When Barbie wonders, “Are they shtupping?,” “shtupping” is not likely to be a word that Barbie would’ve picked up from the family parties at Esther’s parents’ home

I know there is a constant mantra that “violence is not the solution.” Call me somewhat undecided on that.

Early spring is the best time to hunt for unicorns – in early April, they are just emerging from their cocoons and are still slow and tentative – the best option is to try to find a young weeping willow tree where multiple cocoons have been attached.

Then he went on, “And, sadly, there are budget constraints. As a Muslim, you would normally be eligible for up to four wives, but they only allow me the budget for one. You understand, at times like these, we must all be prepared to make sacrifices.”

“A few of the crew ended up heading out again on other ships as fast as they could. They couldn’t handle the idea of being back, so they became space rats instead. I almost did too. It might have been better for me if I had."

An additional episode (stand-alone) for my short story "The Jump"

“Go home, and take off that damned suit. You can’t handle it. You’re probably a good guy, and that’s why you can’t handle it. The ones who can handle it are pretty much psychos. The ones who are good at it are the very ones who should never be around children at all.”

“A fuck is just sex, but a head-fuck is art.”

“For you, if you get the flu, you know you’re going to feel like total shit for a week. Then maybe another week, and you feel like crap. But after that, you forget all about it. It’s gone. You’re bouncing around like it never even happened. But suppose the worst day with the flu, when you couldn’t even get the fuck out of bed, was the best you were ever going to feel for the rest of your life? Then you’d start to fucking understand.

In the end, “trans” leaves out some crucial information – specifically, how trans they are (or what kind of trans they are). It’s a term without nuance, that we are expected to accept without question.

The respondents looked shocked, and even stunned. “Ach, nein! Surely it cannot be so!” cried out one respondent when she began finally to recover. “Why would Mr. BP, the most respected energy company in the entire world, champion of green, leader of innovation, want to have a relationship with our poor little Aral?” “Yes,” chimed in another, “we love our little Aral, she is like our little child, but she is so, how do you say it, frumplich? Frumpy?”

Author's note: So much has changed since the long-ago days of my youth. People today confront questions that no one could have imagined in the past. I thought it might be interesting put together a few of these questions in the form of a party game for you and your friends. Feel free to offer your thoughts and answers in the comments. Or to add questions of your own.   Party Game Questions Forget charades – these will really get the conversation started Peter A. Hempel Questi

Did you hear the one about the atheist who walked into the 12-step program? (Hint: he didn’t find God) by Peter   I'm writing this story to give outsiders a sense of what goes on in the 12-Step programs. I know that when I was first considering attending one of these programs, I was very wary and skeptical, particularly given that I am an atheist and I knew that there was a lot of stuff about a “higher power.” I ended up doing a year in program, six months of hard time, and s

What was Monica thinking? Peter A. Hempel   I noticed the other day a tabloid story that Monica Lewinsky was seeking help for her sex addiction problems.  She was checking out the 12-step sex addiction programs, but felt, not unreasonably, that she wouldn’t actually have much hope of confidentiality there.   In the meantime, however, she has been moving forward.  She has thrown all her thongs, peek-a-boo bras, split-crotch panties, etc. into the garbage, and is shifting to co

Europe’s “far right” is not America’s far right Infidels have rights, too Peter A. Hempel – 11/04/25 There is a lot of alarm these days about how Trump and Trumpism are part of global rise of the “far right,” particularly in Europe. But I’m wondering if we are missing some fundamental differences between the US and Europe. Trumpism is economically far right, bankrolled by dark money billionaires and the Heritage Foundation, culminating in Project 2025 – at least for now. Its

Until the Democrats figure out what the fuck they really want to do about crime, we’re going to keep losing. We don’t deserve to win.

There are families in our culture who commemorate the memories of loved ones with rituals such as lighting yahrzeit candles on the anniversary of a loved one’s death, or going out to visit the graves of parents and loved ones, sometimes on particular days or in some cases as a weekly picnic or whatever. If the loved one is frozen, resting in some unclear legal and religious limbo, what happens to these kinds of visits? You wouldn’t exactly be mourning a “loss.” But neither is

Better than the alternative? Peter A. Hempel – 10/16/25   When my father moved into his late 80s, his memory began to fail. He was an academic, a world-renowned figure in the field of philosophy of science. He loved his family and loved being with friends; he had a wonderful sense of humor. But his intellectual career was central to who he was. He loved having in-depth discussions with colleagues about different issues in philosophy of science, and in particular, questions of

My Car, My Body Peter A. Hempel (10/03/25)   My senior year in high school, my parents gave me their old car. This was in 1961, and the car was a 1948 Plymouth, an extremely popular model in its heyday.   My parents were not car people. My father had had a near-fatal bike accident in his early 20s and took it as a sign that he should not be in charge of vehicles of any sort. My mother, who grew up in Philadelphia and New York, had never had any need for a car. But when my fat

TEXT AS COPY: A Prolegomenon Towards a New Theory of Intentionality   Peter A. Hempel, Ph.D.   TEXT. As signifier, this is a term riddled...