In the unfolding horror of the last three weeks, many Israelis have called the horrific attack from Hamas “Israel’s 9/11.” If that’s true, let’s hope they handle it better than we did. Unfortunately, it looks like they will not. In fact, it looks like they are following our playbook of revenge, wanton destruction, […]
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Out on the town
There are only a handful of thriving, open LGBTQIA+ districts in America, and even in the face of the state’s regressive legislation and reductive attacks on our queer community, Oklahoma City still has one of the best. The 39th Street District (lovingly nicknamed “The Gayborhood”) has been going strong for decades, helping to establish Pride […]
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Black Sky Affair
Anticipation is riding high as Saturday’s annular solar eclipse approaches, with millions across North America looking forward to the second to last such event for the next two decades in our part of the world. Ideal viewing conditions are forecast by the National Weather Service for the duration of the eclipse, with clear and sunny […]
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Violence begets violence
Word came this morning that Palestinian militants launched the largest surprise attack on Israel since Yun Kippur in 1973 and the two sides are now at war. More than 2,000 rockets have been launched into Israel, and communities bordering the Gaza Strip have been invaded and occupied. By the time you read this, Israel […]
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Is God a Christian nationalist?
The rhetorician Kenneth Burke is best known for his theories of human communication as drama, but perhaps his most famous quote is about the essence of the human species itself. This is pre-inclusive language, but otherwise it’s a masterpiece: Man is the symbol-using, symbol-making, symbol-misusing animal, inventor of the negative, separated from his natural […]
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No wonder people hate religion
I have spent my life working on the inside of organized religion, even though my love/hate relationship with most God-talkers makes me an outsider. A quick reminder for those who still go to church: Jesus was permanently — and lethally — on the outside of the religion of his time, and his denunciations of […]
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No taxation for indoctrination
When Oklahoma makes national news, it is often an embarrassment. Now it is also dangerous. The state’s virtual charter school board has approved on a 3-2 vote (thanks to a last-minute appointment by Gov. Kevin Stitt that guaranteed passage), to establish the first publicly-funded religious charter school in the United States. Gov. Stitt and Oklahoma […]
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Pride and prejudice
The queer community is under attack. Every week — sometimes every day — we’re seeing new legislation, new rhetoric or talking points, new book bans and new pushback against the decades of progress made toward something like acceptance or solidarity, in particular targeting trans youth and gender-affirming care. As state legislatures and courts nationwide continue […]
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Key to the outside
When Oklahoma lawmakers argue over what books children should be allowed to read, they seldom acknowledge the purpose of reading itself. They are mostly waging a political battle against “wokeness” (if anyone could define what that means) in which authors are writing about subjects that either shame children for the sins of their fathers, or […]