Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4574 )

• Busyness as Usual

  

  “Time,” Morpheus said, “is always against us.” Such is life in the Matrix. Wake before daylight. Climb on a bus. Stare at a screen for a solid eight hours. Clim... Read more

  Posted on 17 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Found World

  

  Challenges will make you do funny things. One enjoyable dare has been Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Reading Challenge. With a modest twelve books in twelve months goal,... Read more

  Posted on 16 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Big Boxification

  

  When was the last time I purchased an actual book at Barnes and Noble? In a vain hope that they might have something intellectual and edgy, I stop in once in a... Read more

  Posted on 15 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Omen, O Man!

  

  Of the unholy trinity of late-60s to mid-70s horror movies Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976), the last always seemed the least... Read more

  Posted on 14 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Vitruvian Savior

  

  If memory serves, I was still in seminary when “Piss Christ” was first unveiled. As photographic art, I can’t say when the shutter snapped, but I seem to... Read more

  Posted on 13 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• High Castle Blade Runner

  

  Growing up evangelical, one of the popular topics of conversation was crypto-christians. (My spellcheck insists that this is a lowercase expression. Read more

  Posted on 12 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Devil’s Workshop

  

  Some of us prefer taking our monsters neat. With Old Scratch, however, we have a slippery, protean beast. This is amply demonstrated in W. Scott Poole’s Satan i... Read more

  Posted on 11 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Techno-Paradise

  

  I’m building a robot priest. I’m not sure what he does. He has to be a man, though, since we all know that if God existed he’d have been a male. These thoughts... Read more

  Posted on 10 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Beg to Differ

  

  “What do you burn apart from witches?” “More witches!” Earning a doctorate is kind of like learning how to get lost. It certainly doesn’t make you either cool o... Read more

  Posted on 09 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• With Your Measure

  

  “With what measure ye mete,” someone once said, “it shall be measured to you again.” I certainly hope that’s true, but empirical verification seems to be... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Narrative Ark

  

  Complete with an artificial giraffe perched on its prow—or aft, I can never tell the difference—a modern-day Noah’s ark is about to set sail. Or set float. Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Devil, You Know

  

  I’m the first to admit that I’m behind the times. Too much of my free time is spent reading weird news or going to used book sales to keep abreast of what’s... Read more

  Posted on 06 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Lily White

  

  The funny thing about being “white” (I’m more of an anemic pink myself) is that my race seems to think all the gods share our ethnic traits. I’ve seen Thor, so ... Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Do the Twist

  

  A used book sale is like a box of chocolates, if I may abscond with a simile that fits many scenarios. After all, you are there to buy books that others have... Read more

  Posted on 04 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Comic Culture

  

  Perhaps the most obvious deviancy in my otherwise conservative childhood was MAD Magazine. I honestly suspect my parents didn’t know that it wasn’t just... Read more

  Posted on 03 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Game of Thrones

  

  I risk my already flagging street cred by admitting this, but I don’t watch Game of Thrones. In fact, I started to read the first book a couple years back and... Read more

  Posted on 02 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Used Knowledge

  

  One of the unadulterated pleasures of life—or maybe adulterated is the better adjective—is the used book sale. The year I missed the Hunterdon County Friends... Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Come Sail Oy Vey

  

  Nothing says unorthodox like a headline that reads “Smart Jews? Thank the Extraterrestrials.” Breaking Israel News ran the story recently and, being... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Same Old Story

  

  Once upon a time fairy tales were considered appropriate only for children. Unlike myths, fairy tales are frequently oral (yes, there are oral myths but this... Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Perceiving Religion

  

  “Sticks and stones,” they used to tell me, “may break my bones, but words will never harm me.” We teach our children lies like that. Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2016 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY