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 and likely envisioned a son who was a strapping he-man. Instead, he got Dweebosaurus Rex, which I’m sure was a source of…ah…let’s go with consternation. Of course I play Dungeons and Dragons as an adult. In fact, I’m in a D&D campaign right now. A group of us from college meet about once... Read More

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 help, then Wonder Woman is ultimately about hope.* Hope with a clear-eyed and flinty view of things as they are and not as we’d like them to be. Consider that, while she has the Lasso of Truth, Wonder Woman carried a sword in the comics... Read More

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 passes beyond a single generation. Rogers was the creator and star of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, a children’s program that ran for decades on public television. During each half hour episode, there were puppet shows, tours of factories and experiments, and Rogers himself. He would simply and honestly... Read More

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 stupid mistakes and be plagued with self-doubt. DC’s heroes, on the other hand, are mythic. Like the Greek pantheon, they have their flaws, yet everything about them is writ large. They’re icons, and to be really effective, they... Read More

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. Maybe that’s why the Texan identity has always been so outsized. It’s a way for the citizens to try and measure up to that vast sky, to prove to themselves and the universe that what they do has meaning. Maybe that’s why the bonds of family seem to be a little bit stronger, there’s a pride of familial... Read More

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 together, we seem to be moving further apart. 1966 was a year not dissimilar to 2016. We were trapped in a seemingly endless war against a foe we barely understood. Public trust in institutions was eroding. But in Los Angeles, an ex-cop and television... Read More