Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in The Swamp.
More than Mattering
Black Lives Matter; we hear this sentiment daily and absorb the message to the fullest extent (well, those who care and believe so). I am so damn sick of hearing my life matters. I know my life matters, and everyone else's too. The problem is that Black lives do not just matter; they are vital. Not only did most of the United States get its infrastructure from the Black lives stolen from Africa, but we built this country for free, might I add. So please spare me the niceties. Black lives are of utmost importance. We equally enrich the environments we inhabit.
By Brandon Lee5 years ago in The Swamp
Mr. President, Sir:
I was introduced to the celebrity figure, Donald Trump by none other than my grandmother. My grandmother loved keeping up with Hollywood gossip, celebrity drama, and all the glitz and glam of the movie stars. Of course, in that mix was the high profile couple, Donald & Ivana Trump from New York. I liked to keep up with my grandmother, so I would listen as she gave me the low down on the "lifestyles of the rich and famous" even better than Robin Leach could have. If Mr. Leach was before your time, he was a television celebrity journalist/host who coined the term, "champagne wishes and caviar dreams" and spoke in a thick and highly pronounced British accent.
By Shirley Belk5 years ago in The Swamp
My Two Cents for the Bank
Political discussion was once a much smaller topic. Debated over water coolers at work and during ads of sports games, the topic was widely ignored by the vast public. Whether for the better or worse, it seems as if everyone is involved in politics in some way. This change was most apparent when a friend of mine started getting political on social media. Though it was mostly just memes he found funny, it was strange. This friend would openly sigh if anyone mentioned politics. Hell, he knew so little that I had to explain who Republicans and Democrats were so he could finish a project in high school.
By Kellen Pifer5 years ago in The Swamp
How Did We Get Here (1995)
I guess in this laden British waste-scape of empty plastic bottles and chewed-up strewn gum, of blundering blue tory negligence, media-paedophiles and child sex-traffickers, Tax avoiding Bezos and his conglomerate profiteers, tik-tok celebri-troglodyte sensationalists; it's not hard to see why there is a perpetual sense of terribleness about the land. Nonetheless, I arrive upon this world as a baby five years before the millennia, dubbed as the last stairs to climb for a world burgeoning on change. I guess I was naively hopeful that it would exist as change that made my life and others better, simpler, or easier.
By S R Gurney5 years ago in The Swamp
Equality Without Anarchy
Equality without anarchy; can it exist? Think about something; even if you're too young to remember (as I am), undoubtedly you can at least imagine this. The last time that a race-related issue was raised and people turned to violence and destruction to make a point… it sent military tanks rolling up the city streets of Augusta and Harlem, GA.
By Timothy A Rowland5 years ago in The Swamp
Freedom: Is It a Mere Slogan?
All of this stuff about Trump, symbolism, cops, monuments, rioting, and so on, has me thinking about freedom. What the hell is it anyway? In assessing freedom, I will address the nature of authority, the exaggerated scandals of monuments and Founding Father-shaming, and a host of other things (but, thankfully, I DO NOT discuss facemasks in this particular piece, other than to say right here that, in my view, it's more of a medical/scientific concern about limiting the spread of a potentially deadly virus).
By Wade Wainio5 years ago in The Swamp
