culture

Rick Snedeker
Members Public

Does the sexual revolution need a do-over?

Reading Time: 4 minutes I came of age on the cusp of the ’70s when, much to my excitement, I discovered the so-called “sexual revolution” was in full, shall we say, deflower. It was a revolution, of course, but it also actually wasn’t. At least it wasn’t for women, it seems to me, viewed in admitted

Rebekah Kohlhepp
Members Public

My favorite contradiction: Nail polish and femininity, feminism, and men’s liberation

Reading Time: 6 minutes When the world is suffering from a deadly pandemic, losses of fundamental human rights, and climate change caused by a capitalistic and Christian nationalist ethnostate, sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is look forward to the little things and engage in self-c

Rick Snedeker
Members Public

What makes ‘skeptical’ kids grow up to be God-believing adults?

Reading Time: 8 minutes If kids are the savvy, skeptical creatures that Will Gervais proposes in his recent essay, why do endless hordes of them in each generation turn into conservative American adults who uncritically worship invisible gods with zero objective verification? And what makes these sa

Rick Snedeker
Members Public

Why are AR-15-style rifles so wildly popular in America?

Reading Time: 6 minutes Why does the United States all-too-casually allow virtually anyone to buy an AR-15-style rifle, a fearsomely lethal weapon millions of American civilians have already joyfully acquired? I ask myself that question every time one of these awful weapons is used to kill many, man

Rick Snedeker
Members Public

Is it transphobic to believe trans female athletes have an advantage?

Reading Time: 9 minutes I hate to admit it because it sounds so reactionary in the 21st century, but I believe some male-to-female transgender athletes, without mitigating intervention, may have an unfair advantage in women’s sports. I say this knowing that trans female athletes are a tiny minority

Rick Snedeker
Members Public

The real meaning behind ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’

Reading Time: 5 minutes A few years ago, I watched a documentary about a remote Amazonian tribe whose sexual practices were far different from our own in contemporary, mainstream America. A young indigenous woman on camera described a previously normal practice of her tribe to thoroughly enjoy each

Rick Snedeker
Members Public

Mass killings: Why we need to see the murdered innocents

Reading Time: 7 minutes For several decades beginning in the 1950s, driver education classes in the United States included screenings of “shock films”—documentary shorts, narrated in police drama style, created to bring the reality of high-speed collisions home to young drivers. Names like Highway o

M L Clark
Members Public

‘The Serene Squall’, and other perfectly human contradictions

Reading Time: 8 minutes One of my biggest issues with J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek (2009) was its abysmal treatment of Spock’s core struggle with his human and Vulcan halves. Oh, he still had that tension in the movie! But Abrams also had Spock casually shacking up with a human (Uhura!) while loathing th

M L Clark
Members Public

‘Spock Amok’: Walk a mile in my ears

Reading Time: 9 minutes One of the most important facets of Star Trek: The Original Series was its spirit of play. In some ways, this was necessary. The series would often be filmed haphazardly, scripts written and handed off to actors last-minute, the late-60s wing-and-a-prayer production flying by

M L Clark
Members Public

‘Memento Mori’: To live with the prospect of death (Strange New Worlds)

Reading Time: 9 minutes Like any self-respecting Trekkie, I learned the basics of gunpower from Star Trek: The Original Series. One of TOS‘s most memorable scenes comes from “Arena” (Season 1, Episode 18), when Captain Kirk, trapped on a planet with minimal resources, has to use his wits to survive

Rick Snedeker
Members Public

‘My Mister’: Kind of a love story about something else

Reading Time: 4 minutes Long before I experienced the beguilingly and sometimes joltingly offbeat South Korean drama Parasite, which so deservedly won the Academy Award for best picture in 2020—the first-ever Korean winner—I’ve been a huge fan of that country’s ever-enthralling movies and TV series.

M L Clark
Members Public

Strange New Worlds: Star Trek’s return to humanist form

Reading Time: 9 minutes I almost didn’t watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which started airing this month. I’m glad I did: it’s deservedly being called the best of the recent Treks, and there’s a lot to be said about this series as a humanist. I had reason to be reluctant. The franchise hasn’t be