Writers are, if nothing else, observers. It’s been some time since I’ve written on this blog, but I’ve decided to engage in a bit of a reboot. For the next few weeks, I’ll share a few short observations, things that caught my attention during the week (whether in writing, spirituality, business, art, or current affairs). If you enjoy this short series, perhaps I’ll keep it up through the new year. Feel free to drop me an e-mail to let me know your thoughts.

1. New beginnings

Monday, November 29. It’s the first day of the first week of Advent, which is to say the first week of good intentions. This Monday is much like every other Monday, except somehow more hopeful. Do you feel it?

2. Meta, eh?

This weekend, I opened Instagram and noticed where it once said “From Facebook,” it now says “From Meta.” Meta—as in the The Platform Formerly Known as Facebook. Meta—as in short for the Metaverse, which is best optimized with Meta’s Occulus Virtual Reality equipment (coming soon to a home near you). It’s only a matter of time before we’re creating realtime 3D captures of our ordinary moments and allowing followers to virtually embody those moments. But in creating artificial connectivity to repayable, archived moments, are we eroding actual human connection in the real world in realtime? Trading connection for connectivity—now that’s meta.

3. Overthrowing Paternalism

We are on the verge of another CoVID variant. This weekend, I watched an interview with the New York Times columnist David Brooks, in which Brooks intimated that if the government locked down schools, he expected “violence in the streets.” Brooks was not speaking hyperbolically. Paternalism has always been met with resistance, whether from governmental authorities, our very real fathers, or the Supreme Father who rules over all and is in all. In the words of Kurt Vonnegut, “And so it goes.”