I visited with a friend recently. He had just come from working at a cafe. I asked, “If you sat down and drank coffee there, you used a mug, right? . . . not a disposable cup? He replied sheepishly, “No, I used a disposable cup. Sorry.” People keep apologizing to me for polluting. I said, “Don’t apologize to me. It barely affects me. It does, but other people more.”[…] Keep reading →

I’m searching for role models including people who changed cultures and undid dominance hierarchies, particularly people who came from status. I can think of many who came from subjugated classes, but not many who could have declined to engage, but did instead. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one. I could share more about him, but my guest today, Martin Doblmeier, made a wonderful documentary about him available online free. It’s worth it[…] Keep reading →

People describe my steps toward sustainability as “extreme.” Imagine everyone you knew gave babies Pepsi to drink, as much as they wanted all the time. You might think since it’s not healthy, you might not give your baby so much Pepsi. What’s the right amount of Pepsi to give babies? Ten percent less than everyone else? Twenty percent? If you give fifty percent less, are you starting to get extreme?[…] Keep reading →

I’m not proud but I’m not going to hide it either. I’m like everyone else: I live in a culture that relies on slavery. I try to minimize my contribution to it. I see publicizing the situation as helping change it. Each time you bought a cell phone, laptop, or electric vehicle, you bought goods almost certainly produced using slavery, possibly without realizing it. I’d like to help change our[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen: Growing up in Philadelphia, across the river from New Jersey, Bruce was always big. I loved this book, which I listened to, Bruce himself reading it. The first third recounted his doing what it took. He struggled to buy his first guitar for $18. He slept on floors, figured out how to play. He played what gigs he could. He[…] Keep reading →

I wanted to follow up yesterday’s post. It missed some of the more important experiences and lessons of spending so many years as a minority, or at least not in the majority. Since starting college at Columbia and mostly living in Manhattan, I’ve spent a lot of time with well-educated liberals. I’ve found them full of preconceptions about me, generally based on my skin color and sex. People who know[…] Keep reading →

Cleaning out my father’s basement, I found my junior high school yearbook. Not really a yearbook, but a book with pictures of each class. Here’s my class: Can you tell which one is me? Is it hard to tell? I can’t tell you how often people have told me I don’t know what it’s like to live as a minority. This year wasn’t my only such year. Here is the[…] Keep reading →