Post election: a non-religious president

One of the more unique things about the election of Donald Trump as president, that hasn’t been widely talked about, is the fact that he is arguably the least religious person elected to this office in a century. He still gave Christianity lip service, of course, for you can’t hardly get elected to any governmental […]

Post election: a week of reflection

The last few days on Facebook have been trying ones. I’m pretty sure I was unfriended and blocked by at least one person. The posts and memes that have flooded the site by my friends have largely been anti-Trump, or otherwise in solidarity with those who are protesting his ascendancy to the presidency, but even that […]

Post election: a conversation to have

I woke up today, laying in my bed, thinking to myself that something needs to be done. Didn’t know what, but something. Just a few hours earlier, the voters of the United States, via the electoral college, had made Donald J. Trump our president-elect. So I woke up really quite confused, not sure what to […]

The BLM Conundrum

During my time as a small-town newspaper reporter, I occasionally had the opportunity to write opinion columns. Since I was vocal about LGBT rights and the fact that I’m an atheist, I quickly developed a name for myself in the community. What that name was varied depending on who was talking, so needless to say […]

Predictable politics

Well, it appears the primary process for the presidential election is rapidly coming to a close, and as much as I hate to say it, our choice this November is going to be between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. As far as Bernie Sanders is concerned, I’ve heard conflicting reports about his ability to […]

The transgender bathroom question

Despite my better instincts, I feel like I need to weigh in on the matter of transgender people needing to use the bathroom. In fact, I’m not alone: despite everyone’s better instincts, this has become a nationwide topic, no doubt to the embarrassment of basically every transgender person who has ever been out in public […]

Tamir Rice in an English class

I’m currently in the midst of a two-week substitute teaching job in an English Literature class, talking to high school juniors and seniors about the finer points of William Gibson’s “The Miracle Worker” and Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” respectively. And before the teacher took his temporary leave, he had also handed out a […]

Thoughts on poetry this auspicious month

Most of my active writing life the past few years has been journalistic nonfiction and plays; between my job at a small-town newspaper and my involvement in the same small town’s theater community, there was little time for much else. That’s one of the perks of poetry though. It can be easy to dabble with […]

Happy International Women’s Day (and an observation)

Happy International Women’s Day, a moment on the calendar we’ve reserved to acknowledge the contributions, advancement, and continuing social progress of women throughout the globe. If you want to become more involved with closing the gender gap, visit http://www.internationalwomensday.com to learn what you can do. If I may just think out loud for a moment, […]

Super Tuesday in Minnesota

Yesterday was Super Tuesday: the über glorious name given to the day when 12 states caucus to bring the whole primary election season that much closer to being over. My home state of Minnesota is one of those states, so I made sure to do my part in the whole process. For a Tuesday […]