Now

Like seemingly almost everyone else in the U.S., I've been tracking the recent midterm elections with an anticipation worthy of a presidential contest. My oldest son even predicted the outcomes of the house, gubernatorial and senate races in this post. It's remarkable how in depth he got. While it would be foolish not to accept the outcomes as a rebuke of our sitting president and his unique ineptitude at governance, I like to think the candidates who won deserve some credit for their accomplishments. I think of candidates like James Talarico or Abdul El-Sayed, who just ran strong campaigns and deserved their wins and I wouldn't want to take away credit where it's due.

My wife and I just took a much-needed vacation to Asheville, NC, one of our favorite spots. We visited the pinball museum again. This time, my favorite machine was Iron Maiden, which had the best blend of music and playability. Unfortunately, I got a migraine aura, and we had to leave a bit earlier than expected. Flashing lights and noises don't mesh well with migraines. I am blessed, though, that I no longer typically get actual headaches with the auras, so the episodes are not debilitating in the way they used to be. 

We also visited the art museum and saw one of the coolest exhibits we've been to that featured works done with paper. The textures and colors were spectacular. 

For Halloween, we took a ghost tour on a trolley. We were treated to a wide-spanning tour of Asheville's haunted locations. The spot of the former mental institution where Zelda Fitzgerald burned to death had the most impact on me. Grisly stuff. 

I published a post where I discussed the detrimental effects of politics on American Christianity, drawing on not just the well-known capitulation of Evangelical churches to a kind of nasty right-wing populism but also my experiences in the Eastern Orthodox Church. I put it behind a login firewall because it was kind of sensitive, and I didn't want everyone reading it. The response I got was not what I expected. No one who currently subscribes to my blog — besides my wife — read the piece. However, I did get a number of new signups from people who wanted to read it. I'm glad to have new readers, but disappointed that people I hoped would appreciate the piece didn't have a chance to go through it. I suppose readership is fickle on the internet.