Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4659 )

• Free Reading

  

  I think I was driving through Montclair, New Jersey when I first noticed one. A “little free library” in someone’s front yard. Then I began to notice them aroun... Read more

  Posted on 19 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Taking Turns

  

  “Turn! Turn! Turn,” the Byrds sang. “For everything there is a season,” quoth Solomon. Perhaps it’s the way we acquire knowledge, but lately many fields in... Read more

  Posted on 18 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Southern Turn

  

  In America’s ever roving commercial eye, Día de Muertos has become an extension of Halloween. Retailers have realized that people will spend a lot on their fear... Read more

  Posted on 17 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Binaries

  

  Inside, outside, upside-down. The more life moves toward binary code—what isn’t computerized these days?—the more scholars are moving away from simple binaries. Read more

  Posted on 16 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Firestorms

  

  Banned Book Week technically doesn’t start until the week after next, but I have a pathological fear of being late. I don’t know why. Read more

  Posted on 15 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Jericho’s Folly

  

  The sound was compellingly familiar although it had been years since I’d heard it. We were visiting the Quakertown farmer’s market for the first time—this... Read more

  Posted on 14 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Museum Monsters

  

  Timing has never been my strong suit. As soon as I stopped my daily commute to New York City, the Morgan Library and Museum opened a display titled “Medieval... Read more

  Posted on 13 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Scriptural Slashers

  

  Let me relish this a moment.Thanks. You still there? It’s not too often, you see, that I get to feel like I’m near the front of the crowd. Read more

  Posted on 12 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Look Both Ways

  

  One of the things I miss the most about my teaching career is learning from the young. While some professors in my experience believed the learning only went on... Read more

  Posted on 11 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Appily Ever After

  

  While in the theater to see The Nun (which ended up being the biggest take) this weekend, I couldn’t help but notice that the pre-movie adds were all about apps. Read more

  Posted on 10 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Nun Among Them

  

  Life is sweet when watching a horror movie counts as research. It’d be sweeter, of course, if a university paid for it, nevertheless, I went to see The Nun on... Read more

  Posted on 09 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Museum Haven

  

  At various points of my career I’ve applied for museum curator positions. Since those who actually land those jobs have degrees in museum studies, I’ve never... Read more

  Posted on 08 September 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Galilean Blues

  

  Call me nostalgic, but growing up Fundie, “Capernaum” tripped easily off my lips. In fact, it was a word I heard very frequently at church, always pronounced... Read more

  Posted on 30 August 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Metrics

  

  So, we’re firmly in the age of technology, right? I mean webpages are tailored to the browsing history of a person so someone we don’t know can sell us stuff... Read more

  Posted on 29 August 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Stand-in Line

  

  Pop culture borrows from religion without knowing it. Or maybe it’s just that religion has become so irrelevant that people no longer care. Read more

  Posted on 28 August 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Cthulhu You Knew

  

  Humans tend to be visually oriented. Arresting images stop us cold, causing us to focus on what we’re seeing. As a tween I could be transported by large,... Read more

  Posted on 27 August 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Book Naked

  

  Alogotransiphobia doesn’t just strike me when I’m on the bus. Whenever I travel anywhere I try to take a book along. To the DMV. To movie theaters. To take the... Read more

  Posted on 26 August 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Persistence of Unity

  

  I came across some Ray Bradbury books while unpacking. I recently learned that Ray Bradbury was a Unitarian. Now, the religion of a writer is only ever an... Read more

  Posted on 25 August 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• A Kind of Happening

  

  The roofers were here. One of the things you learn only after laying down a ton of money is that those selling a house like to withhold information. Read more

  Posted on 24 August 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Hashtag MAGA

  

  Mental Acuity Gone, America? When facts face a nation, naked, unobscured, and the faithful still deny them, we’re truly on hallowed ground. Read more

  Posted on 23 August 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY