My latest Medium published story is called The U.S. is 244 years of hatred. In it I write about how much many Americans hate people of color, which I'm reminded of as I imagine how many white supremacists must feel just fine about COVID-19 killing more Blacks and...
Previous post on the coronavirus: Eat to resist Covid-19 Chicago's shelter-in-place order started at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 21. I scurried out for a roasting pan at 4:00 p.m. This was my experience. And I'm kidding about this being a "photo essay." I'm no...
Ignorant Americans everywhere are avoiding their local Chinese restaurants, shops and neighborhoods because they're afraid of the coronavirus. In Chicago, Chinatown restaurants are suffering from as much as a 50% decrease in business. Why do they think every...
According to Wikipedia, International Childfree Day was started in 1973 in the United States by the National Alliance for Optional Parenthood, which at the time was the National Organization for Non-Parents. The day was originally Non-Parents' Day. I like the...
It's my annual posting of my summary of the History Channel's Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas. Part of our American Christmas tradition is for people to throw around the phrase "the true meaning of Christmas." What that phrase usually refers to is an...
Inspired by the final blog post of Obesio the Loser, a former online-friend, here's a list of stuff I've noticed over the decades. 1. Sometimes it gets better. Sometimes it doesn't. 2. No two people are exactly alike, but few people are genuinely special. 3. I still...
Look, people, this is the United States. Mass murder by gunfire isn't going to stop and Congress is not going to pass legislation to restrict access to guns. Gun control is a dead issue, no matter how much we might hope it's still up for discussion. As I said before,...
We Americans, especially those of us in urban places like the Chicagoland area, often welcome the chance to meet international people and hope to expand our knowledge of the world. When we notice that someone seems like they're from another place, we ask, "Where are...
Americans like to believe we're bending towards justice, but we can no longer tell ourselves that now that we've elected Donald (or as my dad calls him, El Payaso) as our president. And those of us who didn't directly cast a vote for him, still allowed him to be...
Last night at a Chicago Council on Global Affairs talk I heard one of the most engaging, yet disturbing, speakers I've ever seen. Robert Paarlberg, author of The United States of Excess: Gluttony and the Dark Side of American Exceptionalism, talked about what he...
Hi. I'm a Mexican and I'd like to give you my view of Donald Trump and his campaign. I've already blogged here about the racism of Trump and his followers, people who want to ship ALL Mexicans out of the country, keep ALL Muslims out and take action against anyone...
Michael Moore's latest movie, Where to Invade Next is instructive, disturbing and infuriating, but Moore ends it on a note of hope. He "invades" several countries, supposedly stealing their great ideas about education, women's rights, treatment of prisoners and other...
Now that I spend more time with people who weren't born in the U.S, I see American culture differently. I'm fascinated by the things such people identify as being good and bad about us. I have new appreciation for our American never-say-die attitude and the way we're...
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Most Americans know the proper amount to tip on a restaurant food bill. It's 20% and anything less looks cheap and mean. That's because service industry workers in the U.S. are paid about $2.18 to $5 an hour from their employers and that's it. That's right: American...