When I issue an edict to the young people who live with me, they frequently demonstrate their potential as future skeptics. Instead of docilely accepting the order, they instead pepper me with challenges. “Why?” they ask. My answer, regardless of its lock-tight logic, usually fails to impress them, and I am treated to a litany of...
Megan Graham is a Herald editorial writer and policy analyst. Reach her at
meg@durangoherald.com
more Policy & Politics
-
One of the most appalling and surprising things a newly minted hockey player learns is that the human hand produces unthinkable odors when stuffed in a hockey glove. The thing about it is, though, that by the time this horrifying reality hits, most people are already hooked and the shock is blunted – almost eliminated, really – by...
-
Editor’s note: The last paragraph of Megan Graham’s column was not printed in Sunday’s Opinion section. The column is printed here in full.
-
Column-writing for me is a bit like conducting a sloppy science experiment. The process usually begins with what seems to be a sound idea that then spends several days or weeks being subjected to tests, rearrangements, dependent and independent variables, outside review, and external data. It is all very, very formal.
-
A few years ago, quite unexpectedly for a Protestant of completely lackluster, OK zero, participation in any religious activities, I found myself inexplicably Catholo-curious. Something about the ritual of Mass was mysterious and magnetic, and then comforting. The space in Catholic sanctuaries is like none other, simultaneously personal and quiet...
-
It is a sign of just how toxic the political environment in Washington, D.C., has been that reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act was so crowning an achievement for the 113th Congress.
-
The thing about polarizing policy debates is that they are often effective at gridlocking the status quo rather than moving meaningfully in any direction. Regardless of how thoroughly, convincingly and strategically an advocate for shifting a given policy stakes a position and aligns support among those who make policy decisions, there are a...
-
Contrary to what we may think about ourselves, it turns out we do a far better job of gathering evidence to support our views than we do weighing factual data in establishing them. This is quite handy for those of us who like a good story – and it is convenient for post-hoc analysis as well.
