We Can Do Better Than Cope! Evidence is mounting that violent methods do not change things for the better. To insist otherwise is "cope". Nonviolent action offers a more authentic, realistic, and hopeful perspective.
Do You Believe in Wicked Witches? If we can put our fear aside, we can ask the questions fear keeps us from asking.
The Alchemy of Love This Halloween, I'm thinking about the role magic plays in Wicked, and in our lives this side of the rainbow.
The Unexamined Life, Part 2: Whose Are You? What was your initial response to the title of this post: Whose are you? It’s not a typo! You may have read it at first as, “Who are you?” which is a question about our individual identity. “Whose are you?” is a question about belonging; it recognizes that our
The Unexamined Life, Part 1: Copy That! When I was a second grader at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic school, there was one girl in our class whose dad was Protestant. Poor Mary Pat! We had prayed for her father’s soul every day since first grade. And then, one glorious morning, Mary Pat told
When Is It Good News That Someone Is Dead? After the political assassination of Charlie Kirk, I noticed something about how I was reading the news: A barely-conscious fear was circulating through my body, a fear that the shooter would be someone in my “tribe,” even if only a fringe member of it. I needed to exonerate myself, to
What Is This Feeling? When we meet them in the musical, Galinda and Elphaba seem to be natural enemies. But by the end, these two young women will sing about their friendship: “Because I knew you / I have been changed for good.”
Are People Born Wicked? The Wicked trailer opens with a question: “Are people born wicked, or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” It’s not easy to ask or answer such a thorny question, and not a likely one to be tackled by a Broadway musical! But how we answer that question has
Featured Introducing the Second Edition of the Wicked Truth! In 2007, I published The Wicked Truth: When Good People Do Bad Things, a book inspired by my fascination with the Broadway musical Wicked and its presentation of deep, enduring moral questions. Now, I am working on a second edition to coincide with the upcoming Universal Studios film adaptation, Wicked:
