Quiet, and quite impish, yet shy. That was how I felt for years. Writing did not come to me naturally. It took quite a bit of time for me to find my voice. Indeed, I have only found it quite recently.
Developing my voice was a series of trials and errors over the span of nearly a decade. What was always most troubling is sometimes I didn’t even have a voice. Early on in any writer’s career, the voice one has cannot be their own. …
Getting the facts straight on medical cannabis
Ten years ago, seldom was it the case that you saw any cannabis-related product in ordinary stores. Today, the shelves are stocked with CBD.
The story that CBD enthusiasts tell is quite compelling. CBD (Cannabidiol) is touted to be the “medicinal” chemical produced by cannabis. The hype behind it is essentially that CBD can treat a myriad of conditions without the psychoactive effects of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol). Many patients who are seeking medical cannabis find these claims compelling, as getting high simply is not for everyone.
The question remains: can CBD really help with things like anxiety, pain, depression, seizures, and…
How Progressives Contribute to Gentrification
It is only natural that when the topic of gentrification comes up, that one envisions an evil businessman in a suit kicking low-income residents out of their town to make way for their Capitalistic intentions. The reason why this is natural is that that is actually what happens. And in that sense, I praise progressives for making a point to showcase the negative moral implications of gentrification.
In another sense, however, praise is the furthest thing we should be lending to progressives when it comes to gentrification: this sense is the one in which they directly contribute to the existence…
Why You Shouldn’t Stop Self-Publishing
What is the primary goal of any writer trying to make it? To get published. Being published indeed is the ultimate dream of any writer. This because being published entails growing your audience as a writer and also it entails getting paid doing what you love.
Some believe that you should simply stick to the pursuit of getting published. I disagree. There are some profound merits of self-publishing that are very difficult and in some cases, impossible, to attain through publishing.
Freedom of Thought and Expression
As someone who has been published, the most frustrating aspect of working with publications is the thwarting of my…
Heidegger’s Essay in the 1950s on technology predicted social media, fake news, and the internet.
Jeff Orlowski’s recent Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma illuminates the profound influence that social media and technology has on our lives. The picture the film paints for us is one in which the technology we use every day collects a massive amount of data from us, and in doing so, competes for our attention by pulling at the strings of primordial human psychology. As a result, our privacy has been breached, the “truth” is uncertain, and misinformation runs rampant.
By collecting immense amounts of data from all of its users, Google essentially knows what you would like to hear from…
Nietzsche’s Advice and Insights on Writing
As a philosopher myself, I am well aware of the fact that most philosophers are not good writers. Philosophers like Hegel, Derrida, and Heidegger are the pinnacle of esoteric obscurantism. Indeed, professors have told me on multiple occasions that the writing of philosophers will be the last place you will find good examples of how one ought to write. Which is to say, philosophers often struggle to convey their ideas in a clear and compelling way. There are very few philosophers that I would go to for advice on writing. …
When your inner-virtues become external-litmus tests.
I began setting high expectations for myself when I began lifting weights. Wanting to become the best weightlifter I possibly could be, I read up on the science of fitness and became successful in my efforts.
Such expectations began to spread out in my life. What I often tell others is this: “if I am to do something, I am going to put 100% of my effort into it.”
Those who know me can surely attest to this fact. I graduated at the top of my class in my undergraduate degree, spend most of my days studying and writing, and…
How most writers never end up with careers as a writer
I once heard the famous public intellectual Christopher Hitchens say that writers must write. A writer is something that someone is, rather than something that someone does. And in order to write and to write well, one needn't rely upon schooling. Rather, one must simply write.
All of this, of course, is true. And yet, there is clearly something missing from it. Namely, the factors which err away so many from the field of writing. So many wish to be writers, but entering into it as a profession is extraordinarily daunting, and quite frankly, for good reasons. …
Much has changed since March
In March when the shit hit the fan, I wrote an article entitled, “The Bioethical Politics of the Coronavirus Pandemic.” In it, I wrote that what was called for as a response to this pandemic was a Hobbsian-level lockdown — a ripping off of the bandaid of quarantining, so to speak. At the time, I truly believed that a total shutdown was warranted. And looking back, at that time, places like New York City which nearly went into a full lockdown did the right thing.
What about now, eight months later? What is abundantly clear is that things are clearly…
The hardest lessons you are not taught growing up.
As adults, we understand quite vividly that evil exists.
When we are children, by contrast, we naively believe the world is a place of pure goodness. The knowledge which marks the passing from childhood to adulthood is when we truly realize the existence of evil in the world. For most of us, this is when we experience either evil-itself, through the unfairness and malevolence of others and/or society, or, when we see those we love experience it, and suffer from such experiences.
When we are exposed to evil, that is the universal rite of passage; it is when we pass…
