I just returned from an incredible vacation, one I'd planned for over a year. It was a cruise from Los Angeles to Tahiti, via Hawaii and numerous islands of French Polynesia. If you ever have a chance to do something like that, take it. I can't come up with superlatives strong enough to describe it. … Continue reading Realities
Author: erikamaren
2016: Disaster and Hope
Last year at this time I was in Thailand. I celebrated the New Year with people I had met there when we were all teenagers, exchange students from many different countries who spent a year immersed in a culture that, for most of us, was radically different from our own. We orchestrated a reunion for … Continue reading 2016: Disaster and Hope
There Is No Justification for Having Voted for Donald Trump
Hate me if you want. Troll me if you must. History has its eyes on you (thank you, Lin-Manuel Miranda), and future generations will not accept your feeble excuses. I would like to tell you some reasons why. You claim you are not misogynist*, racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, or xenophobic, and you don’t approve of lots … Continue reading There Is No Justification for Having Voted for Donald Trump
Best History Book Ever: Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari
Everyone should read this book. Its full title is Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, and it is exactly that, but it also somehow manages to be both a work of philosophy and a very entertaining read. Harari writes with a clarity and wit rarely seen in academic writing, or any kind of non-fiction. Reading … Continue reading Best History Book Ever: Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari
Kimberly Kalaja’s Night Moths on the Wing
I keep thinking about a play I saw performed nearly a month ago, at the OC-Centric New Play Festival. It is called Night Moths on the Wing, and it was written by Kimberly Kalaja, a playwright originally from California but now based in New York. The plot revolves around a prisoner of war and his … Continue reading Kimberly Kalaja’s Night Moths on the Wing
Full Transcript of Michelle Obama’s Amazing Speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention
I won't say Michelle Obama's speech last night was the best speech ever, because there were many great ones that happened before I was born, and a few when I was a very small child, that I have seen or heard on recordings, but it was the best one I have ever seen live, as … Continue reading Full Transcript of Michelle Obama’s Amazing Speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention
Scottish Tweets to Trump Demonstrate Wordsmithing to Rival Shakespeare
There are so many insane and important things happening in the world this year, and I haven't yet been able to distill any of them down to something I can say articulately in a blogpost. There is one small piece of it all, though, that I find so delightful that I feel I must share … Continue reading Scottish Tweets to Trump Demonstrate Wordsmithing to Rival Shakespeare
How Genealogy Debunks Myths About History, #2: Nuclear Families
Many people seem to think that single parent families and blended families were a rarity until the increased prevalence of divorce in recent decades. Genealogy tells a different story. In researching my ancestors and those of other people, I have indeed found very few that were divorced, but I have also found very few children … Continue reading How Genealogy Debunks Myths About History, #2: Nuclear Families
Life in Three Languages
While going through old files, I came across this little poem I wrote for the annual Thanksgiving celebration when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Macedonia. It's no great literary work, but it means something to me and I kind of like it, so I thought I'd post it. The three languages are English, … Continue reading Life in Three Languages
College and Career Readiness is the Wrong Goal
There’s a question I’ve been mulling lately. If the people who say that AI and related technologies are going to put most people out of work, and that a successful human future requires the decoupling of employment from income, are right, what kind of education system best serves the people of that future? I think … Continue reading College and Career Readiness is the Wrong Goal
E. Steiger & Co. 
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