The Unclad Soul

The president and vice president want to establish a Space Force. The president has signed legislation for a military budget of more than $700 billion dollars. The number is staggering. And the motives within it alarming. There is not a single threat facing us that warrants such a ridiculous idea as a Space Force. What does seriously threaten us is global warming, world poverty, national weather disasters, economic inequality, racial division, the destruction of public education, congressional greed and corruption, a future Stock Market collapse, the arrogant aggression against terrorist groups and the killing of their innocent women and children. Those are the real threats. Those are the things that may end up destroying us as a nation and maybe even the world. And yet, pennies are thrown at these problems, and in some instances, nothing at all is being done to address the dire situations created by these threats. We are not being led by smart people. Money is a ...

I have a friend in Los Angeles who asked me to partner with her on a book project. She is a bright, gifted writer, with a personal story of pain and abuse. She is a gay woman who grew up in a strict Christian home filled with rules and moral demands. Though she knew at a young age she was gay, she had no way of processing that with her parents. When she finally did come out to them, which was an act of enormous courage, she was rebuked, sent to a physician who sexually abused her, and later was put in a mental facility to be treated, not for the abuse she endured, but because she was gay. She grew up in the church, attending services three times a week, doing her best to follow all the rules while still trying to deal with her sexual identity. The church provided no support for her struggle. No affirmation for her as a gay person. Only condemnation. Her parents participated in her rejection. She eventually left home, estranged from her family, and deeply hurt and bitter to...