G. A. Botero
Bio
I have a million bad ideas, until a good one surfaces. Poetry, short stories, essays.
Resist.
Stories (55)
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The Sacred Dollar
Introduction In October 2025, Amazon announced it would lay off 14,000 corporate workers, despite reporting gross profits of $86.89 billion for the quarter ending June 30, 2025. This isn’t hypocrisy. It’s the logic of a system where money is sacred, and people are treated as machinery to be turned on and off as needed.
By G. A. Botero2 months ago in The Swamp
How can we trust AI when it can't read. Top Story - August 2025.
I like to write as a hobby. It's my form of therapy. I post some of my content on Medium and Vocal. For the past few months I have been using AI to help catch grammar issues before I hit publish. I don't take all the suggestions but I feel it works for the big things that I may overlook. I find proofing my own work much more difficult than proofing someone else's work, probably because I read it too fast since I know what I wrote.
By G. A. Botero5 months ago in 01
The Ones Who Walk Away From Our "Perfect City". Top Story - June 2025.
In Ursula K. Le Guin's haunting story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," citizens live in a perfect city of prosperity and joy. The streets are clean, the people are happy, children play in sunlit squares. It is, in every way, an ideal society very similar to what many Americans wish our country to be.
By G. A. Botero7 months ago in Humans
It's time to revisit Erich Fromm: Why his ideas are more relevant than ever. Top Story - May 2025.
Erich Fromm doesn’t come up in conversation outside of academic circles related to psychology, psychoanalysis, or maybe sociology. This wasn’t always true. Fromm was a widely known and discussed figure in his day. His seminal work, “Escape from Freedom” (1941), and his international best seller, “The Art of Loving” (1956), made him and his ideas popular beyond academia. Having recently reread _Escape from Freedom_, I realized how relevant his ideas remain, not only in the U.S. but throughout the world.
By G. A. Botero8 months ago in Psyche
The Silent Pact. Content Warning.
The bruise bloomed across my back like how a robin's underbelly looks bright against its dark feathers. I could see in the mirror the dark and ominous red against my pale skin. At eleven years old I studied it in the bathroom mirror, twisting awkwardly to see the full scope. The bruise, only half a day old, was beginning to evolve from a bright red to a dulled purple-blue. It was almost like art, I recalled. I couldn't look at my legs, which still stung. How do they look? I wondered while resisting the urge to look down. This was not the first time nor would it be the last but this one changed something fundamental inside me.
By G. A. Botero8 months ago in Families
When Citizenship Was Defined by Race: The Pivotal Supreme Court Cases of 1922/23
I've been teaching sociology courses for a while now and one thing that surprises me (and maybe it shouldn't) is the lack of knowledge many students have of this country's racial history. Yes many of us know about slavery and the civil rights movement generally, but the issue of race goes much deeper than the cursory paragraphs of our high school history books.
By G. A. Botero9 months ago in History
The Afternoon When Time Forgot Itself
In the coastal community of Encinitas, where the scent of salt mingled with the sweetness of sunscreen, perfume, and overripe egos, I discovered that time had forgotten how to move forward on an otherwise unremarkable Tuesday afternoon. It happened while I was watering the majestic magnolia tree—a tree that at over two hundred years old had witnessed drastic changes to the community, including revolutions, fires, floods, and urban development—when the church bell, recently restored, attempted to toll three o'clock and found itself unable to complete the task.
By G. A. Botero10 months ago in Fiction
My love, life had changed
My dear Maria, As I write this to you, the rain taps against our apartment window. It reminds me of the day we first met. Remember that day? We both were running into that crowded Peacock cafe in the village, seeking refuge from the heavy summer storm. You were fumbling with your phone looking for some sort of document, and I was praying that my dying phone last long enough for me to use my ApplePay to buy an espresso. I bumped into you, our eyes met, yours angry and mine in sudden heaven. Despite the masks we still occasionally wore out of habit, I knew you were smiling beyond the evil stare.
By G. A. Botero11 months ago in History
