On State and Society: The Bureaucratic Death of Culture
“What has been so apparent in the modern history of the family will be no less apparent in the future histories of profession, university, labor union, and all other forms of association in our culture. Deprive these entities of the authorities over their members through increasing centralization of political power in society, and these associations, [...]
We Who Shun Chaos for Community
We have the greatest opportunity the world has ever seen, as long as we remain honest — which will be as long as we can keep the attention of our people alive. — Thomas Jefferson Let’s get out of here, you and me. Let’s run up a tab, get a boat, ruin our credit scores [...]
Revisions
I’m chasing my history and finding discrepancies between who I am and who I’ve thought I should become. I fashioned myself in the image of a spirited warrior from the start, but so many scars later and I don’t know what I’ve gained from all of these fabrications. I was the toddler seeking diplomacy to [...]
There is a Light That Never Goes Out
There’s always that pesky feeling of loneliness that stems, no doubt, from the persistence of an inability to relate. The Beatles are getting less play these days, and The Smiths are on the cusp of its resurgence as my popular authority: this is how I know I’m coming up on a personal shift (juvenile, I [...]
Self-Worth as a Catalyst for Change
My life began as a last resort: my mother’s final, desperate plea to escape the 80s as they crashed all around her. Noemi Mendez led the fast and dangerous lifestyle of every recreational drug addict of her era. Married and divorced at 15, she’d been using since her early teens and had three abortions before [...]
An Assault and the Four-Year-Old Witness
I was four years old when my mother and I moved into our first apartment. I thought it was luxurious and affectionately referred to it as our “sky house.” Mom was excited, too; she said she’d gotten a really good deal. Of course, it wouldn’t be long before we were put in our place and [...]
Self-Destruction in the Pursuit of Validation
There are times when I question my authenticity. I don’t know exactly where in my mind this unrepentant need to impress others takes root, but I’m sure it’s there. In moments like these, I think of my life as just some grand production, a show I put on for any audience willing to pay the [...]
Random Conversation #1
At lunch with my mother today, discussing the potential hindrance on my political career due to my lack of religious belief: Karim: I really wish you would have raised me religious. Mom: I tried! But you wouldn’t accept that I’m God.
An Inability to Relate
I’ve been working on becoming a social creature. I recognized a while back that in order to better empathize with humanity it’s essential that I engage actual human beings and I’ve done that to some success. I have several acquaintances who I spend my nights around at the local coffee house or downtown at the [...]
What I’m Thankful For
For every shrieking argument, every traded slice and all the policemen that made up my teenage years, I am thankful for my family and my upbringing as a whole. I was raised by a male-bashing feminist who forewent the Rockwellian archetype and birthed and raised a child on her own purposely (“I didn’t want some [...]
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