PinnedThe Truth About Video Games and Mass KillingsIt’s more complicated than you think (excerpted from my book The Minds of Mass Killers: Understanding and Interrupting The Pathway to Violence (McFarland, 2021). Mass killings have been blamed on violent video games since the Columbine murders in 1999. The idea is a simple one: ban violent video games and…Psychology8 min read
PinnedStress is a killerYou’ve likely got more going on than you realize (Excerpt from my book The Minds of Mass Killers: Understanding and Interrupting the Pathway to Violence. The holidays bring incredible stress for many people due to unhappy/unhealthy family dynamics, financial limitations, and unrealistic expectations.) We can be too quick to diagnose…Stress3 min read
PinnedConspiracy Thinking May Kill Us AllWhat You Need to Know About the Conspiracy Mindset (The following is a condensed excerpt from the chapter on conspiracism in my recent book The Minds of Mass Killers: Understanding and Interrupting the Pathway to Violence). Conspiracy stories surround us. The tales have gotten stranger and stranger over time: alien…Psychology9 min read
PinnedChildhood Trauma Changes the BrainConsequences can be hard to overcome, but there is hope The following is excerpted from my book The Minds of Mass Killers: Understanding and Interrupting the Pathway to Violence (McFarland, 2021). Available through all booksellers. How the brain adapts to trauma The fight/flight response is the nervous system’s natural response…Psychology3 min read
Published in The Cotton Thread·May 10, 2021A Raised HandA raised hand, a waving handPoetry1 min readPhoto by Dev Benjamin on UnsplashA Raised Hand----3
Published in The Wise Heart·Nov 27, 2020Not Just Another ThanksgivingSometimes you have to say a few things I’ve always been a proselytizer, though the content of my pushy messages has evolved over the years. I am no longer the 15-year-old absurdly confident pseudo-missionary, street-witnessing for Jesus on Saturday nights on E Street in San Bernardino, California. It was the…Life6 min read
Published in Literally Literary·Jul 29, 2020EssentiaThe fog is soft with a glow smelling of kelp and eucalyptus the kind of wet that dampens your hair and requires a jacket.Poetry1 min read
Published in The Cotton Thread·Jun 2, 2020Sunset Through FogMy dear friend your laugh is still hardy, though it comes less often than before before, we planned adventures Alaska in the summer or Iceland, to see the northern lights we planned to start that business a splendid one we’d both enjoy, precisely the color of our parachutes spinning tales…Poetry2 min read
Published in P.S. I Love You·Mar 22, 2020The Better Angels of Our Nature“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” — Abraham Lincoln Ever…Life2 min read
Published in The Cotton Thread·Feb 4, 2020What’s That White-Hot Light?Or, Midnight on FacebookFacebook1 min read
