When Spotify came out in the US, I was among the first people to use it. With a seemingly endless catalog, it was a dream come true for a music fan like me. Up until Spotify, I’d gone through a record player, walkman, many discmen, a Creative Zen MP3 player, an iPod, and even an iPod Touch. For acquiring music, I went from records to tapes to CDs to Napster to Limewire to BearShare to Kazaa to AudioGalaxy and finally to invite-only Oink torrents.

From the moment we enter the debate arena, we are poised to disagree. We have counter-arguments ready, truth bombs to drop, people to convince and persuade. The audience, in a thoughtful debate, will change their mind numerous times. But I’ve never seen a debate where a debater’s mind is changed. Perhaps it’s by design and a debate is performance art. Like watching something static while everything else moves around it. Like values and beliefs ebbing and flowing around a stone in a river.

+++ title = “03” date = 2019 +++ When I woke up on March 1st, I rolled over in my bed and grabbed my phone off of my bedside table and immediately opened Facebook. After 15 minutes of browsing, my screen time reminder kicked in and told me that I was done for the day and that it was about to block the app… but that I had the option of keeping the app open if I wanted to, and ignoring the reminder.

I’m not sure I can really call what I do parenting. It’s more like infant servitude mixed with improvisational theater mixed with Pavlovian conditioning (for all of us). My experiences with Dezi exist in my mind like those string lights people put up at parties and holidays: each little multi-colored LED is a moment, and our time together is the wire in between. Seeing him smile at me for the first time was absolutely stunning.

I have a rule that I started following a few years ago: I don’t submit my music to songwriting contests. I don’t have anything against the contests themselves, or anyone who enters for them. I’ve just never loved the idea of a gatekeeper. The idea that someone, somewhere could determine the relevant value of my music to the world, and then for people to believe that my music does or doesn’t have value based on that one person (or committee) is especially hard to swallow.