Let's have a talk about race.
My new book, Beamer, is a true story about a Black man, written by a White man. That’s a problem. Even worse, Beamer deals with race. For...
The Upside of Ignorance
When I forget my manners (alas, too often), I sometimes throw the word ignorant around. I apply it to groups of people I don’t much like....
Warming gets a cold shoulder
While cable news boiled our blood with political pratfalls this week, several chilling reports about global warming went largely ignored....
The limits of loyalty
This weekend, over dinner with friends, six of us lamented the plight of universities we’ve attended, defended, and loved. You might have...
Detox for the body politic
It was just a geeky science story, but a vice president was telling me not to write it. He was not my boss, but my sources reported to...
The trouble with belief
Eight years ago, on a three-hour boat trip between stops in the Galapagos Islands, I sat with two traveling companions on an open...
Omar, who wrote for his life
I’m a white guy born in Raleigh, but I’m not undertaking this blog to pledge my allegiance to basketball and barbecue. The last thing we...