Both were husbands and fathers and both, prior to committing suicide, had experienced financial difficulties. The depth of their despair was ostensibly deeper than their desire to live. It feels immoral to assign further insight into their state of mind. I didn't know either man … [Read more...]

Vegas, or just another gun control post (I’ve stopped counting)

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Good afternoon. First this was a pretend speech from the president (an imaginary one, not Trump). Now it’s just another blog post in a sea of them. Still, I had to write it: Sunday night, a madman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers, killing fifty-nine, leaving over 500 injured. Tragic? Absolutely. Heartbreaking? Of course. Dozens of families are mourning a loved one today. Unforeseen? In terms of specificity, yes—Sunday night, an outdoor concert in Vegas—yes, it was unexpected … [Read more...]

Dennis Rodman and the mushroom cloud

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I sat down to write this post because many of us are concerned about nuclear war and afraid the next tweet will be one too many and go too far. Is that what we’ve come to? Living in fear of what the American president might say while bored one Sunday morning, left alone with his Twitter account? I don’t accept that. Instead, I write. I’m not sure it does anything more than articulate an alternative reality but I am always hopeful that situations can be different from what they are. Problem is, I … [Read more...]