Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4564 )

• Celebrating Folk

  

  The whole ox on a spit was kind of disturbing, but there’s nothing artificial about folk tradition.  We’d come to take in a bit of the Kutztown Folk Festival. Read more

  Posted on 12 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Horseman

  

  Washington Irving’s tale, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” perhaps due to its being the earliest literaryAmerican ghost story, has been retold time and again. Read more

  Posted on 11 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Birds and the Bees

  

  Our house came with a wood-plank fence surrounding the yard.  This is a dog neighborhood and just about everyone has a fenced in yard to keep their dogs in... Read more

  Posted on 10 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Having X

  

  The final girl is such a classic horror trope that even horror novels can be titled after it. You know the drill—teens hanging out, doing things that teens do,... Read more

  Posted on 09 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Tree Owners

  

  I hated to do it.  I always feel guilty afterwards.  I’d never have made it as a lumberjack.  We had a problematic green ash tree that someone might’ve planted... Read more

  Posted on 08 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Dangerous Fiction

  

  At the suggestion of a friend, I recently watched the documentary Daphne du Maurier in Rebecca’s Footsteps. I confess I haven’t read much of du Maurier’s work,... Read more

  Posted on 07 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Carter’s Creations

  

  Angela Carter was a novelist whose best known work is her short story collection, The Bloody Chamber. Often acclaimed as both gothic and feminist, these... Read more

  Posted on 06 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Places We’re From

  

  The places we’re from aren’t always where we’re born.  The funny thing about reaching “middle age” is the amount of reassessment that goes on.  Where we’re... Read more

  Posted on 05 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• July Forth

  

  Independence Day.  What does it mean in a nation on the verge of a fascist takeover?  Supreme Court justices, themselves appointed by crooked but technically... Read more

  Posted on 04 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Virtual Unreality

  

  You walk into a bookstore and browse.  Maybe you’re looking for a specific topic, or something to fit your mood, but you don’t know exactly what.  Then a title... Read more

  Posted on 03 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Lost Civilizations

  

  At the rate rain forests are being decimated for our lust for beef, it seems amazing that there are any unexplored regions left at all. Read more

  Posted on 02 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Life Writing

  

  It’s sometimes thought that a writer’s life is easy.  What’s so difficult about scribbling things that people will pay for?  I’m absolutely certain that, like... Read more

  Posted on 01 July 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Keeping Your Head

  

  Horror is a gift that keeps on giving.  Not many horror fans are among my regular readers, but I like to keep a finger in the pie nevertheless. Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Closed System?

  

  Photo credit: NASA, public domainNothing is wasted.  Not in nature.  Maybe that’s the true economy of life.  We humans come in and make our habitat in our own... Read more

  Posted on 29 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Internet of Nothings

  

  In the vast internet of things, it’s surprising that you can’t order some specific things.  This became clear to me recently when there were two separate... Read more

  Posted on 28 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Dutch Treat

  

  It was back when I was researching my first religion and horror paper that I learned it. Since the paper was about Sleepy Hollow, I’d been reading about... Read more

  Posted on 27 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Ravens and Teachers

  

  Humans, it is claimed, have a theory of mind.  What this means is that we know what others are thinking, or better, at least we can anticipate what they might b... Read more

  Posted on 26 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Stand with Women

  

  We like to think we’re the most advanced civilization in the world, but we allow the appointment of “justices” who still believe women are inferior to men. Read more

  Posted on 25 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Following Instinct

  

  An article from the Christian Science Monitor a few years back made me think how common knowledge runs ahead of science, but without the rigorous evidence. Read more

  Posted on 24 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Paperback Nightmares

  

  I’m not assertive.  My voice is not loud and even when I have strong opinions I like to let others have their say.  Those of us who’ve been beaten down too... Read more

  Posted on 23 June 2022 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY