The Earth is a regenerative system. It reproduces what it needs to survive on a timescale of billions of years. And for most of humanity's existence, humans have lived within Earth's regenerative cycles. Over the past millennium, we have more and more rapidly broken from those cycles, taking the planet’s resources, converting them to products…
It is our insistence on civility that fractures our nation, not our desire to speak truthfully. It is the extralegal killing of Black men by police that fractures our nation, not the protests in response. It is our insistence on funding our schools through property taxes that fractures our nation, not teaching the true history…
The coronavirus pandemic is a cruel teacher and we are its stubborn, unmotivated students. The pandemic taught us lessons; when we didn’t learn, it simply taught its lessons again. The virus itself has the simple aim of reproducing itself, but the disease interacts with our society in a way that highlights our glaring deficiencies. Its…
One year ago, an armed force overwhelmed police, stormed the US Capitol, and threatened the lives of US Senators, Representatives, and the Vice President. They tried to stop the certification of electoral votes through an insurrection targeting the United States government. They did this because they believed the lie that Joe Biden had lost and…
When we first encountered COVID, most of us expected it wouldn’t affect us. When we realized it would, we hoped for a brief pause in our daily activities. Instead, COVD became an enduring threat to us, our families, and our communities. We thought the disruption might extend for months, then put our hopes in vaccines…
Often, the new year is seen as a chance for a new start: a chance to reset our habits, our attitudes, and our relationships. In some ways, this is healthy – we need to shift our daily routines, fashion a new outlook, reconnect with friends and family. Change is a constant of life, and we…
Why does light die? Light is the energy emitted by excited electrons falling back to their resting states. It is generated by the heated filament of a light bulb. By the chemical reaction in a firefly's abdomen. By the nuclear reactions in our local star. It is directed, transmitted, dissipated. According to science, it does…
Komm, Herr Jesu; sei du unser Gast; Und segne, was du uns bescheret hast. Whiteness is the bargain that all white people's ancestors accepted. It was simple: in exchange for being accepted into whiteness – a fellowship of basic social status and economic reward – they agreed to give up their ancestral cultures. My ancestors…
A father and son go to a pharmacy to get the child vaccinated against COVID. After administering the vaccine, the pharmacy employee offers a bin of small toys and the child picks one -- a tiny, squishable duck. On the way home, the child starts to complain that one of the duck’s eyes is smaller…
In my community of Oak Park, the high school just canceled extracurricular activities for the next two weeks, until winter break, due to a rise in COVID cases at the school. A number of students and parents in the community are frustrated about this cancellation, and some of them staged a protest this past weekend…
Entwining 