Essays by Larry Barnett
Being alive is a risky business; we live in a predatory world, a living system where life feeds on life. As such, risk and the threat of injury and/or death is always present. This is true for the smallest and the largest of living things.
As human beings, the nature of risk depends upon one’s place in the … Read the rest
The analysis, commentary, and complaints about American politics are prolific. Certain themes are repeatedly explored, such as voters’ educational levels, identity, and economic status, but all these are basically subordinate to the one factor nobody really talks about: the psychology of politics.… Read the rest
What’s going on in the world is so outlandish that it would be rejected by Hollywood as implausible, too unlikely and unbelievable. Do you find yourself asking, “Who writes this stuff?” And yet, the plot goes on.
Here’s a pitch: A coddled Rich Kid from Queens New York becomes a gifted but unscrupulous … Read the rest
Sorting out truth from fiction has never been easy, and today it’s harder than ever. The proliferation of disinformation, political propaganda, shameless self-promotion, and outright deception makes it very difficult to know what’s true. Lies are often more interesting, too. But what is truth,… Read the rest
As the current administration in Washington continues to run roughshod over the constitution, congress and the courts, it’s worthwhile asking how it is that America’s autocrats learned to behave the way they do. The answer is stunningly obvious: America’s workplace.
In their wisdom, our founding… Read the rest
I began my adult life at eighteen protesting the war in Vietnam. The Reverend William Sloane Coffin delivered our high school graduation address decrying America’s militarism, and I took up the cause. Admittedly, my impression of the army was influenced early by watching Phil Silver’s Sargent Bilko,… Read the rest
My wife and I recently moved from one side of town to the other; we’ve downsized. After living in the same house for 28 years, that move included an awful lot of stuff.
As the comedian, the late George Carlin… Read the rest
Despite the fact that the world is not like it at all, people prefer to live in a deterministic, reality of fixed objects where clock time governs and events are predictable. Accordingly, our systems of logic – grammars of subject, object, and verb – assign fixed names and times for things… Read the rest
The modern corporation had its beginnings in maritime law. In an era when global trade and exploration were dependent upon sailing ships and the monarchy of European nations, merchant capitalism arose to fill a monetary gap that governments couldn’t muster and introduced the concept of limited financial… Read the rest
Some guys are assholes. I learned this very early on in life, and it’s still true. I’ve known some women who were assholes, but on balance, assholes tend to be men.
So what exactly is an asshole? Assholes are mean people, highly aggressive, and frequently bullies. In men, this makes for macho, domineering… Read the rest
For centuries, we in America have thought of ourselves as a nation of law and order. Between the two, law has maintained dominance while order has remained subordinate. That hierarchy now appears to be flipping.
Democracy’s weakness is itself, which in their wisdom our founding fathers understood.… Read the rest
My last dream of the night, the early morning actually, is usually quite intense and often memorable. So it was recently.
In my dream I found myself in a semi-industrial space chatting with two friendly fellows. I was drawn to their animated and boisterous energy despite their appearance; both were … Read the rest
To many of us, witnessing the cruelty of people now in power is heartbreaking and discouraging, even to the point of serious depression and in some cases thoughts of suicide. Thoughtful people I know are asking themselves what to do.
It’s never been easy to confront cruelty, but the feelings of pain and… Read the rest
Did you ever laugh so hard for so long that the next day your abs hurt? I have, and I miss it. Belly laughs seem to be in shorter supply these days.
I don’t know if it’s the times or me that’s changed, but I’m laughing less than I used to. There are still funny people out there, like Stephen Colbert, but a chuckle… Read the rest
What is to become of us? Or rather, what is to become of those of us in modern civilization? This is an essential question, but it’s not being asked seriously as the rush into a world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) gathers increasing momentum.
Some have embraced transhumanism, the idea that merging … Read the rest
“The quality of mercy is not strained…it is twice blest. It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.”
— Portia in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice
The subject of mercy is in the news lately, not the least of which because Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde raised the issue before Donald Trump in her … Read the rest
Fallen leaves, yellow and brown, cover the courtyard. High in the branches, a few green stragglers hang on stubbornly. Looking up, I feel like I’m watching myself hanging on, and then suddenly, I’m watching myself watching myself. Who am I, the watcher or the watched? Am I Mini-Me or Meta-Me, or both?… Read the rest
My wife and I recently went to see “A Complete Unknown” about Bob Dylan, and it prompted a night of remembrance and reflection on my life in the mid-sixties.
Brought up in the middle-class suburbs of New York City, I enrolled at NYU’s Institute of Film and Television, and at eighteen I moved into a studio… Read the rest
Some years ago I removed a stand of bamboo and replaced it with two 3’ x 8’ livestock troughs that I converted to raised garden beds. I’ve always been a gardening enthusiast, a self-confessed hortisexual who loves plants, but our home is shaded by big trees so a large vegetable garden has never been workable.… Read the rest
After briefly attending Rhode Island School of Design in the mid-sixties, I moved to San Francisco. At nineteen years of age I managed to get a job working in the copy center at Golden Gate College. Located in the basement, the copy center had no windows; all the ventilation was provided by vents connected… Read the rest