I used to think it was because I wanted to tell stories, invent characters and worlds. To steer these imaginary depictions of who and what I know, into a creative realm to share it with familiars and strangers. It was a way to express philosophy and values, to insert self into different characters and as I came to learn over time, to learn about myself through these characters. As I wrote more non-fiction and revealed a real world as I saw it, the story telling lacked a narrative. There was no template, not a heroes journey, villains were layered and complex or they existed in plain sight...

It has been declared that there will be a ceasefire for two weeks, the Iranians will allow for shipping to pass through the Straits of Hormuz. All will be well... It is holding. The somewhat theocratic Sunni republic of Pakistan mediated negations with the Shiite republic of Iran and the USA. The same USA that had it’s reality television star president stand alongside an Easter Bunny as he blathered on about death and destruction while boasting about himself. There was promise of mass destruction to befall Iran, then the announcement there would be a ceasefire. Topsy turvy messaging, or...

Over a decade ago, the US and Western nations would feign concern for the loss of innocent life while they waged a war. Terms such as Collateral or Unintentional would be thrown around, even when all evidence points in the opposite direction. There was a need for benevolent war fighting, to satisfy the narrative for the domestic voting block, to package war and intervention in accordance with corporate spin but also to impress upon the rest of the world, that the killers are in fact the good guys. The West and the US now don’t seem to concern themselves with such perceptions. With Israel’s...

There is a surge among the liberal democracies towards a nativist conservatism. The United States experienced the lie of Donald Trump’s MAGA and the misplaced promise of an America First, once a dirty word, now a salvation for not only the war wracked planet but the debt addled empire of the USA itself. The age of liberal imperialism and big government was despised among many who had to suffer it, contrary to the establishment left and those in the comforts of East and West coast privilege, many common and hardworking Americans are forced to suffer and endure a coerced ideology that has done...

Kyle just finished printing out the form he needed to send to a client, an elderly woman who had just lost her husband. He felt empathy for her and really wanted to get it done as fast as possible. Searching the nearby desk, he could not find the stapler. He looked over and saw it sitting out in the open, on a distant desk. He reached out to grab it but was stopped by a voice. “Have you had your operators course updated?” the performance and adjustments teams communication and awareness support officer asked. “No, I didn’t know that I had to,” Kyle was unsure if she was joking or not, but he...