The reason for this site is simple: I wanted to have an outlet to 
write about things that interest me. Sometimes other people find these labors worthwhile: twice, for example, articles of mine were listed in Project Censored, each as a top story not covered by the so-called “mainstream media,” and a bunch of articles were translated into different languages and published in countries spanning the world’s corners.
Other times, very few (to put it mildly) are interested in what I have written, which is why it helps to have my own website. Nothing goes to waste.
I worked for years as a writer and editor for a moderately well-known progressive weekly (then, with the advent of a new website, daily). While there, I served as an accredited UN correspondent, covered politics, international and national news, and wrote opinion pieces and movie reviews. I enjoyed working as a journalist: how else could I have met Jacques Chirac and Afrika Bambaata, Hugo Chavez and Sean Penn, or Chevy Chase and Robin Williams?
Working for a progressive publication usually means that one is something of a progressive, and the same was true for me. What that term means now, however, is up for debate. I also have more frustration with much of the left than I had then. You’ll find some of that frustration here. While I still hold some views that might be considered “progressive,” others are no longer accepted as such. Some, such as the idea that crime deserves some form of punishment, have no home on the left. Others, such as the idea that, while racism is still a problem that must be fought, America is not a fundamentally racist society that was founded because of slavery, are slowly being pushed out of progressive circles. Other ideas, such as the notion that America, despite its flaws, has been a unique force for good in the world, or that Israel is a democratic ally worth defending, are increasingly finding no home on the socialist progressive left or on the “national conservative” right. At least they find a home on this page.
Aside from my thoughts on politics and current events in general, you might find opinions on trashy horror, exploitation, and other kinds of film; ideas on religion and science; and whatever else seems interesting to me.
Another reason for this website: I do not currently write publicly, professionally, under my own name. After working at the above-mentioned newspaper, I moved into the nonprofit world, finished college, and then went on to Oxford University Press. There I was an assistant editor working on some valuable online resources (the Oxford African American Studies Center, Oxford Islamic Studies Online, and Oxford Biblical Studies Online, as well as the in-print Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography). OUP is a great place to work, but I decided to return to the nonprofit world, where I took a job working with young people south of Boston, managing a program aimed at building mentoring relationships between young people and adults. I don’t know how much I have helped the kids, but they’ve taught me a lot. Since then, I’ve returned to my native Worcester, where I’ve begun studying computer programming and web development. Since then, I’ve moved into technical writing and development. The company where I presently work, while it is no longer in the nonprofit field, still has a mission that allows me to feel like my work, in some small way, contributes to the overall good of humanity. I am but a cog in a machine, but it is a good machine, and cogs are necessary.
Still, I feel the urge to express my thoughts and opinions in a way that does more than simply annoy my friends on Facebook, and this site fills that need.
My hope is that you find something of interest in what I write; your thoughts are welcome.