Christmas Eve in 2024, I was walking home after a delightful brunch with friends. The iron-grey sky promised either rain or snow flurries, so I hunched forward, cutting through the chill air like the boat’s bow, determined to avoid a downturn in the weather.  Ahead of me, a man st

A woman in her mid-50s, whom I’d known for two decades, recently dropped me from her Facebook circle.  Once an advocate for women’s rights, she acquired a boyfriend, and not long after, I noted changes in the tenor of her remarks.  Each time she defended MAGA values, I countered

Believe it or not, shock-jock talk show host Howard Stern agrees with Greg Abbott, the conservative Republican governor of Texas. Both feel individuals should be held accountable for their actions. Stern is cranky about anti-vaxxers who spread both Covid-19 and its Delta variant to ot

Recently, someone on Facebook broke into a political discussion to suggest the debate was irrelevant. Life was predetermined and free will didn’t exist. The comment took me back to my undergraduate days as a student of philosophy. Even so, I didn’t reply. I knew kissing my elbow w

While scientists attempt to map the human mind in a well-funded program called The Brain Activity Map Project (BAM), theologians and philosophers wonder if that mapping will give us a greater understanding of consciousness and free will than we have now.  As writer and Pulitzer priz