“Defund the police” has become a divisive term hurled from right to left and left to right. As a rallying cry for partisans, it’s having its season. Its meaning, however, is often determined by the hurler, usually as an invective rather than part of a discussion. …

Chapter 1 -28:17:18:37 Sheila Pennington watched as dawn sunlight struck the far edge of the clearing about 400 feet away. She was drinking the last of her morning coffee as she sat in a wildlife blind on the edge of the Sanctuary’s compound. She often greeted the dawn from the…

The following is an extract of my report to my financial institution about fraudulent transactions facilitated by the Square company. I’d be happy if they policed their transactions more diligently and allowed outsiders to report these incidents without becoming members. Additional Dispute Information Please provide the following information to expedite your request. Have…

[The following quotes are from email messages I have received just in the past week. My thoughts reside within the square brackets.] I’ll be honest [You mean you lie at all other times? Do you really need to announce your honesty?] Humbly asking… [Really? You’re running for the US Senate…

I teach as an adjunct faculty member at a well-known state university. At the moment, I’m only offering one course per term, so as you can imagine, I have some unstructured time to write ruminations such as this one. Today, I received an email from the university leadership that it…

We have all seen these messages. The latest for me was from Allstate Insurance. They sent me an email saying that I had a new insurance document in MyBenefits (a subsite that offers access to your policies, claims, and other information like mysterious and vaguely threatening changes to your policy)…

While I was waiting on MyChart’s EHR to refresh so I could complete a questionnaire, I was able to drink a cup of hot coffee, go downstairs and feed the dog, and write this essay. You see, MyChart’s EHR was made by Epic and is hosted by DUH. Yes, that’s…

We all know the drill. Faced with an encyclopedic-length document, we scroll to the bottom to “prove” we have read it and click Yes/Approve/Whatever/I-Give-Up. Why do we have to engage with this charade? Most of us did not attend law school and think a tort is a Viennese dessert. (Actually…

I’ve contributed to progressive candidates and causes heavily, especially since 2016. What does my contribution portfolio show? Liabilities: Elizabeth Warren is not president Bernie Sanders didn’t even get close to the nomination Democrats got more votes for senators, but lost the Senate in 2018 Doug Jones lost his senate seat in…