Bitter Bachelor

Dearest Rachel – I honestly don’t know how these sorts of things pop up in my YouTube feed. It might be understandable that, based on some of the things that Daniel watches and listens to, my feed would pop up with ‘you might also be interested in…’ kinds of recommendations, but he insists that heContinue reading “Bitter Bachelor”

Whiny Little Incel

Dearest Rachel – The other evening, I was browsing through my YouTube feed. It’s probably not the best thing for me to be doing at the end of the night – the last thing I need to be doing is keeping myself up by staring at a screen – but I absolutely hate having thoseContinue reading “Whiny Little Incel”

Politics and the Public Sphere

Dearest Rachel – You know, I really thought I had weaned myself off of my political news feed over the past week and a half. What Internet I could get over in Israel was, to be frank, less than reliable, so its main purpose was to be used to assemble and send my updates toContinue reading “Politics and the Public Sphere”

The Fortress With Two Open Doors

Dearest Rachel – Evenings at the house, if they weren’t falling into something of a routine, and thereby likely to be considered to be ‘normal,’ are, I suspect, anything but that, when observed objectively. While it’s understandable that the boys would hang out together – and that I should stay out of their way, muchContinue reading “The Fortress With Two Open Doors”

Gray Over Tan

Dearest Rachel – After a weekend of completely overcast skies – and the rain to go with it – today is only partially gray. And I’m fine with that. It’s nice that I don’t have to worry about it threatening to rain again today – the sun’s out just enough to assure me of that.Continue reading “Gray Over Tan”

You Can’t Always Just Replace

Dearest Rachel – I mentioned yesterday that, after furnishing it (however minimally), I’m going to have to give up on the ‘yellow-room-as-man-cave’ concept for a while. This leaves me with one less place to retreat to as the boys effectively take over the house. “But honey,” I hear you ask, “weren’t we always just fineContinue reading “You Can’t Always Just Replace”

Injudicious

Dearest Rachel – I told you before I’m trying to tiptoe around the subject of your absence with Daniel, even to the point of not sharing with him about Kerstin’s present for you. I’m not sure how and to what extent he feels your absence, especially after all this time. Occasionally I will ask howContinue reading “Injudicious”

Glitches, Botches, Dreams and Reality

Dearest Rachel – For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been watching several new channels that I’m sure you would’ve appreciated were you still around, hanging out with us in the family room while YouTube was running in the background. We started looking for such channels after watching a video essay on the concept itself,Continue reading “Glitches, Botches, Dreams and Reality”

The Twelfth Pain

Dearest Rachel – I remember your calling me at some point while I was at the ‘office’ last year on this day. “Do you know what’s going on in Washington?” To be sure, I was keeping up with the news feed, but there’s always a lag between the activity and the written word describing it;Continue reading “The Twelfth Pain”

Spooky Stuff

Dearest Rachel – Yes, I know Halloween was over three weeks ago, but the days continue to get shorter, and the nights continue to get longer – and there are still spooky things that come out of the woodwork as time goes by. I woke up this morning with an idea in my head toContinue reading “Spooky Stuff”

What To Do About VidCon?

Dearest Rachel – So, the news has come down the pike… they’re actually holding VidCon this year. It’s going to be in October this year, rather than June or July, but it’s still happening. I wonder how that’s going to fly with its core audience, which seems to be kids who otherwise ought to beContinue reading “What To Do About VidCon?”

Secular Answers

Dearest Rachel – You might remember the many times that we would talk together about various issues of the day, and what’s up with the younger generation. Part of that had to do with one of my ideas for a YouTube channel – I was hoping to illustrate to a younger audience than ourselves (which,Continue reading “Secular Answers”

Trying to Take My Own Advice

Dearest Rachel – I’m sure by now that you’ve noticed a lot of my letters to you seem a little bit disjointed and disorganized. They do tend to bounce around from thought to thought within the alleged confines of the topic I’ve decided to cover in the letter (and even then sometimes it’s hard toContinue reading “Trying to Take My Own Advice”

Dreams of Future Passed

Dearest Rachel – To say that the events of the past few years have upended my plans would be rather a gross understatement. Hey, look, kids, check it out – it’s the latest installment of the adventures of Marvel’s newest superhero, Captain Obvious! Or would he be a DC type of character? I don’t know…Continue reading “Dreams of Future Passed”

We’ll All Be Skeletons

Dearest Rachel – Today was too cool to walk around in thin white cotton, so I decided to wear one of my black shirts. Not sure why I picked this one: I’m actually thinking this might be the first time I’ve worn it in public. I know you thought we might all wear it togetherContinue reading “We’ll All Be Skeletons”

A Game We’ll Never Play

Dearest Rachel – It’s true that, thanks to the likes of Amazon and online shopping, you can come home nearly every day to find a package on your doorstep. After all, I just found the box with Chompers’ wheelchair on the front porch just this past Tuesday. However, that was the last order I’d placedContinue reading “A Game We’ll Never Play”