Originally published in The Guardian We Americans call our nation the “land of the free and home of the brave,” but that’s not true anymore. Freedom is for adults, and childhood in this country isn’t a temporary condition but a permanent state. When I was a kid, and probably you too, grownups had certain things […]
Civil liberties
Lost freedoms are not to be sneezed at
Originally published in The Guardian I hope I don’t get arrested. I surely won’t this evening but a few days hence that might change, if the authorities take undue interest in my household here in the US, the Land of the Free. There’s sickness here, and has been all week – an annoying cold virus […]
Immigrants helped make America great
Originally published in The Guardian Back during the Vietnam War, an American military officer pioneered the concept of destroying a village in order to save it. Last week Arizona lawmakers continued that tradition by passing an anti-illegal immigration bill that would save America from the alleged immigrant scourge by destroying the very ideals that make […]
US cops: armed and dangerous?
Originally published in The Guardian When Americans read British newspapers referencing “her Majesty”, “his Highness” or “Lord So-and-So”, we bask in the smug patriotic pride of knowing ours is no nation of aristocrats, but a country based on principles like equality before the law and authority granted by merit. So we’re told. Yet we do […]
The latter-day ‘scarlet letter’ of sex work
Originally published in The Guardian In the waning days of the last millennium, I worked as a stripper to pay for university. It requires no courage to admit this now, but had I written it a few years ago, when I taught high school, I would have been fired on the spot. My continued presence […]