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My Father’s Living Will

It is a haze of fog and low cloud at dawn and the kookaburras are wild with ecstasy. The soft low click of the neighbors’ gate breaks in among the birdsong: opening, closing, opening. They are leaving early for the long weekend of midsummer. In the room next to mine, a man is retching, heaving, . . . . Continue Reading »

Mutilating Our Bodies

While adults who regret their sex changes may themselves tend to libertarianism, their stories testify to a hidden horror: vulnerable, disturbed individuals of all ages hastily ushered into procedures that are nothing short of medical malpractice. Justice demands a reckoning in the form of penalties and strictures. Continue Reading »

The Politics of Unhappiness

A traffic jam, a shoe that ­pinches: It takes very little to ­ruin a nice day. Nothing can please you then, and your judgment is affected. At first glance, ­unpleasantness and the resulting peevishness have no political or economic significance. These experiences are commonplace, part of the . . . . Continue Reading »

The Fall of Dr. Raoult

Nothing stimulates the emergence of a guru like a crisis, especially one to which the correct response is far from clear. People want simple, reassuring answers. They eagerly suspend their critical faculties; their wishes are father to their beliefs. A good guru can transform the proudest skeptic . . . . Continue Reading »

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