Blog
Ten Years After Death: An Exploration: What Writing About Mortality Taught Me About Living
It has now been ten years since publishing Death: An Exploration, and in that decade, more has changed than I could have anticipated. Many people imagine that publishing a first book is a momentous, even life-altering event. Before it happened, I spent long stretches...
Fear of Death: The Invisible Force Shaping How We Live
What keeps us alive? At first glance, the answer seems obvious: biology, instinct, survival mechanisms. But beneath these lies something more psychological and deeply human — fear. Fear, particularly fear of death, may be one of the most powerful forces guiding our...
Death and Loss: How They Shape Our Lives and Give Meaning to Existence
Death and loss are inseparable forces in the human experience. They shape how we love, how we grow, and how we understand our place in the world. No one can replace a mother, father, sibling, or cherished friend. Every person is unique, and every loss leaves a lasting...
Love, Lupercalia, and Lager: A Low-Stress Guide to Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day arrives each year wrapped in red cellophane and high expectations. For couples, it can feel like a romantic performance review; for single people, an anxiety-inducing reminder that love has a deadline. Beneath the flowers, cards, and prix-fixe dinners...
War in the Digital Age — From Battlefield Reality to Virtual Gamification
In a nondescript building in Nevada, an operator finishes a 12-hour shift controlling an MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Middle East. They use a joystick and monitor not unlike those found in gaming setups worldwide. Later that day, they might unwind by playing Call of...
From Trade War to Market Reset: How Tariffs Reshaped the Global Wine Industry
When the United States and China entered a full-scale trade conflict in 2018, few agricultural sectors felt the impact as significantly as the wine industry. More than a luxury good, wine occupies a pivotal position at the intersection of agriculture, culture,...
The American Portrait: What Dorian Gray Reveals About a Nation in Decline
Dorian Gray, the beautiful young protagonist of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, is granted a terrible gift: eternal youth purchased by transferring all consequences of his indulgence, cruelty, and corruption into a portrait that ages in his place. As he...
Learning to Live Fully in the Shadow of Death
In 2018, I faced more loss than ever before. My paternal grandmother, Walt, passed away at 99. My great-aunt Virginia, with whom I shared a bond as deep as with any grandparent, passed at 100. A month later, her sister—my maternal grandmother Laura—died at 104. My...
Creativity as a Catalyst for Social Renewal
Creativity is one of the most powerful forces humans possess. It allows us to imagine alternatives, question the familiar, and redesign the systems that shape our lives. When societies face stagnation—political, social, or educational—our capacity to envision new...