Thoughts of a Canary

Hump Day 2016 Tomorrow is Hump Day (Hillary/Trump, see?), as a day we've long been dreading as a society. In classic fashion, it falls before Wednesday, giving us two straight days in the middle of the week we wish didn't exist. This election stands apart in recent memory, as it is one in which both candidates are among the most disliked politicians ever to receive major party nominations. It is a battle of which one do you hate more, not which one do you want to lead your country. I was multitasking after work today: having a bit of a run while trying not to die. My oxygen-starved brain somehow stumbled upon a small revelation in the midst of doing these things: " Power is the ability to effect change. " The power of dictators lies in the control of their subjugated masses, wealth gives the power to travel, purchase objects or favors, etc., an athlete's power lies in his/her ability to make the difference in a contest. Knowing I couldn't be alone in...

"Keep Austin Weird." That's the mantra of this city. I can't help but think of how that applies to the country as a whole.  We live in weird times, to say the least. Our current president is using a real issue  in the black lives matter/police brutality struggle to further an anti gun platform that contradicts the manifestation of the founding principles of this country.  Meanwhile our president nominees on both sides of the aisle offer a caricature of what a president could be both to us domestically and to the world at large. We're stuck as a country between the rock of a presumptive felon and a hard place of a bigoted narcissist.  What are we to do? Do we cast our lot with the one who offers a better diplomatic façade (also, hello Benghazi) or do we trust in a candidate who feeds on American unrest with a show of devil-may-care impetuousness. Either way poses a moral issue, no matter what you try to convince yourself with the lesser of two evils approach.  I ...

"You'll understand when you're older" We've all heard the phrase from our parents growing up. It is usually accompanied by a teenage eye roll and a spoken or unspoken (depending on the recipient) eye roll. For my own self, at least, these words came to ring true once I had the wisdom and maturity to accept them, begrudgingly or not, months or years after they were said. After many Lents and just as many Easters, these words are ringing again in my ears. I wasn't quite sure why they popped into my head, only that their arrival was strangely coincidental with the start of the Easter season, that most joyous of time periods that follows the most grave of liturgical seasons. Between mimosas and general congeniality, I was struck with the contrast between Lent, in which mortification and self-denial is preached and promulgated, and Easter, the greatest liturgical season, marked by joy and (most often) indulgence. After forty days of discipline,...