There is no denying that America’s slaveholding past still weighs heavily on the nation’s conscience. About 388,000 Africans in total were abducted from their homes and subjected to the horrors of the Middle Passage before being sold into bondage in North America. Through natural increase, the number of enslaved persons in this country reached 3.9 […]
Chaos
There are two groups of people in this world: those who love mathematics and those who detest it. 4 out of 10 Americans1 fall into the latter category and cite difficulty, uselessness and lack of creativity in math, among other things, as reasons for their distaste. Many sentiments among this group are shared with Calvin: […]
What is the body?
She steps out of the shower, frigid. She stands in front of the fogged up mirror, slowly lifting a frail arm to wipe away the steam. She drops her towel, grabs her stomach and turns side to side, her hands touch protruding bone after bone, as finger meets rib with unsettling ease. Hot tears well […]
Living in a Secular Age
The term ‘secular’ has become almost synonymous with progress, Westernization, and democracy. It often stands in contrast to the religious, the traditional, or the authoritarian. It is a beacon of hope in a world tied down by its past superstitions and stains of ignorance. Secularity, it seems, is a very good thing indeed. But what […]
Light and Truth from a Hospice Bed
Light An aged priest limps down the aisle, clutching what looks like pure light in his hands. Golden sun-like rays have been welded around the outline of a single circle, surrounding a single piece of bread in the middle – the Host — and there, kneeling in the convent, I can hear words of the […]
The Keys to Happiness
History, literature, and the present day are filled with characters pursuing happiness or, as Aristotle calls it, a life of “eudaimonia.” But how does one achieve this ideal life? Each of us have our own values and thoughts that drive our actions regarding this question. Philosophies and worldviews similarly have values that create answers to […]