We love our villains. In movies, it’s sweet stuff when a hail of bullets riddles a drug kingpin, an abusive mother gets her what-for, or an evil queen evaporates in a fiery plume of green fire. We want pure evil to suffer a painful death. Unfortunately, true villains – completely one-dimensional, evil-to-the-bone, dog-kicking ones – […]
Read More →People stereotype people all the time. That’s okay. The next step is more important: What do they do with that stereotype? Imagine a party. One thirty-something man wears a blue suit and red tie. An Asian twenty-something woman sports a headband and 1960s bellbottoms. An older white guy wears black leather and carries a motorcycle […]
Read More →When did we become our parents? Not the responsible-and-mature part – the let’s-criticize-the-younger-generation part. Articles about a “self-centered younger generation” have been a staple our entire lives. How can we repeat the same thing without seeing any irony? “The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and […]
Read More →People are a messy amalgamation of tastes, intellect, backgrounds and foibles. We think we understand how things work, but we’re usually wrong. It’s akin to a pack of orcas thinking that all sea animals like seal meat simply because each one of the 10 orcas in their pod just love seal meat. Like the orcas, […]
Read More →Four seven-year-olds discover a giant slug oozing along the sidewalk, a slimy trail marking its slow progress. “Ewww, touch it,” Kid A says. “I’m not touching it,” says Kid B. Kids C and D watch from the sidelines with a pretty good idea how this will play out. “You touch it.” “I’m not touching it,” echoes […]
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