Content note: sexual harassment and assault; denial, trivialization, and victim-blaming of same. Believe accusers of sexual harassment and assault, unless you have compelling reason not to. That’s the principle. It’s somewhat oversimplified, but that’s the... Read More

Contains mild spoilers for one episode of The Good Place. There's a ton of magic and religion in our popular culture. I don't mean stories about religious beliefs and believers. I mean stories where religion... Read More

What makes a human life valuable? That’s a huge question, obviously, and not one that’s going to be settled in a magazine column. I just want to examine a small piece of it. I want... Read More

Who do we want to be? This is a crucial time in US history, indeed, in the history of the world. It’s an ugly time, unpredictable, dangerous. In fifty years, a hundred years, historians and... Read More

“The Russia story is a distraction from the Affordable Care Act!” “Trans people in the military are a distraction from disastrous tax reform!” “The chaos in the White House is a distraction from environmental collapse!”... Read More

QUESTION ONE: Are demonstrations and protest marches worth it? Or are they just feel-good activism, reinforcing people’s beliefs and making them feel like they’re taking action but not creating any real change? Question Two: Is... Read More

THE NEXT TIME SOMEONE SAYS, “There’s no point in calling my members of Congress, it doesn’t make any difference, I already know how they’re going to vote,” I’m going to scream. If there ever was... Read More