Being Centered
Essays on attention, leadership, creativity, and building a centered life.
Lead Story
Iran War Begins: U.S.-Israeli Strikes, Khamenei’s Death, and a Region on the Edge
A rapid escalation with uncertain endgames—military, diplomatic, and domestic—colliding in real time as the region braces for what comes next.
One Battle After Another made me remember why I love movies
A favorite-of-the-year review: craft, momentum, and feeling.
‘Sinners’ Is a Juke Joint, a Prayer, and a Knife With a Melody
A horror film that plays like Southern Gothic scripture.
Sinners makes history with 16 Oscar nominations
How Oscar nominations work — and what peer recognition signals.
The Epstein Files Drop—and the Internet’s Test of Moral Memory
What moral attention looks like when the news cycle tries to swallow it.
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘GNX’: Album of the Year Bid or Narrative Power Play?
A read on ambition, sequencing, and cultural leverage.
The Myth of Mansa Musa (and why the “richest man ever” story is boring)
Why the meme version flattens the real history.
Iran War Begins: U.S.-Israeli Strikes, Khamenei’s Death, and a Region on the Edge
A clean briefing on what’s known, what’s claimed, and what the next moves could look like.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Killed in U.S.-Israeli Strikes — Iran Launches Retaliation
The strike, the response, and how escalation dynamics shift when leadership is removed.
Former Illinois deputy gets maximum 20-year sentence in killing of Sonya Massey
Maximum sentence, maximum scrutiny: how the case is being read now.
Don Lemon’s arrest isn’t a simple press-freedom story — it’s a collision of two First Amendments
Press rights versus a congregation’s rights: the case forces a real legal tension.
A clean “what we know” briefing as public claims outpace confirmed facts.
You Are Not Overthinking It: On Faith and Doubt
A close read on uncertainty, belief, and interior honesty.
Lucifer in Paradise Lost: The Antihero That Won’t Die
Why rebellion stays narratively seductive—even when wrong.
Good Writing Isn’t a Strategy Anymore
Craft still matters—distribution matters too. Here’s the shift.
Who Is Reza Pahlavi? The Exiled Crown Prince Trying to Shape Iran’s Post-Islamic Republic Future
Foreign-policy optics, coalition math, and why transitions are won on the ground—not on branding.
Inside ICE’s Growing Surveillance Arsenal: Facial Recognition, Phone Tracking and Drones
A clear map of the tech stack—and the governance questions it creates.
DHS Funding Bill Stalls After Minneapolis Shooting, Raising Shutdown Risk by Jan. 30
A vote count story shaped by grief, protest, and a deadline the House can’t outrun.
In Iran’s Crackdown, the Bystanders Started Dying Too: When Will America Step In?
When violence widens, “bystander” stops protecting people—what intervention would mean now.
Gaddafi Mirror: Liberation, Oil, and the Blood Price
What admiration misses—and what the record still forces us to face.
What Is FBA? Foundational Black Americans, Lineage Politics, and the Reparations Debate
How identity arguments turn into forms, eligibility, and law.
A short piece on scale, change, and the discipline of expansion.