Tag Archives: politics

Why horror?

Posted on 31 October 2025 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

October is a great month for spooky reading!  I decided to pass on our online book club’s selection this month, Dracula, as I’ve already read it many, many times.  Instead, it seemed like a great opportunity to finally tackle The … Continue reading →

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The retconning of America

Posted on 13 October 2025 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

This past weekend, it was great fun to discover that the bookstore clerk-owner I know as “Steve at Tsunami” has written a new book!  It’s a fun book, too, a Jungian look at Star Wars, and on Saturday we attended … Continue reading →

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Individuals or groups – whose story should we tell?

Posted on 22 September 2025 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

Today I discovered that the New York Times has an interview with Elizabeth Warren on “America’s Next Story,” which got me excited.  I am quite fond of the senator and was curious to see what she would have to say … Continue reading →

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Maslow’s Pyramid versus the Deep/Nanny State

Posted on 8 February 2025 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

Earlier this week, I was thinking about the “ACK!” that most of us have been feeling, in regard to Elon Musk’s rampage through the federal agencies. This ACK is closely related to the “why does some billionaire get to have … Continue reading →

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Trump as Trickster

Posted on 6 January 2025 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

Today I read Carl Jung’s essay “On the psychology of the Trickster-figure,” which was published in his book, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. My goal was to see what good it might do us to have Donald Trump as … Continue reading →

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Another “we” versus “me” election

Posted on 9 November 2024 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

To say this has been a stressful week for many Americans is an understatement. Here’s my attempt to explain what happened, and since this is a place where I talk about our “meta-narratives,” that’s how we’re going to look at … Continue reading →

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Inside or outside the box?

Posted on 31 October 2024 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

Getting dressed for Halloween is a challenge, when one hasn’t planned in advance. I’d been thinking of revisiting my identity as Cecil Featherstone, Professor of Morbid Poetry, who spends the day reciting the various death-themed poems I memorized as a … Continue reading →

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Why do we have “human rights”?

Posted on 21 November 2023 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

Where did we get the idea that all people, not just those most like ourselves, should have basic, fundamental, “self-evident” rights? The historian Lynn Hunt has a theory – she credits the novelist Samuel Richardson. In her book, Inventing Human … Continue reading →

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Biden’s age, Trump’s… everything?

Posted on 13 September 2023 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

This week, New York Times columnist Frank Bruni asked a very revealing question: Why is the American public so focused on Joe Biden’s age, when Donald Trump is almost as old and has a far less healthy lifestyle and physique? … Continue reading →

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Real-life hopepunk

Posted on 29 April 2022 by Laura Akers, Ph.D.

I’ve been meaning to write about hopepunk. One of my online friends, Susan Kaye Quinn, is a novelist in this newly recognized genre, and today she posted “A Brief History of Hopepunk.” Another online friend, the novelist P.J. Manney, has … Continue reading →

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