“This dude needs to be canceled,” said I wish no one.

“This is cancel culture run amok!” said nobody ever again, if I had my druthers.

Folks, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but time’s up on “cancel” in all its forms. It’s got to stop. I’m not usually one to ban words and phrases, but if that’s what it’ll take to get people to stop using the term, then I say everyone better beef up their find & replace hotkeys in Word, because “cancel” has got to go. I’m not saying it’s the new n-word or…

So, let me get this out of the way early. For me, Pixar’s “Soul” is a triumph of animated filmmaking.

I loved, loved, loved this film.

And coming from me, that says a lot. I’m not a universal fan of Pixar in the way that a lot of people in my age bracket are, mostly because the fact that I don’t have children means I’m not subjected to rewatching Pixar movies over and over. I’m sure that if, like a lot of my contemporaries, I’d spent the last two decades raising several young ones, I’d have memorized some of the…

When it’s effective, say it. When it’s not, don’t.

Now, here’s the thing.

Before I get into the teeth of this, it’s important to stop and take a look back. Regardless of where you stand on “defund the police” versus either “abolish the police” (even further to the left) or “reform the police,” (the more centrist alternative) we would be remiss if we lost sight of the progress that has already been made on this front. This argument is sort of the rhetorical equivalent of the proprietary salesman who says, “So Hal, can I pencil you in for one shipment, or three?” In at least half of the country…

I love a good story. In my entertainment choices, I tend to love large, sprawling, epic tales, full of revenge, betrayal, and mystery… especially ones that take their time. Movies are usually too short for these kinds of stories, I’m talking about either TV series, or video games. The best of both usually have relatable characters whose subtle nuances emerge, bit by bit, as their choices veer into more and more chaos and destruction. Eventually, there’s a point where it all comes cascading down in a swift cascade of reckoning. …

Conservatives, Stop Quoting the BLM Platform Out of Context.

Okay so real quick, I need to just sort out one quick thing.

In my role as a bridge-building person, I’ve been seeing this question or challenge pop up more and more frequently by white and/or conservative people who have issue with Black Lives Matter. It’s usually on social media or in comment sections, where I don’t usually the bandwidth to respond individually, so most recently I’ve resorted to sending people links to my latest hip-hop rebuttal and moving on. …

Okay folks.

You wanna make the world of social media a better place? Here’s one thing you can do today that can help bridge the cultural divide:

Stop sharing memes about news stories that “nobody is talking about,” or that “the media wants to ignore.”

You know the kind of meme I’m talking about. I’ve seen conservatives do this, and I’ve seen liberals do it. I’ve seen it said about things that are conspiracy theories that rightfully should never see the light of day, and I’ve seen it said about stories that are clearly are a part of the news…

Right now, when it comes to racial issues, white people, y’all need to learn this… desperately.

So… Portland, Oregon is my hometown, for better or worse.

More specifically, it’s a place that, for a few weeks anyway, was the national epicenter of protests supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and decrying the Trump administration. I was so enthralled and concerned about this confluence that I wrote a song about it.

Sean Feucht, however, is not from Portland.

He’s a worship artist from Bethel Church, a nondenominational charismatic pentecostal megachurch in Redding, California. Bethel has become noteworthy in part because of its popular worship ministry Bethel Music and its worship band / record label Jesus Culture. Like…