Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4561 )

• How To Build a Bomb

  

  We see footage of the tragedy in Ukraine.  Or the miles and miles of film documenting World War II with its hell from the skies bombings.  Bomb after bomb... Read more

  Posted on 14 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Life Lessons

  

  Most of us know a bad movie when we see it. Some of us walk away. The rest of us linger and wonder. Some weeks ago now I watched Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer... Read more

  Posted on 13 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• More Scary Stories

  

  There might be a disconnect.  As a child the stories I had read to me were either Bible stories (Archway Books) or wholesome Easy Readers.  I think that was... Read more

  Posted on 12 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Irving the Writer

  

  From the Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons No writer is “on” all the time. I often marvel that, with the busy lives they lead, they manage to finish an... Read more

  Posted on 11 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• No Doubt

  

  The mind inclined toward doubt is in for a rough ride in an evangelical childhood.  I recall vividly my many, many hours struggling against doubt, trying,... Read more

  Posted on 10 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Knickerbocker

  

  Washington Irving is one of those people with an outsized influence on American history who nevertheless has become ignored. He met nearly every US president... Read more

  Posted on 09 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Natural Disasters

  

  Like many, my heart goes out to those in Turkey and Syria suffering through the destruction and aftermath of a major earthquake.  Such natural disasters often... Read more

  Posted on 08 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Pumpkin Season

  

  A creature feature with a moral. Not a bad way to think through ethical dilemmas. You see, we don’t have a lot of extra money lying around, so when I need a... Read more

  Posted on 07 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Scraps of Paper

  

  My wife is a saint.  She doesn’t throw away the little scraps of paper on which I write notes to myself.  They’re everywhere.  And this even though I carry... Read more

  Posted on 06 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Everything

  

  It’s been getting a lot of press, Everything Everywhere All at Once has. It’s been winning awards and it demonstrates that absurdism isn’t dead. Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Urban Tiger

  

  Many things are universal. Ghosts, for example. What ghosts do and how they behave, however, can be culturally specific. The Jangsan Tiger is sort of a ghost an... Read more

  Posted on 04 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sunk Costs

  

  The other day, in a fit of post-holiday tiding up, my wife found something that she couldn’t reach to put away.  As I took the thing and dutifully began to... Read more

  Posted on 03 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Of Ewes and Groundhogs

  

  I need more time to prepare for Imbolc.  Or Groundhog Day, whichever you prefer.  Candlemas for you Catholic holdouts.  February 2 has the trappings of a major... Read more

  Posted on 02 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Gothic Days

  

  The tradition of telling ghost stories during the months of long darkness has evolved over time. Since the time seems right, I watched a movie for which I read... Read more

  Posted on 01 February 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Romantics

  

  It takes one to know one—or so they used to say.  My current preoccupation has me learning about the Romantics.  This isn’t the same as “romance,” although... Read more

  Posted on 31 January 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Unfinished Business

  

  Photo by Reid Naaykens on UnsplashAs a person who likes to finish what he starts, it’s pretty unusual for me to walk out of a movie. Read more

  Posted on 30 January 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Library Respect

  

  I didn’t know what to do.  All my life I’d been told “library books aren’t your books—treat them like they belong to somebody else.”  And here I was with a... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Being Sapiens

  

  Sometimes you need some distance to appreciate an object. A telescope may be required if it’s a distant subject, like a rare comet (if the skies aren’t... Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Keys

  

  Do you know the difference between “Voodoo” and “hoodoo”? Well, The Skeleton Key does. This is a movie I watched at the recommendation of a friend. Read more

  Posted on 27 January 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Othering Offering

  

  I get to feeling a bit anxious when nobody else publishes me for a while.  It’s a strange kind of validation, I suppose.  No matter my motivation, I knew as soo... Read more

  Posted on 26 January 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY