getting off the spectrum

it’s time we started thinking, talking and understanding differently the concept we have called autism for far too long. it has been talked about as a disease,...

beauty

as usual

beauty eludes me completely

yet i taste it

at the edge of my consciousness

and dream i am drinking it

though whether wine or hemlock

i am still unsure

with its bittersweet prickles

against my skin

and...

democracy has failed us

democracy doesn't work. it never has and it is painfully incapable of functioning in a way that leads to a good society. perhaps a better one than...

linguistic overpopulation

english has too many pronouns. and that's not even counting the silly made-up ones that seem to be floating around lately that i'm not going to focus on. if...

the second amendment

i'm neither an american nor a constitutional scholar. but i am a language teacher specializing in culture and the development of contemporary language. and if that counts for...

evil, not guns

in the last few days, there has been an incredible increase in the amount of discussion of gun violence. of course, that's not particularly surprising. people in the...

sights and bites

"an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", the torah says. "retribution!", you cry. and you are wrong.

there may be more frequently-cited phrases of biblical...

preparing children for guns

when i was little, more moons ago than i would prefer to think about given the choice, it was very rare for intruders to penetrate schools and...

abortion is good for you

yes. it’s good specifically for you.

i believe the question of abortion is an exceptionally-simple moral and ethical one. it is fundamentally and absolutely barbaric to force...

the wrong questions

there was an article in the times this morning (yes, the new york times — if you’re reading anything written or recorded in the united kingdom, you’re doing...

sensations

(a poem about hypersensitivity)

no darkness consumes the soul

like the black of panic

flowing through the veins

and stealing every last drop of energy

to create a lightning bolt of passionate self-loathing

to suck the...

choice

(a poem about abortion and the idiocy that is sweeping the western world at the moment.)

once

when we were strong

they came for us

and drove wedges in places they did not belong

penetrated...