Category Opinion
Bad Man, Funny Girl
“Is there a Mr. Patriarchy S. Infantalizer in the waiting room?” research assistant Jamie Jayne asked. “I want to make sure I have the name right.” “That’s me, but you can just call me Patriarchy.” “It’s so nice of you to join us all the way from the 19th century, Patriarchy. I’m very grateful […]
Buying Happiness
A lot of folks believe that money doesn’t buy happiness. I don’t think I outright disagree, but I can’t help rolling my eyes. Part of this is my maniacal (and often hypocritical) hatred for cliche, but a bigger factor is simply the fact I’ve been both upper and lower class and, as such, I know […]
You Don’t Know Jack
Science tells us the capital”T” Truth. We don’t think it, we don’t believe it, we don’t suspect it. We know it because science is repeatable, it’s systematic and we can verify everything science says through empirical methods. We’re smart, us scientific people, we aren’t a bunch of creation scientists or fortune tellers or primitive Amazonian tribesmen […]
Columbus and the Indigenous Peoples
The fair city of Seattle recently abolished Columbus Day and replaced it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. It is tempting, then to embark on an impassioned polemic about how Columbus was either a monster to be reviled or bemoan the continual attacks on our traditions from those ornery and persistently unassimilated minorities. As much fun as […]
Naked Fantasy, Naked Power
The Deep South. Dixie. The Confederacy. The Bible Belt. How is it that every name I can think of for this region carries with it emotional baggage? If you are a liberal, black or committedly secular person, the words with which I began this essay probably make you angry. They make you think of Bull […]
My Ghost
On a surface level, I just went on a ghost hunt. However, if I really think of what I was doing on the levels of symbolism and cognition, it was really closer to an act of war. Since this is a story about ghosts, according to the Most Holy Book of Cultural Cliché, I’m supposed […]
Decision Time
When second wave feminists argue for near absolute sameness between men and women – psychological, sexual, physical – they run headlong into a simple yet distressing question. What is a woman?
An Open Letter About Barbarian Hordes
Dear Dan Carlin, You are ruining my life. I have responsibilities. I have a job, and a side job, and another side job. I should be doing more writing. I should be sleeping more and I should definitely be organizing my house more. But no, you are swallowing up all my free time with your […]
An Open Letter to Joelle Fraser
Joelle Fraser is a memiorist and (soon to be) novelist. She has been published by Random House and Counterpoint Press to critical acclaim. She is also my editor. This interview will cover her first book, “The Territory of Men.” The Territory of Men follows a young Joelle as her mother bounces from man to man […]
The Making of The Blackguard
I was 23 years-old when I sat down in a Starbucks in Sparks, Nevada, opened a notebook I’d stolen from the air conditioning wholesaler where I worked and wrote the first scene of what would become The Blackguard. From a broad, plot-centric point of view, The Blackguard covers an isolated community of white supremacists trying to fight […]
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