I probably would never have found Jeremy Lent's The Patterning Instinct on my own. It came into my orbit through a series of conversations I was having with ChatGPT about systems, patterns, culture, and the ways ideas become embedded in civilizations. I should probably add a disclaimer here: I am not a member of the … Continue reading An Argument with a Book: Reading Jeremy Lent’s The Patterning Instinct
Category: Personal Reflection
The Pen in the Drawer
I recently started a new job. Like most new jobs, the first week was filled with orientation, unfamiliar faces, and the slow process of making an anonymous cubicle feel a little less anonymous. The top drawer in the cabinet under my desk became the natural place to keep my notebook. For the first few days, … Continue reading The Pen in the Drawer
De Flexibilitate: The Legend of Severus Arellius Gumbus
In the winter of 52 BCE, as Caesar pressed his campaign to crush the Gallic coalition, the Roman legions found themselves facing disaster near the town of Alesia—the stronghold of the chieftain Vercingetorix1. Two armies boxed Rome in Inside the city walls: Vercingetorix and his starving defenders Outside the walls: a massive Gallic relief force … Continue reading De Flexibilitate: The Legend of Severus Arellius Gumbus
Boats Against the Current
“There is nothing new under the sun.” These opening words of Ecclesiastes (1:1–11) are not a lament, but a reminder. The crises, uncertainties, and upheavals we experience are echoes of challenges that have come before. Generations rise and fall, societies face turbulence, and yet human life — with its work, care, and attention — endures. … Continue reading Boats Against the Current
My First Published “Article”
Years ago, at the ripe old age of 15, one of the greatest magazines of the era published my astute observation on how to deal with one of the "bad guys" of the 20th century: Why don't we just send Saddam Hussein a skateboard and a halfpipe and let him kill himself? Source: https://www.thrashermagazine.com/imagesV2/Burnout/2013/Magazine_1991/May_1991/TH0591May1991p6-7_800t.jpg
Better a Has-Been than a Never-Was
Image generated by ChatGPT The Bumper Sticker That Started It A quip I posted a while back popped up on a social media feed as a memory today, alongside a picture I’d had AI generate of a “has-been” and a “never-was.” The post referenced a minivan I’d pulled up behind at lunch, with a bumper … Continue reading Better a Has-Been than a Never-Was
Facebook doesn’t care about your community: why local newspapers still matter
If you live in a small town like I do, you probably know exactly when the weekly paper arrives. In my case it comes once a week in the mail: the Northwest Alabamian. By the time it arrives, much of the information in it is technically “old news.” The same stories have often already appeared in … Continue reading Facebook doesn’t care about your community: why local newspapers still matter
