Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4674 )

• Dark and Light

  

  I perhaps have nothing new to say about Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. It was published before I was ten, and although I grew up reading... Read more

  Posted on 02 May 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Joyous Beltane

  

  Every year around Beltane, I think of The Wicker Man. Of course, the holiday itself, aka May Day, is no cause for alarm. What makes the movie so effective—and... Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Post-1984

  

  To truly understand a religion, you must be part of it. This is the dilemma that underlies the entire discipline of religious studies. And it all comes down to... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Cost of Content

  

  Those who don’t read this blog (you, my friend, are in a rarified crowd) aren’t aware of my antipathy to tech for tech’s sake. Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• More About Nightmares

  

  I became aware of TheoFantastique many years ago. Being new to social media myself, I was impressed at how professional and intelligent the site was. Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Literary Life

  

  Trying to live a literary life is, I suppose, irresponsible.  Especially if your efforts and writing bring basically no money. Read more

  Posted on 27 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Time To Think

  

  Although I’m not Roman Catholic, I often thought about joining a monastery as a teen and twenty-something.  The idea of spending all my time devoted to... Read more

  Posted on 26 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• You Are Data

  

  The dark web.  The very idea conjures up images of extremely seedy technophiles with ambitions that run from illegal to just plain inhumane.  It’s a place I... Read more

  Posted on 25 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Lessons from Mars

  

  It’s a parable.  This week, on a planet weeks away, earthlings achieved heavier than air flight.  Considering that we flew for the first time on our own planet... Read more

  Posted on 24 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Creepy Houses

  

  Definitions, I’m learning, are often a matter of one’s experience and taste. I’ve read a lot of gothic novels and have tried to pinpoint what it is that... Read more

  Posted on 23 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Well Grounded

  

  Earth Day feels like it’s actually Earth Day for the first time in four years.  Many of those with more common sense than gullibility know that we have only... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• He’s Dead, Jim

  

  So there’s this thing called Spotify.  Like most modern contraptions, I approach it warily.  I’m not sure how it works.  Do the artists get paid?  What’s the... Read more

  Posted on 21 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Leap Night

  

  I was quite young when I saw Night of the Lepus for the first time. Well, I had to have been at least ten, but when I recently sat down to watch it only one or... Read more

  Posted on 20 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Scary Thoughts

  

  The kinds of places I hang out, online, dictate my reading. It’s not that I like to be scared, it’s just that I’m honest. Besides, even when hanging out in... Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Herd Not Heard

  

  When mass shootings become commonplace, you might think bipartisan efforts would be made to stem the violence.  If so, you misunderstand how little the... Read more

  Posted on 18 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Learned Ghosts

  

  For one memorable year of what I call a career, I taught at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.  One in a series of near misses, this came close to becoming a... Read more

  Posted on 17 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• One, Two, Three

  

  The danger of statistics is that they turn an individual into a number.  A few days ago an article in the New York Times addressed the rare blood clots that som... Read more

  Posted on 16 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Who’s Upstairs?

  

  The other day the New York Times ran yet another article on UFOs. This topic, which has been maligned since the 1940s, is now being discussed without mockery... Read more

  Posted on 15 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Clippings

  

  Weren’t newspaper clippings more fun than bookmarks?  For one thing, bookmarks are hidden away in your browser where they proliferate like bunnies in April. Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Street Teaching

  

  When I’m out on the street—not so often these days—I’m sometimes accosted with strange questions.  This has happened to me quite a few times over the years. Read more

  Posted on 13 April 2021 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY