Greetings, dear friends of the present and curious citizens of the future. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a good opportunity for humanity to collectively interrogate an idea that we probably ought to scrutinize more often. This is the concept of “normality”––the notion that there exists some stable state of affairs we can use as a […]
Greetings, dear friends of the present and curious citizens of the future. Up to this point, these journals have focused almost entirely on how my habits and modes of thought have been disrupted and recast by a powerful pathogen. I’d like to take a moment now to reflect on the myriad ways in which life […]
Hey everyone and hope you’re staying safe out there! Today I’ve got a special edition of my “Notes From a Pandemic” series to share with you. It’s an interview with my father, Terry Raymer. Terry is a diabetes specialist who has worked in the Humboldt medical community for about the last three decades, with the […]
Greetings, dear friends of the present and curious citizens of the future. As I consider the passing of another week in this pandemic, my mind settles on the feeling of being unable to directly assist the people fighting on the front lines. In other crises, I’d get out of the house. I’d find something useful […]
Greetings, dear friends of the present and curious citizens of the future. “Getting sick is different now.” In a conversation with my wife Jessie, these words tumbled out of my mouth before I could give much thought to what they meant. This is a fairly common experience for me, which means I spend a […]
Greetings, dear friends of the present and curious citizens of the future. There have been many times in my life when I felt like things were moving quickly. Most people agree that the speed of human events has increased in recent decades, largely due to breakthroughs in digital technology and globalization. And yet, we are […]
Greetings, dear friends of the present and curious citizens of the future. These words are reaching you from the upstairs home office of a residence in Humboldt County, California. The sun is rising, inimitably bright on this clear, crisp morning. Shining dewdrops bedeck every blade of grass and the crimson flowers of the season’s first […]
Note: This is the final section of a four-part essay. If you haven’t already done so, please begin with the Introduction and Part One. Part Four: Friendship is the crucible in which our global identity should be forged My ethical research and experience have taught me that good in the abstract is accessed most effectively […]
Note: This is the third section of a four-part essay. If you haven’t already done so, please begin with the Introduction and Part One. Part Three: Friendships are the bedrock of social homeostasis Since the Enlightenment, we have seen a tectonic shift in the way humans understand our nature as social animals––including the relatively new idea […]
Note: This is the second section of a four-part essay. If you haven’t already done so, please begin with the Introduction and Part One. Part Two: Friendships are a narrative resource In the spring of 2012, I was preparing to apply to graduate programs to pursue a doctorate in philosophy. My intended area of study […]