Before the world of Facebook, we’d find ourselves at a bridal shower, say, and The Person in Charge of Embarrassing Games generally began with something innocuous, like, “List your five favorite books about sex,” or, if this were a church function, “List your five favorite books,” to which, of course, we would all have to…

It doesn’t take much to be a dissident to today’s society. All it involves are two things: 1) Asking questions and 2) Refusing to passively accept everything that we are told. At an art museum, a dissident viewer is one who asks the guide, “Why, specifically, is this painting so famous and expensive? In all…

It’s not too late to give yourself the gift that you will treasure throughout your life, wrapping it up as a year-round, realistic New Year’s Resolution as well: Aggressively and unapologetically learn to think for yourself. In a society that worships conformity — in both its secular and religious institutions — individuals can’t get through…

Some bargains look better than others. Recently, at a consignment shop, I was drawn to a gorgeous Nativity set of tall, willowy statutettes, gilded with gold. That they were half-off because Christmas was over made them even more attractive. Of course, because this was a used Nativity set, some pieces were missing — generally this…

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