Like all boring, old-school, heterosexual-coupling-based family units, I have the expected two sides of my extended tribe. I have my mother’s and my father’s sides of the family, who I have grown up observing, engaging, absorbing, cringing at, appreciating, being horrified by and loving throughout my life. Most family issues, or even harmless ticks, come […]
Have you ever considered this weird paradox of human nature? The urge to make and build things at once defines us and makes us human, while also being the most discouraged activity on both social and individual levels. We like to think of a past golden age when we all, or at least most of […]
We like to think we celebrate the brave and original thinkers and doers, but in truth we lionise the ones who follow in the footsteps of many and do something we’re comfortable with. People who we say are “doing very well” are usually the most entrenched in some system, whether corporate, social, or some personal […]
The easiest thing to write about is not writing. That is followed closely by wisdom about how to write. For the sake of ending my recent writing drought, I’m resorting to the former, with flourishes of the latter, if I still have it in me to pull off flourishes. We will see. I’ve had an […]
I have bad news. It’s in the title but it bears repeating; Your greatest strength may be your fiercest foible. In fact, it’s almost surely one of your foibles, if you haven’t kept it in check, and so few of us manage that feat. Your foibles are the little quirks that make you who you […]
In the cold, analytical light of day, rejection is a simple matter of a decision taken, but as the rejected, our reaction to it is very much an emotional one. If it weren’t, we’d scarcely need to think of how to deal with it, for there’d be a logical answer to it. In fact, there […]
Of all the much touted maxims of modern society and intellectual thought, things like separation of church and state, equality and equal opportunity for all and the like, the one I think is the most artificial construct is detached, unbiased and impersonal reporting. There is a prevailing falsehood about the effect of personal bias on […]