Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4674 )

• Not Shopping

  

  Santa Claus arrived at the end of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade yesterday.  I actually began seeing Christmas paraphernalia in stores before Halloween.  It... Read more

  Posted on 26 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Flight Path

  

  It’s been some time since I was on a plane.  Or in a hotel.  These things seem strange and foreign to me now.  Covid-19 is now a fixture in life and we, as... Read more

  Posted on 25 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Celts and Gods

  

  We’re accustomed to religions being written out. Indeed, many world religions have sacred texts from the Avestas to Dianetics. Read more

  Posted on 24 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Learning to Like

  

  The shout-out is an always appreciated gesture.  Among the guests on The Incarcerated Christian podcast, I’m pretty clearly the one with the smallest following. Read more

  Posted on 23 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Erase This

  

  Over the years I’ve read a fair bit about Eraserhead without having ever seen it. Approaching it I had little idea what to expect—normally classified as body... Read more

  Posted on 22 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Rel Stud 101

  

  There’s no such thing.  Religious studies, that is.  I first heard this a decade ago while working as religious studies editor for Routledge.  My supervisor... Read more

  Posted on 21 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Mag Dash

  

  I don’t do much magazine reading.  Back when I had more time (mainly before buying a house), there were a few with which I attempted to keep up.  Mainly,... Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Global Swarming

  

  It’s a veritable horror trope.  The swarm, that is.  We fear being overwhelmed by vast numbers of apparently innocuous insects or arachnids, although they are... Read more

  Posted on 19 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Numbers Game

  

  I once asked a movie expert—this must’ve been when I was regularly on a campus somewhere, but not Nashotah House—how many movies had been made.  He sighed and... Read more

  Posted on 18 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Next Books

  

  The other day an older friend asked about my writing.  My answer was brief because it’s complicated.  Not because I do it from three to four a.m.  Not because... Read more

  Posted on 17 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Ghost Publishers

  

  Ancient Near Eastern studies, where my academic work has the widest recognition, is still an area of fascination.  I have to hold myself back when I see a new... Read more

  Posted on 16 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Thought Experiment

  

  One benefit of aging is that hiccups become less common.  They were always a conversation starter when I was younger—someone you were on a date with, or a... Read more

  Posted on 15 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Haunted Landscapes

  

  The Devil’s Advocates series consists of short books focused on a single horror film. For horror fans they’re a great resource, as they will hopefully also be i... Read more

  Posted on 14 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Religious Dinosaurs

  

  Dippy is, apparently, a common name for pet diplodocuses.  The statue of a diplodocus outside the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh is fondly known as “Dippy,” as i... Read more

  Posted on 13 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Pop Culture

  

  Something I was reading recently made me ponder how we become acquainted with culture, particularly pop culture.  I can really only speak for myself, but I... Read more

  Posted on 12 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Degrees of Separation

  

  For some reason lost in the fog of weblandia, I get The New York Times, “The Morning” delivered to my email. By carefully not clicking the links I can get my... Read more

  Posted on 11 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Walking Bear

  

  Indigenous peoples have been on my mind over the past several months. Indeed, I read books by American Indian authors with awe. Read more

  Posted on 10 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sky Dwellers

  

  If the atmosphere’s an ocean, we’re all bottom-dwellers.  Ancient peoples populated the sky above with incorporeal beings, starting with a god, or gods, at the... Read more

  Posted on 09 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Everything’s a Nail

  

  Taking my first, tentative steps into horror analysis, I had read a great many monographs on the subject. I had watched many horror films over the years, but... Read more

  Posted on 08 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Ritual Time

  

  Timeless, it is.  The internet I mean.  The ultimate 24/7.  No matter the time, day or night, it’s always here.  And that’s good because time’s about to change... Read more

  Posted on 06 November 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY