Just Some Write-Ups

Concept art for Steven Spielberg’s 2005 adaptation of War of the Worlds September 11, 2001, was a day that changed the world in many ways. On the geopolitical front, it defined the Bush administration’s policy for the remainder of Mr. 43’s term—with the declaration of a War on Terror , the passage of the PATRIOT Act , an increase in defense spending, the questionable detention and surveillance of suspected Islamic extremists, just to name a couple. 9/11, as it is now often referred to, also had ramifications in pop culture, particularly in the exports out of Hollywood. Curiously, as we shall see later in this essay, this same prolificacy did not seem to be as much in evidence with authors of science fiction (SF) novels and short stories. Movies and television shows in the years following 9/11 bore the tropes of a paranoid populace, the fear of the “other,” and raised questions about the surveillance state, the possibility of invasion, and numerous other threats. David M. H...

Unlike in the West, religion can be a lot more abstract in the Oriental sense, and the lines between religion and philosophy (or a way of life) can often be blurred. Case in point is Shinto, the erstwhile Japanese state religion still subscribed to by 80 percent of the population. While the Western understanding of religion is often linked to the idea of a singular founder (Jesus, Mohammed, or Siddhartha Gautama, for instance) and the adherence to a particular sacred text or scripture (say, the Bible, Koran, or the Torah), Shinto has none of these; neither does it impose a didactic morality upon its followers. Its most essential goal is for adherents to be in touch with spiritual energy, or  kami . One can do this by performing certain sacred rituals during weddings, funerals, worshipping at a shrine in the home or the community, or any other local festivals. While inextricably linked to nature, kami also has an ancestral element: deceased relatives are believed to tur...