Music has always been a mirror. It tells us who we are, what we value, and, sometimes, what we’re too afraid to face. But if music is supposed to reflect the world around us, then what does it say that so much of today’s mainstream music says… nothing at all? Richmond...
A few weeks ago, I attended a gathering of faith leaders from across the Richmond, Va. region. Speaker after speaker — including a scholar at a conservative think tank and two Republican politicians — blamed social ills like the opioid epidemic on “family breakdown” and the decline of religion in America. I find those claims problematic. But...
Perhaps you saw the article on RichmondMom.com that attempted to offer an anthropological perspective on what it’s like to be a mom in Richmond. Some might have thought it funny (and it tried to be), but it brought up some things to think about as we try and generalize the “mom experience” in Richmond. Also, I’m an actual anthropologist, so...
I am a foreign policy pragmatist after spending years abroad in various regions that have experienced war and conflict. All foreign policy practitioners know that sometimes you just luck into things; other times, best laid strategic plans fall apart due to an ever-present complexity that becomes unmanageable. The nuclear summit in Singapore...
On May 23, the NFL ‘unanimously’ gathered to announce that during the national anthem, all players must stand in attendance or wait in the locker room. The decision came without prior counsel from the national players association, as well as the players’ coalition, despite the three parties, up until last Wednesday, having seemed to have...
Over the past two weeks, the Virginia Board of Education has been in the process of forcing students and teachers to suffer through the yearly unbearable task of standardized testing. Standards of Learning, or SOLs, decide whether or not a student is smart enough or intellectually worthy. To be completely honest, it would take some time for me...
Medicaid expansion finally came to Virginia this week. A few reminders: Medicaid is the federal government’s health insurance program for the poor. It’s often confused with Medicare, which is the federal program for the elderly. Medicaid is also partially funded and administered by states, so state governments have a lot of say in...
Last week Dominion CEO Tom Farrell, in collaboration with Kelly Chopus and Harold Fitrer, issued a plea to greater Richmond: Give our superintendent a chance. The op-ed attempts to position Jason Kamras’ hiring as a “community process,” downplaying Farrell’s own undemocratic involvement in that committee, and an emerging pattern of broader...
There’s a montage at the opening of the criminally-underrated film Orange County in which Colin Hanks’ character finds a book buried on the beach. The scene shows the rollercoaster wave of emotion the book brings and ultimately leads him to a shiny point of epiphany: “I want to be a writer!” I didn’t find the Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid...
About a week ago I wrote an article titled: Michelle Wolf’s Performance At the White House Correspondents dinner is White Lady Goals, that challenged white women to look to their neighbors, friends, and associates (who are also white) and encouraged them to start to having uncomfortable conversations on race. What happened next is no...
