Archive for 2017
Please don’t let the Trump administration change your perception of history
When a Trump supporter (or this week Press Secretary Sarah Sanders) claims that President Obama deserves no credit for the current state of the United States economy, please have these facts and figures at the ready: EMPLOYMENT 2016 under Obama: 196,000 jobs added per month2017 under Trump: 170,000 jobs added per month Unemployment rate when…
Read MoreIf you enjoy a glass floor, don’t forget to look down and thank your lucky stars
“But for a couple of bad breaks, especially visited upon vulnerable people, the outcome of life would be so different.” This is a sentence that Slate’s Mike Pesca spoke a couple months ago on his podcast The Gist in the midst of an interview. I wrote the sentence down immediately, and I’ve been thinking about…
Read MoreThings I do #12: I worry about people mentioned in songs who are frozen in time.
I first heard Jonathan Coulton’s song “Code Monkey” about ten years ago. It’s a song about a lovelorn computer programmer who is pining over an office receptionist. After offering a soda to the receptionist and being told that she is too busy to chat, Code Monkey slinks back to his cubicle, “not feeling so great.” The…
Read MoreThings that make me cry
Speaking to a producer at a show in Boston last night, she asked me why I’m willing to share so much about my life on stage and in writing. There are lots of answers to this question, but amongst them is my belief that vulnerability is a very good thing, both for me and for…
Read MoreSetting goals for 2018
I’ve begun the process of choosing goals for 2018. It’s a process that takes about a month because the decisions that I make now will in part shape the coming year for me. If you have any suggestions for goals that are worthy of pursuing, please feel free to let me know. Suggested goals have…
Read MoreYou can’t be “useless after 8:00 PM” if you want to be productive
I was speaking to someone this week about being more productive, and over the course of accounting for his time, he informed me that he is “useless after 8:00 PM.” In short, the only way he could possible spend his time after 8:00 is by watching TV. This is ridiculous, of course. Had the person…
Read MoreAmericans would never allow someone like Roy Moore to work alongside them. Except for Republican Senators, of course.
Politics is the only arena where a gutless coward like Mitch McConnell can say, “I’m going to let the people of Alabama decide” about whether he should work alongside a pedophile like Roy Moore. IN EVERY OTHER ARENA, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE, Americans would take a stand. Can you imagine a dental hygienist or a machinist…
Read MoreFun fact: My wife and I both attended all-women’s colleges
Elysha attended Smith College in North Hampton, MA from 1993-1997. I attended St. Joseph’s University in West Hartford, CT from 1996-1999. Both of these institutions of higher learning are women’s colleges, though St. Joseph’s recently decided to admit males beginning next year. Elysha attended Smith because she is a woman. I managed to attend…
Read MoreThings I Do #12: I never say that I’m old
I never speak about myself in terms of getting old. It’s a common refrain. A colleague’s knee is sore. His back hurts. A friend can’t instantly recall a name or a place. A actor or musician who you adored as a teenage passes away. A younger cousin describes a dating scene that is entirely foreign…
Read MoreUnfair assumption #31: Book banners are stupid people
It’s true. If you’re a person who argues in favor of the banning of any book, I have unfairly assumed that you are a stupid person. You’re a loathsome, contemptible, ignorant person doing a very stupid thing, but you’re not necessarily stupid. I apologize for my unfair assumption.
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