popular culture

Everything happens so much these days, and so very much of it is very bad indeed. In the last few weeks alone, we’ve had another school shooting , the passing of a social justice icon , the VP’s…

Please note: The following article contains some spoilers. There are many pleasures for students of the Catholic Church in Conclave —which recently received eight Oscar nominations—from the glimpses…

When you’re raised in an authoritarian Christian community you can never quite comfortably fit into, you learn early on about the ambiguity of language. Words like “love,” for example, mean very…

Note: The following essay contains some spoilers. But not too many. American Primeval , Netflix’s flashy (and quite gory) new series depicts the clash between zealous Mormons, imperial federal troops…

The prison occupies a powerful place in the American imagination. In film and television it offers a context through which to explore the worst imaginable qualities of humanity—the dangerous…

When Luigi Mangione was arrested for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson he had in his possession a handwritten document in which he described healthcare corporations as “mafiosa have…

Independence Day doesn’t tend to cause as much dissonance as Thanksgiving, as much confusion as Juneteenth, and isn’t as widely reviled as Columbus Day (aka Indigenous People’s Day). Yet, while it “is…

Mainly curiosity—along with a nudge from RD—got me to pay my eight bucks to watch The Grab , a new documentary just released on Amazon Prime.* Written and directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the film…

Trads (or traditionalist Catholics) are having a moment. In the last four weeks alone, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered a controversial commencement speech at a conservative…

From his popular podcast, to his travels with Will and Jada Smith, to GAP ads with wife Radhi—the ones that feature his toothpaste-ad smile and eyes that rival that one famous National Geographic…