Commentary & Pubs

25 years later I am tired

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Like so many of us, I remember exactly where I was 25 years ago today when the twin towers were attacked on 9/11/2001. I was at work during a week I spent in the greater Washington, D.C. metro area. Although we were mostly cutoff from the outside world while at work, we were just outside the beltway, and within less than 10 minutes after the first plane hit everyone at our location knew that it happened. When I was able to contact my manager back in my home location later that morning, he told me that my colleague and I were not authorized to drive across the country to return home. We were to stay at our location until we could fly home. We were scheduled to fly back on Friday that week, but our journey got complicated, and our stay was slightly extended. We were lucky. We were safe, and although we weren’t able to return home until Sunday, we had a comfortable place to stay, food to eat, and work to do. The story of our attempts to get home is a bit jumbled, but in the grand scheme of things it is unimportant now compared to the trauma others suffered that week and in the weeks and months that followed. Continue reading →

AI, ghostwriters, editors, and authorship

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the use of AI, ghostwriters, and editors, and what authorship really means. Having written a book myself, I know the kind of effort that goes into such an endeavor, even when you know the material extremely well. Getting the wording right, making sure that your ideas come across the way you intend, and even the aesthetics of the prose are all of concern. Writing an essay requires a similar amount of polish as well, although it’s significantly shorter and quicker to write compared to a book. One could even apply the same considerations to something as mundane as an email or a personal letter. All that said, what exactly is authorship? Are you technically an author if you use a ghostwriter to write your manuscript for you, or are you committing a type of fraud by taking credit for something that you didn’t actually do? Is the manuscript still your work if an editor changes it, or is that a matter of degree? Continue reading →

Writing can be therapeutic

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I’ve kept a journal since I was a child, although in recent years I’ve not made many entries. In some ways, the essays I write have taken its place helping me delve into things that I’m thinking about. Sometimes that means writing up thoughts on books I’ve just read or delving into a concept that intrigues me. Often though it involves taking a step back from current events and sorting out something that’s bothering me. That last category has covered a lot of ground over the last several years. Along with an increased focus on politics and the historical significance of various policies and actions, it drove me to add a history and politics page to my commentary library. Continue reading →

The US at 250

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

We are quickly approaching the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. That should be cause for celebration. 250 years ago, the fledgling colonies did something momentous. They threw off the bonds of tyranny and royal rule and emphatically declared that they were to be self-governing. They weren’t without discord, but together they wanted something different from whence they came. Continue reading →

Why be good?

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I’ve long held that it doesn’t take faith for somebody to be good, or more to the point, to be a good person. What exactly is a good person though? Realistically a good person is one who treats others with respect and who sees beyond their own nose striving to do what they can for the greater good. This isn’t about politics. It’s about science, philosophy, and survival.

I’m reminded of a conversation with a friend many years ago. He was raised in the Catholic tradition, but as an adult he no longer practiced and claimed to be agnostic with respect to his belief. Still, he couldn’t escape a certain amount of fear that was instilled in him during childhood. I was explaining some of the differences between Christianity in general and Judaism. Judaism, aside from not centering on Jesus, lacks any afterlife and by extension the concept of heaven and hell. He was stunned. He wanted to know why somebody would be good if there was no threat of being sent to hell if they weren’t. He had no concept of the need for the greater good other than as a defense against eternal damnation. I guess he wasn’t quite as agnostic as he thought. Continue reading →

Religion can be dangerous

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs ,

By Ande Jacobson

I don’t have any faith in any supernatural being(s) based on everything I’ve learned throughout my life, although based on observation, I came to that conclusion in childhood. I have studied science and rely on the scientific method in my exploration of the world around me. I have also studied religion growing up, not just the faith in which I was raised, but others as well. I have copies of numerous religious texts including an Old Testament (from which the Torah is drawn), a New Testament, a Qur’ân, a Book of Mormon, a Haggadah, and a Union Prayer book. I view them as literature written by men reflective of the times in which they were written. I do not view them as supernatural or divinely inspired. They are books, and as such, they are food for thought as are all books. Continue reading →

Fond memories of Washington, D.C.

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs ,

By Ande Jacobson

Although I am a Californian through and through, over the course of about 10 years, I spent a lot of time in the Washington, D.C. area, first for two vacation trips, then later for work. All of these trips, save the last one, took place before massive changes were enacted, and I got to do and see some things that are no longer easily accessible to the public. Continue reading →

It is tough to be an American these days

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I am not a journalist. I am not a celebrity. I am just an American. I spent my career working as a software/systems engineer for a couple of major government contractors. I also grew up during a time when history and civics were required courses in primary and secondary school. In fact, as I’ve mentioned in some previous essays, I went through school during a time when we studied Watergate as it was happening. That made civics come to life in a spectacular fashion. While I am no expert, from my studies and my work experience, I have some knowledge of our nation’s history and how our government is supposed to work, and right now, it is not working as it should. Continue reading →

I don’t like politics, but …

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I don’t like politics, but I have voted in every election since I turned 18 because I see it as my civic duty as an American to not only vote, but do so responsibly.

I don’t like politics, but I study the issues to understand how they affect us all and where our representation stands.

I don’t like politics, but I studied US history and civics in high school when they were still required courses, so I understand how our government is supposed to work. I even went through the citizenship study questions for fun to test my knowledge. Sadly, the vast majority of native-born adults couldn’t pass the citizenship test today which randomly draws 20 US history and civics questions from the 128 study questions. A score of 60% (12/20) or better is required to pass. Our government’s political structure is there to truly make a positive difference for the country and the world if we work together to make it happen. Continue reading →

Nobody should have to settle for being less than

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I had a disturbing discussion with a good friend the other day. We got into a discussion about gay and trans rights. While neither of us are gay or trans, we know and love people who are and support a person’s right to be who they are. That said, my friend talked about the past when people who were gay or trans lived their lives as they could and kept their views and actions that went counter to what was considered mainstream private. My friend asserted that before things became so contentious, people who were apart from the mainstream didn’t and shouldn’t make their differences public and lamented that it wasn’t still the case. My friend claimed to understand how some people might see somebody living a lifestyle counter to the mainstream as a threat, particularly in religious communities, and their concerns needed to be taken into account in the law and in allowed public behavior. Continue reading →