The Muslims have Mecca, where millions gather every year for the Hajj. The bulk of Christianity has the Vatican, overflowing with believers at Christmas and Easter. And the world has Hollywood, where every year during “award season” entire city blocks are cordoned off as industry devotees prepare to worship the gods and goddesses worthy of the golden statues named Oscar, Emmy, or Grammy.
When I started this blog, I promised myself I wouldn’t use any lightning-rod words that tend to send people scampering off to their narrow cultural corners. That included names of…
At the height of the 2020 BLM protests, I commented on a thread in an Italian-American Facebook group that sparked fury. Statues of Christopher Columbus had been vandalized across the…
Overheard at the doctor’s office recently: “Do you identify as Caucasian or non-Caucasian?” A secretary was screening a patient over the phone with what’s become a common question—one I hadn’t…
I never shoot the breeze anymore, even in the middle of a casual conversation. You won’t see me sweating bullets under any circumstances. And nothing can trigger me, although it…
The experience I describe in Awaken Your Sleeping Genie led me to know that the power of intention is real. And as stories like mine become more common, it’s easy…
I’ve always had a nagging sense that we humans hold far more power than we realize—yet we keep it out of reach, always just around the bend. For me, when…
Every time the nurses or doctors came into my daughter’s hospital room, they shuffled through her chart, puzzled. “Did they forget to mark her oxycodone, her painkillers?” they would ask.…
Every now and then my petulant 14-year-old daughter will extract herself from the latest viral TikTok video and declare her thoughts about a real-world issue. This week she surprised me…
Earlier this week, an intense windstorm knocked out our power for several hours. Today is the third day of an orange sky casting an eerie pall over Portland, as wildfire…