“Orange County Jesus” Spoken Word Poem

Hello Friends! I’ve been writing a spoken word titled “Copycat” that I turned into a multimedia video (“The Copycat Project”) that looks at Christianity, first from a skeptic’s perspective, and then from a Christian’s. The content was chosen from ideas and conspiracies that are on social media like YouTube and TikTok. Christians need to know…

It’s Friday the 13th. “No more bets,” says the croupier before spinning the 21 mm ivory ball around the roulette wheel. The man with the $50,000 bet on black watches on greedily as his bleached-white teeth pounce on his nubby fingernails. The ball yawns and eventually kneels into a pocket. The roulette dealer calls it:…

Two opposing themes stood out to me about Christopher Nolan’s cinematic portrayal of The Odyssey (and The Aeneid): trickery and hospitality. “Zeus’s Law” or the social contract of hospitality when broken was a severe offense against the gods. In the movie, we see both hosts and strangers violating this sacred Greek code—what’s supposed to be…