New things are afoot at the Circle K, my excellent friends. Inspired by the fact that Bill and Ted screenwriter Ed Solomon consulted with a physicist for Face the Music, I’m putting together a collection of essays about the sciences—social and otherwise—that thread their way through the entire trilogy. We…

“I hope you’re well.” It’s an innocuous enough phrase on the surface, one that folks often use in both professional and personal contexts as a catch-all. But is it as harmless as it seems? Earlier this year I suffered a terrible accident with my hand smashed in a door that…

There are easy steps to making sure you aren’t contributing to the spread of misinformation. — Here’s a quick breakdown of sources and how to verify what you are sharing, by basic journalistic standards: Primary sources are necessary, and these are just as they sound: The original site of a point of information. An interview, a press release, a briefing, a conference, legal document, wire service release, etc. If you can, try to find more than one primary source that confirms the information.

The overuse of “triggered” incorrectly is worsening mental health crises for people with PTSD — Thanks to way too many bad-faith actors online and off, the important psychological term of “triggered” as relates to trauma and PTSD has had its actual meaning twisted almost past recognition. …

An internationally nomadic childhood isn’t always as glamorous as it sounds. As a biracial Sri Lankan American Third Culture Kid (TCK), I’ve had few opportunities to see people like me represented three-dimensionally. It’s only been in recent years, with a spate of novels and memoirs by other South Asian TCKs getting picked up by traditional publishers, that I’ve had the pleasure…

This piece was first published by Wear Your Voice Magazine. Think you know the women of David Lynch’s classic Twin Peaks? Think again — and take good notes before the show resurfaces on Showtime in May. In honor of Women’s History Month as well as the upcoming Twin Peaks revival, here are some alternate readings of the female denizens of that strangely frightening little mountain town. Many of these archetypes apply to multiple women at different…

She’s been involved in the production of classic films from Sixteen Candles and Rumble Fish to horror masterpieces They Live and Vampires. Her crews dubbed her with the nickname Mother Producer, and her desk is prominently adorned with a “No Whining” sign. She’s Sandy King Carpenter, former Hollywood script supervisor…

*Spoiler alerts for Seasons 1 and 2 of The Leftovers.* In spite of seeing global theologian Reza Aslan was a consultant on HBO’s magnificent The Leftovers, it never occurred to me to frame the show as a narrative steeped in religious subtext: what resonated most to me about the October…

Image courtesy of Sensitive: The Untold Story. Do you cry easily? Do you often get accused of over-reacting or being too sensitive? Do you have a high degree of empathy? Do you find that good and bad things affect you more deeply than those around you? …