I have always known Rosie was smarter than me, but I had one of those moments that drove it home last week in homeschooling. I was trying to teach the the six times table, and I wasn’t doing well because I myself am bad at math. “These are kind of hard,” I said. “Let’s see what you know. What’s six times seven?” Rosie did not hesitate. “At times like this it’s necessary to count by fives. Five, ten…” “No,... Read more
I am still reeling from the inauguration. I still can’t believe it’s over. I hardly know what to do with myself. I’ve never exactly been in this situation before. I’ve never been a writer with a public platform in a world where Donald Trump wasn’t a looming threat. I started my writing career, such as it is, in late March of 2016, just as Trump was making a serious move toward being a presidential candidate nominee. I still couldn’t believe... Read more
I feel a little dizzy. All day long I’ve felt like I was floating in the air. It hasn’t sunken in yet that it’s over. Well, it isn’t over. The fact is, we still live in the country that produced Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a symptom of the very cancers that grew up along with the United States of America; the cancers we profited from, the ones that made us a world power. Cruelty, greed, white supremacism, preening... Read more
I didn’t realize that Monday was Martin Luther King Day until late Sunday night. Martin Luther King Day is a federal holiday, therefore there is no mail. and the municipal bus goes onto an abbreviated “Saturday/Holiday” schedule. But it’s not a holiday for anybody else. Businesses don’t close. People who usually have to work Mondays still have to work that Monday. And that means that everybody who has to catch a bus will be crammed like sardines with standing room... Read more
Early this morning, at 1:23 AM, with just over a hundred hours left in his administration, Donald Trump’s phenobarbital killing spree came to an end. The last man to die was Dustin Higgs, whose case I examined yesterday. His was the final federal execution scheduled before the inauguration of Joe Biden, who is against the death penalty. Of the sixteen people who were killed in federal executions in the past twenty years, all but three were killed by president... Read more
Hello folks, I’ve got a real post in a tab for later today. This is just my monthly boring post where I remind everybody that Steel Magnificat runs on tips. My writing is my family’s income. For the Patheos portion of my writing, I get a monthly paycheck that might be as much as three digits long for clicks in the United States, and I get nothing for clicks most places overseas. The rest of my income through the... Read more
I regret to tell you that we have to do this one more time. Today, for the third day in a row, again in Terre Haute prison, the United States government is going to carry out a federal execution. The victim of this execution will be Dustin Higgs, for his role in the kidnapping and murder of three women in 1996. He will be the last federal execution ordered by President Trump’s outgoing administration– and, perhaps, the last federal... Read more
I know that this is exhausting to think about, so soon after the last time we had to think about it. But it’s not something we can look away from. Today, the United States government– our government, the government that we elect which is supposed to carry out our wishes– is executing another disabled person, the second in 48 hours. We live in a representative democracy. What the people in this government do, they do for us and with... Read more
My great aunt and great uncle had COVID-19. They don’t anymore; they managed to pull through. Uncle is doing as well as before, but Aunt is more frail, and she had been frail to begin with. It might not be long now. I likely won’t see her again. She is my blood relative; the last surviving sibling of my beloved grandfather who died in 2015. This is the end of a generation. Grandpa used to tell us stories about... Read more
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My Response to Father Stephen Imbarrato’s Libel
As a rule, I do not suggest that you look at the Patheos Catholic Facebook page’s comment threads. Do the same thing you do with your favorite news outlet: follow them for great articles, but never scroll down to see what people are saying. It becomes an open sewer rather quickly. Normally I don’t read most comments I receive and I don’t interact with them most of the places my work is shared. I’ll banter in a few forums if... Read more