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Observations on life and what endures when the distraction clears.
Doubt. It’s the great heresy, the existential villain of every Sunday school lesson, and the silent assassin of countless heartfelt beliefs. We’re taught to see it as faith’s enemy, that insidious whisper on our shoulder in a world that desperately wants us to just sit down, shut up, and believe. But this is a profound…
Optimism. It’s a word that sits uncomfortably in the modern mouth, tasting of saccharine and naiveté. For anyone with a functioning cerebral cortex and a data plan, an honest look at the world is enough to make a proper cynic out of anyone. The daily news is a relentless, global tutorial on why hope is…
Ah, the majestic urban sprawl of Milwaukee, a city renowned for its brewing heritage, its stunning lakefront, and now, apparently, its burgeoning population of derelict Lime scooters. It seems the universe, in its infinite wisdom and questionable humor, has decided to grace our fair city with an abundance of these bright green mechanical locusts, scattered…
We’ve turned the entire world into a single, global comment section, where every headline is a starting gun and every opinion is a battle cry. But for a great many people, that isn’t a game; it’s just Tuesday. It’s the daily reality of a queer person calculating their personal safety before holding a partner’s hand,…
I have a friend who, in a bold and public display of intellectual courage, announced on Facebook that he was finally going to tackle Dante’s The Divine Comedy. My immediate thought was, “Oh, bless your heart.” My second was to wonder if he knew what he was really getting into. Because while most people see…
Let’s talk about the word “ritual.” For many, it immediately conjures images of ancient, dusty texts, incense-filled rooms, or perhaps, at the other end of the spectrum, some brand of new-age nonsense involving crystals and vague cosmic energy. It’s a word that comes pre-loaded with baggage, implying a devotion to something beyond the rational. But…
Let’s be honest, the modern world is absolutely obsessed with perfection. We’ve become a society of curated feeds, filtered selfies, and highlight reels. Every waking moment is a thinly veiled attempt to project an ideal that, frankly, none of us can actually sustain. We’re all sprinting on a hamster wheel of flawless execution, trying desperately…
Navigating Morality in a World Without Divine GPS Alright, let’s talk about morality, shall we? That ever-present, delightfully inconvenient whisper in the back of our minds, nudging us towards right and away from wrong. For a significant chunk of human history, this moral compass came conveniently pre-packaged, often with a divine warranty: “Thou Shalt Not,”…
Let’s confront it head-on, shall we? The word “optimism” often triggers a very particular set of reactions. For some, it’s a breath of fresh air; for others, it’s an immediate prompt to roll their eyes so hard they might just dislodge them. The cynical among us—and I count myself as a proud graduate of the…
Alright, let’s wade into the wonderfully murky waters of “spirituality,” shall we? For many, the word conjures images of patchouli oil, crystals, or perhaps endless hours of meditation on a mountaintop. For others, it’s inextricably linked to dusty hymnals and stained-glass windows. But what if your spiritual journey looks nothing like a Pinterest board, nor…
JUSTIN LOCKRIDGE 