Essays by Larry Barnett
When my late wife and I moved across town, I cancelled our AT&T internet and DirectTV accounts. A month and a half later, a letter from AT&T arrived telling me we were entitled to a refund, and a debit card was included. The amount of the refund was not indicated.
The process of sending a debit card… Read the rest
Giving up is something all animals do. Our pursuit of a particular outcome is always weighed against the required energy and exertion; when the output exceeds the potential benefit, animals give up and move on. Thus a woodpecker will doggedly ram its beak into a tree trunk in pursuit of a beetle grub, … Read the rest
I grew up in an affectionate household. Both my mother and my father hugged and kissed me right up to the days of their deaths. As a little boy, I would sit on my father’s lap while we watched TV, and when we took walks he held my hand. I remember crawling into my mother’s bed during thunderstorms where she would… Read the rest
Crypto this, crypto that. It seems like a new cryptocurrency is introduced every week. But what, exactly, is the cryptocurrency mania about? Essentially, it’s the privatization of currency, yet another fragmenting of society facilitated by digital technology.
The underlying basis of all currencies… Read the rest
Norma, my dear departed wife of fifty years and I owned and lived in four homes. We bought our first home in 1984, a dilapidated house near the southern border of Piedmont, CA, just a block from Oakland’s Grand Avenue. We lived there for five years, fixed it up, sold it, moved to Sonoma in 1990 and bought a … Read the rest
Democracy’s an idea that’s been kicking around for thousands of years, an attempt to bring a particular form of order to a chaotic world. criticism of democracy goes all the way back to Plato’s Republic in Ancient Greece of 380 B.C., his thoughts on how to create a good society. Suffice to say, Plato was… Read the rest
Being alive is a risky business; we live in a predatory world, a living system where life feeds on life. As such, risk and the threat of injury and/or death is always present. This is true for the smallest and the largest of living things.
As human beings, the nature of risk depends upon one’s place in the … Read the rest
The analysis, commentary, and complaints about American politics are prolific. Certain themes are repeatedly explored, such as voters’ educational levels, identity, and economic status, but all these are basically subordinate to the one factor nobody really talks about: the psychology of politics.… Read the rest
What’s going on in the world is so outlandish that it would be rejected by Hollywood as implausible, too unlikely and unbelievable. Do you find yourself asking, “Who writes this stuff?” And yet, the plot goes on.
Here’s a pitch: A coddled Rich Kid from Queens New York becomes a gifted but unscrupulous … Read the rest
Sorting out truth from fiction has never been easy, and today it’s harder than ever. The proliferation of disinformation, political propaganda, shameless self-promotion, and outright deception makes it very difficult to know what’s true. Lies are often more interesting, too. But what is truth,… Read the rest
As the current administration in Washington continues to run roughshod over the constitution, congress and the courts, it’s worthwhile asking how it is that America’s autocrats learned to behave the way they do. The answer is stunningly obvious: America’s workplace.
In their wisdom, our founding… Read the rest
I began my adult life at eighteen protesting the war in Vietnam. The Reverend William Sloane Coffin delivered our high school graduation address decrying America’s militarism, and I took up the cause. Admittedly, my impression of the army was influenced early by watching Phil Silver’s Sargent Bilko,… Read the rest
My wife and I recently moved from one side of town to the other; we’ve downsized. After living in the same house for 28 years, that move included an awful lot of stuff.
As the comedian, the late George Carlin… Read the rest
Despite the fact that the world is not like it at all, people prefer to live in a deterministic, reality of fixed objects where clock time governs and events are predictable. Accordingly, our systems of logic – grammars of subject, object, and verb – assign fixed names and times for things… Read the rest
The modern corporation had its beginnings in maritime law. In an era when global trade and exploration were dependent upon sailing ships and the monarchy of European nations, merchant capitalism arose to fill a monetary gap that governments couldn’t muster and introduced the concept of limited financial… Read the rest
Some guys are assholes. I learned this very early on in life, and it’s still true. I’ve known some women who were assholes, but on balance, assholes tend to be men.
So what exactly is an asshole? Assholes are mean people, highly aggressive, and frequently bullies. In men, this makes for macho, domineering… Read the rest
For centuries, we in America have thought of ourselves as a nation of law and order. Between the two, law has maintained dominance while order has remained subordinate. That hierarchy now appears to be flipping.
Democracy’s weakness is itself, which in their wisdom our founding fathers understood.… Read the rest
My last dream of the night, the early morning actually, is usually quite intense and often memorable. So it was recently.
In my dream I found myself in a semi-industrial space chatting with two friendly fellows. I was drawn to their animated and boisterous energy despite their appearance; both were … Read the rest
To many of us, witnessing the cruelty of people now in power is heartbreaking and discouraging, even to the point of serious depression and in some cases thoughts of suicide. Thoughtful people I know are asking themselves what to do.
It’s never been easy to confront cruelty, but the feelings of pain and… Read the rest
Did you ever laugh so hard for so long that the next day your abs hurt? I have, and I miss it. Belly laughs seem to be in shorter supply these days.
I don’t know if it’s the times or me that’s changed, but I’m laughing less than I used to. There are still funny people out there, like Stephen Colbert, but a chuckle… Read the rest