The Inner Monologue

The party that governs by grievance. There’s a curious phenomenon in American politics today: a political party that proudly brands itself as the home of strength, toughness, and decisive leadership — yet simultaneously claims to be utterly powerless. According to its own members, Republicans control everything and nothing at the same time. They are the…

Why voice-controlled technology will never truly be mainstream For nearly two decades, Silicon Valley has been trying to convince us that the future is hands-free. That we’ll bark at our cars, our homes, our phones, and our appliances—and they’ll obey like loyal servants. It’s a vision of effortless control: no typing, no tapping, just words.…

Let’s talk about that person. You know the one. The one who slides into your DMs or lingers after a reading to say, “I love everything you write… except that one thing. You know, the one that felt a little… too real.” First of all, congratulations. You’ve just confirmed that I did my job. If…

There is a thin, almost invisible line that separates authority from tyranny. For most of American history, that line has held not because of the words on parchment in the National Archives, but because enough people — in uniforms, in courtrooms, and in public office — believed in the same idea: that no one is…

There’s a strange irony buried in our global consciousness: the more interconnected the world becomes, the smaller it seems to get — not in distance, but in perspective. The “world map” that hangs in most classrooms is still centered on Europe, stretching Asia across the right edge and cutting the Pacific Ocean in half, as…

There was a time when the human nose was one of our most trusted survival tools. Before expiration labels and “cold chain logistics,” people could walk into a kitchen, lift the lid off a pot, take one whiff, and instantly know whether dinner was safe or deadly. It was a kind of sensory literacy —…

Oh, wow. You again? The person who can’t figure out how to Google “how to unclog a drain” or change a tire without having a full-blown existential crisis? Amazing. Truly impressive. Let me guess—you’d rather stand there, helpless, waiting for someone else to swoop in and adult for you? Fantastic strategy, if your life goal…

Every four years, some politician in a hardhat squints into a camera and promises to “bring back manufacturing jobs,” like America’s greatness is measured in how many people can repetitively tighten the same screw for eight hours a day. Newsflash: The reason your iPhone isn’t made in Ohio isn’t because China “stole” our jobs—it’s because…