It's 2010, America has its first black president; gay marriage is slowly but surely gaining acceptance; we're close to discovering the very nature of the universe; neurobiology and genetics are bringing us closer and closer to the deepest secrets of our bodies and minds. Yet, despite all this, we can't say “goddammit” on TV. Something seems wrong.  read more »

Perspective is a dangerous and powerful thing. It makes our world; in some senses, it is our world: our glories, our limitations, our conflicts and victories. It is something so fundamental we often lose sight of it, if we've even gained any of it at all, but the real wonder of it is how a simple willing change of perspective can reshape the world in which we live.  read more »

Reading reports of the February 2010 CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) is like reading a horror story, filled with fears of the future and problems of the present.  read more »

As I keep saying, I'm an English professor, teaching Freshman Composition. Every term I see students doing substandard work, ignoring basic instructions, and trying to get away with texting as opposed to joining the class. Now, we have the conception that success in school is a matter of intellect, that the smartest students are going to be the most successful students.  read more »

People made fun of George Bush when he used the word "misunderestimate," but for once I don't really agree. "Misunderestimate" might not be in the dictionary, but it could be a word; it follows the rules: to misunderestimate means that a person incorrectly underestimates someone or something. But that's just the start.  read more »

Being the avid gamer that I am, I do tend to run into a lot of things that annoy me in video games. One of the bigger annoyances for me happens to be the nameless, voiceless protagonist.  read more »

For about ten years, I've had the idea that "rapture," being born again, nirvana, enlightenment, and whatever else we want to call it, are all the same basic feeling of connectedness to the world around us. And since we are biologically, chemically, and physically part of that cosmos, there's some possibility of a scientific basis for it as well.  read more »

I saw a woman on the train today reading a book titled What Men Want. I was tempted to tell her, "Shave the mustache." Would that have been wrong?  read more »

It seems that everywhere I turn, I see women reading Twilight, and from what I've heard, it isn't a very good book, and the movie is even worse, but it's being nominated for MTV movie awards. Clearly, it's not literary talent that is making a mediocre story into a cultural icon. The reason isn't the book but the character. Chicks dig vampires.  read more »

'Great Sex: God's Way'.
These billboards are out there (waaaay out there, in Alabama to be specific) causing quite a stir with the local folk.
Four words, and a community goes up in arms.
No, not s-e-x on a billboard!!! Not those letters!  read more »