-
Going to the Dogs
Last month, Subaru ran a commercial on tv entitled Support the ASPCA® When You Get a New Subaru During the Subaru Share the Love® Event. The commercial opens with a young-ish girl who looks to be in her early twenties sweeping a dimly lit hallway. One can make out that there are kennels on either…
-
The Great Debate
Happy New Year! From time to time, I wade into a controversial topic here on taxpoodle.net. Really existential questions like should you drape the loose sheet of toilet paper over or under the roll, and whether there is any real difference between catsup and ketchup. I do this not to advocate any position other than…
-
Party like it’s 1999
Mark was a mess. But he was rich, so as drinking buddies go, when you’re in your 30s and up to your nipples in credit card debt, he was a good friend to have. Plus he had a really cute Latino boyfriend that I had less than honorable designs on, so I figured “befriending” Mark…
-
This is how religions get started
Perhaps the most erudite commenter on religion of my lifetime, the late Christopher Hitchens, once said: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him will believeth in anything. – Hitchens 3:16 In 1963 at a small, liberal arts school in Northfield, Minnesota called Carleton College,…
-
The Jared McCain Paradox
I’m the last person to talk about sports in general and basketball in particular. When I was 14 and a freshman in high school, my father “suggested” I try out for the basketball team. So I did. About 20 of us gathered after school on the outside court; my alma mater is built on the…
-
The Mighty Met
If you asked me what I listened to, musically, growing up, I would proudly proclaim, without thinking twice, “oh I loved progressive rock – bands like Rush, Genesis, Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull, Supertramp, and of course Pink Floyd.” I got my first bike when I was 9. I put that bike, a yellow 1975 Schwinn…
-
Merry CHRISmas
An obese, bearded man, dressed head-to-toe in what look like red velvet pajamas with white, faux-fur piping, patent leather boots, and a matching belt with a belt buckle the size of a Buick wrapped around his enormous, bulbous waist parks his wagon propelled by flying mammals on your roof. He manages to squeeze into and…
-
Nursie
There are many dedicated people who, working together, make the elderly, the disabled, and the injured feel safe and “at home” in an assisted living facility. From the director to the driver, everyone pulls on the same oar to meet the needs of residents. Usually. Human nature being what it is, and given we are…
-
Desert Migration
As a 27-year survivor of HIV/AIDS, I remain particularly tuned-in to advancements in the treatment of the disease. Obviously, in all those years, a cure has remained elusive. But huge, almost miraculous, strides have been made rendering it a chronic, manageable disease. I remember the early days of the three-drug regimen which consisted of a…
-
Crawling for Justice
In the winter of 1990, the Congressional legislation to turn a proposed Americans with Disabilities Act into law had stalled in the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation. A lot of the systemic oppression that disabled people faced then (and still in many ways face today) is neglect rather than outright discrimination. If you (or society…
Your mileage may vary.