Category: Feature

Tens of thousands of would-be immigrants are massing at the southern border. They’re coming for the good of the West (but are unlikely to appear before a judge as they have been told to). We know why they are coming: technology, commerce, opportunity—and liberty that only democratic capitalism has been successful enough to create. Why is this so hard to admit? Continue reading “The West’s self-hatred must end before it is destroyed”

My day starts with my family member playing and reading all the Trump-related memes.
“Don’t you know what’s going on?”
“No, what?”
“They found massive fraud in the elections in Arizona and they’re going to find it in the other states…”
“O.K. let me know when that happens.”
I need proof, I say—a lot. When it comes to QAnon you must.
“It’s not QAnon,” she says.
“Maybe not in name. It’s just Qanon-lite.” Continue reading “All hail, the Recovering Provocateur!”

PUBLISHED 
Travel restrictions are still in place in a number of countries around the world. But I am taking time to consider what I am really missing out on.

My last international trip was to Italy, which currently has curbs on any non-essential travel, and when I was in Rome, I realized that I can no longer be on vacation in Europe without realizing I am vacationing. Turning the corner with my smartphone map, we ran into the crush to shoot photos at the Trevi Fountain. Everyone shooting the same photo and posting it instantly. Look where I am!

Who really is “winning” this one? Continue reading “Considering the Crush”

OK stop playing with your PS5 and get up. School is back in session and you have a few options to go back now. While you can go to a trade school or get an internship without attending college, many people choose college because a degree looks better on your resume.

But I’m going to advocate for attending a community college first as the best way to get back to school. While some new and prospective students may be thinking of going straight to a four-year college, I think there are a few good reasons to go to community college before. Number one is saving money. We all know that the price of college is getting exorbitant and that the schools make most of their money on on-campus living.

So finishing your general education requirements at a community college is a great investment—as long as you remember a few things:

Continue reading “Getting Back to College!”

Father’s Day,

I’m different from my peers who are married with kids. I don’t have their obligations or problems. Though my generation has more kids than Millennials – 66% for GenX versus 55% for Millenial (2019 numbers), my life as a single, childless GenXer is not uncommon. Father’s Day is a day that makes me realize my lack of a family of my own.

Continue reading “Father’s Day”

“We’re going to get you born again hard!”

“O.K. wild man.”

My response is in regard to Lennie’s suggestion of a 50-plus mile bike ride from Tijuana to Ensenada.

“Let’s focus on this right now.”

I was referring to the more-sensible bike trek south down the 7-mile-long Silver Strand Bikeway (Highway 75, part of the 24-mile, bay-encircling Bayshore Bikeway). You just have to use some gentle urging-on with Lennie the Road Warrior. I just want to start with the ride to the Coronado Cays, then to IB on subsequent trips. Let’s not push it, yet.

The strand is a slim sandbar with a beach, bikeway, and highway, a golden rope stringing together Imperial Beach and Coronado proper (also called “the village”). On the east side is San Diego Bay and on the west, the Pacific.

Right now, Lennie’s pressing me to push. “You can do it,” he says.

What a positive guy. Recently, his bike was stolen outside his place in East Village—but was miraculously then sold to his friend who owns a bike shop near him. Positivity and luck. Continue reading “Cycling the Strand in the Age of Covid”