2025: Focus on Sanity
Sean MurphyObviously I think the world would be a more enlightened, happy, and peaceful place if more folks listened to jazz, and I'm content to convert as many lost souls as…
Jimmy Carter
There are two primary things history has taught us to regard with wariness: power and faith. With good reason, we distrust those who gain (or worse, are born with) unreasonable…
The Problem with the Homeless Problem
i. A question. Who was he? I think the same question each time I see him (once a week, sometimes more often): the same man in the same spot, holding the same…
Countervailing Forces
Since there are no coincidences (but maybe Fate, Irony, & Karma high-five at times) this poem, written a while back (during—without putting too fine a point on it—a time when…
On Broken Heels (x 2)
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 04: Muscian Sonny Rollins arrives at the 34th Kennedy Center Honors held at the Kennedy Center Hall of States on December 4, 2011 in Washington, DC.…
Born in the U.S.A. at 40: The Boss Before, During, After
i. Before Deliver Me From Nowhere Perhaps because of what followed—the next album, the acclaim—Springsteen’s decision to make the ultimate lo-fi album seems even more prescient, appropriate, and perfect. If Darkness…
2/26/12: A Poem for Trayvon Martin
On this day in History: On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin, an African American teen walking home from a trip to a convenience store, is fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a…
Every Day is Veterans Day
I. Personal Remember when Born in the U.S.A. was ubiquitous? The album and the song. Springsteen was already a big deal, but he wasn't ubiquitous. (A lot more on how Bruce went…
Labor Day Rant: Unpaid Internships are Evil
First off, with very few exceptions, unpaid internships are immoral and disgusting. Any business, especially a multi-million dollar tech behemoth, that justifies not paying interns is evil. But because the…
Be at Peace, Sweet Sinéad
She was brave. She was beautiful. She was brilliant. We all found our lives enriched thanks to her gift and, as is so often the case with our most fragile…