Philosophy with Attitude
Current-ish events:
Breastfeeding issues:
- Breastfeeding, formula-feeding, and guilt: Breastfeeding
advocates are often accused of trying to make women feel guilty, but is that
really the case? (February 15, 2006)
- Letter to Sesame Workshop regarding an episode
of Sesame Street. *All* of the babies that were shown eating (in a baby-centered
episode) were shown drinking bottles. Not a single one was breastfeeding, not
even the newborn baby bear (Curly Bear). That made me sad. (February 16, 2004)
- Letter to "Real Simple" magazine which
ran an article called "20 rules to break now," including a segment
about how breastfeeding was a "timewaster" and it would simplify your
life not to do it! (July 11, 2003)
- Letter to Tom Moroney of MetroWest
Daily News, who claimed that breastfeeding in public was as disgusting as
urinating or defecating in public, and breastfeeding women should go to the bathroom
to do it, or bottlefeed in public. (August 9, 2002)
A Conversation from 1999 with Eva Marie
That bears explanation: Eva wrote to me in February of 1999, and the conversation that ensued covers all the major bases: the existence of god, the meaning of life, evolution, happiness... it goes on. This is a very long conversation, but I think we both made some valid points, and it might bear reading if you are an atheist looking for a typical argument and some refutations... or a Christian looking for what to study up on!
Essays on
Atheism and Related Topics:
- Is evolutionary theory a worldview?
- According to many fundamentalist Christians, especially those in the field
of creation "science" or intelligent design "theory", it is. But evolution
is just a theory, like the theory of gravitation, or quantum theory, or the
theory of plate tectonics... yet one rarely (if ever) hears about a "gravitational
worldview" or a "plate tectonic worldview." There seems to be a basic misunderstanding
in the Creationist camp about exactly what evolution is and is not, and because
of those misunderstandings, evolution is misconstrued as being a comprehensive
worldview. The goal of this misconstruction is to attempt to invalidate evolution
because it is inadequate as a worldview. I propose that since evolutionary
theory is not, in fact, a worldview, it is unreasonable to invalidate its
findings by that method.
- School Prayer:
- This is a series of Letters to the Editor that appeared in the Keene Sentinel
in the summer of 1993.
Death and the Atheist:
- For my Grandfather (1916-1997)
"Forum" pieces I wrote
for The New Hampshire (UNH student newspaper):
- Concerning "proof" of the statement
"God loves you" (in response to an article that appeared
the previous week)
- Concerning the doctrine of "Original
Sin" (in response to another Forum piece)
- "Why I am an Atheist" (in response
to many emails about past Forum pieces)
- My latest effort against the
newly-sinister Walt E. Laux and his cronnies
"Forum" pieces concerning
the then-hot-topic of cloning:
- An editorial highlighting people's
paranoia about cloning (not by me)
- My response to the above editorial
Discussions about religion,
evolution, freethought, and the like, generated on unh.flame
and unh.religion, two local newsgroups:
- A chat about evolution and terms
used in evolutionary thought
- A discussion turned ugly about
the role of religion in different peoples' lives
- More chats about religion
Essays from
my "Introduction to Prose Writing" Class: (Spring 1992)
The Darker Side
of Life
- Admittedly, there are many parts of this essay that no
longer describe me or my beliefs (e.g. I stopped liking
Andrew Lloyd Webber when I found out that he had stolen
music from Pink Floyd, among others), but it does detail
the growth of my fiction writing through high school.
Of Letters and
Love
- This is written in an experimental (for me) style; I shared
it with my classmates, and they said it was like reading
someone's diary. You be the judge.
Living
- Still more of the 19-year-old me pining over unrequited
love... but it's kind of poetic in places.
Observations
- Just that -- some observations about life and things like
that.
Occasions
- Similar to "Observations", but the last one is EXTREMELY
silly. Just thought I'd warn you.
Miscellaneous writings:
"Shower with a friend"? Not at UNH...
the saga that got David and me kicked out of the dorms!
To Play the Fool: an essay on the Fool in Shakespeare's
plays
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Jan Andrea. If you wish to use my content on another page, please email before
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