When I was in college, I took a class on Visual Communications. It was a surprisingly useful class, and one that pretty much everyone should have to take. Recently a random memory from this class came to mind. We were assigned a project wherein we each selected a magazine and then analyzed the advertisements therein. … More A Random Story About Magazines
Today I’d like to talk about the disgusting appearance of Mark and Patricia McCloskey at the Republican National Convention. I know this news is almost two weeks old, but there’s been a lot of traumatic news to process recently, so forgive me if it took some time to parse and articulate my thoughts on this … More Shoot Thy Neighbor
I am scared of riding a bike. Here are some other things of which I am scared:– dogs– public speaking– small spaces– drowning/ being underwater– heights But today I am focusing on the bikes. I have been thinking about fear a lot over the past two days. That is because two days ago, something very … More I Am Scared of Riding a Bike
Last week, when Kamala Harris was announced as Biden’s VP pick, I got excited and posted the following comment on Facebook: “KAMALA HARRIS YES YES YES! Someone get me a giant yard sign STAT!” Most of my Facebook feed was full of other super excited pro-Harris posts, but one Facebook friend was less enthusiastic. He … More (in defense of) Getting Excited About Kamala Harris
This morning I saw a video that brought back a memory for me. The incident in the video occurred a few days ago and is described here. In it, a white lady in a nice middle-class suburban neighborhood is calling the police on he black neighbors while continuing to argue with them. According to the … More Ingrained
June is my favorite month, because it is just so dang fun! The sun is out, the days are long, we’re not sick of the heat and humidity yet, life is just good! Wahoo! But smack dab in the middle of this party, each year, we have to stop and think for a moment about … More Reflections on the June Deportations in a Modern Context
The world lost two famous rocket scientists this week. I am of course referring to Katherine Johnson and Michael Hughes. Here are quick bios to remind you of these two noble explorers: Katherine Johnson was a NASA mathematician who is known to most people thanks to the film Hidden Figures. She was a pioneer who … More Rocket Science, Pioneers, and Wife Swap
I’ve spent the past month trying to watch as many of this yea’rs Oscar nominees as possible, and to review them as I went. Here’s yesterday’s pre-awards-show wrap-up, complete with individual links to all 14 reviews: https://helgawithouttheh.com/2020/02/10/2020-oscars-overall-thoughts-and-predictions/ I didn’t get to do as much overall analysis and predicting as I’d hoped because I ran out … More 2020 Oscars: Reactions and Final Thoughts
Every year I try, with varying degrees of success, to watch as many of that year’s Oscar nominees as possible. This year I got through 14 movies: all of the Best Picture nominees, plus a handful of other films that were nominated in other categories. It’s a light load compared to the 19 I saw … More 2020 Oscars: Overall Thoughts and Predictions
Here’s a story about something that happened this week on NextDoor. For those who are unaware, NextDoor is a social media site that is specific to small geographic regions. The entire purpose is to create a sense of community within a neighborhood. It’s just a high-tech version of the community bulletin board. “Lost cat!” “Curb … More A Story
Helga without the H 