Let me tell you why. — It was not an easy thing to turn my back on Christianity at nearly 60 years of age. Since my childhood, church had been the hub of social life for me. Prayer had started every meal, and Christian ritual had solemnized the sacred moments and transition points of life. …

A Master of Fine Arts at 69 — How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use! As tho’ to breathe were life! Life piled on life Were all too little, and of one to me Little remains: but every hour is saved From that eternal silence, something more, A bringer of new things …

The Other Side of Consent — A comment on one of my recent articles caught my attention. A young man expressed appreciation for my advice about letting friendship grow before deciding whether to explore a sexual connection. The problem was, he said, sometimes women he went out with were ready for sex before he was. Now…

How do you define professional? — The patrons of the arts in evening dress arrive downtown at six so they can park and dine at leisure, then just walk across the street to take their seats by curtain time. The soloist, a prodigy from Prague, plays brilliantly, and with the orchestra reminds them why they still come out to hear a live…

#2: I translate Neruda without speaking Spanish — Inquiring minds are asking, what makes Ed Robson so interesting? Okay, only two of them, and one of them was actually asking what makes me believe I’m interesting at all. Which I think is kind of harsh from an imaginary friend. But in the hope that someone among my now…

How to make it stop — It’s not completely new, this problem. There have been many times in my nearly two years here that readers’ comments on my stories appeared in duplicate or triplicate. I often wondered if they were aware of it. But today it started happening to me. Like, every time. Fortunately, I caught…

Where do we learn masculinity? — NOTE: This article was written as a part of Pollinate Magazine’s special series on the topic of masculinity. It was in the Boy Scouts that I learned to be a man. I signed up at 11, a scrawny, hyperactive, and socially awkward prepubescent male, and soon was sleeping in a…

Or is it just me? — An actual comment on one of my recent articles on feminism began: “Sorry to break this to you but all this white-knighting is not going to get you laid. Yes, I know, simp’n ain’t easy but seriously?!?!” Nowhere close to the knuckle-dragging stupidest I’ve gotten — this critic does at…

What part of fairness is too radical for you? — First, let’s clarify what we’re talking about: Feminism, stripped of all the modern rhetorical bells and whistles, is the belief that women are fully human beings and entitled to the same freedoms, opportunities, protections, and respect as men. Not more, not less. The same. It’s about personal autonomy and self-determination…