Of course I played Dungeons and Dragons as a kid. It shouldn’t be that surprising. I grew up in the Reagan-era 1980s, a nerdy kid who didn’t respond to sports, couldn’t relate to insecure machismo, and had a father who was a product of the World War II generation. He wanted me to play sports […]

To one degree or another, superheroes are all about symbolism. Despite having been originally designed as characters for children, they have become our modern mythology. When used correctly, they can simultaneously deliver surface-level thrills while also having something legitimate to say. If Batman is about dealing with trauma and Superman is about the desire to […]

We need Fred Rogers these days, or someone very much like him. If you’re a younger reader, you can be forgiven for not knowing his work, since he’s more of a contemporary for those of us of a certain age. But his refreshing lack of cynicism is a warm and safe hug, something that effortlessly […]

You know what the real difference is between the characters of Marvel and DC? Presentation. Marvel’s heroes have feet of clay. They’re flawed and relatable. Peter Parker constantly worries about money. Tony Stark is essentially a functional alcoholic. If I gained fantastic powers or a power ring fueled by willpower, I’d still make lots of […]

The sky is massive in West Texas. It seems to go on forever, stretching out as far as the eye can see, and eventually meeting the dusty landscape in a far off horizon. When you’re under that sky, there’s a sense of insignificance, a feeling that you matter about as much as the scrub brush. […]

We need Star Trek right now. Badly. The America of Stardate 2016 is fractured. Paranoid. Raging. We’re locked into a presidential election that rejects hope and embraces fear. The vast majority of us plan to vote against a particular candidate instead of being inspired by one. Our country is beset by problems and, when we should be coming […]