General Fiction
  Agoraphobia
A second later the door splintered and exploded and two cops stormed into the tiny hotel room, guns drawn.
 The Envelope
"I guess I get to root around in the Burger Shack dumpster now," he said.
 This Sucks
"No," Susan snapped. She jabbed a finger toward Karen. "She made it very clear who her real friends are, and we didn't make the list."
  Lost Track
It's funny what good music will do to you.
 Respawn
He was sprinting before anyone else moved. He hit Y and flipped his submachine gun around and pulled in the glock and tactical knife.
Memoir, etc
  Finding Myself in Genocide
After years of confusion, I learned who I was — and met my wife — through activism for East Timor. It was a strange and terrible adventure, but it couldn’t have happened any other way.
 The Writing Teacher
With apologies to DFW1
Education
 A Profit Without Honors
Against the Business Model of Education
 Memes, Clichés, Repetition, Terrible Truths, and the Danger of Boredom
I try not to lecture my students. When I was a high schooler (back in the 12th Century), my life seemed like a never-ending series of lectures.
Economics
 Global Economics 101
Five Things Everyone Should Know About the IMF, World Bank, and WTO
 Global Economics 201
Five More Things Everyone Should Know About International Economics and "Free Trade"
Arts & Crafts
 A Gift of Words
Making a message or poem to your special person in the shape of their name.
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Travel Writing
 Two Weeks in Timor (2005)
A Political Travelogue
 Due Settimana in Italia (2007)
An Apolitical Travelogue
 Two Weeks in Europe (2018)
Tales from a Stealth Holiday
Cinema
 "Writers Come and Go": The Greatness of Barton Fink
Barton Fink is the best movie ever made about writing.
 The Enemy is Us
Five Political Take-Aways from Jordan Peele’s 2019 Film
 12 Things in Primer Nobody Talks About
Most people get hung up on timelines and questions about the physics. Some other deserving areas haven't gotten much attention — so I will give them some here.
 10 Things from the Script of Barton Fink
I've been re-reading the script. Here are the most interesting bits and how they correspond (or don't) to the film.
Philosophy & Politics
 Resist the Abyss
Why the Dragon in Grendel is Wrong (and Why It Matters)
 How to Be Angry for a Long Time
It is not necessary for us to cling to our anger in order to absorb this information and energy. But letting go of our anger before we learn from it (or take energy from it) can also be unhealthy.
 Let Go of Your Body Ego
The body ego isn't concerned with your health. It wants you to compare yourself constantly to people on the street, and advertisements in magazines, and photos on social media, and famous people on TV.
 Chaotic Reflections: Mind Health in March 2020
We're all feeling nervous with this COVID-19 pandemic. I don't need to review the reasons why; that's not my purpose here. Instead, I want to share some thoughts that might be psychologically useful for my friends, my coworkers, and my students.
 People Are Complicated: How Compassion Flows from Mindfulness
The most oversimplified story we tell is one of "good people" and "bad people".
 What Conscience and Honesty Demands of All Americans
If the scenario were reversed, how would you feel? What would you support or oppose? Conscience and honesty require us to be consistent in our thinking; if we oppose something for ourselves, we must also oppose that same thing for others.
 White Supremacy Kills
The social, psychological, economic, and cultural effects of white supremacy still impact people today, and we must continue to fight them.
 The Logic of Mindfulness: Existential Philosophy in Hip-Hop
YSIV is less directly philosophical than Everybody, but it’s clear that he will not avoid the deep themes of meaning and existentialism he confronted in previous projects.
 Prescriptions for Real: Creative Evolutions of Human Existence
And here’s the thing: That same dichotomy between prescriptive and descriptive grammar can apply to everything else too — even the nature of reality itself.
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