This article, “Tinder And the Dawn of the Dating Apocalypse,” was shared on my Facebook feed last night. I’ve heard about the hookup culture, but this lengthy and detailed look at it was truly nauseating. I’m going to let it speak for itself today and offer the combox for thoughts and discussion, if others feel so inclined.…
Read MoreAll articles filed in culture
Butting Heads With Siri
Siri stopped talking to us when we crossed the Michigan border. Christian had been worried the entire day about running out of battery, because he’d forgotten his car charger. Now he was even more uptight. Perhaps it will not come as a surprise to most of you to hear that I was not particularly sympathetic…
Read MoreThe Trouble With “The” (A No Easy Answers Post)
The timing seemed a little ironic. An old post, called “Words Matter: A Disability Primer,” was in the process of sending my blog views through the roof, and where was I? I was sitting in a ballroom listening to a priest share a piece of advice he was given when beginning a challenging urban assignment:…
Read MoreRandom Thoughts On Pop Culture
We were sitting in front of the TV one night when a Liberty Mutual commercial came up. “We’ll buy you a car ONE YEAR NEWER than your current car, with ONE THOUSAND MILES!” they boasted. I elbowed Christian. “Whaddya think, Christian?” He nodded slowly. “Hm,” he said. “That means we could get a truck that’s…
Read MoreAge, Wisdom, and The Tradeoff
Even in high school, I thought people were insane when they said, “These are the best days of your life.” If this is as good as it gets, I thought, I might as well just give up right now. Now, don’t get me wrong. Three of four years of high school I enjoyed very much.…
Read MoreSex Always Has Consequences
When I heard the story on the news this morning, I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or do a face palm. There’s a new study out saying that women taking the newer-generation mini birth control pills have 3x higher risk of blood clots compared to women who don’t take oral contraceptives. But, they hasten to…
Read MoreWhy I Hate The “Blaming The Victim” Argument
In the midst of the online debate about Ferguson last November, someone I know posted this status update on Facebook: A little provocative, to be sure, but I found value to this point of view, and it was one I hadn’t heard anyone else acknowledging amid the screeching chorus of pointing fingers and moral outrage…
Read MoreRoad Rage And Other Rage
Three times in recent weeks, I have drawn the ire of other drivers. It’s enough to make me soul-search whether the problem really is me. The first time, I’d turned the engine off at a long light and the car behind me wasn’t happy with the extra second it took me to get moving forward…
Read MoreThe Blame Game
Every time something bad happens, the biggest topic of (cough-cough) “discussion” is: whose fault is it? It may be a natural human tendency, but it does nothing to solve the problem at hand. Trying to boil everything down to whose fault it is leads to an all-or-nothing approach to complex problems. That ensures one thing:…
Read MoreConsent is NOT Sexy
“Consent Is Sexy.” That’s what the t shirt said. And clearly, the woman wearing thought it was a good slogan. I do not. First of all, I have to preface my comments by saying: I get it. The state of relations between men and women sucks. The way we talk to each other sucks. The way…
Read More
Kathleen M. Basi 