Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4674 )

• Leg Up

  

  It’s amazing how often J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy comes up in conversation. The book struck a nerve. Reading it wasn’t easy because there were so many... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Resurrectionists

  

  “Resurrectionists” was the name given to those who supplied the black market for human bodies when medical science had scant access, back in the eighteenth and... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Religion’s Trickster

  

  I’m not sure I’ve read any fiction by Native American writers before. Owl Goingback has established a reputation among horror writers for his blending of... Read more

  Posted on 06 May 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Buzzy Headed

  

  If you’re like me, and I sincerely hope you’re not, you spent your childhood worrying about killer bees. You see, I was stung a lot as a child, having stepped o... Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Divided by Eight

  

  Analogies are useful, but never precise. When Midsommar came out last year, people were saying “It’s like Wicker Man.” It’s a good analogy, but not precise. Read more

  Posted on 04 May 2020 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• 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