To Carry Fire

This past weekend, Twitter, in Twitterial fashion, erupted. The topic of the discontent? A group of high school students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky. Video clips made the viral rounds over the weekend, purporting to show the students harassing an elderly Native American man (Marine veteran Nathan Phillips). This event occurred at the Indigenous Peoples' March in Washington, D.C. In particular, one video clip showed this. Twitter's "liberal" sector noticed the students wearing the popular 2016 campaign slogan: "Make America Great Again". For the political Left, which has no interest in making America great again, this was a problem. The narrative shifted. It was not just a generational tormenting going on; it was a racialized event. Commentators and Twitter's #VerifiedBullies castigated the students and connected the branding of their clothes to the President's (often misinterpreted) racism. This castig...

Spoilers for Star Wars, mostly Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. I promised Star Wars. Here's some Star Wars. While my fiancée was sick recently, we re-watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story . It's the first of the new Star Wars spinoffs that takes place between Episodes IV and V. It made us both cry, multiple times. Other than the tears, it got me to thinking: why are some movies and books and TV shows so popular? There's many answers to that question; more than one answer comes down to timing and coincidence. Technical skill is also relvant. (A well-written book, all else being equal, is better than a less-well written book.) The answer that most interests me is how something reveals and encourages specific concepts- the way the world is supposed to be. Ayn Rand is good at this, which is I reference her so often and why so many people like her work. So, to Star Wars: why is it so special? Well, it had a theme- the most classic theme, of pure heroism versus pure evil...

Well. Here we are, another year. Here in Ohio, we're experiencing our first significant snowfall of 2019. I have to admit that it looks beautiful. Something about white snow covering everything the eye can see is refreshing. It's the frame of mind of renewal that brings me to my purpose for writing this blog. Most mornings, I wake up and lay in bed. My fiancée needs to get to work, so she's up soon. I dawdle on my phone, checking Facebook, not for anything, but just to pass the time. We eat breakfast and she goes off to work. She's new at her job, but she's getting the hang of it. I move from laying in bed to sitting on the couch, not for anything, but just to pass the time . Star Trek: The Original Series is the show I'm watching right now, but it's not just Star Trek I watch. I watch YouTube videos about video games I'll never play, Vines I'll forget in seconds, and motivational hacks I'll never use. I'm not spending my ...