Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4674 )

• Downtowns

  

  I recently wrote about the movie Peeping Tom. I mentioned a scene, particularly creepy, where a news agent sells a girl a candy bar after selling an older man... Read more

  Posted on 13 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Ordinary Heroes

  

  Mothers sacrifice to give us life.  Sacrifice lies at the heart of much of religion, so it may be that women resonate with this theme naturally.  Without mother... Read more

  Posted on 12 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• TV Zone

  

  An unenviable task, it must be, to try to sum up The Twilight Zone. Barry Keith Grant, however, has done an admirable job in this TV Milestones volume. Read more

  Posted on 11 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Finding The Exorcist

  

  This blog is the closest thing to a diary that I keep anymore.  It’s also the place where I remind myself when I read a book or saw a movie. Read more

  Posted on 10 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Shadow Half

  

  Sometimes you just take a chance on a book you haven’t heard of. You see, I keep a very active “to read” list. The problem is that many books on it are a bit... Read more

  Posted on 09 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Murphy’s Mansion

  

  2003 was quite a year for me. Nashotah House had experienced a fundamentalist takeover and, were I as good at reading writing on the wall as Daniel was, well,... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Excess Ideas

  

  I sincerely hope that after I’m gone someone with more sense than me will look through my notebooks instead of just tossing them in the trash. Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Wachet Auf

  

  I have a proposition.  Some folks in town have a big “Anti-Woke” (aka, “asleep”) flag on their house, along with various Trump paraphernalia. Read more

  Posted on 06 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Holy X

  

  It took several years, but we finally closed the X-Files. It was shortly after we bought the house, I believe, when we decided to watch the series the whole... Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Conference Voice

  

  “Conference voice” is a phenomenon that began with my career malfunction.  While teaching I attended the AAR/SBL annual meeting every year but one. Read more

  Posted on 04 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Influential Horror

  

  Media has a tremendous effect on society. We all know that, and every four years elections prove it time and again. Like an infinite loop or Mobius strip. The... Read more

  Posted on 03 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Wonderful Impossibility

  

  I used to tell my students that a semester break without reading a book that challenged your assumptions was wasted. I tried to lead by example, but jobs are... Read more

  Posted on 02 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Happy Beltane!

  

  They creep up on you, these holidays with no official recognition.  I’ve been so busy that it didn’t even occur to me that today was Beltane—May Day—until my... Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Facing Fear

  

  The relationship between fathers and daughters is intangibly profound. (I can’t speak for fathers and sons, from either side of the equation.) That was the angl... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Too Much TMI

  

  Okay, okay.  I admit I get overwhelmed.  There’s just too much stuff to read.  I currently have 25 tabs open on my browser, afraid that I’ll forget about... Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Mr. Bean

  

  Edamame.  I remember distinctly the first time I had it.  I was at the house of Alvy Ray Smith, co-founder of Pixar (shameless name drop), by the courtesy of... Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Which Mountain?

  

  Disney movies—and I still think of Disney primarily as a movie studio—were part of my childhood. A small part, but there nevertheless. Read more

  Posted on 27 April 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Springing

  

  Life, for everyone, has difficult times. Katherine May has a reassuring, but not always cheerful way about her. She calls troubled times Wintering. Read more

  Posted on 26 April 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Just Ask

  

  I see a lot of headlines, and not a few books, that puzzle over something that there’s an easy way to resolve: why do evangelicals (I’m thinking here of the sor... Read more

  Posted on 25 April 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Panic Inducing

  

  Many movies appreciate in value over time. The Devil Rides Out (also known as The Devil’s Bride) was not well received initially, but has become a highly... Read more

  Posted on 24 April 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY