Guillermo Chapa was a member of the culture I was assigned to teach Spanish at as a rookie assistant-prof at Pan Am-Brownsville. I said teach “at” instead of “to” because almost all my students already knew the language — I … Continue reading
One of our football coaches, a vet in his forties, recounted how his wife ribbed him about being a neat freak. “Your underwear drawer is relentlessly organized, your t-shirts are folded, your Levis are on hangers!” she would exclaim. His … Continue reading
“I’m not a cultural anthropologist,” he once said. “I write about taco stands and fancy French restaurants to try to get people less afraid of their neighbors and to live in their entire city instead of sticking to their one … Continue reading
You sweet bastard. Just two days ago I transferred you from the risky environs of the patio to the security of the Jatropha bush. Now I find you again on the patio inert, apparently expiring. What has hurt you? Or … Continue reading
“The menu should read like a poem,” Ms. de Boer said. “You should seduce the diner. People don’t know they want to eat deep-fried mackerel with aioli, so you’ve got to tell a story and get them on your wavelength.” … Continue reading
“It’s funny when they talk about women, saying, ‘Oh, she’s so competitive,’ and it’s almost a put-down… For me, what’s the alternative? To try to lose, or to not give your best? ‘Competitive’ means you’re concentrating, and you do everything … Continue reading
My theology chops are modest at best. One monotheism has been dinged by another as being slightly quasi-mono because of the Trinity and the saints and mariolatry. The dinging party severely prescribes oneness (one God, one Messenger), whereas the dinged … Continue reading
When I still used Facebook I put up a version of the nonsense I’ve blogged here as “A Modest Proposal” (with nod to Jonathan Swift). A Modest Proposal At the time, a bill to foment the sale of silencers was before … Continue reading
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There’s an alternative to facilitating gun silencer purchases as Congress has considered. It would be to promote noise-canceling earbuds for fans of gun sport, thus not suppressing noise and flash. Hobbyist shooters would be protected from compromised hearing, while civilians … Continue reading
EthicalDative 
An Inconvenient Perception
I read once somewhere that much of the violence inflicted upon the world is at the hands of young men who have never held a job or a girl’s hand. For some reason the comment comes back to me with … Continue reading →