My dad died, and that has led me to the grand insights that death is weird, and losing a loved one is hard. I know: not exactly insightful. But I’ve been trying to think about why death is weird and loss is hard. I’ve been thinking about Martin Heidegger, whose Being and Time focuses inContinue reading “On Death and Loss”
Author Archives: lking42
On Abortion and Biopolitics
Well, it’s happened: Roe V. Wade has been overturned. 15 states have abortion bans ready to go into effect, with many making no exception for rape or incest (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/us/abortion-laws-roe-v-wade.html ); others have enacted restrictions that in practice will pretty much ban the practice (many restrict abortion to before 6 weeks of pregnancy, when most peopleContinue reading “On Abortion and Biopolitics”
On Legislating Sexuality, Gender, and Race(ism): Hannah Arendt and the Loss of Plurality
There are many possible responses to the myriad attempts to legislate gender, sexuality, and race across the country, including: Florida’s recently passed “Don’t Say Gay” bill (https://www.npr.org/2022/03/28/1089221657/dont-say-gay-florida-desantis) Texas’s prosecution of gender-affirming care for minors as child abuse (https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/22/texas-transgender-teenagers-medical-care/) Numerous states’ attempts to ban the teaching of what has come to be called Critical Race TheoryContinue reading “On Legislating Sexuality, Gender, and Race(ism): Hannah Arendt and the Loss of Plurality”
If Socrates Were a Chief Inspector: Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache Series
Spoiler alert: this post discusses plot elements from A Rule Against Murder, A Trick of the Light, The Long Way Home, The Brutal Telling, and Bury Your Dead. I love murder mysteries. I read a lot of them, from well-written and complex stories to “cozy” mysteries, one of the pleasures of which is their simplicity.Continue reading “If Socrates Were a Chief Inspector: Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache Series”
On Rights, Freedom, and Covid
“We have to make sure this transcends politics,” he said. “It can’t be the mask game again. Vaccines are not political”—President Biden (reported by Politico, 3/15/21) When I was home for the holidays, I visited my 80-year-old aunt in a rehab facility where she has been since she fell a few months back. My momContinue reading “On Rights, Freedom, and Covid”
