Writing
From the vault.
Some of this stuff can be hard to find, but these links make it easy.
Greater hits
The Jehovah’s Witness Who Knew Too Much
How Alfred Hitchcock saved me from a cult, sent me on an epic road trip and helped me learn how to die.
A Juneteenth for the Rest of Us
Opportunities for Activism that Middle Class White People Can Seize Right Now
Toilet Paper Isn’t Good for Shit: Making the Case for the #PaperlessPotty
Here’s a stand you can take while sitting down.
Blood, Sweat and Vinyl
A music review column mashing up history, memoir and a philosophical inquiry into the nature of recorded sound.
Dropping the Needle: An introduction
A basement flood and a breakup leads to my rediscovery of vinyl.
My Own Private Hawaii (Alfred Apaka: My Isle of Golden Dreams)
“We can regain paradise every night in our dreams.”—Sigmund Freud
The Meek Shall Inherit… What? (Rush: 2112)
Technology has eradicated the Individual. Imagination and music have been mayonnaisified. 2112 is now.
As seen on McSweeney's Internet Tendency
List: Secure Website Authentification Questions
New Food Review: Coke and Milk
New Food Review: Stagg Chili's Classic Chili with Beans
Rejected by McSweeney’s
It’s their loss.
List: Mr. Ed's Theme Song, by Other Composers
List: Products at Dollar Tree that I Doubt are a Bargain
List: Misleading Names for Medical Procedures
A Year of Sundays
I went to a different church each Sunday so you don’t have to.
Megachurch: If you’re Christian and you know it, clap your hands!
Regional cult center: She blinded me with scie—
Reform Judaism: In which I am nearly seduced by the siren call of Moses
Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses
Crashing the memorial: Better than a 1000 therapy sessions spent elsewhere
TongueSpeakers, Inc.: Doing calisthenics for Christ
Quakers: Not just for breakfast anymore
Spiritualism: It’s alive and well
Megachurch: Looking for a helluva church at heavenly prices?
My apostate life
I was raised in a Jehovah’s Witness family. Then I left and all hell broke loose. Writing about it helped me knit a basket of shit into a blanket of gold. Readers have been helped too.
What happens when religious shunning shuts one door and leaves too many others open?
What am I Supposed to do with All this Anger?
Women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem once said, “The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.”
Bitterness is easy. But there was love too, along with a trunkful of great memories. I refuse to give them up.
The Gift of Disfellowshipping: Your Story
However cruel and capricious disfellowshipping is, it’s also a gift.
So you want to help someone get out of the Jehovah's Witnesses?
Four tips to help someone find their way out of the Witnesses (or any other high-control religious group).
Visions and lists from The Anvil
The State of Craigslist Singles
Best Excuses to Avoid Gardening
Least Believable Hollywood Rumors
Most Effective Ways to Liven up a Funeral
Some more non-fiction
Coping with Sport Illiteracy: It's not just a Day at the Beach
Book Reviews in The Oregonian
"Spellbound by Beauty" by Donald Spoto
Editorial Features from Vox
The Death of Network News as We Know it
Point, Click, Counterpoint: Pipe Dreams about the Role of New Media in the Presidential Debates
Commerce Magazine—"Minority Report," a three-part series
Minorities in Oregon's Workplace: The Employment Issue that Dares not Speak its Name
Civil Rights and Uncivil Lefts – Opportunities and Challenges for Oregon's Professional Minorities