All posts by rexmerritt

Illuminated in the Dark

America continues apace pell-mell and hellbent towards further popular cultural infantilization.

We’re increasingly surrendering the ability to discuss and debate topics which might demand those participating in them to not only hold two opposing thoughts at the same time, much less let them shunt over onto other tracks. Though never as deft with simultaneous multiple moving parts as older societies, what Americans lacked in veritas we made up for in verve.

Thanks to the make it easier for the coloring book clarity brigades to contribute and thereby muddle the point, issues have lost their shades of gray. These have hardened into blacker or whiter blocs. Now, mentioning the word “nuance” makes more and more Americans reach for their revolvers. Where the verbal or written rapier sliced artfully, we now wail and flail with rhetorical bludgeons. Continue reading Illuminated in the Dark

Jittery Landscape

Today’s collegiate sports scene could teach the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL about pursuing dollars.

Whereas the pros are geared laser sharp towards reaping profits – after all, their athletic endeavors are businesses – the revenue generating college games have become rabid. Any more so and they’d be foaming at the mouths. Continue reading Jittery Landscape

Shading America

Without a doubt the 28 days of February 2023 delivered a most dispiriting observance of black American presence and heritage. Since its inception as Black History Week in 1926 which then became Black History Month 50 years later, the celebrations and reminiscences fueling this recognition of the most loyal Americans served as a noble reminder of black struggles and national contributions. Continue reading Shading America

If the Shoe Fits Get Kicked by It

February has provided the results of a lesson imparted late last year. On a 2022 autumn afternoon, a recently arrived resident at my complex surveyed the then scene. A younger man of the immediate gratification generation, he disparaged our home. To him it looked “ghetto.”

Seeing the property through his eyes, I understood. Continue reading If the Shoe Fits Get Kicked by It

A Nice Soft Spot

The title to this post is what I sought and found in Las Vegas. Many ask why I relocated to Nevada from New York. Too many surmise taxes, the weather, or crime chased me out of civilization. Not at all.

Of course, the tax rate is higher back East but services are extensive. Taxes are low out West but just looking around informs of a deficient society compared to what was left. Continue reading A Nice Soft Spot

Stray Cavalcade

Other than oasis stops on some caravan route, maybe, where else does so much diverse as well as damaged humanity cross except Las Vegas?

There are bigger, better, brighter, more dynamic cities upon our globe. Yet in them the cast of characters, residents and visitors, rarely change as often nor as rapidly or as abruptly as in the Big Mayberry. Continue reading Stray Cavalcade

Elect Buck

Can rational minds really wrap themselves around how close Republican challenger Hershel Walker came to winning a Georgia Senate seat on December 6th, 2022? I suppose right-wingers might’ve claimed his victory as “true affirmative action” as intended by progressives who’d originally promoted it. As a candidate, the Old Bulldog manifested what detractors believed the policy represented. Continue reading Elect Buck