Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4569 )

• Seeking Reality

  

  I spend a lot of time struggling to figure out the fundamental basis of reality. I’m hampered in this by a brain that was evolved—optimized—to help me survive i... Read more

  Posted on 03 May 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Koyaanisqatsi

  

  I recently saw Koyaanisqatsi for the first time. This was initially prompted from an excellent blog post over on Verbomania, suggesting words to describe our... Read more

  Posted on 02 May 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Cross Quarters

  

  Happy Beltane! We could use a holiday right about now. For those of us who are under the spell of intelligent horror, May Day brings The Wicker Man to mind.... Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Ethics of Nations

  

  If it hadn’t started two world wars last century, Germany would likely have a stellar reputation. I don’t say this because of my own Teutonic blood, but rather... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Quiet Quarantine

  

  I’m an introvert. I require quiet time—quite a lot of it—to recharge and prepare myself to be social. Some people think introverts don’t want to be around... Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Misreading Melville

  I make it a practice not to discuss books I’m still reading on this blog. There’s no reason I shouldn’t, I suppose, but it just feels like cheating getting... Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• White Rabbit

  

  There are books that make you feel as if everything you know is uncertain. D. W. Pasulka’s American Cosmic is such a book. Its subtitle, UFOs, Religion,... Read more

  Posted on 27 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• WHO Believes?

  

  These days it’s pretty clear that if you want to listen to anyone for advice it shouldn’t be the government. I suppose that’s why I spend so much time on the... Read more

  Posted on 26 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Bats and Bloodsuckers

  

  In what looks (somewhat cynically) like at attempt to add newness to frightfully old news, the World Health Organization has renamed COVID-19 to the much scarie... Read more

  Posted on 25 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Paper Or Electronic?

  

  Publishers are scrambling (and who can blame them?) to get ebooks out. Since bookstores have been closed (I’d classify them as essential businesses, in an... Read more

  Posted on 24 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Ancient History, Part 3

  

  It was an old idea. I had it when I was still teaching at Nashotah House, that’s how ancient it is. It seemed to me that if brains evolve with the rest of us,... Read more

  Posted on 23 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Thoroughly Earth Day

  

  It’s difficult to say, since I don’t get outside much, but reports have come in that the earth is healing itself while we’ve been sequestered. Rivers usually... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Moralizing Gods

  

  In my more radical moods I sing along with John Cougar about fighting authority. Living in society means never being completely free. This pandemic only... Read more

  Posted on 21 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• See Monster

  

  What happens when someone encounters something anomalous? In real life this is often described as a religious event. In fiction that sometimes happens as well,... Read more

  Posted on 20 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Who’s To Blame?

  

  Back at Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary, we were a closed community. Well, not completely closed, as much as some may have desired it. When a communicable... Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Connecting Connecticut

  

  One of the many lessons of the current pandemic has been that my appreciation of horror is not misplaced. Horror Homeroom has just published my piece “Demons... Read more

  Posted on 18 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Bug Eyes

  

  Science fiction and horror are close kin. Once relegated to the cheap rack of “genre fiction,” both have now developed considerable literary sophistication,... Read more

  Posted on 17 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Peaceful Lessons

  

  We are all, I think, looking for hope. Probably due to the way I was raised, I often seek signs. There’s no way to know if said signs are mere coincidences or... Read more

  Posted on 16 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Learning To Fly

  

  It’s perhaps the most deeply rooted human dream. Flying. Women Who Fly, by Serinity Young, is a fascinating book. Subtitled Goddesses, Witches, Mystics, and... Read more

  Posted on 15 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Begging Your Question

  

  I still remember when I first consciously heard it. The phrase “begging the question,” I mean. I was a doctoral student at the time and one thing you do in... Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY